Nursing Shortage at Phoebe

Posted: January 5th, 2023

Nursing Shortage at Phoebe

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Nursing Shortage at Phoebe

Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital offers health care services to the people of Southwest Georgia. The facility has 300 beds and employs approximately 300 physicians. The acute-care institution provides inpatient and emergency services, and pediatric, women’s health, cardiology, psychiatric, and oncology care (Phoebe Putney Health System 2020). The facility also focuses on improving its patient experience, medical surgical ICU, cardiac ICU, bariatric or weight control services, addiction treatment services, and onsite emergency department (U.S. News & World Report 2020). The organization is one of the largest and comprehensive regional health facilities in Georgia. The firm that started in 1911 is a division of the Phoebe Putney Health System, which also encompasses the Phoebe Worth Medical Center that can accommodate 25 beds and various annexed community health organizations that offer outpatient primary care, surgical, and laboratory services (Phoebe Putney Health System 2020). The Albany-Dougherty County Hospital Authority administers the health system that generates an annual revenue of about $490.64 million (Dun & Bradstreet 2020). The group has tried various strategic approaches to remain competitive in its sector, including forming partnerships with other health institutions and acquiring others, such as the Palmyra Medical Center. Despite the attempts to maintain services of high quality and a satisfied staff, the organization has faced considerable nursing shortage in the past five to ten years, and the problem turns out to be a major hurdle despite the attempts to deal with it. Developing the various forms of motivation will help the facility to retain existing workers and attract new ones.

Description of the Problem

The health facility has experienced considerable nursing shortage in the recent past, which turns out to be a major issue affecting performance. Haddad and Toney-Butler (2020) argue that nurses are a vital part of healthcare and make up the highest portion of health services. The facility appears to be a victim of a current issue in the health sector because Haddad and Toney-Butler (2020) find that the nursing practice continues to experience shortages due to high turnover rates, inadequate potential educators, and unequal workforce distribution. Various factors have escalated the problem that the facility experiences. For example, the issue of aging population contributes towards nursing shortage at the facility. Haddad and Toney-Butler (2020) inform that overall, the population is growing older, with many people belonging to the baby boom generation transiting into the age of increased need for health operations. The U.S. presently has the highest number of citizens aged 65 and above than any other time in history. Evaluators predict that the last portion of the baby boomer generation with attain retirement age by 2029, causing a 73% upsurge in Americans aged 65 years and above, 40 million in 2011 contrasted with the 71 million 2019 (Haddad &Toney-Butler, 2020). Like the patients they serve, the nursing workforce also grows old. The data explains why Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital continues to battle the problem despite its relentless efforts to combat it. The facility must take suitable measures to mitigate the matter; otherwise it may be unable to put it under control in future because at least one million Registered Nurses (RNs) are currently older than 50 years, which means one-third of the entire workforce could be entering the retirement age in the next one or one and a half decade (Haddad & Toney-Butler 2020). The other factor that might have contributed towards the problem is nurse burnout, which occurs after some nurses realize that they entered into a profession that was not meant for them. Others work for a particular duration before experiencing burnout and leaving (Haddad & Toney-Butler 2020). Adding to the shortage is that the nursing profession is still predominantly female, and usually during childbearing years, practitioners will cut back or quit the job altogether (Haddad & Toney-Butler 2020). These problem attracts much attention from the management that has enacted various approaches to address the matter.  

Adopted Interventions

The facility has not recorded substantial advancement in dealing with the matter despite the effort the management puts towards the concern. Consequently, the facility has reported some cases of errors, unstable mortality rates, and morbidity. The scenario has resulted in high patient-to-nurse ratio, which has caused service providers to experience dissatisfaction and burnout. Inadequate number of service providers has resulted in increased workload in the remaining staff members who have to work harder and for longer hours to achieve the same outcomes they would do if the team was larger (Carlson, Kacmar & Grywacz 2010). Haddad &Toney-Butler (2020) write that due to nursing shortage, caregivers often have to work for longer hours and very harsh conditions, which can cause job dissatisfaction, injury, and fatigue. Thus, failing to take care of them could have negative effects on health care delivery. The group has tried to promote scheduling flexibility, which helps healthcare workers to juggle their busy work program with other activities (Carlson, Kacmar & Grywacz 2010). The approach allows workers to spend considerable attention to their home duties as well as to explore educational opportunities. The also enable nurses to switch between emotionally, stressful demanding work practices. The facility also tries to engage workers in different platforms and telling them why they need to commit themselves to their tasks and obligations (Phoebe Putney Health System 2020). Nevertheless, these approaches have proved to be less futile.

Proposal to Correct the Issue – Plan of Change

The facility needs to adopt a solution that would make the facility attractive to applicants to help it overcome the current stalemate that continues to cause much constraint. Thus, a suitable approach would be to improve the level of employee motivation at the workplace to attract more workers. The firm presently mostly focus on intrinsic motivation, while emphasizing on the need for nurses to have the interest to perform their job (Phoebe Putney Health System 2020). The team leaders hold meetings where they motivate workers to report to their work stations early enough, and to always have interest in their functions (Phoebe Putney Health System 2020). They remind workers that it is easier to achieve the desired goals and objectives when they have interest in what they do rather than when they wait for others to push them around or to remind them their duties (Phoebe Putney Health System 2020). However, failing to emphasize on the extrinsic motivational approaches may not improve how employees feel motivated and could derail the attempts to overcome the nursing shortage.

The best way to motivate nurses, and to attract younger workers is to embrace a broad range of extrinsic motivational techniques that have the capacity to maintain a reasonable workforce. The facility should consider improving the level of technology to improve how employees perform their functions using superior techniques (Wet, Koekemoer & Nel 2016). Workers are less likely to consider switching their profession when they feel that they interact with new technology that equips them with better knowledge and skills regarding their functions (Wet, Koekemoer & Nel 2016). Adopting new technology increases the workers’ productivity and creates a sense of contentment (Cascio & Montealegre 2016). Another way for extrinsically motivate workers and to make them stick with the organization is to allow them participate in decision-making, and make them feel that part of the larger team. The group leaders can apply the democratic leadership style, which members to take a more engaging part in the decision-making process (Sharma & Singh 2013). The approach would make team members feel freer to share their views and ideas, even though the administrator has the final say over decisions. The approach is particularly effective when the leader works with highly competent employees because it provides the chance to capitalize on the workers’ individual strengths and talents, while also gaining from the powers of the entire team (Sharma & Singh 2013). The firm can apply these techniques together with others that are equally effective.

The hospital’s management can deal with the current problem by increasing its focus on the Maslow hierarchy of needs theory, which requires leaders to provide for their workers’ requirements starting from them most basic to secondary wants. The motivational framework informs that employees become highly motivated to stay at the workplace and committed to their work when employers ensure that they get their basic or physiological needs such as food, shelter, and clothing (Stefan, Florentina & Popa 2020). Leaders can fulfil this requirement by paying the workers well so that they can purchase these essential commodities. Leaders should then transit to meeting the workers’ safety needs, then facilitate conditions that make them feel loved and valued (Stefan, Florentina & Popa 2020). The hospital can enhance safety needs by installing CCTV cameras that make workers feel secure and not exposed to attackers or violators. The management can also hire enough security agents to man every entry point and to obstruct any intruders who may breach the security (Arapgirlioglu, Elliot, Edward & Atik 2017). The management should be in the forefront in promoting the nurses’ love and belonging needs by encouraging everyone to treat each other as equal partners and to respect the views and opinions (Arapgirlioglu, Elliot, Edward & Atik 2017). The group should also promote the workers’ self-esteem needs by making them feel respected, valuable, and important to the organization. Improving the nurses’ self-esteem promote the desire to serve, and create a work environment where everyone feels appreciated (Arapgirlioglu, Elliot, Edward & Atik 2017). Also important is the need to help the nurses achieve their self-actualization needs such that they can use the skills and knowledge they have acquired over their time in service to become better and competent individuals.

All these are possible when leaders employ the appropriate leadership techniques. Leaders need to adopt transformative leadership style, which seeks to empower workers into more competent and qualified personnel (Sharma & Singh 2013). Leaders while applying the approach works with the entire team to identify the needed changes, develop a vision to steer the changes through increased inspirations, and implementing the changes while engaging dedicated team members (Sharma & Singh 2013). However, failing to adopt the most appropriate leadership technique may derail the attempts to motivate employees.

Conclusion

The report reiterates the significance of increasing the level and types of motivation at the health facility to retain existing employees and to attract more so that nursing shortage ceases to be a problem. The attempts the firms already puts in mitigating the issue illustrates how the firm acknowledges the need to find long-lasting solutions. The main weakness at Phoebe is that the management places more emphasis on intrinsic motivation without paying similar emphasis on extrinsic motivation. Leaders, therefore, should explore various styles of motivation, including adopting advanced technology, engaging workers in decision-making, and applying motivational theories, and offering perks. Such motivational techniques would help to retain existing members and attract new applicants, thereby alleviating the issue of nursing shortage.

References

Arapgirlioglu, H., Elliot, R., Edward, E., & Atik, A. (2017). Researches on science and art. Athens: Gece Kitapligi.

Carlson, D., Kacmar, M., & Grywacz, J. (2010). The relationship of schedule flexibility outcomes via the work-family interface. Journal of Managerial Psychology 25 (4), 330-355. doi: 10.1108/02683941011035278

Cascio, W., & Montealegre, R. (2016). How technology is changing work and organizations. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior 3 (1), 349-375. doi: 10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-041015-062352

Dun & Bradstreet. (2020). Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital. Retrieved 12 December 12, 2020, from https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.phoebe_putney_memorial_hospital_inc.d6f43396613405af3afb2eca9e8051ad.html

Haddad, L., & Toney-Butler, T. (2020). Nursing shortage. Retrieved 12 December 12, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493175/

Phoebe Putney Health System. (2020). Phoebe. Retrieved 12 December 12, 2020, from https://www.phoebehealth.com/

Sharma, J., & Singh, K. (2013). A study on the democratic style of leadership. International Journal of Management & Information Technology 3 (2), 54-57.

Stefan, S., Florentina, A., & Popa, S. (2020). Implications of Maslow hierarchy of needs theory on healthcare employees’ perforamance. Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences, 59, 124-143.

U.S. News & World Report. (2020). Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital. Retrieved 12 December 12, 2020, from https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/area/ga/phoebe-putney-memorial-hospital-6380486

Wet, W., Koekemoer, E., & Nel, J. (2016). Exploring the impact of information and communication technology on employees’ work and personal lives. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology 42 (1), 1-11. doi: 10.4102/sajip.v42i1.1330