Nurse burnout is a common medical problem that impacts patient outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to critique four research articles that show the relationship between nurse burnout and its effect on patients. The research papers that will be used in the analysis are Dall’Ora et al. (2020), Mudallal et al. (2018), Schlak et al. (2021), and Shah et al. (2021). The author will critique the four journals and answer the PICOT statement about burnout in nursing and its effect on the patient.
Nursing Practice Problem and PICOT Statement
Many nurses experience burnout in their profession that leads to poor work output pausing danger to the patient’s life. The consequences of burnout in nurses are worse, and thus prevention is necessary. Despite all the best efforts to eradicate the problem, it still affects many practitioners globally. More research needs to be conducted to understand fatigue among nurse practitioners. Therefore effective interventions need to be implemented to help eliminate burnout.
The PICOT statement asks a question related to burnout among nurse practitioners. In a 35-year-old nurse employed in an ICU, will improved staffing help reduce burnout and improve patients outcome within one month? The nurse in the scenario reflects many challenges the practitioners go through, including burnout. Newly recruited nurse practitioners are unsure of what they expect in their workplace after employment. Analyzing credible research journals will help answer the PICOT question.
Background of the Study
Four credible journals were selected to be used in the research. The first journal article Dall’Ora et al. (2020) entailed a theoretical review to assess many literature sources on burnout among nurses. The second piece of literature was by Shah et al. (2021), which aimed to examine the impact of COVID-19 on burnout among nurses. Schlak et al. (2021) was the third journal article that examined fatigue among health practitioners in states such as Florida, Pennsylvania, California, and New Jersey. The fourth article, by Mudallal et al. (2018), examined how leadership can prevent exhaustion among nurse personnel.
Method of Study
The researchers in the first article undertook a theoretical review to understand nurse burnout better. In May 2019, the researchers screened CINAHL, MEDLINE, and PsycINFO for empirical research on fatigue in nursing published in peer-reviewed journals since 1975 (Dall’Ora et al., 2020). Of the 368 papers retrieved in full text, 277 were eliminated, and 91 were used in the analysis. (Dall’Ora et al., 2020). The method used in the study was appropriate as it aimed at gathering essential data relating to nurse burnout.
In the second quantitative article, the researchers gathered socio-demographic information from responses to questions concerning years in the profession, primary and secondary nursing employment, and the workplace setting. They covered three parts of educational achievement and whether the participant was internationally educated (Shah et al., 2021). The researchers characterized nurses’ survey replies using descriptive statistics. They provided averages and standard deviations for continuous data and frequency distributions for categorical ones.
The third quantitative journal included a secondary examination of four cross-sectional datasets connected and combined using a common hospital identity. Using a variant of the Dillman technique, the researchers questioned 30% of registered nurses in Florida, California, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey (Schlak et al., 2021). Information about hospitals’ amenities was obtained from reputable online polling resources 24,490 nurses from approximately 520 acute care hospitals that were not affiliated with the federal government made up the analytic sample (Schlak et al., 2021). About 1,900,00 surgical in-patients (aged 18 to 99) were included in the survey (Schlak et al., 2021). Those medical facilities with at least ten nurse participants were included since this was in line with past empirical studies.
In the fourth quantitative journal, researchers examined the link between nurse burnout and the leadership styles of nurses in charge by using a descriptive, cross-sectional, correlational study methodology. Three hundred sixty-four respondents were included as part of the sample (Mudallal et al., 2018). Each industry’s largest hospitals (those with over 150 beds) were chosen since they have the most impact on the healthcare industry (Mudallal et al., 2018). Four hundred and seven registered nurses from eleven hospitals were randomly selected (Mudallal et al., 2018). Registered nurses who could read and write English and had worked in the field of study for at least six months were eligible to participate.
Results of the Study
Nurses’ well-being is crucial to the survival of their patients. Higher rates of death, non-resuscitation, and duration of stay were seen for patients in hospitals with higher rates of nurse burnout (Schlak et al., 2021). A more incredible nursing burnout was linked to an increased likelihood of these adverse patient outcomes, but further study revealed that the work environment might be used to mitigate this association. To reduce nurse burnout and encourage nurses to provide high-quality patient care, researchers recommend that hospital managers adopt the Magnet model.
Factors contributing to burnout among nurses include both the nature of their employment and their characteristics. This research shows that leaders may make a difference in the workplace by increasing employees’ sense of purpose (Mudallal et al., 2018). Leadership necessitates that workers be given agency in their work and the choices that affect it, as well as an atmosphere of trust in the leader’s ability to ensure a good working environment. Contributing to continuing efforts to minimize the nursing shortage and enhance the quality of care may also improve nurses’ work circumstances, which may allow nurses to continue in the profession for longer and so attract more female nurses to employment.
The healthcare industry has a severe challenge in the form of nurse burnout. A meta-analysis of 91 research found that burnout in nursing is consistently linked to unfavorable aspects of the profession (Dall’Ora et al., 2020). If this happens, serious harm might be done to the medical professionals and the patients. Maslach’s idea provides a reasonable basis for understanding the observed correlations. It is challenging to utilize the data to create treatments to minimize burnout since the causes and effects of burnout cannot be consistently recognized and discriminated against due to inadequate assessment of burnout and insufficient research on certain relationships.
Registered nurses in a broad range of settings continue to disclose experiencing burnout. Uncertainty about how the COVID-19 pandemic’s high demands on employees influenced burnout rates was yet to be determined (Shah et al., 2021). A multi-pronged approach must include legislation enforcing sufficient staffing ratios. To decrease or eradicate burnout among clinical staff and move toward happier practitioners, better health, better treatment, and reduced costs, framework actions are necessary, including the reimagining and innovation of workflow, personnel management, and organizational wellness.
Ethical Considerations
Standard and local ethical guidelines for research investigations were followed in all four articles. In Dall’Ora et al. (2020), Schlak et al. (2021), and Shah et al. (2021), the authors did not mention the ethical considerations. Still, a close view of the methodology reveals that the researchers respected the set ethical standards. It was determined that the instruments might be used in the study without violating ethical standards (Mudallal et al., 2018). The university and all the hospitals included in the study consented to conduct the research after receiving clearance from their respective institutional review boards (IRBs). All participants were aware of the study’s goals, the expected time commitment, and their unconditional right to discontinue participation at any time.
The link between Research, Practice Problem, and PICOT
The link between the research question, nurse burnout, and the PICOT question has been identified. All four studies mentioned interventions that can help reduce burnout among the nurse practitioners, such as adequate staffing and workplace motivation. The research supports the need to alter the nursing practice to reduce burnout. The nurse in the PICOT scenario would significantly benefit if enough practitioners were employed in the ICU station. In this case, hiring more nurses would help reduce the workload that nurses experience and therefore improve the patient outcome. The participants in the PICOT are similar to those in the research article, as burnout is a problem affecting many nurses globally.
Proposed Change of Practice
Leaders in the nursing field should help reduce nurse burnout by spotting the signs, providing resources, and educating their colleagues. If management is aware of the warning signs of burnout, they may help their employees cope with the stress they are experiencing and prevent burnout from becoming a more severe problem. The nurse-patient ratio must be improved to avoid work overload. Staffing offices, nurse managers, and nurses should all work together to develop optimal shift patterns for the whole organization.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a change in practice is necessary to combat the adverse effects of burnout among nurse professionals. The evidence from the four journals illustrates how evidence-based practice can be incorporated to combat fatigue among health practitioners and many other professionals. Adequate staffing is a significant intervention that can help reduce burnout among many nurse practitioners. Hospital management should develop programs that are appropriate for the nurses.
References
Dall’Ora, C., Ball, J., Reinius, M., & Griffiths, P. (2020). Burnout in nursing: A theoretical review. Human Resources for Health, 18(1), 1–17. Web.
Mudallal, R. H., Othman, W. M., & Al Hassan, N. F. (2018). Nurses’ burnout: The influence of leader empowering behaviors, work conditions, and demographic traits. Inquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing, 54(1), 004695801772494. Web.
Schlak, A. E., Aiken, L. H., Chittams, J., Poghosyan, L., & McHugh, M. (2021). Leveraging the work environment to minimize the negative impact of nurse burnout on patient outcomes. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(2), 1–15. Web.
Shah, M. K., Gandrakota, N., Cimiotti, J. P., Ghose, N., Moore, M., & Ali, M. K. (2021). Prevalence of and factors associated with nurse burnout in the US. JAMA Network Open, 4(2), 1–11. Web.