Interview Summary
For this assignment, I interviewed a mate of mine from a nursing college who will be referred to as “Sally” in this paper. At the moment, Sally works as an advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) at The Medical Center of Southeast Texas. Her major duties are performing a physical examination, analyzing lab tests, diagnosing, developing treatment plans, advising public health issues, and others. Sally has undergone numerous training to obtain a qualification so that she could impact healthcare.
Even though Sally enjoys her occupation and mentions the high-quality services provided by the organization, she emphasizes several downsides. Mandatory overtime is a major issue in the center Sally works for. It is primarily connected to the pandemic, which puts a strain on the staff due to the number of patients admitted. Working long hours negatively affects nurses’ performance leading to burnout, medication errors, and other problems. The hospital attempted to remove this strain by hiring staff; however, it was temporary salvation. Sally feels that her productivity lowers, although she tries to delegate the duties. She mentions that the organizational culture aims to promote collaboration between the nurses; however, the interdisciplinary work is currently halted. Therefore, Sally only had an experience of working in a nursing team.
Issue Identification
The issue Sally specifies relates to the improper labor-to-hour ratio, in other words – mandatory overtime. For most nurses, overtime usually implies more than 40 hours of work per week (Stimpfel et la., 2019). According to Lobo et al. (2018), “this is particularly true in critical care environments, which experience unpredictable fluctuations in patient volume and acuity, combined with a need for more specialized nurses” (p. 47). Since working extra hours demands more energy from a professional, Sally may fall into physical and emotional burnout. A solution to this issue can be introducing the interdisciplinary approach, which can reduce a range of duties of a nurse, thereby decreasing working time.
Change Theories That Could Lead to an Interdisciplinary Solution
The change theory is an approach that introduces a step-by-step-action plan aimed at eliminating a problem. Everette Roger’s change theory can be claimed to be an efficient approach towards solving the overtime issue. The theory’s model includes five steps: awareness, persuasion, evaluation, implementation, and adoption. The problem has already been recognized, and the staff is convinced of the need to change working hours. Lobo et al. (2018) suggest that extra hours can be recommended for those who work part-time, whereas full-time nurses should not be overloaded – this is the evaluation stage of the theory. It is a change practice widely accepted in numerous hospitals implemented to avoid medication errors, turnover, and burnout (Stimpfel et la., 2019). What is more, this theory views cross-disciplinary solution: a nurse-to-nurse collaboration can be used to prevent professionals from working overtime (Kodama & Fukahori, 2017). The chosen sources are reliable because they are peer-reviewed and are published in a reputable nursing journal.
Leadership Strategies That Could Lead to an Interdisciplinary Solution
Transformational leadership is a key to solve the issue of mandatory overtime. A transformational nurse may impact the environment of the hospital by properly allocating duties among the staff. For instance, if Sally takes on a transformational leadership style, she will be able to influence the organizational performance by publicly addressing the problem because APRNs are able to suggest their initiatives (Pishgooie et al., 2019). In addition, while performing nursing duties, Sally may encourage the healthcare professionals collaborate to facilitate each other’s schedule. This leadership strategy is relevant to the specified issue because it aligns with the APRN’s ability to address topical questions. The credibility of the source is proven by using relevant scientific literature.
Collaboration Approaches for Interdisciplinary Teams
Inter-disciplinary collaboration is vital for any organization in terms of boosting its performance, even though it is difficult to establish. Sally’s major issue is mandatory overtime which can be overcome in case other healthcare professionals take on additional duties and collaborate to treat patients together (Pishgooie et al., 2019). Moreover, the interdisciplinary approach is beneficial when propped by transformational leadership because it increases employee productivity and contributes to better interrelationships. The source is credible since it provides the numerical data to support the evidence.
References
Kodama, Y., & Fukahori, H. (2017). Nurse managers’ attributes to promote change in their wards: a qualitative study. Nursing open, 4(4), 209-217. Web.
Lobo, V., Ploeg, J., Fisher, A., Peachey, G., & Akhtar-Danesh, N. (2018). Critical care nurses’ reasons for working or not working overtime. Critical Care Nurse, 38(6), 47-57. Web.
Pishgooie, A. H., Atashzadeh-Shoorideh, F., Falcó-Pegueroles, A., & Lotfi, Z. (2019). Correlation between nursing managers’ leadership styles and nurses’ job stress and anticipated turnover. Journal of Nursing Management, 27(3), 527-534. Web.
Stimpfel, A. W., Fletcher, J., & Kovner, C. T. (2019). A. Journal of Advanced comparison of scheduling, work hours, overtime, and work preferences across four cohorts of newly licensed registered nurses Nursing, 75(9), 1902-1910. Web.