NRS 493 Capstone Project Topic Selection and Approval

NRS 493 Capstone Project Topic Selection and Approval

NRS 493 Capstone Project Topic Selection and Approval

Capstone Project Topic Selection

Project topic for focus of change proposal

NRS 493 Capstone Project Topic Selection and Approval -Burnout in nurses is a major issue as COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the effect of the issue on the nurses, health care professionals, patients, and other stakeholders. Burnout in nurses needs to be prevented by adopting evidence-based interventions such as increasing nurse to patient ratio, dynamic scheduling when needed, and organizational support through programs such as mindfulness and stress management (Cañadas-De la et al., 2018). The issue is of high priority as it affects quality of care provided as tired or burned-out nurses are more prone to commit errors (Guixia & Hui, 2020). Further, it prevents nurses from practicing effectively due to reduced physical and cognitive abilities. Thus, cost, error rate, job dissatisfaction levels, and quality care reduces if not addressed.  

Setting or context where project topic is observed

 The problem is observed in all the health care settings, especially settings where a smaller number of nurses care for a high numbers of patients, poor work environment, poor work scheduling, and inadequate support for nurses through education, interprofessional collaboration, and self-management (Yao et al., 2018). For example, lower nurse to patient ratio leads to more work for nurses. Another major factor is the increased number of unnecessary procedures as it puts more burden on nurses. Poor scheduling and teamwork will prevent nurses from managing self effectively (Ang et al., 2016). 

Essay NRS 493 Benchmark Capstone Change Project Objectives

NRS 493 Capstone Project Topic Selection and Approval

Detailed description of project topic 

The issue of burnout in nurses is prevalent in health care and its impact is very high on nurses, health care, and the patients. Burnout in nurses is due to multiple factors where increased working hours, nursing procedures such as patient education, emergency services, and effective practice play a critical role in increasing burden. Lahana et al. (2017) highlighted that job-related stress is a major factor, which includes emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, low personal accomplishment, and a certain degree of cynicism. Further, it affects the mental health of nurses as they will be subjected to a poor work environment and quality of life. Study by Rees et al. (2019) concluded that personal issues and environmental determinants also play critical role in increasing burnout in nurses (Rees et al., 2019). Thus, the change proposal considers burnout in nurses as a major health care issue and it should be managed by adopting EBP strategies. 

Effect of identified problem or issue

The effects of burnout are high on nurses as Lahana et al. (2017) highlighted that burnout is prevalent in setting where care for people with intellectual disabilities can be a burdensome task and it leads to negative effects such as adverse effects of physical abilities and quality of life. Burnout increases stress and it leads to errors during practice as nurses will be fatigued, which affects cognitive and physical abilities. The errors will put patients at risk and will result in increased hospital stay, health care cost, feelings of guilt in nurses, and lower job satisfaction. Also, nurses will have lower confidence and job satisfaction. Further, it increases turnover rate and lower satisfaction levels in patients. Thus, it also impacts organization as it creates issues in successfully implementing interprofessional collaboration strategies.  

NRS 493 Capstone Project Topic Selection and Approval

Topic significance and implications for nursing practice

The topic is significant as in the US, nursing shortage has created a gap between health care delivery and patient services. Reduced number of nurses will increase burden on other nurses, which will result in burnout. As every team includes nurses and HCPs in interprofessional collaboration, burnout in one team member will increase burden on others, which further leads to burnout in others. As mentioned in previous sections, the burnout affects everyone including nurses, HCPs, physicians, leaders, health care, patients, and community, it is a significant topic. For example, Wei et al. (2017) concluded that burnout leads to high depersonalization and emotional exhaust. Nowrouzi et al. (2016) reported 865% of nurses felt that their workplace increased stress, 86% felt that resources were poorly utilized and around 91% faced increased workload. Thus, it is a significant topic (Nowrouzi et al., 2015). 

Proposed solution for identified project topic and implications for nursing practice

The proposed solution is to adopt multi-faceted system to reduce burnout in nurses, which includes self-efficacy programs, stress management (Jang et al., 2016), family and peer support, high nurse to patient ratio, better scheduling, support from peers (Magtibay et al., 2017), education and training to prevent burnout (Nowrouzi et al., 2015), better work environment and organizational support, and mindfulness strategy to increase better work-life management (Rees et al., 2019). The purpose of the paper is to adopt multi-faceted programs for nurses to reduce burnout and increase quality of life.

NRS 493 Capstone Project Topic Selection and Approval

References

Ang, S., Dhaliwal, S., Ayre, T., Uthaman, T., Fong, K., & Tien, C. et al. (2016). Demographics and personality factors associated with burnout among nurses in a singapore tertiary hospital. Biomed Research International, 2016, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/6960184

Cañadas-De la, G., Ortega, E., Ramirez-Baena, L., De la Fuente-Solana, E., Vargas, C., & Gómez-Urquiza, J. (2018). Gender, marital status, and children as risk factors for burnout in nurses: a meta-analytic study. International Journal Of Environmental Research And Public Health, 15(10), 2102. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15102102

Guixia, L., & Hui, Z. (2020). A Study on burnout of nurses in the period of COVID-19. Psychology And Behavioral Sciences, 9(3), 31. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20200903.12

Jang, H., Park, J., Choi, Y., Park, S., & Lim, H. (2016). Effect of general hospital nurses’ perception of patient safety culture and burnout on safety management activities. Journal Of Korean Academy Of Nursing Administration, 22(3), 239. https://doi.org/10.11111/jkana.2016.22.3.239

NRS 493 Capstone Project Topic Selection and Approval

Lahana, E., Papadopoulou, K., Roumeliotou, O., Tsounis, A., Sarafis, P., & Niakas, D. (2017). Burnout among nurses working in social welfare centers for the disabled. BMC Nursing, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-017-0209-3

Magtibay, D., Chesak, S., Coughlin, K., & Sood, A. (2017). Decreasing stress and burnout in nurses. JONA: The Journal Of Nursing Administration, 47(7/8), 391-395. https://doi.org/10.1097/nna.0000000000000501

Nowrouzi, B., Lightfoot, N., Larivière, M., Carter, L., Rukholm, E., Schinke, R., & Belanger-Gardner, D. (2015). Occupational stress management and burnout interventions in nursing and their implications for healthy work environments. Workplace Health & Safety, 63(7), 308-315. https://doi.org/10.1177/2165079915576931

Rees, C., Eley, R., Osseiran-Moisson, R., Francis, K., Cusack, L., Heritage, B., & Hegney, D. (2019). Individual and environmental determinants of burnout among nurses. Journal Of Health Services Research & Policy, 24(3), 191-200. https://doi.org/10.1177/1355819619840373

NRS 493 Capstone Project Topic Selection and Approval

Rezaei, S., Karami Matin, B., Hajizadeh, M., Soroush, A., & Nouri, B. (2018). Prevalence of burnout among nurses in Iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International Nursing Review, 65(3), 361-369. https://doi.org/10.1111/inr.12426

Wei, R., Ji, H., Li, J., & Zhang, L. (2017). Active intervention can decrease burnout in ED nurses. Journal Of Emergency Nursing, 43(2), 145-149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jen.2016.07.011

Yao, Y., Zhao, S., Gao, X., An, Z., Wang, S., & Li, H. et al. (2018). General self-efficacy modifies the effect of stress on burnout in nurses with different personality types. BMC Health Services Research, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-018-3478-y

NRS 493 Capstone Project Topic Selection and Approval