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View All ProductsThe leadership development program from HealthStream helps mold your high-potential healthcare employees into proven leaders.
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View All ProductsMake sure your clinicians have the support they need to provide competent care with clinical competency training and development from HealthStream.
View All ProductsThe suite of healthcare onboarding solutions available from HealthStream aids in nurse retention and improved patient outcomes.
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View All ProductsHealthStream’s free nurse schedule app, NurseGrid™, is built to help you care for your staff and engage with their specific needs.
View All ProductsMitigate risk and elevate your quality of care. Improving both clinical and business outcomes starts with a smarter, more integrated approach to regulatory training, continuing education and quality management.
Learn MoreNurse engagement measures the degree to which a nurse is committed to their job, the organization for which they work, and the nursing profession as a whole. A nurse needs to be fully engaged to deliver quality patient-centered care. When nurses are lacking in engagement, patient care can definitely suffer.
What Causes Nurse Disengagement?
Some of the characteristics of the nursing profession make disengagement a natural risk—long hours on the job, a typically chaotic and stressful work environment, staffing shortages, budget cuts, and a lack of resources.
What Are Some of the Risks of Nurse Disengagement?
When the level of nurse engagement is low, the risks to a healthcare organization are sizeable. Here are ten possible results of disengagement that can keep nurse leaders and healthcare executives worried:
1. Lack of efficiency – If nurses are not working efficiently and getting as much as possible done during a shift, patient needs can go unaddressed or neglected.
2. Lower patient satisfaction – Nurses have major influence on the patient experience. Patients often can tell if a disengaged nurse is just going through the motions.
3. More work-related injuries – According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, nurses experience “some of the highest injury and illness rates in the healthcare and social assistance sector” (BLS, 2018). An inattentive, disengaged nurse may be more likely to experience an injury.
4. Financial costs – The cost of a disengaged nurse may be as much as $22,200 a year, according to NurseGrid. If a facility employs thousands of nurses, these costs could add up to millions of dollars (Smith, 2018).
5. Patient-centered care falters – If a disengaged nurse lacks the energy for the increased demands of patient-centered care, outcomes may suffer.
6. Rushing increases chance of errors – Following procedures too quickly and in a hurry risks mistakes and possible disastrous results.
7. Compassion fatigue and burnout – Disengaged nurses may inadvertently demonstrate a lack of real caring.
8. Inability to focus – If a nurse is not paying adequate attention to every detail of the care being provided, what falls through the cracks may lead to a catastrophe.
9. Chronic lateness/tardiness – Inattention to arriving on time for one’s shift can create lasting problems for morale on an entire nursing unit.
10. Poor communication with peers – Good communication, especially for handoffs between shifts, is a hallmark of successful nursing care. If communication suffers, so may patient outcomes.
The Solution to Improving Nurse Engagement
NurseGrid, a HealthStream partner committed to transforming healthcare for the better, recently posted How to Keep Nurses Engaged and Motivated on the Job. They suggest “If a facility wants to improve nurse engagement, everyone will need to play a role. Staff members should be willing to speak up if they feel that one of their peers is disengaged with the job. The facility will need to do everything it can to provide nurses with the assistance they need, including advice and support for those that may be struggling with excess grief or stress on the job.” Nurse leaders and other staff members should know and look for signs of nurse disengagement, so they are prepared to take steps to improve this situation. Reaching out to a nurse who appears to be in need and listening is the first step towards improving and recovering engagement.
References
BLS, “Occupational injuries and illnesses among registered nurses,” November 2018, Retrieved at https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2018/article/occupational-injuries-and-illnesses-among-registered-nurses.htm
Smith, Zach, “How to Keep Nurses Engaged and Motivated on the Job,” NurseGrid, December 17, 2018, Retrieved at https://nursegrid.com/blog/how-to-keep-nurses-engaged-and-motivated-on-the-job/?utm_source=healthstream&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=10-risks-nurse-disengagement
Learn more about HealthStream Clinical Development Solutions.
HealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All Learning & PerformanceHealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsThe leadership development program from HealthStream helps mold your high-potential healthcare employees into proven leaders.
View All ProductsWhen you enact HealthStream's quality compliance solutions, you can do so with the confidence your healthcare organization will meet all standards of care.
View All Quality & ComplianceFulfill compliance requirements with a variety of programs and courseware designed to address critical regulatory requirements as well as educate staff to recognize and mitigate risks.
View All ProductsBy increasing your healthcare staff's focus on quality and safety with HealthStream, they can help to reduce medical errors and readmission rates.
View All ProductsLearn about what HealthStream's healthcare policy management software and how it can help aid your organization efforts.
View All ProductsHealthStream's education helps address diversity, equity, and inclusion within your organization, as well as promoting health equity in the communities you serve.
View All ProductsHealthStream offers professional training and education on how to best optimize your reimbursement process within your healthcare organization.
View All ReimbursementTeach your healthcare staff about the revenue cycle and claim management through targeted training and video tools from HealthStream.
View All ProductsImprove the preparedness of your staff, increase survival rates, and cut costs with the advanced resuscitation training services from HealthStream.
View All ResuscitationNurture the skills of your nurses and medical staff to help mold them into effective leaders with development training from HealthStream.
View All ProductsIn all areas of resuscitation, from neonatal to elderly care, clinical deterioration is a risk that can be avoided with the help of HealthStream's training programs.
View All ProductsHealthStream's EMS Program offers a comprehensive, CAPCE accredited EMS course library that meets National Registry annual recertification.
View All ProductsExpand the decision-making skills and effectiveness of your healthcare workforce with HealthStream's clinical development programs and services.
View All Clinical DevelopmentMake sure your clinicians have the support they need to provide competent care with clinical competency training and development from HealthStream.
View All ProductsThe suite of healthcare onboarding solutions available from HealthStream aids in nurse retention and improved patient outcomes.
View All ProductsGive your healthcare staff the decision support and skills training they need with the online products available from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream's solutions allow your healthcare workforce to be confident and competent with the knowledge they are upholding the highest of standards.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
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View All Scheduling & Capacity ManagementHealthcare scheduling software designed to optimize staffing requirements & elevate patient care
View All ProductsPrecisely align staffing and needed resources to enable efficient patient flow and high-quality, cost-effective patient care.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s free nurse schedule app, NurseGrid™, is built to help you care for your staff and engage with their specific needs.
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