Presenter Information

Audra Ellis Overman, CovenantFollow

Location

Virtual Conference

Start Date

24-6-2022 1:30 PM

End Date

27-6-2022 2:10 PM

Keywords:

texas

Description

Abstract:

It is important we show staff we as leaders are listening to their concerns and frustrations. Lack of communication with immediate supervisor is a cause of absenteeism among nurses, and that absenteeism leads to decreased quality of care, disrupted work routines, and increased workload for staff that are present. Communication is a proven tool to help develop teamwork, reduce absenteeism, and manage conflicts. Staff commitment to the workplace can be increased by management working toward a democratic style of supervision with increased open communication to decrease staff absenteeism. Absence of or poor communication creates a negative work environment and leads to absenteeism due to staff being discouraged in relation to their work processes.

In these unprecedented times, Staffing Operations at Covenant Medical Center has seen an increase in absenteeism by nursing staff. This project strove to decrease absenteeism in the float pool by 30 percent through utilization of Charge Nurse Huddles to disseminate information to staff and open up honest communication between staff and leadership to decrease absences.

Data was recorded regarding attendance and performance of the Charge Nurse Huddles each shift by the charge nurse in a predesigned document. Data regarding absences was collected from reports via the time keeping management system. Huddles were conducted from May 1, 2021 through June 28, 2021.

Charge Nurses were tasked with leading unit huddles every shift. They were given a huddle template for uniformity of meetings. These meetings lasted no more than 10 minutes at the beginning of the shift. The huddle template included the following sections: New General Hospital Information, Department Specific Information, and Follow up to previous frustrations/concerns. Also included were sections for positive aspects such as praising coworkers, or sharing ideas/methods of patient care that worked well.

Huddles were completed at a rate of 86% (51 out of 59) for dayshift and 85% (50/59) for nightshift. Absences recorded for licensed nursing staff were noted to have decreased from April to May, this decrease cannot be statistically linked to the implementation of Charge Nurse Huddles, June-11 unexcused absences, May-11 unexcused absences, April-24 unexcused absences, March-9 unexcused absences. However, it is worth noting that since the implementation of the huddles, staff have increased their overall communication with direct leadership, not only voicing work issues or concerns, but also showing a level of comfort approaching direct leadership to utilize the open-door policy of leadership. It could be theorized that the increased communication by staff is a result of leadership being better able to close the communication loop and address their concerns, questions, or points of conversation that were brought up and transcribed during the shift huddles.

Comments

References:

Al-Sharif, H. A., Kassem, E. A., Shokry, W. M. A. (2017). Relationship between nurses’ absenteeism and their organizational commitment at menoufyia university hospitals. American Journal of Nursing Research, 5(2). 63-69. http://pubs.sciepub.com/ajnr/5/2/4

Aldawood, F., Kazzaz, Y., AlShehri, A., Alali, H., & Al-Surimi, K. (2020). Enhancing teamwork communication and patient safety responsiveness in a paediatric intensive care unit using the daily safety huddle tool. BMJ Open Quality, 9(1). 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2019-000753

Buckingham, B.L. (2019). Mentoring nursing leaders to foster frontline accountability and engagement in continuous performance/process improvement through the utilization of team huddles and a huddle board [Unpublished DNP scholarly project]. University of New Hampshire. https://scholars.unh.edu/scholarly_projects/28

Castaldi, M., Kaban, J.M., Petersen, M., George, G., O’Neil, A., Mullaney, K., Pennacchio, S., & Morley, J. (2019). Implementing daily leadership safety huddles in a public hospital: Bridging the gap. Quality Management in Healthcare, 28(2). 108-113. http://doi.org/10.1097/QMH.0000000000000207

Davila, J., Shipley, E., Topjian, D., & Vyers, K. (2017, October 19). Huddle up: How frontline shift huddles lead to high reliability. Huron. https://www.huronlearninglab.com/resources/articles-and-industry-updates/insights/october-2017/hro-shift-huddle

Di Vincenzo, P. (2017). Team huddles: A winning strategy for safety. Nursing, 47(7). 59-60. http://doi.org/10.1097/01.NURSE.0000520522.84449.0e

Erskine, J. A. K. & Georgiou, G. J. (2017). Leadership styles: Employee stress, well-being, productivity, turnover and absenteeism. Understanding Stress at Work. 28-40.

Farley, H., Hartig, A., & Rutledge, C. (2019). Shared governance approach to implementing change of shift huddle. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 34(3). 194-196. http://doi.org/10.1097.NCQ.0000000000000389

Ferro, D., Zacharias, F. C. M., Fabriz, L. A., Schonholzer, T. E., Valente, S. H., Barbosa, S. M., Viola, C. G., & Pinto, I. C. (2018). Absenteeism in the nursing team in emergency services: Implications in care. Acta Paulista de Enfermagem, 31(4). 399-408. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1982-0194201800056

Hastings, S. E., Suter, E., Bloom, J., & Sharma, K. (2016). Introduction of a team-based care model in a general medical unit. BMC Health Services Research, 16(245). 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-016-1507-2

Kahiu, B. (2019). Implementation of change of shift huddles in an urban medical center [Unpublished DNP final project]. Seton Hall University. http://scholarship.shu.edu/final-projects/32

Labrague, L. J., Nwafor, C. E., & Tsaras, K. (2020). Influence of toxic and transformational leadership practices on nurses’ job satisfaction, job stress, absenteeism and turnover intention: A cross-sectional study. Journal of Nursing Management, 28(5). 1104-1113. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.13053

Nielsen, K. & Daniels, K. (2016). The relationship between transformational leadership and follower sickness absence: The role of presenteeism. Work & Stress, 30(2). 193-208. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2016.1170736

Stringfield, C. T. (2019). Improving nursing teamwork through teamSTEPPS [Unpublished DNP scholarly project] East Carolina University College of Nursing. http://hdl.handle.net/10342/7401

Ticharwa, M., Cope, V., & Murray, M. (2019). Nurse absenteeism: An analysis of trends and perceptions of nurse unit managers. Journal of Nursing Management, 27(1). 109-116. http://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12654

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Jun 24th, 1:30 PM Jun 27th, 2:10 PM

High Reliability through Charge Nurse Huddles: Improving communication to Decrease Absenteeism

Virtual Conference

Abstract:

It is important we show staff we as leaders are listening to their concerns and frustrations. Lack of communication with immediate supervisor is a cause of absenteeism among nurses, and that absenteeism leads to decreased quality of care, disrupted work routines, and increased workload for staff that are present. Communication is a proven tool to help develop teamwork, reduce absenteeism, and manage conflicts. Staff commitment to the workplace can be increased by management working toward a democratic style of supervision with increased open communication to decrease staff absenteeism. Absence of or poor communication creates a negative work environment and leads to absenteeism due to staff being discouraged in relation to their work processes.

In these unprecedented times, Staffing Operations at Covenant Medical Center has seen an increase in absenteeism by nursing staff. This project strove to decrease absenteeism in the float pool by 30 percent through utilization of Charge Nurse Huddles to disseminate information to staff and open up honest communication between staff and leadership to decrease absences.

Data was recorded regarding attendance and performance of the Charge Nurse Huddles each shift by the charge nurse in a predesigned document. Data regarding absences was collected from reports via the time keeping management system. Huddles were conducted from May 1, 2021 through June 28, 2021.

Charge Nurses were tasked with leading unit huddles every shift. They were given a huddle template for uniformity of meetings. These meetings lasted no more than 10 minutes at the beginning of the shift. The huddle template included the following sections: New General Hospital Information, Department Specific Information, and Follow up to previous frustrations/concerns. Also included were sections for positive aspects such as praising coworkers, or sharing ideas/methods of patient care that worked well.

Huddles were completed at a rate of 86% (51 out of 59) for dayshift and 85% (50/59) for nightshift. Absences recorded for licensed nursing staff were noted to have decreased from April to May, this decrease cannot be statistically linked to the implementation of Charge Nurse Huddles, June-11 unexcused absences, May-11 unexcused absences, April-24 unexcused absences, March-9 unexcused absences. However, it is worth noting that since the implementation of the huddles, staff have increased their overall communication with direct leadership, not only voicing work issues or concerns, but also showing a level of comfort approaching direct leadership to utilize the open-door policy of leadership. It could be theorized that the increased communication by staff is a result of leadership being better able to close the communication loop and address their concerns, questions, or points of conversation that were brought up and transcribed during the shift huddles.