Unit Culture Short Paper

Type: Essay

Subject: Nursing Leadership Course

Subject area: Nursing

Education Level: Undergraduate

Length: 3 pages

Referencing style: APA

Preferred English: US English

Spacing Option: Double

Title: Unit Culture Short Paper

Instructions: for this assignment, you will review the case study and prompts below. you will then write a short (2-3 page for the body) paper answering the prompts utilizing evidence from the literature. apa format is required for this paper including a title page, body of the paper and reference page. an abstract or executive summary is not required for this paper. please use level 1 headings for this paper to help organize the flow (apa headings info here (links to an external site.))  case study: you are a nurse manager in a busy emergency department. you have been working in this department for almost 10 years now and have been in your leadership role for the previous five years. recently, the hospital you work for has undergone major policy changes in regards to rn staffing. due to these policy changes, your unit is experiencing a high turnover of experienced nurses, which has resulted in a high number of new to service and new graduate nurses. you are currently fully staffed yet the experienced nurses left in the department have shared with you that they are feeling burnout from the constant flow of new nurses needing preceptors. you have also noticed that unit morale overall is down, there are increased call-offs from staff and there has been increased incivility in the workplace. you are concerned that if things don't improve on the unit, that more staff will leave. answer the following questions in your short paper: discuss how a nurse manager or leader can impact the culture of a struggling unit when changes made at the organization level may be causing distress and unrest among staff. in your role as a nurse manager for this unit, what is the first thing you would do to address the current issues the unit is facing? support this intervention with evidence from the literature. (for example, if you were first going to address the burnout of preceptors, you would include an article about best practices to support preceptors) what possible effects can an unit's culture (and the issues it is facing) have on patient care delivery? support this with evidence from the literature if you were a staff nurse on this unit, how can you use your leadership skills to impact patient care and the culture of the unit? identify two "pearls of wisdom" from this week's learning materials (articles, powerpoints, video) that are applicable to the case scenario above. evidence for this paper needs to include 2 sources (one from outside course materials), that are from within the previous 5 years. a reminder of what a scholarly, credible and timely source is can be found here. rubric module 3: unit culture short paper module 3: unit culture short paper criteria ratings pts this criterion is linked to a learning outcomeorganization 1 pts proficient content was well organized and flowed in a sequence using appropriate concepts and ideas. each paragraph provided important and relevant information. all 5 prompts addressed and easily identified 0.5 pts competent content was organized but the flow of the paper was not sequenced. information provided was limited in its importance and relevance to the assignment. at least 3 or 4 prompts addressed and easily identified 0 pts novice content was hastily put together and there was no logical sequence. information had no relevance to the assignment. addressed 2 or less prompts and prompts were easily identified 1 pts this criterion is linked to a learning outcomedepth of content 3 pts proficient used a high level of analysis integrating a broad array of acquired knowledge and content. addressed all questions with supporting evidence in all 5 prompts 1.5 pts competent some evidence of analysis with a basic level of integration of knowledge and content found. did not answer all prompts. addressed all questions in at least 3 or 4 prompts with supporting evidence 0 pts novice very little or no analysis or integration. showed little evidence of any depth given to the assignment. addressed 2 or less prompts with supporting evidence 3 pts this criterion is linked to a learning outcomeliterature support 2 pts proficient provided 2 sources from the literature, one from outside of the course materials, both timely (within 5 years) and credible. synthesize the literature to connect to content of paper. 1 pts competent provided 2 sources, but both were from course materials, or one or both were older than 5 years or were not considered credible. some synthesis, but overall lack of connection between literature and content of paper. 0 pts novice provided less than 2 sources. 2 pts this criterion is linked to a learning outcomequality, grammar & apa 2 pts proficient consistent use of grammatically correct posts with rare misspellings apa format (including references and citations) was correct with 2 or fewer errors. paper was well-written, flowed, and was of the caliber of a senior nursing student. 1 pts competent greater than 2 errors noted in grammar and spelling. apa format (including references and citations) was correct, with 3-5 errors. flow is choppy and hard to follow. 0 pts novice greater than 4 errors noted in grammar and spelling. more than 5 errors with apa format (including references and citations) 2 pts total points: 8

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 Also Read: Best Nursing Essay Writing Help For Students

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               Unit Culture Short Paper

Student’s Name

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Date Due

Q.1. How a Nurse Manager or Leader Can Impact a Struggling Unit’s Culture when Changes Cause Staff Unrest and Distress

 Staff unrest and distress can undermine their well-being and health.  It can also undermine their critical thinking because high-stress levels deplete their energy. However, the nurse manager in the case study can impact a struggling unit culture that causes staff unrest and distress by identifying and tracking personal stressors. The strategy will help the nurse manager identify mitigation or avoidance strategy. Another strategy for the nurse manager is communicating clearly and concisely and determining what can and cannot be controlled.  Staff engagement will help find a mutually acceptable solution to changes causing staff unrest and distress. Per the case study, experienced nurses feel fatigued because of the constant flow of novice nurses requiring preceptors. In this case, the nurse manager should engage these nurses to identify solutions to preceptor burnout and reduce high turnover rates among experienced nurses.

Q.2. Overview of the first thing that the Nurse Manager of the Unit should do to Address Current Issue

According to the case study, the major problem in the unit is preceptor burnout, which results in high turnover rates of experienced staff. The high turnover rates are attributable to the constant flow of graduate nurses that require preceptors. As a result, staff morale has declined and workplace incivility has increased.  Therefore, the first step is addressing preceptor burnout by engaging them and investing in their continuous development and onboarding process.  Engagement of the preceptors is vital because it will help the nurse manager collaborate with them to identify appropriate interventions. The interventions may range from balancing teaching and practitioner roles, designing well-structured preceptor guidelines, tackling time constraints, and providing peer or organizational support (Bodine, 2018). Other interventions include investing in preceptors’ onboarding process to prevent their burnout and investing in the continuous development of preceptors to equip them with skills to address the unique challenges they encounter in their practice.  Therefore, preceptor engagement will help identify interventions to tackle their burnout and loss of morale.

Q.3. Effects of a Unit’s Culture on Patient Care Delivery

The case study’s organizational culture is not favorable because of the high turnover rates of experienced healthcare workers, reduced workplace morale, and incivility in the workplace. Such a culture undermines patients care delivery and staff morale and satisfaction with their jobs.  Therefore, the Unit Manager should engage the Unit Staff in addressing the Unit’s challenges and designing a culture that promotes effective working relationships. Staff engagement will help create a culture that supports professional growth and sustained performance. Additionally, preceptor burnout will no longer be a problem because individual staff will contribute to addressing the issue using their skills and knowledge. Therefore, a unit culture determines patient outcomes and staff satisfaction.

 A unit culture determines the quality and safety of care accessed by the patient population. Curry et al. (2018) note that an influential organizational culture reduces mortality rates and enhances an organization’s survival in dynamic and complex environments because of the shared behavior, patterns, values, and beliefs. An organizational culture also accelerates improvements and learning and facilitates staff adoption of evidence-based practices. Thus, an organizational culture influences staff performance and patient healthcare outcomes. Equally, organizational culture improves coordination and teamwork.

A positive organizational culture boosts staff satisfaction and organizational performance. The culture creates a perfect environment for staff to innovate and solve problems they may encounter in their practice. An effective organizational culture promotes work balance, internal communication, reward system, employee satisfaction, professional growth, and leadership style. Organization’s productivity will be undermined if a leader compromises these factors.  Therefore, a positive organizational culture ensures that staff with different behaviors, abilities, backgrounds, and personalities collaborates to improve patient care outcomes.

The management ability to satisfy patients and manage human resources influences organizational culture.  Therefore, organizations with constructive cultures promote positive relationships, are achievement-oriented and encourage self-actualization. However, with the rapidly evolving healthcare sector, healthcare providers face challenges of remaining competitive and providing high-quality services. Nonetheless, a positive unit culture can address challenges that undermine care delivery.

Q.4.   How I Can Use My Leadership Skills as Staff Nurse in the Unit to Impact Patient Care and the Unit Culture

 As a staff nurse, I can use my leadership skills to address the challenges undermining patient care delivery.  First, I can use my interpersonal skills to engage affected staff and outline solutions to problems ailing the department.  I can also highlight the need for the nurse manager to create an environment that supports the continued development and learning within the department. As a result, preceptor burnout will cease to be a problem because continuous development and learning culture will ensure that new nurses become leaders.  As a healthcare provider, I understand that conflict is inevitable in the workplace. Therefore, I will collaborate with the unit staff to resolve issues undermining their productivity, teamwork, and patient satisfaction through my conflict resolution strategies. Also, I will use my excellent communication skills to encourage partnerships between new graduate nurses and experienced nurses to meet the Unit’s goals and improve patient care quality and safety. 

Lastly, I will use my leadership skills to design a culture that promotes excellence, collaboration, teamwork, and high reliability. The culture will encourage mentoring and coaching, working towards a common goal, and defining individual expectations and roles to bring civility to my unit, improve staff morale, and facilitate effective collaboration between novice and expert nurses. Such a culture will ensure that unit staff value patients and safe and high-quality care.

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References

Curry, L. A., Brault, M. A., Linnander, E. L., McNatt, Z., Brewster, A. L., Cherlin, E., ... & Bradley, E. H. (2018). Influencing organizational culture to improve hospital performance in care of patients with acute myocardial infarction: a mixed-methods intervention study. BMJ Quality & Safety, 27(3), 207-217.

Bodine, J. L. (2018). Preventing preceptor burnout through engagement. Journal for Nurses in Professional Development, 34(5), 290-292.