SUMMARY OF POSSIBLE BARRIERS THAT A UNIT MANAGER IS LIKELY

TO ENCOUNTER IN IMPLEMENTING A STAFFING PLAN

One of the perfect and proven strategies for accessing efficient nursing care is simply

designing and implementing a new staffing plan. However, several barriers exist when a unit

manager tries to apply a staffing plan model. Therefore, when implementing a staffing plan in a

hospital's nursing team, it is good to consider the current barriers like burnout and vacation time

and identify the features required to impact the implementation of the new staffing plan

positively. To begin with, burnout, when there are many patients as compared to the number of

nurses, then nurses are subjected to emotional exhaustion, fatigue, and even job dissatisfaction.

This fatigue is what is referred to as staff burnout. According to (Howell 2021, p198), when a

patient is added to the required number that a nurse should attend, then there is an increased risk

of burnout which translates to a fall in job satisfaction, and this can essentially derail a staffing

plan under implementation. Burnout can also cause place the health of nurses at risk, and once

this happens, then a new staffing plan can hardly be embraced. This poses a barrier until the new

unit manager ensures that they have adequate staff for the new implementation of the staffing

plan.

Vacation time, on the other hand, is another barrier. For a new staffing plan to be

implemented successfully, a unit manager must review the participative and directive changes in

a healthcare institution (Cummings et al., 2020). The first directive change was decreasing the

vacation time of the staff since when the vacation time given to staff is long, then the workload

can be so much on the nurses who are not on vacation as they try to cover up for those, not at

work. However, this can be managed by discussing a change policy which in turn introduces a
participative change that is supported by the whole staff and the administration. This will

increase the staff’s reception to a change (the new staffing plan) hence maximizing the chances

for a successful implementation.

 References

Cummings, G. G., Lee, S., Tate, K., Penconek, T., Micaroni, S. P., Paananen, T., & Chatterjee,

G. E. (2020). The essentials of nursing leadership: A systematic review of factors and

educational interventions influencing nursing leadership. International journal of nursing

studies, 103842.

Howell, B. A. M. (2021). Battling Burnout at the Frontlines of Health Care Amid COVID-

19. AACN Advanced Critical Care, 32(2), 195-203.