ASC Communications, Inc.

Are you undermining your patient experience strategy

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study found the likelihood of a nurse reporting occasional or frequent wrong medication or dose administration increased by 2 percent for each additional hour of voluntary paid overtime worked each week. 5 Another study found medication errors and hospital-acquired infections are each more than three-times as likely when nurses work more than 40 hours per week. 6 Overtime is related to the patient experience in other indirect ways, as well. A hospital employee who has worked more than 40 hours may experience fatigue, burnout and reduced engagement. A 2012 study published in Health Affairs found a positive correlation between shift length and the likelihood of adverse nurse outcomes such as burnout. In short: the longer the shift, the greater chances of nurse exhaustion. The study also found patients were less satisfied with their care when there were greater proportions of nurses working shifts of 13 or more hours. Furthermore, larger percentages of patients in hospitals with more nurses working 13- plus hour shifts reported nurses sometimes or never communicated well, pain was sometimes or never well controlled, and they sometimes or never received help as soon as they wanted. 7 Medication errors and hospital-acquired infections are each more than three- times as likely when nurses work more than 40 hours per week.

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