Curbing Nurse Burnout with ViSi Mobile

Nurses and the challenges they face continue to be at the forefront of the national conversation. And for good reason: they are the backbone of our health system. In addition to providing direct patient care, everyday nurses go above and beyond to serve their local communities, coordinate care and manage patients’ needs. But ongoing workforce challenges threaten progress made by nurses, communities, and families. On top of that, nurses are also dealing with a lack of support as they put themselves at the forefront of our fight against COVID-19.

Without nurses, the U.S. health system lacks direction, as many are telling us in their own words. Nurses allow hospitals and clinics to function properly. They are on the frontlines of protecting us from illness and providing care and comfort in our times of need.

A report released by the healthcare market research and consulting firm PRC reveals key data about nurses in the workforce today, as well as what the future holds for nurses and how hospital administrators can help support them going forward.

One of the main focuses of the study examined how many nurses report feeling burned out. According to the report, 15.6% of all nurses reported feelings of burnout, with the percentage rising to 41% of "unengaged" nurses. What's really interesting is that 50% of burned-out nurses also reported that they had no plans to leave their organization—pointing to the importance of supporting and meeting nurses where they are at in their careers.

The report further explained that “unengaged” nurses are those who may not be part of a team with their colleagues, have diminished morale, and feel emotionally checked out from their work which also ultimately affects their patient care.

Nurse engagement was found to be associated with factors such as autonomy, nurse-to-nurse teamwork and collaboration, staffing and resources, interpersonal relationships, and leadership access and responsiveness. ER nurses also seemed to be at a higher risk, with 20% reporting feeling unengaged.

Burnout and Pay Continue to Fuel High Turnover

In a recent Incredible Health Survey, it was found that over a third (34%) of the nurses surveyed reported it is very likely that they will quit their jobs by the end of 2022 – with 44% citing burnout and a high-stress environment as the reason for their desire to leave. Benefits and pay are the second leading cause (27%).

Perhaps the most disconcerting, 65% of the nurses surveyed reported that they had been verbally or physically assaulted by a patient or a patient’s family member within the last year. Anger around hospital/COVID guidelines (52%) and frustration around staffing or care (47%) were the contributing factors to this aggression.

Supporting Our Nurses

The easiest way for community members to support nurses is by following local and CDC COVID-19 guidelines, and treating nurses you come into contact with– with patience and respect.

Health systems can support their workforce in a number of ways:

• Provide clear career advancement opportunities, skill growth, and training;
• Offer more flexible scheduling options;
• Properly staff teams;
• Offer competitive pay;
• Incorporate beneficial technology to ease the workflow of their days;
• Encourage better teamwork and transparency; and
• Offer stronger management training, including building a more supportive work culture.

Managers can help as well by:

• Including nurses in decision-making and governance;
• Showing more appreciation;
• Ensuring nurses and staff are taking breaks;
• Communicating about future plans and vision;
• Doing more wellness checks; and
• Providing more clarity on career mobility and training opportunities;

It is a statistical fact that patients are more likely to have better experiences when nurses are engaged, so it is important to provide them with the support they need to be fulfilled in their jobs.

This phenomenon has only worsened during the onslaught of the pandemic, as hospitals worldwide struggled to maintain patient volume while being understaffed, address vaccine hesitancy, and stay up to date on changing guidelines and treatment options for COVID-19m, among others. More and more healthcare workers are experiencing burnout and distress than ever before, and the impact is significant:

• Increased likelihood of major medical error and malpractice lawsuits
• Record-setting turnover rates and staff shortages
• Health practitioners dying of suicide related to work distress

Electronic health records (EHRs) have long been cited as one of the major causes of burnout. The concept of electronic health records was first introduced as a way to improve healthcare and patient safety, allowing patients to receive better care because the information about their illness and treatment could be stored in one place, reducing duplication and eliminating many errors. A 2015 study also enumerated some advantages of EHRs for nurses, including medication reminders, preventing drug interactions, immediate access to patient medical history, and documentation of clinical care.

However, this is not always the case; EHRs often require medical professionals to spend more time entering data into records instead of actually treating patients. The same 2015 study also cited some restrictions on the use of EHRs, such as:

• Lack of user participation and readiness – the education, training, and participation of nurses
• Lower investment of resources about user’s readiness to accept changes and implementation of EHR

Sotera Wireless's ViSi Mobile® Patient Monitoring System is a platform for comprehensive vital signs monitoring that keeps clinicians connected to their patients, whether in bed, in transport, or while ambulating. Featuring comfortable body-worn sensors that allow for freedom of movement, the system enables accurate, continuous monitoring of all core vital signs with beat-to-beat, noninvasive blood pressure, as well as patient activity and posture. ViSi Mobile is a system designed to enhance patient safety, allowing early detection of patient deterioration and connecting clinicians with their patients anywhere, any time.

ViSi Mobile bridges the gap between intermittent spot-checking and ICU intensive monitoring. With continuous surveillance monitoring of key vital signs, early recognition and detection of patient deterioration enable clinicians to make timely and effective interventions. Studies have shown that continuous vital signs monitoring is associated with significant improvements in key clinical outcomes in patients treated in the general care ward.

Without additional effective solutions to burnout, the physician workforce is at stake. And since stress is a normal part of human existence — nobody is immune to it — it’s important to arm ourselves with knowledge so that we recognize when stress rears its ugly head.

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4430005/#:~:text=Electronic%20health%20records%20provide%20many,of%20clinical%20care%20(3).
https://nurse.org/articles/nurse-burnout-statistics/

https://www.incrediblehealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/IH-COVID-19-2022-Summary-1.pdf