By the very nature of their roles, nurses face many tough stresses and hazards daily. In one survey, a staggering 56% of nurses in the United States have reported that they experienced a “great deal of stress” while 25% felt “a lot of stress” at work in 2023 alone. As challenges in the profession abound, strong and effective nurse leaders must address the mounting problems nurses encounter every day to keep morale, performance, and patient care at high levels.
To counter the many issues the nursing workforce experiences, nurse leaders must create a safe and positive working environment to empower and inspire nurses to function to the best of their abilities. In this article, we discuss what nurse leaders can do to ensure nurses have a comfortable working environment — one that they will feel safe and happy to work in.
Communicate clearly, authentically, and transparently
The lack of clear communication can be the cause of workplace failures. In healthcare, workplace failures can lead to adverse health outcomes, dissatisfied patients, misapplication of resources, and medical errors. Approximately 27% of medical malpractice is the direct result of communication failures.
Nurse leaders must adopt effective communication strategies, such as active listening, being open to feedback, and being clear with important instructions and protocols. They must also be able to build trust with nurses by fostering, encouraging, and modeling authentic conversations. Nurse leaders must also be transparent when it comes to their communications and decision-making. Transparency provides clarity, which then builds trust. On top of this, transparency in nursing work environments is also linked to a higher safety culture perception level and improved patient care.
When nurses trust that they can give authentic feedback without fear of being judged or retribution, nurse leaders will be able to get to the root of problems and conflicts more easily and address them quickly. To build authentic connections and create a safe psychological space for nurses in the workplace, communication and collaboration should be prioritized.
Promptly address turnover and staffing needs
Although nursing represents the largest profession in the healthcare field — with nearly 5.2 million active RNs, LPNs, and LVNs in the United States from April to September 2022 — the demand for nurses still outweighs the nation’s supply. Various factors play into the nursing staffing shortage: the continuously rising aging population, older and more experienced nurses reaching retirement age, and a growing number of nurses battling burnout and stress. Nurse burnout has been at an all-time high since the global pandemic, with a deluge of patients in need of care, overwhelming nurses not just in the country but worldwide. Inadequate staffing, poor nurse-to-patient ratios, and excessive workloads greatly contribute to high nurse burnout levels, which are directly linked to poor patient care quality.
Nurse managers need to stay on top of their nursing workforce, ensuring that ideal nurse-to-patient ratios are achieved per unit or ward. Aside from utilizing advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence-powered applications and software to streamline administrative tasks, nurse leaders and management teams can also work with a trusted travel nursing agency to fill critical staffing needs as needed.
Champion emotional and mental health
As burnout levels continue to rise in nurses nationwide, nurse leaders need to be advocates of mental wellness. According to a 2023 McKinsey report, an estimated two-thirds of nurses who participated in their survey shared that they were not receiving mental health support at work, and 29% of them stated that they have not sought professional mental health support because they don’t have the time to do so.
Conducting regular check-ins or one-on-ones with nurses and pushing for and providing access to mental health resources such as counseling, self-care, and wellness programs can help nurses build resilience and remain optimistic.
