Involving Nurses in Hospital Staffing Decision-Making

A qualitative study that looks at the experiences of nurses who have served on staffing committees.

When I am faced with challenging situations and issues that involve multiple stakeholders, I seek guidance or information from others to make the most informed decisions. This is a practice many health professionals and researchers emulate, and it makes sense to do this, yet when it comes to the topic of nurse staffing in hospital settings, nurses are not usually involved in the process. If they are involved to some degree, it is likely because of a hospital’s pursuit for nursing excellence recognition through shared governance and/or the external pressure of state laws, like mandated nurse staffing committees.

Nurse autonomy and engagement means better care.

Over the years, research has shown how increases in nurse autonomy and engagement can positively benefit patient care and support nurse retention, yet how do these concepts apply to nurse staffing? In what ways are those concepts translated into practice or policy efforts? These were the questions that initially guided me.

Seeking a real voice in nurse staffing policymaking.

In a survey exploring the concept of staff nurse involvement in hospital staffing policymaking, most nurses described feeling powerless. with little […]

2024-03-20T10:15:39-04:00March 20th, 2024|nurse staffing, Nursing, nursing research, patient safety|0 Comments
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In Nursing, Empathy Is a Practice to Cultivate

Empathy as one reason nurses are so widely trusted.

Last December, nurses were named the most honest and trusted profession in the U.S. for the 17th year in a row. In order to build trusting nurse-patient relationships that can help improve health, nurses must understand the needs and circumstances of patients, families, and communities. One way nurses arrive at an understanding of these needs is through practicing empathy. This may explain why nurse empathy has been found to be a major factor in hospitalized patients’ satisfaction with their care.

photo credit: EKGTechnicianSalary

The word empathy is not very old, as words go. It appears to have been a translation into English, using a combination of Greek roots meaning ‘in’ and ‘feeling,’ of an early 20th century German psychological term, Einfűhlung (‘feeling-in’).

In health care, we generally define empathy as the ability to enter a patient’s frame of reference (thoughts, emotions, circumstances, etc.) and sense the meaning in her or his inner world, as the concept was described by Carl Rogers, one of the founders of humanistic psychology. 

Are we becoming less empathetic?

These days, empathy can often seem to be in short supply. Much-publicized study findings suggest that […]

2019-06-13T07:49:55-04:00June 13th, 2019|Nursing|1 Comment
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A Role to Live Up To

By Kinsey Morgan, RN. Kinsey is a nurse who lives in Texas and currently works in the ICU in which she formerly spent three years as a CNA. Her previous posts on working as a new nurse can be found here.

Now in my sixth month as a new nurse, I find every day that there is something new to learn, figure out, or adjust to. The constant stimulation and challenge is part of what makes me love being an ICU nurse.

Recently I was exposed to the simple yet powerful fact that being a “unit nurse” carries more weight than I’d thought. During a code blue on the medical–surgical floor a few weeks ago, I was performing CPR when it became necessary to initiate a dopamine drip to support a failing blood pressure.

One of the medical–surgical nurses spiked the bag and connected the tubing and proceeded to tap me on the shoulder and ask me if he had correctly entered the dosage of dopamine into the IV pump. Time stood still for a split-second while I contemplated the weight of this question. Though my mind and body quickly returned to the task at hand, the implications of that question haven’t left me yet.

The nurse who asked has been an RN for several years and has a lot more experience than I have. In reflection, I am honored and humbled by his trust. Not having encountered vasoactive drugs very often in his practice, this nurse […]

2016-11-21T13:10:35-05:00February 28th, 2012|career, nursing perspective|1 Comment
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That Acute Attention to Detail, Bordering on Wariness…

By Kinsey Morgan, RN. Kinsey is a new nurse who lives in Texas and currently works in the ICU in which she formerly spent three years as a CNA. Her last (and first) post at this blog can be found here.

It seems that nursing schools across the world subscribe to certain mantras regarding the correct way to do things. Different schools teach the same things with utmost urgency. Hand washing is one of the never-ending lessons that comes to mind. How many times do nursing students wash their hands while demonstrating the correct way to perform a procedure? I vividly remember actually having to be evaluated on the skill of hand washing itself.

Another of the regularly emphasized points of nursing school is double-checking. One of my first clinical courses required students to triple-check patient identification before giving medications. We were to look at the medication administration record, the patient’s wristband, and then actually have the patient state their name.

As a new nurse learning several new computer systems for charting, etc., I’ve noticed that the old attention to detail, ground into my soul during my school days, now seems easy to overlook, since computers do so much of the work. Of course, computer charting and electronic MARs* have simplified tasks and made time management much less daunting. But sometimes I worry about the hidden cost of such improvements.

I intend, vow, resolve to make an effort to remain aware of how […]

2016-11-21T13:11:23-05:00November 21st, 2011|Nursing, Patients|2 Comments
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Realizations of a New Nurse #1: I Am Now the Educator

image via Wikipedia

By Kinsey Morgan, RN. Kinsey is a new nurse who lives in Texas and currently works in the ICU in which she formerly spent three years as a CNA.

In nursing school, there is a growing push to educate future nurses on the amazing breadth of roles within the nursing profession. As a student, you are in some way exposed to the role of nurse as leader, advocate, healer, educator, team player, and researcher. Even this list is not exhaustive. These roles are certainly vital and important and worth teaching about in school.

As a brand new nurse, I haven’t personally encountered all of these roles yet, but there is one in particular that I encounter—and embody—every day: that of educator.

One of the most humbling realizations I’ve had since recently becoming a nurse is that I am now the educator. I’m glad to know that there are other nurses around me, as well as many resources from which to glean knowledge, but I am daily faced with the fact that people now look to me for answers. There are times when I feel outside myself, for while I give correct answers, hearing myself giving them is a little surreal. I’m sure these feelings subside with time, but I hope that I always remain somewhat in awe of the amount of trust my title elicits.

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2016-11-21T13:11:31-05:00November 7th, 2011|career, nursing perspective, students|4 Comments
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Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
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