Icu - a Cry for Help

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hour policy not only increases a patient’s risk of infection, but also impedes the doctors’ and the nurses’ ability to provide the appropriate care. Without any doubt, the continuous interference by the patients’ attendance contributes to a health care personnel’s stress level and demotivates them to perform their duties at an optimum level [5].So, I propose that the visiting hours should be restricted to 8 am-10pm. This will enable the ICU staff to do their job properly, and also the patients will get appropriate amount of time to be with their loved one and get the holistic care they need.

Safety and Security Measures:

Unsafe work environment is another pressing issue that the authority needs to deal with as soon as possible. The ICU ward is gradually becoming risky and hazardous due to increasing number of violent patients and patients with infectious diseases. This poor work environment creates a sense of insecurity which is a major impediment to motivation. It ultimately results in poor performance of the nursing staff [5]. Therefore, the management should enhance the security measures in the ICU ward to ensure everyone’s safety. There also should be a specific protocol to control the increasing cases of communicable diseases.

Proper Recognition and Motivation:

Lack of recognition is an apparent issue which is hindering the success of ICU ward as a team. Nursing staff, despite of their hard work, are being ignored. They are not getting the proper recognition that they deserve which is instilling in them with a sense of role deprivation [3]. In order to motivate them the management should initiate various incentive programs with a balanced tangible and nontangible reward system [5].Individual programs such as pay-for-performance (where desired outcomes are financially rewarded) [5] and group program such as Hybrid compensation program (where an individual in a group is rewarded according to his/her performance, when the group reaches a goal) [2] could be useful in this case.

In addition to these recommendation, management should also consider the following alternatives:

• Pay raise for the ICU nurses and continue hiring pool nurses.

• More comfortable scheduling for seasoned ICU nurses and night shift for pool nurses.

• Increased accountability for all ICU staff by implementing a rating system.

Conclusion:

I strongly recommend that management adopt the above mentioned measures as soon as possible to resolve the current conflict and job insecurity among the nursing staff. Although there are some drawbacks of the proposal, they are outweighed by the end result that the recommended measures will inevitably provide: “A true team, working together to achieve a common goal with a sense of respect and cohesion among each other.”

References:

1. Lessons from Case: Mount Everest-1996, Class 3

2. B.J. Fried, S. Topping & A.C. Edmondson, chapter 5 in Shortell & Kaluzny.

3. Lessons from Case: Alan Kendricks at Cardiology Associates. Harvard Business School, 2007, Class 1

4. Four styles of leadership, class 2

5. Motivating people. T. D’Aunno & M. Gilmartin, chapter 4 in Shortell & Kaluzny, 6th edition (Burns, Bradley & Weiner, 2012).