Shift scheduling and the effect of patients care.

In collaboration with the approved course preceptor, students will identify a specific evidence-based topic for the capstone project change proposal. Write a 150-250 word summary explaining which category your topic and intervention are under (community or leadership).

ANSWER

Shift Scheduling and the Effect of Patients Care

Long working hours have put nurses at a high risk for sleep disturbance and short sleep duration. Insufficient sleep increase the risks of reduced performance, obesity, injuries and a range of chronic conditions as well as fatigue linked errors that harm patient care. Nurses working on long shifts such as more than 8 hours have reported medication errors and low productivity (Stimpfel, Fatehi and Kovner, 2020). Studies have shown that nurses working long hours are more likely to experience fatigue, burnout, and job dissatisfaction. Furthermore, nurses working long hours have been found to be more likely to make mistakes in patient care. Shift scheduling interventions are one way to reduce nurses’ long hours working.

The topic and intervention are under leadership category. Nursing leadership plays an essential role in improving the patient outcomes and job satisfaction among nurses. Nurse leadership has the most significant impact in nurse performance. Leadership approaches are important in shift scheduling, as it is the leaders who can set the tone for how employees perceive their work schedule and whether they view it as a burden or an opportunity to improve patient care and their own life satisfaction. Considerably, shift scheduling allows for a shorter number of working hours and overtime. When nurses work long shift hours, they are at higher risks for fatigue-related errors, injuries, deaths and medical errors (Books et al., 2020). Shift scheduling interventions are important to improve nurses’ health and safety. Shorter shifts allow for more breaks and time for nurses to rest. When nurses work shorter shifts, they are less likely to become fatigued and make errors.

Shift scheduling intervention is a leadership approach that aims to reduce the number of long shift hours worked by healthcare workers and improve health and work satisfaction. Shift scheduling interventions are intended to balance the work schedule to reduce number of long shift hours worked. The leaders have the responsibility to work closely with team members in order to accommodate shift schedule, thus creating a sense of job security and motivation for employees.

References

Stimpfel, A. W., Fatehi, F., & Kovner, C. (2020). Nurses’ sleep, work hours, and patient care quality, and safety. Sleep Health, 6(3), 314-320.

Books, C., Coody, L. C., Kauffman, R., & Abraham, S. (2020). Night shift work and its health effects on nurses. The health care manager, 39(3), 122-127.