Onehealthpro

MULTICULTURAL HEALTH CARE WORKPLACE

Would you characterize your organization as a high performance environment?  High performance organizations are those with highly motivated, enthusiastic staff who attain goals and outcomes that exceed all competitors.  If that describes your workplace, you're ready to embrace the next challenge:  the multicultural workforce.  Unless organizations are functioning as high performance systems, the challenges posed by the global migration of workers, including nurses and allied health professionals, will hit like a tsunami.  Blending language, educational backgrounds and ethical beliefs are among the multicultural issues that will slam into the system leaving organizations scrambling for solutions.  The only way to avoid the ensuing chaos is to begin right now building a high performance health care organization.  In the coming days, I'll discuss why the high performance environment is essential for thriving in the multicultural workplace.      

HEALTH CARE BLOGS

Onehealthpro wrote an article about health care blogs that you can find by visiting:  www.nurseauthoreditor.com  My article is titled "The Benefits and Problems of using Health Care Blogs."

Christine Webb, the editor of the online journal found on the nurseauthoreditor website was delightful to work with so if you harbor aspirations of writing for professional journals, I highly recommend nurseauthoreditor as a place to begin.

NURSE RETENTION AND BURNOUT

Are you looking for creative methods to retain nurses?  If so, then launch a battling burnout program.  We know competent, caring professionals are susceptible to burnout.  What can organizations do to prevent nurses from burning out and abandoning their careers?  Here are three simple, low cost strategies you can implement within 30 days.

1) Earned time off.  Not vacation.  Top notch performance that earns additional time off in the form of a sabbatical will vault your organization into a leadership role with nurse retention.  Build organizational loyalty and reward first rate performance by creating earned sabbaticals.  These need not be the lengthy sabbaticals afforded tenured faculty at a university...a couple of weeks to investigate an area of interest will work wonders for a tired spirit.

2) Offer organizational support systems for the difficult days.  These groups can be led by social workers and/or chaplains and should be focused on sharing the challenging moments, receiving support, encouragement and developing strategies for coping in future, similar situations.  These groups should be ongoing, not thrown together when a major crisis occurs.  The daily emotional drain leads to burnout and there should be an organizational strategy to alleviate this problem. 

3) Create fun learning opportunities within the organization.  Inviting crafters, writers and experts in leisure activities such as sailing, hot air ballooning and yoga into the facility for ongoing training sessions will help staff members build their skills at balancing life and work.  True, parks and recreation departments and community colleges offer such courses and you could decide that your staff should visit those locations with no intervention from your health care organization.  The question I hope you will answer is:  Will we build loyalty, reduce burnout and retain quality nurses by offering such programs on our campus?   

NURSE RETENTION AND EMPOWERMENT

Are front line nurses in your organization given the opportunity to participate in organizational and patient care decisions?  Professionals understand that final decisions must be weighed by leadership, but leaders should not consider themselves ready to make decisions until they have heard the voices of those they lead.  Health care organizations should have a communication system in place that allows input from front line professionals.  Nurse retention rates rise when nurses have a voice.      

NURSE RETENTION AND APPRECIATION

How long has it been since a member of your nursing staff received a personal thank you note from a member of your leadership team?  Would a member of your nursing staff be able to describe an incident when leadership team members thanked someone personally for his/her contribution to patient care? 

Why overlook this valuable and low cost mechanism to encourage staff members who are laboring in a complex, demanding environment?   

NURSE RETENTION AND NEW GRADUATES

I've spoken with faculty members at schools of nursing and the message I hear from them is we must stop expecting new graduates to hit the ground running.  In an earlier era, new graduates might have been able to assume greater responsibility, but the environment in which they worked was less complex and somewhat stable.  In 2007, the knowledge base changes daily, if not hourly, the workplace is technologically complicated and communication issues between the generations are significant.  New graduates have more to juggle and they should not be expected to perform at the same level as new graduates in previous generations.  The world has changed profoundly since the baby boomers entered the workplace yet most health care workplaces continue to operate as if the good old days still rule.  If you want nurse retention rates to rise, give these new graduates the support, education and encouragement they need to enhance their skills in a demanding, changing health care system.      

NURSE RETENTION AND LEADERSHIP

Nurse retention rates rise when leaders are involved.  Involved leadership means leaders are visible on nursing units, not just for formal tours, but in the wee hours of the morning, during shift change, when the unit is experiencing challenges and staying put until those challenges are resolved.  How many members of the executive team have been on a nursing unit throughout the dying process of a hospitalized patient?  How many members of the executive team have been nearby when patients and family members receive medical news that rocks their world?  Oh, I understand leaders are busy, but the question is busy doing what?  I understand leaders can't spend all their time on the nursing units, but they should not tolerate a schedule that permits them to spend no time on the nursing units.  Good decisions are never made in a vacuum and in health care that means you've got to see health care delivery. 

NURSE/PATIENT RATIOS

If organizations are serious about retaining nurses, they must establish reasonable nurse/patient ratios and abide by those numbers.  Unless a serious effort is made to establish these ratios, great people will burnout and leave.  I cannot think of a single leadership book or article that suggests the best way to obtain organizational goals is to adopt a policy of burning out staff.  The work load that many professionals labor under would lead the most capable, most dedicated professional on staff to burnout.  I understand there is a nursing shortage, but if your facility is not staffed to meet the nurse/patient ratios you've established, perhaps you should consider patient referrals to other facilities.       

EXIT INTERVIEWS

Organizations will not retain more nurses until they understand why nurses are leaving.  To obtain the best quality information, hire a third party to collect the data.  Employees are not going to tell human resources the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth unless the organization is operating as a high performance organization.  If the organization were functioning at that level, staff retention would not be a problem.  If you want the truth, let an outsider collect the data.

COMPETITIVE BENEFITS

Nurse retention rates rise when benefits are competitive. 

If your benefits package looks like every other health care organization, you are not competitive.  The message employees receive is:  we're all the same, why not work here?      

Designing a competitive benefits package requires: 1) surveying staff for needs, 2) surveying top notch organizations for ideas, 3) creating a cafeteria benefits plan that meets the needs of a multigenerational workforce.

A couple of ideas to consider: Do you offer family take out meal service for staff?  Do you have a plan for assisting staff with child care and elder care?  Do you provide concierge services to assist staff with life management issues?  Have you updated your vacation and paid leave days policies to compensate for increased acuity levels and the increased complexity of health care delivery?  If you can't answer yes to all of those questions, please be advised health care organizations exist that have embraced these ideas and your staff can determine who they are by visiting the internet.