Capella FPX 4005 Assessment 2

Name

Capella university

NURS-FPX4005 Nursing Leadership: Focusing on People, Processes, and Organizations

Prof. Name

Date

Interview Summary

A semi-structured interview strategy was used to gather insights from Emily, the charge nurse at Crouse Hospital, allowing for in-depth, open-ended responses while ensuring that core topics were covered. A nursing colleague named Emily, currently serving as a charge nurse at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, New York, shared insights into the persistent challenges contributing to nurse burnout, those linked to high nurse-to-patient ratios. In her supervisory role on the medical-surgical unit, Emily oversees patient care coordination, staff assignments, team communication, and mentoring of new staff. She described a troubling trend of staff resignations driven by the overwhelming patient load, mandated overtime, and the emotional toll of continuous high-stress situations.

These conditions have significantly affected the quality of patient care. Although Crouse Hospital had implemented wellness initiatives like counseling services, mindfulness training, scheduling adjustments, and workshops, the lack of leadership integration and the workflow redesign limited their effectiveness. Leadership attempted to address these issues through flexible scheduling options and incentive programs, but ongoing staffing shortages and frequent management changes hindered any lasting progress. While the organization promotes a collaborative culture, Emily noted a disconnect between nursing staff and administration, making it difficult to develop and apply sustainable solutions. Before the interview, Emily also discussed her involvement in an interdisciplinary retention project that merged peer support with emotional resilience training.

Unfortunately, due to insufficient leadership follow-through, the program was discontinued before measurable outcomes could be achieved. As emphasized by Dilles et al. (2021), hospitals need to implement interdisciplinary approaches that improve nurse retention and uphold high patient care standards. A semi-structured interview format allowed for open-ended responses while ensuring all key discussion points were addressed. One guiding question was, “How has the nurse-to-patient ratio impacted patient care on your unit?” Another question explored was, “What wellness or retention strategies have been most effective or ineffective on your unit?”. This prompted Emily to offer a detailed account of nurses’ real-life stressors on the floor. 

Issue Identification

The key issues identified during the interview were nurse fatigue and chronic staff shortages, compromising patient safety, and decreasing staff morale, ultimately contributing to high nurse turnover. An evidence-based, interdisciplinary strategy offers the most effective path forward, as resolving these challenges requires coordinated input from nursing leadership, human resources, mental health professionals, and hospital administrators. Implementing predictive workforce planning tools alongside AI-driven scheduling systems can help optimize staff assignments and maintain safe nurse-to-patient ratios (Aied, 2024). In addition, mental health support services are vital in helping nurses cope with stress and burnout. Leadership engagement and enforcing policies restricting excessive overtime are essential to cultivating a healthier and more sustainable work environment (Barr & Nathenson, 2021). Collaborative, cross-disciplinary interventions improve nurse retention and enhance patient care outcomes.

Change Theories That Could Lead to an Interdisciplinary Solution

The 8-Step Change Model by Kotter provides a clear framework for managing the challenges that come with high nurse-to-patient ratios and staffing shortages in Crouse Hospital. In the first step, leadership alerts the staff about the dangers of low staffing levels to nurses and patients receiving treatment. Acquiring a committed group of nurse leaders, HR officials, and managers entails the following: The vision and strategy entail the following actions that include coming up with solutions like using predictive staffing models, implementation of AI for scheduling, and offering mental health services to the staff (Mayo, 2021). It is effective to share this vision through discussions with staff members and to ensure that the leadership reinforces it regularly.

The nursing workforce can be facilitated by eliminating barriers, including mandatory overtime and flexibility in staff scheduling adopted in the change process. Achieving short-term wins, such as better shift coverage and low burnout levels, ensures the project is on the right track. This means that as the hospital consolidates the gains and produces more change, policy updates on strategic aspects will support the existing results. Last, integrating new changes into the organizational culture by training the staff, performance review, and leadership commitment guarantees that the nurse-to-patient ratios are maintained for a long time. This model especially applies to the given issue, as it focuses on ongoing processes, integration of the participants from different fields, and long-term effects. Mayo (2021) aligns with the significance of structured change models in healthcare organizations and proves the practical application of Kotter’s framework for change.

Leadership Strategies That Could Lead to an Interdisciplinary Solution

Addressing high nurse-to-patient ratios effectively requires the application of Transformational Leadership, as this approach encourages shared goal-setting and promotes cross-disciplinary collaboration within the healthcare setting. A transformational leader fosters a supportive and positive work environment by engaging with nursing staff, advocating for their well-being, and promoting open communication between departments to strengthen interdisciplinary cooperation (Barr & Nathenson, 2021). This leadership style boosts staff engagement, emotional resilience, and workload management through collaborative decision-making processes involving hospital administrators and frontline nurses.

By establishing mentorship opportunities and investing in ongoing professional development, transformational leaders empower their teams, reduce burnout, and enhance overall job satisfaction—key elements in retaining skilled nursing staff. When paired with Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model, transformational leadership provides a research-informed framework that healthcare organizations like Crouse Hospital can use to implement and sustain improvements in nurse staffing. Kotter’s model offers a structured roadmap for change, while transformational leadership ensures the emotional and professional support needed to carry it through effectively. Barr and Nathenson (2021) add strong academic backing to this approach, as it explores how leadership behaviors directly influence nursing outcomes. The study supports transformational leadership as a proven strategy to strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration, improve nurse retention, and elevate the quality of care in environments challenged by staffing imbalances.

Collaboration Approaches for Interdisciplinary Teams

Healthcare administrators must institute formal interprofessional collaboration (IPC) networks between disciplines to correct ongoing nurse-to-patient ratio deficits and enhance staffing models and overall quality of care. IPC optimizes healthcare delivery through improved communication, teamwork, and collaborative decision-making. Labrague et al. (2021) identified that IPC enhances patient outcomes, decreases stress, and decreases staff errors. Formal meetings, systematic problem-solving, and clearly defined roles facilitate more effective interdisciplinary coalitions.

The Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) can be used as a mental health model to support nurses’ well-being further. Al‐Ghraiybah et al. (2024) indicate that CoCM establishes alliances among nurses, mental health clinicians, and leaders by standardizing emotional health screening, referrals, and follow-ups. This enhances mental health and job satisfaction and decreases turnover, all directly related to nurse-to-patient ratio deficits.

Besides, TeamSTEPPS, designed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), enhances nurse retention and teamwork through better communication through leadership and a safety culture. Samardzic et al. (2020) document that it fosters closed-loop communication and cross-unit support, vital in staffing management. With the implementation of IPC, CoCM, and TeamSTEPPS, Crouse Hospital can have a more unified workforce, enhance care quality, and decrease nurse staffing challenges using evidence-based, peer-reviewed models.

Conclusion

In summary, nurse burnout and staffing shortages at Crouse Hospital highlight the need for structured, interdisciplinary solutions. Using change models like Kotter’s and leadership strategies such as transformational leadership can guide sustainable improvements. Collaborative approaches like IPC, CoCM, and TeamSTEPPS further support a healthier work environment and better patient care outcomes.

References

Aied, K. (2024). The impact of AI on nursing workload and stress levels in critical care settings. Pakistan Journal of Life and Social Sciences, 22(2), 8529–8542. https://doi.org/10.57239/PJLSS-2024-22.2.00643 

Al‐Ghraiybah, T., Lago, L., Fernandez, R., Molloy, L., & Sim, J. (2024). Effect of nursing practice environment, nurse staffing, overtime and hand hygiene on hospital‐acquired infections in a tertiary teaching hospital. Journal of Clinical Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.17618

Capella FPX 4005 Assessment 2

Barr, T. L., & Nathenson, S. L. (2021). A holistic transcendental leadership model for enhancing innovation, creativity and well-being in health care. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 40(2), 157–168. https://doi.org/10.1177/08980101211024799 

Dilles, T., Heczkova, J., Tziaferi, S., Helgesen, A. K., Grøndahl, V. A., Van Rompaey, B., Sino, C. G., & Jordan, S. (2021). Nurses and pharmaceutical care: interprofessional, evidence-based working to improve patient care and outcomes. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(11), 5973. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18115973 

Labrague, L. J., Al Sabei, S., Al Rawajfah, O., AbuAlRub, R., & Burney, I. (2021). Interprofessional collaboration as a mediator in the relationship between nurse work environment, patient safety outcomes and job satisfaction among nurses. Journal of Nursing Management, 30(1), 268–278. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.13491 

Mayo, M. (2021). Pandemic Preparation & Response: A case study applying Kotter’s 8 step change management theory to improve pandemic response in an acute care setting. MUSC Theses and Dissertations. https://medica-musc.researchcommons.org/theses/559/ 

Capella FPX 4005 Assessment 2

Samardzic, M. B., Doekhie, K. D., & Wijngaarden, J. D. H. (2020). Interventions to improve team effectiveness within health care: A systematic review of the past decade. Human Resources for Health, 18(2), 1–42. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-019-0411-3