Identification of the Issue
Healthcare is one of the most important aspect of public service. Nurses play a vital role in providing optimum health care for their patients. It is noticed that there are issues regarding the care system that reduces the quality of care in the healthcare facility. Nurses are one of the largest workforce and hence play an important role in shaping the healthcare system. Challenges within the healthcare system needs to be recognised and addressed ensure the best quality of service is given to the patients. Nurses can be a part of the positive effective change in the evolving healthcare system. Major challenges in the policy that effects the healthcare practice of nurses is that they are not involved enough and the policies exclude them from being involved in the processes (Shariff 2014).
There are several problems in the health care service which effects the working capacity of the nurses and subsequently effects the service quality of the patient care system. Health care system has always been an essential part in the public welfare system. Any issue within the organisation can impact the final service delivery. Patients need the focus and extreme care of the healthcare professionals. However, when there are internal mismanagement it has the potential to upset the health care system drastically. Recently there has been a lot of backlash for the substandard health care that could have been easily avoided. Thus it is most important to treat the issues from within to ensure the client service is maintained (Cherry and Jacob 2016).
Registered nurses are qualified individuals who need the opportunity to develop their skills and given an opportunity to be involved in the health care policy. Without the representation of nurses in the decision making policy their role within the organisation is minimised and they often feel inadequate in their position. This is major problem it has a direct effect on the performance of the nurses and the overall health care service. Enabling the nurses to be more involved can help improve the organisational structure, promote skill development and positive learning practices. Registered nurse can benefit enormously and help them to be motivated to improve their personal growth and deliver best health service to the patients (Mannix et al. 2013). Therefore, the main issue identification is to improve the participation of nurses in health policy development and developing nurse leadership which will help to monitor, support and encourage greater participation of future nurses.
Organisational Psychological Perspective
Inclusion of positive psychological practices at an organisation. It can help to improve the health of the organisation significantly. In a healthy organisation, culture, practice create a conducive environment for the employees which promotes their health and safety as well as of the organisation. There is direct link between employee well-being and the development of the organisation. Positive organisational psychology is crucial in improving the deficiencies at various levels such as individual, group level, organisation and inter organisation levels. The World Health Organisation recognises the need of positive psychological perspective in forming, implementing policy which can improve the situation of the nurses. Work life is a dominant factor in improving the wellbeing of workers and therefore there is a need to understand the challenges and the negative impact of the current policies and practices.
Nurses are highly qualified and trained individuals, however when their work is not given proper importance and they do not get any credit for their work. It is a highly demotivating factor and harms their quality of job performance. The nursing job is stressful which can mean deep emotional labour from the nurses (Delgado et al. 2017). Moreover the technological advancement has led to a job insecurity among the nurses. Introduction of robots in certain procedures are replacing the role of nurses and adds to the stress of future job placement and wages. This is extremely threatening to the physical and psychological health of nurses (Huston 2013). The organisational responsibility is crucial and needs to be effective in four stages.
The first stage is at the individual level. Personal excellence can improve the overall performance of the individual and influence the team to perform better. The organisation needs to focus on development of individual employee. Skill development, practicing better communication skills, providing feedback, promoting employee’s participation and motivation are important factor for enhancing positive individual development. Individual development can help improve personality, mental health, increase overall productivity to deliver the best service to the patient effectively as well as improve the work culture within the organisation.
The second stage is the group development, nurses must have a group wherein they can discuss issues, their views and aim at finding solution to improve their work. Developing a group also allows for the development of leadership, promotes working with diversity and helps to promote creativity in workplace (Doody et al. 2013). To illustrate the group can decide to have a recreation day arranged for the night nurses. These little things can make a huge difference to positively influence the work culture and help the organisation to have an empowered team and helps to build positive relationship and gain cross cultural perspectives (Wang and Liu 2015). At organisational level, the hospital or health care facility must be open to new ideas and promote an inclusive workplace environment and enable employees to develop leadership skill through encouraging autonomy and self-organisation (Papa and Venella 2013). At an inter-organisational level the primary focus to improve the inter-organisational relations through partnership, community involvement and networking. Health care organisations can help each other across the supply chain for their mutual benefit. It is important to ensure that individual employees are facilitated inside and outside the organisation (Carlsson-Wall et al 2015).
Consequence
In organisational paradigm messages often get lost and employees end up feeling neglected therefore it is essential that the organisation recognises and addresses the both the hedonic and the eudemonic well-being. Hedonic well-being refers to the personal satisfaction and eudemonic well-being refers to a person’s self-realisation and optimal functioning. Nurses face a lot of emotional labour, work related stress and hence organisation need to ensure that the employees are able to have an intrinsic motivation that promotes a sustainable work module for the employees (Passmore and Howell 2014).
When the following issues is addressed and nurses are allowed autonomy it helps to improve their self-esteem and motivates them to perform better. Improving and encouraging personal and group empowerment can be very beneficial in delivering the optimum care and support to the patient (Wang and Liu 2015). Creating an opportunity for the nurses in the decision making policy can help to understand and improve the deficiencies within the system. Introducing innovative nursing model such as the Dutch model of Buurtzorg has been found extremely effective in improving the quality of service, motivation of employees and reducing cost (Gray et al 2015).
Nurses should use evidence based practices in their care. Regular monitoring of their personal work practice and forming positive reaction among their co-workers can help them to effectively address any shortcomings within an organization. When nurses are motivated they can perform so much better and it directly improves their quality of service and patient care. In the Dutch model Buurtzorg is being regarded as the perfect model for nurses which has improved the care of the patients, motivation of the employees and saves 40% of the tax payers money. It was founded by Jos de Block where the nurse acts as health coach for the individual patient and their family. Nurses are often stigmatised as people who work for the sick without any empathy. Research show that when nurses are given too many patient to handle they are stressed and cannot provide the optimum care and support. This stress also impacts their behaviour and other aspects of their life and the patient’s life. The Buurtzorg care model may be more expensive but it provides the nurses and the patient the best solution. The autonomy and increased participation which was previously stated as the primary issue is solved effectively by this model and had an enormous change in the overall service (Gray et al 2015).
Evidence in support
I believe that there needs to be more participation of the nurses in the decision making process in the health policy. Often nurses are not given that importance, even though they might have the experience and qualification. A more inclusive workplace environment and developing leadership with the nurse group can prove to be beneficial for the organisation and help to improve the patient care system (Doody et al 2013). Over work and emotional labour often leads to depression and effects the quality of work therefore the organisation should ensure that the employees are happy so that they can give their best. Lastly, health care system is always innovating, it is important to embrace the change and keep myself updated about the latest development and procedure to improve my personal skills.
Conclusion
Nursing is a challenging and a very rewarding profession. There are existing issues in the management level that effects the work culture and employee performance greatly, however, personal development should be a continuous process to stay updated with the latest knowledge is very important. A positive psychology perspective is important in a work environment to improve its internal and external environment.
References
Passmore, H.A. and Howell, A.J., 2014. Nature involvement increases hedonic and eudaimonic well-being: A two-week experimental study. Ecopsychology, 6(3), pp.148-154.
Delgado, C., Upton, D., Ranse, K., Furness, T. and Foster, K., 2017. Nurses’ resilience and the emotional labour of nursing work: An integrative review of empirical literature. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 70, pp.71-88.
Mannix, J., Wilkes, L. and Daly, J., 2013. Attributes of clinical leadership in contemporary nursing: an integrative review. Contemporary nurse, 45(1), pp.10-21.
Cherry, B. and Jacob, S.R., 2016. Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, & management. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Shariff, N., 2014. Factors that act as facilitators and barriers to nurse leaders’ participation in health policy development. BMC nursing, 13(1), p.20.
Doody, O., Slevin, E. and Taggart, L., 2013. Preparing for and conducting focus groups in nursing research: part 2. British Journal of Nursing, 22(3), pp.170-173.
Carlsson-Wall, M., Kraus, K. and Lind, J., 2015. Strategic management accounting in close inter-organisational relationships. Accounting and Business Research, 45(1), pp.27-54.
Papa, A. and Venella, J., 2013. Workplace violence in healthcare: strategies for advocacy. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 18(1).
Gray, B.H., Sarnak, D.O. and Burgers, J.S., 2015. Home care by self-governing nursing teams: the Netherlands’ Buurtzorg model. The Commonwealth Fund.
Wang, S. and Liu, Y., 2015. Impact of professional nursing practice environment and psychological empowerment on nurses’ work engagement: test of structural equation modelling. Journal of Nursing Management, 23(3), pp.287-296.
Huston, C., 2013. The impact of emerging technology on nursing care: warp speed ahead. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 18(2).