Patient Outcomes
Hospital nurses frequently feel burnout due to the high-risk nature of their jobs and their mental tiredness, which has a severe impact on the standard of care and results for patients. According to a recent study in 2021, nurses' mental health contributed to a flow issue that worsened the hospital's overall condition and efficiency by extending patients' stays by 2% on average (Schlak et al., 2021). Additionally, failure-to-rescue rates among nurses increased by 10%, and patient fatality risks increased by 11% on average in American hospitals with an average nurse burnout rate (Schlak et al., 2021). Additionally, the quality of a hospital's workplace has a direct impact on patient satisfaction; patients are less inclined to suggest facilities with high rates of burnout and subpar workplaces (Brooks Carthon et al., 2020).
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The understaffing issue, which furthers the deterioration of nurses' mental health, is perpetuated by the difficulty to retain nurses owing to poor mental health. Every unit higher on their emotional fatigue scale causes a 12% rise in nursing job turnover, while nurses in better work settings are less likely to express unhappiness and a desire to quit (Kelly et al., 2021; Nantsupawat et al., 2017). Two potential strategies to increase nurse retention rates are presented by the direct relationship between mental health and the hospital environment that leads to more nurses leaving: enhancing nurse mental health or enhancing the hospital environment to lessen nurse burnout.
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When examining several studies, the limits of the study on this subject become clear. Studies continue to be restricted to hospitals within a single system or state, which falls short of offering a sizable participant pool that accurately represents the situation of the healthcare system as a whole. Others average and combine surveys filled out by nurses, causing problems with unique experiences and specifics, and the accuracy with which nurses complete their surveys has a significant bearing on the validity of their conclusions.
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It is crucial to raise nurse retention rates and mental health standards, regardless of the method used or its limits. To lower nurse turnover rates and enhance patient care and results, hospitals must deal with the issue of nurse burnout and endeavor to improve the working environment for nurses. Not only will hospitals and patients gain from nurses having better mental health, but so will society as a whole.
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Sources:
Schlak, A. E., Aiken, L. H., Chittams, J., Poghosyan, L., & McHugh, M. (2021). Leveraging the work environment to minimize the negative impact of nurse burnout on patient outcomes. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(2), 610. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18020610
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Contributed by Braden Tejada