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Phenomenon of Interest and Philosophical View Paper

Name

Institution
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Phenomenon of Interest and Philosophical View Paper

Phenomenon of Interest (POI)

The phenomenon of interest (POI) is "Nurse Burnout and its Correlations with Job

Characteristics." Clinical nurses work in high-stress environments. The decisions of nurses

affect the lives of patients under their care. The implication is that the nurses have to take

extra care to ensure they avoid burnout. Burnout physically and mentally affects the normal

functioning and decision-making of its victims. In this case, nurses affected by burnout affect

the wellbeing and survival of the patients under their care. According to Bayoumy (2019),

burnout has made the retention of nurses a significant challenge to healthcare organizations

and administrators, which has significantly hampered their operations because of nursing

shortages. The paper describes the phenomenon of interest of nurse burnout and its

correlations with job characteristics in a long-term care facility with the Licensed Practical

(LPNs) Nurses and the Registered Nurses (RNs) as the primary target population exploring

the significance of the POI to executive nursing administration and its impact on the overall

U.S. healthcare system. 

POI Topic and Population Setting

The POI topic is "Nurse Burnout and its Correlations with Job Characteristics." The

setting of the POI is within a long-term care facility. The targeted population includes

Registered Nurses (RNS) and Licensed Practical Nurses. The topic is related to the author's

area of specialty (Executive Nurse Administrator) since it is directly related to the

functioning and operations of the staff. Nurse burnout has become a menace across the globe

in long-term care facilities. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2020) reports that more than

6 million, equivalent to 30% of all nurses nationwide, are at risk of experiencing burnout. The

study by King and Brandley (2018) indicates that about 14.4 percent of the nurses are

"unengaged" with their responsibilities, and 41 percent of the nurse respondents experience
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burnout lowering their job performance and satisfaction. The nursing job is related to intense

pressure, mainly due to stressful and challenging protocols of operations and functions. The

hospitals' annual cost of nurse burnout is estimated at $9 billion and $14 billion for the

overall healthcare system (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020). Evidence indicates that

adverse job characteristics correlate with nurse burnout (Dall'Ora et al., 2020). This POI

seeks to examine why nurses' job characteristics (low schedule flexibility, long shifts, low

staff levels, and long task variety) influence nurse burnout.

Relevance of POI to Executive Nursing Administration

The POI "Nurse Burnout and its Correlations with Job Characteristics." It is related to

the author's specialty: Executive Nurse Administrator because it affects the wellbeing of

nurses and their effectiveness in executing their services and duties towards patients. Since

the executive nurse administrator is tasked with leadership and management of all levels of

the organizations, particularly working directly with nurses to ensure the quality and safety

within the workplace and wellbeing of nurses and patients, they must consider the issues

presented by the POI. Notably, nurses working night shifts reported higher absenteeism and

poorer work performance scores (Santos et al., 2017). Working permanently without rotating

on shifts does show any changes in absenteeism, but working irregularly showed increased

absenteeism and lower performance.

The nurses working the highest number of shifts had higher scores on absenteeism

due to personal health. As Heijden et al. (2018) affirm, nurses working overtime showed

increased performance scores, but with a higher number of cases of personal health problems.

Additionally, the on-call requirement showed higher performance scores and low

absenteeism, while nurses working the highest number of hours showed a higher number of

personal health problems (Guo et al., 2018). Long shifts, 12 hours or more, show increased

absenteeism and personal health cases as fewer nurse hours per patient had lower scores of
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performance and increased absenteeism. These reports of short-staffing show higher

performance scores, but higher absenteeism and long working shifts showed low achievement

of work-life balance, wellbeing, and increased turnover intention. Understanding the

influences of nurse motivation, emotional, psychological, and physical exhaustion, and how

they are associated with job characteristics would enable a nurse leader to develop an

intervention for addressing nurse burnout.

Impact of POI on Overall U.S. HealthCare System

           Nurse burnout is a common phenomenon that affects several healthcare institutions

and systems. In the United States, the employment rates of R.Ns are expected to increase by

12% from 2018-2028, with jobs for nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists, and nurse

midwives expected to increase by 26% within the same period (U.S. Bureau of Labor

Statistics, 2020) significantly. These projected increments are associated with the projected

population increase and the shortage of nurses due to many nurses changing careers or being

less productive due to burnout. Norfle et al. (2021) report recommendations of the American

Nursing Association (ANA) which, besides acknowledging the nursing shortage as an

opportunity for nurses, presents negative implications of nurses having to work long hours in

stressful conditions leading to fatigue, injury and job dissatisfaction all which are ingredients

for burnout. A 2019 study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2020) found that 30.7 % of

nurses in the United States exhibited depression symptoms with reports of stress, feelings of

apathy, and exhaustion. Another study on burnout by Guo et al. (2018) showed the

prevalence of burnout in the United States, with 14.4 % of nurses reporting as being

"unengaged" with their work and 41% reporting feelings and showing signs of burnout. High

emotional exhaustion prevalence, high depersonalization, and low personal accomplishment

were also reported among these nurses. 

           Nurse burnouts are a significant cause of poor mental health amongst nursing staff

members in the United States. The nurses who experience burnout face stress, emotional

exhaustion, and apathy in the long term. In turn, due to this burnout, the affected nurses are

less engaged in their work, and it compromises the quality of patient care and, ultimately,

poor job performance. Burnout among healthcare professionals in the U.S. has been rampant,

with over 50% of physicians and a third of nurses exhibiting the symptoms (Reith, 2018).

The burnout epidemic takes a toll on patient care and exacerbates the impending physician

shortage. In addition, nurse burnout is shrinking the workforce as the nurses feel overworked;

they lack job enjoyment, thus contemplating their departure. Besides the disruption of patient

care, nurse burnout costs the United States $11,000 to $90,000 per nurse, amounting to about

$8.5 million loss annually due to nurse burnout, particularly for costs such as unfilled

vacancies, training, and orientation costs, and patient deferment, among others Norful et al.

(2021). 

Philosophical View

           Analytical philosophical viewpoint is hinged on the tradition of the early 20th century

philosophers Bertrand Russell and Gottlob Frege. In contrast, the continental philosophical

viewpoint is guided by a range of distinct even though related European traditions promoted

by Hegel, Deleuze, Schopenhauer, and Sartre, among others (Barkhordari, 2019). The

analytical viewpoint emphasizes the studying of language and engaging in a logical analysis

of concepts. It is primarily focused on questions on the nature of language, thought, and

meaning, with questions on the relationship of the mind to the world. Conversely, continental

viewpoint focuses on specific themes such as history, freedom, and politics (including

sexuality and gender), will, and desire. The continental viewpoint uses several techniques

such as close historical analyses of texts, reflection on one's own lived experiences, close

historical analysis of texts, and creatively reading the ancient and modern literature. The
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analytical philosophical viewpoint tends to concentrate on questions and employing proof

and argument methods similar to the ones used in logic and mathematics. The author's

preferred viewpoint is the continental philosophy due to its wide variety of concepts and

applicability. 

           The type of information (data) on POI and its evaluation will be broad using the

continental philosophical viewpoint. Checks on historical nurse burnouts and the impacts at

the time will be conducted. Moreover, other areas could be how nurses are affected by

burnout based on their gender or sexuality. Assessments will be made on the author's feelings

about burnout and its relationship with past burnout or similar experiences in the nursing

profession. The areas of how burnout affects the will and freedom of the uses in executing

their patient care mandate and maintaining the highest quality standards will be checked. The

data to be checked will be the number of nurses affected by burnout in the past five years and

compared to the numbers of nurses affected by burnout historic with a focus on these figures

against the total numbers of nurses at the respective times. Moreover, data on how nurse

burnout affected patients will be analyzed, for instance, checking how many cases led to the

avoidable death of patients, case of increased healthcare costs with figures and projections for

future cases. 

           The data acquired from the analytical viewpoints will help depict the relationships

between the nurse burnouts and actual activities that affect patients, especially ones involving

their minds. The data is valuable in explaining the implications of nurse burnout on the

general healthcare operations by relying on the meaning and thought besides the relationship

of burnout to real-life impacts or events. It is necessary to incorporate both analytical and

continental philosophical views in advanced nursing practice to help resolve complex cases

that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to solve using a single viewpoint. For

example, in nurse burnout, a combination of the two viewpoints will help show the little steps
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that lead to burnout, including individual and corporate contributing factors. On the other

hand, the continental view will help determine the evidence-based solution to the issue by

looking at the data on the historical impact of the POI in consideration of the underlying

factors. 

Conclusion

           The paper sought to discuss analytical and continental viewpoints and the phenomena

of interest (POI) "Nurse Burnout and its Correlations with Job Characteristics" within the

context of a long-term care facility that targeted the LPNs and the R.N.s. The relevance of the

POI to executive nurse administration is in its value to solving complex issues and providing

sound leadership for quality patient care and seamless services. Nurse burnout is a major

problem plaguing the 21st-century American medicine and nursing care system and will

likely worse to the detriment of nurses and patients alike if not addressed. There are

increasing cases of nurse burnout in the United States, which negatively affect the country's

healthcare system. Using analytical and continental viewpoints is key to providing substantial

means for practices and aspects that guide nursing actions for better conditions and quality

nursing care. 
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References

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