Nurses, Patients and the Effects of Extended Hours - Essay Sample

Introduction

More extended work shift of more than twelve hours has always been ordinary and popular with hospital nurses; however, little concern is given to the adverse effects brought by these extended hours on both the welfares of the patients and nurses. A survey data that was conducted in four states show that almost 80percent of nurses preferred scheduling their duties at their respective hospitals. However, as the working hours increased, patient's dissatisfaction also increased significantly (National Library of Medicine and National Institute of Health, 2016). Moreover, nurses that worked more ten hours should consider the higher possibility of burnout than nurses working for a shorter period of time. Longer worker shifts are, therefore, known to affect nurses' wellbeing and the quality of patient care.

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Long Working Shifts

The regular eight hours shifts of most hospitals are slowly fading away as the work in hospital increases due to a large number of patients checking in on a regular basis. Nurses increasingly begin to work twelve hours to cope with this challenge. This tight planned out schedule leave nurses with three days s in a week to work, hence, providing a more favorable balance between work and life.

Despite the measures taken to regulate the length of shifts and operating hours for the resident physicians and those in other industries, there is still no policy that governs the working hours of registered nurses. However, some states have abolished mandatory overtime for its nurses, but a nurse can engage in overtime voluntarily. The increase in nurse shortage and the failing economy has also encouraged most nurses to undertake overtime.

Case Research

Research has documented those hospitals that have a more significant number of nurses experiencing burnout show the lowest patient satisfaction. Furthermore, a new study indicates that nursing shifts that exceed ten hours were most likely to burnout, job dissatisfaction, and inadequate care among the patients. University of Pennsylvania School of nursing was the first to conduct a study aimed to establish the relationship between the length of shifts and patient response concerning the care they receive. About seventy 70percent of the patients were found to be affected by the long changes. The study involved an analysis of data from general hospitals, which surveyed nurses within a period of four years in different four states. A sample of 10 nurses in each hospital was used, whereby shift lengths were calculated by finding the difference between the first and last shifts. These shifts were grouped in ascending order, which was used to determine the nurse outcomes with gave patient satisfaction. The dissatisfaction rate and burnout were determined using specific strategies.

The Research Hypothesis

The study showed that the longer the working shift, the higher the possibility of severe nurse outcomes like burnouts. Patients were less satisfied when variations were also long, but despite the poor results, nurses seemed to be very comfortable with their schedules. A large number of patients in the hospitals that had nurses with more working hours reported that never gave them the attention they desired. The nurses communicated poorly with them, pain carelessly controlled, and they never got an immediate response in a time of need. This level of dissatisfaction decreased as the time for working shifts decreased.

Policy and Practice

The need for the development of system that governs the working hours but still ensures that the balance is maintained was mandatory. The result proposed that systems similar to those in other industries should be adopted in nursing as well. A Joint commission requested hospitals to focus on their efforts to analyze and address health care providers' level of possible exposure to fatigue caused to extremely long shifts (Waddill-Goad and Sigma Theta Tau International, 2016). This further highlighted that the risk for occurrence of injury or even death as a result of fatigue is taken very seriously in health care centers. The commission also proposed a nine evidence-based procedure which included the evaluation of off- duties hours, and the involvement of the staff in the work schedule to minimize risk as a result of fatigue.

Boards of nursing at the state level should decide whether nurse shifts and overtimes undertook themselves are prohibited. This issue has been stopped several times by nurses who take pleasure in the overtimes. Nursing management should also monitor hours worked by nurses, but considering the impact, the decision may impose on the hospital. Hospital administrators need to identify practices that suit the recommendations by the Institution of Medicine to twelve hours (Kupperschmidt, 2018).

The head of the hospital should also adopt a policy that respects and acknowledges the nurses off duty days and vacation time. These policies that encourage suitable working hours can lead to a healthier and productive workforce that can handle the complex task of taking care of the patients and their families.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the length of shift undertaken by nurses is significant in determining the type and quality of services issued by nurses. One possible finding is that most nurses underestimate and take for granted the negative implication of working for long hours. Nurses should be guided and advised on the dangers of taking long shifts.

References

National Library of Medicine (U.S.), & National Institute of Health (U.S.). (2016). U.S. National Library of Medicine: Digital collections. Bethesda, MD: U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Waddill-Goad, S., & Sigma Theta Tau International. (2016). Nurse burnout: Combating stress in nursing.

Kupperschmidt, B. (2018). 12 Hour Shifts. (Journal of Christian nursing.)