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. Students should consider the clinical environment in which they are currently employed or have recently worked. The capstone project topic can be a clinical practice problem, an organizational issue, a leadership or quality improvement initiative, or an unmet educational need specific to a patient population or community. The student may also choose to work with an interprofessional collaborative team.

Students should select a topic that aligns to their area of interest as well as the clinical practice setting in which practice hours are completed.

Write a 500-750 word description of your proposed capstone project topic. Include the following:

The problem or issue, intervention, quality initiative, educational need, or collaborative interprofessional team project that will be the focus of the change proposal.
The setting or context in which the problem or issue, intervention, quality initiative, educational need, or collaborative interprofessional team project can be observed.
A description (providing a high level of detail) regarding the problem or issue, intervention, quality initiative, educational need, or collaborative interprofessional team project.
Effect of the problem or issue, intervention, quality initiative, educational need, or collaborative interprofessional team project.
Significance of the topic and its implications for nursing practice.
A proposed solution to the identified project topic with an explanation of how it will affect nursing practice.
You are required to cite to a minimum of eight peer-reviewed sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years, appropriate for the assignment criteria, and relevant to nursing practice. Plan your time accordingly to complete this assignment.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite.

ANSWER

Shift Scheduling and the Effect of Patients Care

Nurses are one of the most important professions in the healthcare industry. They provide critical care to patients and play a vital role in hospitals and clinics. However, nurses are disproportionately affected by long work hours. The negative impacts of long work hours among nurses are well documented. Long shiftwork can lead to fatigue, stress, and burnout. It can also increase the risk of injuries and accidents. Nurses who work long hours are at risk for chronic health problems such as heart disease, obesity, and diabetes (Kaliyaperumal, Elango, Alagesan, and Santhanakrishanan, 2017). In addition, patients are at risk because nurses who are fatigued and stressed cannot provide adequate care to their patients. Fatigue can lead to accidents and injuries and reduced productivity and performance. In addition, fatigue can cause stress and increase the risk of burnout. Stress can also lead to physical health problems such as heart disease, hypertension, and obesity. This capstone project aims to offer an intervention through scheduling shifts to alleviate the negative impacts of long work hours among nurses. The intervention will be piloted in a selected hospital to determine its feasibility and effectiveness.

The topic and intervention are under the leadership category since they are focused on improving the shiftwork and long work hours conditions of nurses. Considerably, the nurse leadership focuses on the nurses’ wellbeing and health, which is essential in promoting safe and high-quality patient care. This study aims to investigate an intervention that would improve the health and wellbeing of nurses working long hours. It is hoped that this study will provide valuable information on the benefits of shift scheduling in reducing the negative impacts of long work hours among nurses.

The negative impacts of long work hours are a major concern for nurses, healthcare organizations, and patients (Vidotti et al., 2018). To address these concerns, there is a need to understand the causes of these problems and identify effective interventions. Nurses are a critical part of the hospital team, and their health conditions greatly affect hospital operations and patient care. Therefore, the leadership needs to focus on the intervention to improve nurses’ health conditions to provide quality care to patients.

Long working shifts have impacted the performance, health, and wellbeing of the nurses working. Long working shift affects the nurses’ performance and increase the risk of errors in inpatient care, which has been identified as one of the leading causes of medical error. In addition, sleeping on duty during long work hours was associated with attentional failures due to fatigue. The effects of sleep deprivation on nurses’ performance lead them to make errors during their work, which can cause adverse effects on patients. Nurses who worked more than 12 h were more likely to report job dissatisfaction and stress. McDowall, Murphy, and Anderson (2017) argue that moral distress, compassion fatigue, and long working hours impact sick time usage, turnover rates, and productivity.

Scheduling shifts improve job satisfaction and lower stress levels, thus improving nurses’ performance by reducing the number of attentional failures and medical errors. Increased jobs satisfaction will boost patient outcomes and increase patient satisfaction. The intervention will improve patient safety, nurses’ wellbeing and improve the nurses’ performance.

Considerably, the topic of long working shifts among nurses is significant in the contemporary nursing practice due to the impact of long working hours on patient safety and quality of care. The long working hours have increased their exposure to psychosocial and physical stressors that impact their performance and the quality of care. Therefore, there is a need for an intervention that will foster change in the long work hours to boost patient health outcomes, patient safety, and quality of care.

References

Kaliyaperumal, D., Elango, Y., Alagesan, M., & Santhanakrishanan, I. (2017). Effects of sleep deprivation on the cognitive performance of nurses working in shifts. Journal of clinical and diagnostic research: JCDR, 11(8), CC01.

McDowall, K., Murphy, E., & Anderson, K. (2017). The impact of shift work on sleep quality among nurses. Occupational Medicine, 67(8), 621-625.

Vidotti, V., Ribeiro, R. P., Galdino, M. J. Q., & Martins, J. T. (2018). Burnout Syndrome and shift work among the nursing staff1. Revista latino-americana de enfermagem, 26.