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By LeAnn Thieman. This was originally published on LeAnn's blog.
Why Am I Still a Nurse Anyway? Most nurses didn’t choose this career because of great hours and working conditions. As trite as it may sound, most of us entered the profession of caring to help people…in their toughest times. I often say that nursing is a calling. That’s why we sign on and stay on. Yet on the days when the workload is too great, on the occasions that we can’t take all the pain away, after the shift when we go home with achy feet and achy hearts, those are the days we need to be reminded of why we do what we do. We need to reignite our passion for nursing. One of the best ways to do that is by recalling and sharing our stories. I learned the crucial importance of this when I read over 2,000 stories to select the top 101 for Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s Soul, then 2,000 more for the second edition, the Second Dose, and ANOTHER 2,000 for the third edition, Inspiration for Nurses. Clearly, when nurses share their stories, they remember why they entered this profession, and why they stay...
Many nurses have told me, in order to begin their shifts with inspiration and hope, they together read a story from Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s Soul. That is a great idea (of course!). Another equally great idea is to share your own true stories at this time. One hospital I work with calls these “Heart Moments.” At other hospitals where I do retention events, I learned they created their own book of stories written by staff. What a great way to boost morale and retention. Still other hospitals have “Best Story” contests. What a wonderful way to engage employees as each department gathers and chooses the top stories from their unit. Sometimes I may be the final judge, then a prize is given to the individual or department with the “Best Story.” Some have different categories (funniest, most compassionate, etc) and multiple winners are awarded. While some people might say, “We don’t have time for this,” I submit that we must take time…make time…to enrich our spirits and soothe our souls and reignite our passion for nursing. We answered the calling for care. Our stories prove the privilege we have to literally touch and save lives. That is surely the highest calling of all. Looking for your Nurses Week or healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to make your next healthcare event a success!
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By LeAnn Thieman. This was originally published on LeAnn's blog.
Hospitals will continue to feel financial constraints from the ongoing nursing shortage for the next three to four years, according to a new report. Labor comprises more than half of most hospitals’ operating revenue, and that share will continue to rise as turnover among nurses remains high and not enough new nurses enter the workforce, according to a report from Moody’s Investors Service. Providers will have to spend more to recruit qualified employees while the nursing shortage persists through 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The rapidly aging population and need for chronic disease management will drive nursing demand. Rural providers will also be acutely impacted because they cannot match the compensation offered by urban hospitals and are not located close to nursing schools, Moody’s said. Hospitals’ average annual revenue growth of 5.7% between 2012 and 2016 exceeded salaries and benefits expense growth of 5.5%. But that did not include recruitment expense, which is higher in growing economies. Nurses are more willing to change jobs and providers must up the ante with better rates, bonuses and benefits to keep them on staff. Recruiting a nurse in the home health sector used to cost $1,500 to $2,000 and he or she would produce about $100,000 in revenue, netting about a 10% margin. But in today’s competitive landscape, recruitment costs are closer to $5,000 and nurses are spending less time at a job, which narrows margins. And Medicare and Medicaid are reducing reimbursement levels. To learn more about nursing recruitment and retention strategies, visit SelfCare for HealthCare™. Looking for your next healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to make your healthcare event a success! By LeAnn Thieman. This was originally published on LeAnn's blog.
The healthcare field is far from free of its fair share of stressors. So, it’s no stretch of the mind that nurses, doctors, and other caretakers are burning out. Statistics embody this truth: About one out of every five nurses quit their job in their first year of practice, and about one out of every three nurses will leave their place of work within their first two years (according to a study published in Sage Journals). Nurse burnout is on the rise, and nurse retention is at a low. Nurses and other caretakers are simply overworked, overwhelmed, and overstressed. Today, we’re addressing that latter issue: Stress. Let’s take a keen look at the stressors which, unfortunately, plague nurses. Common Healthcare Workplace Stressors Stress in the healthcare field doesn’t just occur in some hospitals and clinics. It’s a common issue. Healthcare facilities around the world are experiencing difficulty with nurse retention due to caretaker burnout. This issue is uniquely difficult, because there isn’t just one concise source problem. Stress in the field of nursing can crop up due to any and all of the following issues: Exposure to Illness Nurses care for those who are injured and ill. With illness, nurses are inherently prone to contract illnesses themselves. Even with the best practices and facilities, nurses are vulnerable to contract the very illnesses that they are treating. That’s why it is crucial that nurses remain mindful of their own health, as well as the wellbeing of their patients. Nurses should support their own health to ensure that they remain immune to the airborne illnesses that affect those around them. Mortality Healthcare workers are surrounded by injury, illness, and aging – all of which can result in the death of patients. As caretakers become attached to those that they care for, it can be heart wrenching to lose a close patient. Death is inevitable a part of the job. That’s difficult to cope with! Once again, it’s crucial to remain mindful in the face of death – stay conscious that you, as a nurse, aid your patients, providing comfort and care, even in the final days of their life. Nurses help people! Physical Strain Nurses are constantly on their feet. A nurse often walks miles in a day, moving charts, checking on patients, providing care, etc., etc. That means physical strain, as well as the aforementioned mental strain. Nurses often suffer from sore joints, including foot pain, backaches, shoulder soreness, and leg pain. After a 12-hour shift, a caretaker can be in pain and near exhaustion, which brings us to another stressor… Little Sleep Nurses often lose sleep, or they’re forced to sleep during irregular hours. Losing sleep can be draining, and irregular sleep can be jarring. It’s difficult just to start the day while tired, let alone work a full day while exhausted. That’s why it’s crucial for healthcare facilities to assess their scheduling to adapt to their caretakers’ schedules, not the other way around. Long Hours If a facility is understaffed, its caretakers may be required to work long hours. While that can cause a loss of sleep, as we just mentioned, it can also take away from a caretakers’ free time and personal life. Like any professional, nurses need a healthy work-life balance to thrive. Lack of Support Nurses need support. Like any other person, our caretakers need positive relationships (in and out of the workplace), healthy nutrition, regular exercise, plenty of sleep, free time, etc. Healthcare facilities can, and should, provide support programs to their caretakers to ensure that they remain happy and healthy. To learn how to reduce nurse burnout and improve caretaker retention, visit SelfCare for HealthCare. Looking for your next healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to make your healthcare event a success! By LeAnn Thieman. This was originally published on LeAnn's blog.
Research proves that high levels of stress lead to negative health behaviors among healthcare professionals. Researchers measured stress and health behaviors, such as exercise, nutrition, and sleep, by examining the results of series of five annual surveys administered to employees at Mayo Clinic who had access to a wellness center. The study, published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, showed a significant relationship between the stress levels of an employee and four quality of life domains:
Mayo’s latest study linking burnout and high stress levels to poor health behaviors among healthcare workers also found that those with lower stress levels used the wellness center more often, and frequently engaged in other physical activity. Workers reporting lower stress levels used the center about two to three times per week on average, indicting they were meeting the recommended goal of engaging in physical activity most days per week. Those who reported levels of high stress averaged about one wellness center visit per week. And those with three years or more of high stress averaged only 68 usage days per year. The study concluded that “Increasing the awareness of wellness centers and programs in medical environments will increase the quality of life of employees and lead to less physician and staff burnout.” To learn how to increase employee wellness and decrease stress and burnout, visit SelfCare for HealthCare. Looking for your next healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to make your healthcare event a success! By LeAnn Thieman. This was originally published on LeAnn's blog.
Employee well-being and engagement are differen, but related. Engagement is the strength of the emotional connection employees have with their work, team, company, and higher purpose. Well-being is defined as a state of optimal health, happiness, and purpose. Research shows that when employees feel they have higher well-being, they’re more likely to be engaged in their work. A survey of 1,276 employees across 45 U.S. markets found that 88 percent of employees who cited feelings of “higher well-being” (that is access to healthy options, the flexibility and freedom to pursue them and find balance between work and life, plus a sense of belonging and value to an organization), said they felt engaged at work, versus 50 percent for those citing “lower well-being.” Moreover, 83 percent of those in the “higher” category said they enjoy their work versus 41 percent in the “lower” one. And 84 percent in the higher category say they’re loyal to their teams, versus 54 percent in the lower camp. The connection between well-being and engagement may seem intuitive, but there has been little research that statistically relates the two. These findings confirm that helping disengaged employees is in an organization’s control and can actually enhance retention and productivity. The study found managers can be the biggest obstacles to well-being improvement because they don’t understand its connection to team success or they are unsure about how to talk with their employees about their well-being. Organizations should educate managers about the impact of well-being on employee engagement and give them the tools and support to make it a priority! Looking for your next healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to make your healthcare event a success! By LeAnn Thieman. This was originally published on LeAnn's blog.
Many healthcare workers feel guilty for taking time off. In fact, 60 percent of employed Americans said they feel uncomfortable taking a day off work for preventive care and 86 percent would forego checkups and put work first. Some employers offer “Unsick Days” to give staff paid time off and explicit permission to take care of themselves. Half of the employees surveyed said they believe that taking time off to go to an appointment could harm their chances of getting a promotion, and 69 percent of millennials have this fear. Counter intuitively, 38 percent of American workers said they think their colleagues would be inconvenienced, annoyed, or stressed if they missed work for a preventive care appointment, although 62 percent said they would be supportive or happy if one of their co-workers did so. One estimates the cost of “presenteeism,” or the practice of sick employees showing up to work and being less productive, at $160 billion per year, more than double the estimated cost of “absenteeism,” or staying home to recuperate. Taking one day off for a preventive care appointment could reduce a person’s chances of future illnesses, and it may reduce the feeling of “burning out” (especially in the nursing field). When was your last physical exam? Turn off your computer and pick up the phone. Make an appointment today. You can care for yourself AND care for others. Looking for your next healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to make your healthcare event a success! By LeAnn Thieman. This was originally published on LeAnn's blog.
Are your employees happy at work? According to a recent Gallup survey, 51% of America’s 100 million full-time employees aren’t engaged at work, meaning they feel no real connection to their jobs and tend to do the bare minimum. Another 16% reported being “actively disengaged,” meaning they resent their jobs and tend to drag down morale as a result. A separate study by Gallup and the Queens School of Business shared insight on the costly effects of these disengaged employees.They found that disengaged workers had 37% higher levels of absenteeism, 49% more accidents and 60% more errors and defects. Companies with low employee engagement scores also experienced 18% less productivity and 37% lower job growth. To combat the threat of a disengaged unproductive workforce, employers must strive to help employees feel happy in the workplace; happy employees tend to be more engaged. Plenty of scientific research over the years supports that there are clear neurological links between feelings, thoughts and actions. Employees who feel happy and hold a positive mindset behave in such manner at the workplace. Happiness has many benefits in the workplace that lead to a successful workforce. In Shawn Achor’s book, The Happiness Advantage, Achor states that “When we are positive, our brains become more engaged, creative, motivated, energetic, resilient, and productive.” Happy employees are – for the most part – better employees. Here are just a few examples of the benefits of happiness in the workplace: Happiness combats stress. Happy employees build resilience when it comes to workplace stress. Happy employees also take fewer sick days. Happy employees create a positive and strong company culture and boost morale. A strong company culture benefits retention. Happy employees devote more time and effort to their work and outperform their competition by 20%. To learn how to make your employees and coworkers happier, visit SelfCare for HealthCare™. Looking for your next healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to make your healthcare event a success! By LeAnn Thieman, CSP, CPAE. This was originally published on LeAnn's blog SelfCare for Healthcare.
A large new study from the American Cancer Society inventoried risk factors for various types of cancer. The findings shed much-needed light on the numbers of cancers that could be prevented by making the necessary lifestyle changes. The new research examined a total of 1,570,975 cancer cases, there were 587,521 that resulted in death.During the analysis, 17 risk factors were analyzed and identified as “modifiable” because people can take active measures to change them. In this new study, such factors included:
These are all things we can control or modify in our own lives to be happier and healthier. You can learn more at on my site SelfCare for HealthCare™. Looking for your next healthcare speaker? Get in touch with us at the Capitol City Speakers Bureau today to make your healthcare event a success! |
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