TRUMPS EVERYTHING!
- annleo
- Sep 4, 2014
- 3 min read
By Karlene Kerfoot
No one ever went to nursing school expecting to have a glamorous career. Nursing professionals do their job, not for glory and not for a big paycheck, but for the opportunity to live a life making a positive impact on people’s lives. Beyond patients, we also extend that passion to their families and loved ones. We enjoy nothing more than finishing a long shift feeling like we made a significant difference in someone’s life that day.
However, we are also human. And like all humans we know we do our best when we work in a positive environment, surrounded by professionals who support and encourage us to do good work. A hospital filled with good nurses, great information about patients, and evidence-based protocols can still suffer from terrible patient satisfaction scores, below standard outcomes, and low employee satisfaction scores. Why? Because the work environment stinks.
Environment. Trumps. Everything.
It’s a pretty simple concept that makes perfect sense. If employees are unhappy with their work environment, morale will suffer, patient care quality will take a hit and patients and their families will be very upset. These days, where quality-driven metrics including patient engagement scores are the force behind everything in healthcare, hospitals and health systems literally can’t afford to suffer from poor performance on the part of their most important group of employees.
Environment encompasses everything from organizational culture to the actual physical working environment. Successful organizations recognize this and create an environment that is set up to support employees on a path to success. A shared vision of excellence that is communicated from the top, and embraced by every employee within an organization, is the cornerstone of a healthy and positive work environment.
Nursing isn’t easy. Technical skills aside, the job can take a heavy emotional toll, which can lead to burnout and fatigue. It is important to have managers and leaders who convey professionalism, demonstrate respect for their employees and acknowledge the emotional and physical challenges of patient care. Tactics such as creating a balanced workload and placing limits on hours worked go a long way to ensuring nurses stay satisfied and happy with their employer. Investing in the right technology is the most effective way to make this happen. Technology can create safer practices and enhance the nurse/patient relationship.
Before the ACA, most clinical and finance groups within an organization operated in silos. In today’s ACA driven reality, this is no longer possible. From a financial perspective, long-term fiscal sustainability is predicated on creating a partnership between these two historically disparate groups. From an environmental perspective, a partnership demonstrates respect for nurses and their work. By giving nurses an active voice in leadership decisions, organizations recognize the value nurses bring to its overall health.
Where the patient, the nurse and the environment intersects creates the “point of excellence”. The greater the synergy between these three elements, the greater the level of excellence. And the lower the synergy between these three factors, the lower the level of excellence. If your organization finds itself wondering why its quality metrics are low, remember these three words: Environment Trumps Everything.
Does your hospital provide a positive working environment? What do you think they are doing that works? If not, what do you think they can do better? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
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