What strategies might you use to decrease stress and improve patient care?

Case Study 1

In the unit’s monthly staff meeting, staff stress from the current pandemic is brought up as a growing

problem. The staff complain that they are overworked, exhausted and there is not enough staff. They

are also tired of orienting new staff, and temporar

y staff members are not effective. Two nurses

mention that they have personally experienced more near misses when administering medications. The

unit

seems to also be experiencing a lack of teamwork and increase hostility among the staff

.

The nurse

manger tells the staff that they recognize from the discussion that there is a lot of tension and this is a

concern. As the nurse manager you leave the meeting and are in your office to consider how to

response to the unit and the proble

ms.

Questions

1.

You want to better understand the impact of the stress, workload, staffing, and quality care

problems on your unit. How will you accomplish this?

2.

You plan to arrange a staff meeting to increase staff knowledge of stress and stress responses

.

What should the presentation include?

3.

How will you engage the staff in the process to improve stress management?

4.

What leadership style should you exhibit

and why

?

5.

What strategies might you use to decrease stress and improve patient care? Be specific.

Retrieved

& modified

from Finkelman, A. (2022) Quality Improvement: A Guide for Integration in

Nursing (2

nd

edition). Jones & Bartlett Learning. ISBN 9781284225051

Case Study 1

In the unit’s monthly staff meeting, staff stress from the current pandemic is brought up as a growing

problem. The staff complain that they are overworked, exhausted and there is not enough staff. They

are also tired of orienting new staff, and temporary staff members are not effective. Two nurses

mention that they have personally experienced more near misses when administering medications. The

unit seems to also be experiencing a lack of teamwork and increase hostility among the staff. The nurse

manger tells the staff that they recognize from the discussion that there is a lot of tension and this is a

concern. As the nurse manager you leave the meeting and are in your office to consider how to

response to the unit and the problems.

Questions

1. You want to better understand the impact of the stress, workload, staffing, and quality care

problems on your unit. How will you accomplish this?

2. You plan to arrange a staff meeting to increase staff knowledge of stress and stress responses.

What should the presentation include?

3. How will you engage the staff in the process to improve stress management?

4. What leadership style should you exhibit and why?

5. What strategies might you use to decrease stress and improve patient care? Be specific.

Retrieved & modified from Finkelman, A. (2022) Quality Improvement: A Guide for Integration in

Nursing (2