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In Summer 2024, THMA’s Nursing Catalyst team surveyed 403 bedside nurses to understand their perspectives on organizational strategies to bolster safe staffing. The goal, to identify opportunities for nurse executives and other health system leaders to communicate better with frontline staff.
A Brief Summary
Surveyed nurses defined safe staffing as having adequate time with each patient, maintaining their own wellbeing with uninterrupted breaks, and feeling confident they aren't compromising care quality by being overstretched.
1. Frontline nurses have low confidence in their organization’s ability to provide safe staffing
Nurses are frustrated by the information gap and lack of transparency regarding their leaderships’ planning and implementation of safe staffing, leaving them feeling disconnected from critical organizational strategies.
Frontline nurses rely on transparency and communication from leadership to understand the organization's approach to managing staffing challenges.
2. There is overwhelming negative sentiment toward current staffing practices
Frontline nurses consistently express concerns about current staffing levels, especially as unmanageable workloads increase and fewer nurses staff units.
Nurses want meaningful solutions and transparent communication about organizational decisions that make them feel supported and empowered by leadership to deliver care.
3. Nurses are concerned about health system priorities
Nurses are largely uninformed of broad organizational priorities. Many feel that productivity metrics take precedence over patient acuity and care quality in staffing decisions systems attempt to solve staffing challenges through recruitment rather than retention or meaningful workforce incentives
Current workforce dynamics perpetuate the cyclical problem where understaffing increases burnout and drives nurses from the profession, compromising patient care and healthcare system stability.
"Treat the staff that you've had for 10, 15, 20 years [better] and try to retain them."
When existing nurses feel undervalued, they are more likely to seek opportunities elsewhere, perpetuating shortages and depleting the workforce of valuable expertise.
4. Frontline Nurses Are Open to Innovative Solutions
Nurses demonstrate a forward-thinking approach, showing a willingness to work with leadership to generate creative solutions that address core challenges.
"I think the most valuable thing our senior leadership could do is to listen to our concerns and create a feasible solution."
Two Main Takeaways
Nurses’ priorities surround developing sustainable staffing models that allow them to provide attentive patient care, take necessary breaks, and maintain a manageable workload – all with the goal of creating a work environment that enables high-quality patient care.
Improving communication, responding effectively to feedback, and implementing actionable solutions is the first step in building trust and creating a more conducive environment to addressing staffing challenges.