NRS-493VN Professional Capstone and Practicum Benchmark-Capstone Project Change Proposal for Nursing Burnout and Mental Fatigue

NRS-493VN Professional Capstone and Practicum Benchmark-Capstone Project Change Proposal for Nursing Burnout and Mental Fatigue. The U.S. is experiencing a pandemic that has not occurred to this extent since the 1918- 1919 Spanish Flu (Ross, 2020). The virus has created a public health crisis and led to many challenges for healthcare providers and stressed healthcare systems. The reality of healthcare before COVID-19 presented concerns, and media focused on the number of ventilators and hospital beds. Still, the discussion was lacking around the availability of nurses and qualified health care providers (Ross, 2020). There should be significant concern about the number of qualified professionals and the number of healthy professionals who can care for sick patients and operate complicated ventilators (Ross, 2020). Regarding the discussion of health professionals, I am implying both mentally and physically, not “burned out.” Nursing burnout has been recognized by the World Health Organization and is related to the workplace (Ross, 2020). Burnout is triggered by workplace stress which is not managed effectively (Ross, 2020). Burnout is a stress response, much like post-traumatic stress syndrome, and is a concern for nurses (Ross, 2020). In July 2019, the Joint Commission (TJC) released a Quick Safety Advisory of Combating Nurse Burnout in response to recent studies of increasing burnout among nursing staff (Ross, 2020). The advisory highlighted that 15.6% of nurses reported burnout, that emergency room nurses were at a higher risk, and that only 5% of healthcare organizations assisted staff with burnout (Ross, 2020). The TJC noted that organizations need to remove barriers to nurses’ workflow, staffing, and workplace environment concerns (Ross, 2020). Organizations should be considering ways to assist healthcare workers dealing with burnout and intense stress from COVID-19 and day-to-day struggles on the job. Clinical Problem Statement 3 The field of nursing has yielded one of the highest risks of employee burnout leading to a nationwide nurse retention crisis in hospitals (Jordan et al., 2016). Nurse burnout is physical, emotional, and psychological exhaustion related to job stressors. One of the main reasons for the nursing shortage is that nurses are leaving the field or retiring early at alarming rates (HetzelRiggin et al., 2020). Nursing shortages caused by burnout increases co-workers’ workloads creating poor work environments leading to loss of job satisfaction (Ross, 2020). Mental and physical hardships are caused by heavy workloads leaving nurses feeling that they cannot give quality care to their patients (Nelson, 2017). A show of honesty, staff recognition, and respect provoke a rise in good management and leadership. A lack of these characteristics shown within healthcare organizations and feelings of being unsupported with resources to perform job functions have led nurses to leave their careers behind (Hetzel-Riggin et al., 2020). Purpose of the Change Proposal in Relation to Providing Patient Care Burnout is a multi-faceted issue revolving around the cessation of one being able to perform their job (Jordan et al., 2016). Factors directly associated with nurse burnout include the frenzied work environment, the demanding roles and hours expected to be maintained, and the lack of time to achieve organized and priority-setting schedules resulting in an overwhelming amount of stress for nursing (Merces et al., 2020). Currently, healthcare is experiencing a national nursing shortage while seeing a rise in patient acuity (Merces et al., 2020). The nation’s nursing staff is sharing a more significant workload, at the same pay rate, with no additional support and compromised morale (Merces et al., 2020). High levels of stress and feelings of being overwhelmed lead to a decrease in quality patient care, and these factors play a hazardous role in the care patients receive. The trickle-down effect of nursing burnout puts patient care in jeopardy.