Nurses experience workplace violence at a higher rate compared to other professionals because of the nature of their work. The experience affects their productivity, as well as their health and wellbeing. They suffer from various injuries inflicted on them by fellow workers in their organizations or by patients or their families. The problem is affecting the intentions of many caregivers to stay in the profession, which is worsening the issue of staff shortage (Roberts, 2015). Therefore, health care leaders and nurse managers should understand the extent of the challenge and implement effective interventions to increase workplace safety.
Significance of the Problem
The issue is significant because it decreases nurses’ morale and motivation. In turn, their reduced productivity affects the safety and quality of care offered to patients. Therefore, understanding and solving the issue will be beneficial to nurses, patients, and the healthcare organization, hence improve staff and patient satisfaction (Park, Cho, & Hong, 2015). Employees will feel safe to work and increase their productivity levels. They will provide safe and quality care, which will improve the satisfaction levels among patients. The organization will benefit from an increased number of patients visiting the hospital.
PICO Statement
Population: The population of the study will include nurses in a healthcare organization in Massachusetts to determine the rate of workplace violence and design effective intervention to address the issue.
Intervention: The intervention will entail the implementation of an organizational safety plan to identify and implement solutions to improve workplace safety. The hospital-wide program will focus on violence and mechanisms to enhance safety.
Comparison: The comparison will be a no-action to tackle workplace violence at the hospital.
Outcome: The outcome will be a reduction in the level of violence among nurses in the healthcare organization to improve the safety of the nursing staff and patient outcomes, including quality and satisfaction.
Proposed Site to Conduct the Study
The site for the study will be a mid-level hospital in Massachusetts. The study will be conducted among nurses working in the facility to establish their perceptions of safety and the extent of workplace violence, including the number of injuries over an extended period. Hence, it will be a hospital-wide exercise.
Expected Change in Practice from Conducting the Project
Successful completion of the proposed project will be beneficial to the hospital because it will improve the quality of care provided to patients. The hospital will experience changes in the way nurses at the hospital work because it will increase their safety (Rodwell & Demir, 2014). Besides, the project will achieve a positive cultural change at the hospital by making the working environment safe and conducive to work.
Project Implementation
I plan to implement the project in the organization by interviewing nurses and collecting data on the number of injuries inflicted on the caregivers over one month. The data will provide evidence of the extent of the issue and inform the intervention to solve it (Rodwell & Demir, 2014). It will show the nature of the necessary change to improve practice and retention at the hospital.
AACN DPN Essentials
The most critical, yet challenging, AACN DPN Essential includes “Inter-Professional Collaboration for Improving Patient and Population Health Outcomes” (AACN, 2006). The project will require adequate collaboration with other professionals in the organization. Receiving their support and cooperation might be a challenge because of their busy schedules. However, I will communicate the importance of the project to all stakeholders in the hospital.