In this assignment, you will be writing a 1,000-1,250-word essay describing the differing approaches of nursing leaders and managers to issues in practice. To complete this assignment, do the following:

Select an issue from the following list: nursing shortage and nurse turn-over, nurse staffing ratios, unit closures and restructuring, use of contract employees (i.e., registry and travel nurses), continuous quality improvement and patient satisfaction, and magnet designation.
Compare and contrast how you would expect nursing leaders and managers to approach your selected issue. Support your rationale by using the theories, principles, skills, and roles of the leader versus manager described in your readings.
Identify the approach that best fits your personal and professional philosophy of nursing and explain why the approach is suited to your personal leadership style.
Identify a possible funding source that addresses your issue. Consider looking at federal, state, and local organizations. For example: There are many grants available through the CDC, HRSA, etc.
Use at least two references other than your text and those provided in the course.
Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

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Use Reference:
Huber, D. (2014). Leadership and nursing care management (5th ed.). Maryland Heights, MO: Saunders Elsevier. ISBN-13:9781455740710.

SOLUTION

Nursing Shortage and Nurse Turn-Over

There is a critical shortage of registered nurses being experienced at the moment. The demand for nursing services seems to be exceeding the supply. Major challenges are accruing to hospital administrators as a result. The turnover rates have significantly contributed to the shortage being experienced. The turnover has resulted in numerous  negative influences for the nurses that have remained in the profession. It has resulted in decreased cohesiveness among the existing units, decreased work satisfaction, increased burden on existing employees, and reduced patient care quality (Warner, 2014). The turnover rates also bring additional costs to relevant facilities in terms of increased cost in hiring, recruiting, selecting, placing and training new personnel. There are varied factors contributing to the prevalent nursing turnover. Among them is scheduled flexibility, clinical staff competency, work-related stress, need for recognition, an aging workforce, and poor leadership and management skills among others.

Demand  for healthcare services is expected to increase even further due to the aging population since a high percentage of baby boomers are reaching retirement age, and their health care need is intensifying as a result (Chapman, 2012). Continued nursing shortage will [cmppp_restricted] deprive the population of quality care as a result. There is a need for nurse managers and leaders to come up with ways of solving the shortage and turnover issue.

Approaching the issue of Nursing shortage and nurse turnover

Nurse Manager

A nurse manager is tasked with the role of ensuring that everything is functioning as it was intended regardless of whether one is managing a division, unit or service line. As a result, a nurse manager is tasked with responsibilities like quality improvement, patient care planning goal setting, quality improvement, and budgeting. A nurse manager is also responsible for overseeing staff schedules, professional growth, and performance among other things (Huber, 2014). As a result, a nurse manager can use their role to reduce nursing turnover that is being experienced at the moment. This can be achieved by ensuring they deliver necessary job satisfaction to nurse working under them. When allocating tasks, a nurse manager should ensure that there is flexibility to ensure that nurses do not feel overburdened. The goals that are outlined to nurse also ought to be realistic and achievable to reduce tendencies of frustration among the nurses. This will also go a long way in reducing work-related stress hence enhance job satisfaction. Turnover tendencies will reduce significantly as a result.

A nurse manager should also possess adequate skills in communication, critical thinking, coaching, guidance, and strategy among others. This will ensure that directives given to nurses are clearly understood and fit the relevant organizational objectives. The aspect will result in nurses doing the appropriate hence fulfilling their scope (Murray, 2017). As a result, turnover that is related to competency will reduce significantly hence help to eradicate the issue of the nursing shortage in the long-run.

Employing the system approach theory by the nurse manager would also work well in tackling the issue at hand. Managing through this theory will help the manager to organize all the inter-related parts of the organization to ensure smooth operations. When all the subsystems are operating efficiently, everyone is happy since they are not being overburdened by inefficiency from other areas, and there is also increased cohesiveness. The aspect increases nurse satisfaction, which results in an increased retention rate.

Nurse Leader

A nurse leader, on the other hand, is more focused on spearheading transformation, setting standards, and influencing and inspiring the team. The roles involved are  more on overseeing quality, policy setting and ensuring patient and staff satisfaction. A nurse leader can easily use the policy setting role to improve the satisfaction that nurses derive from the workplace. This is by ensuring that policies brought forward to enhance a favorable working environment. The satisfaction that employees get from such aspects motivates them to remain in the profession for long hence reducing the tendencies of turnover.

A nurse leader is expected to demonstrate emotional intelligence, critical thinking, communication, professional socialization, mentorship, decision making, and team building skills (Murray, 2017).  Having these skills makes it possible for the nurse leader to have a personal touch with the nurses. He/she is able to view them as humans and not just resources. This is something that helps for their development due to the aspects that are being transferred from the leader. It helps to create a sense of belonging since there is a favorable working environment hence reducing turnover rates.

Trait leadership theory would work well in dealing with the nursing shortage and turnover. This will require the nurse leader to embody certain traits like self-confidence, integrity, and ability to motivate. There are times when nurses might feel a lack of motivation at the workplace and is something that drives some of them to leave the profession in search of “greener pastures” (Murray, 2017). A leader with the ability to motivate employees will come in handy in reducing turnover.  Motivation helps employees to see that they can handle any situation that comes their way.

The approach that best fits my nursing philosophy

The approach that I hold high in trying to deal with the issue of nurse shortage and turnover  is creating a favorable workplace environment. Most of the reasons that have increased the nurses turnover are lack of satisfaction being derived at the workplace. A conducive workplace environment enhances a supportive culture that helps to foster growth for both individuals and the organization. Such an environment also helps to prevent negative consequences like hostility, stress, unhappiness, team-conflict, and fears of dismissal (Warner, 2014). These are things that can easily bring aspects like anxiety, insomnia, and depression among nurses hence reducing their competent levels resulting in their turnover. A positive workplace environment will give nurses more pride since they believe in the facility at hand. This will work to reduce turnover and encourage even more people to join the profession since they will see how nurses enjoy their work based on the environment they are subjected to.

Possible Funding Source

The issue of nursing shortage and turnover can be solved by recruiting more nurses for different institutions. For this to happen, there will be a need for an increase in the number of students taking nursing courses so that they can supplement the workforce and reduce the inherent shortage. As a result, there will be a need for increased funding of nursing education. Students can be funded through varied loans, grants, and scholarship. Among the relevant funding sources for this case, there is the FNSNA Scholarship, BS Nursing Scholarship, ENA Foundation Undergraduate Scholarship, and American Assembly for Men in Nursing Scholarship among others.

References

Chapman, B. (2012). The nursing shortage: A Literature Review of Factors of Causation, Impact on Health Care, and Solutions to Fix the Problem. Utica College.

Huber, D. (2014). Leadership and nursing care management (5th ed.). Maryland Heights, MO: Saunders Elsevier. ISBN-13:9781455740710.

Murray, E. (2017). Nursing leadership and management for patient safety and quality care. F.A. Davis.

Warner, H. (2014). Stress, burnout, and addiction in the nursing profession. [Bloomington, IN]: Xlibris Corp. [/cmppp_restricted]