Improving Staff Satisfaction of Perceived Workload in the ICU

Year Submitted: 2024
Published Date: 31 December 2024

Tags: Organisational Leadership, Human Resource, Staff Wellbeing

About this Content

Aims

Improve staff satisfaction regarding perceived workload by 10% within six months.

Background

ICU staff assignments were traditionally based on census counts and shift in-charge discretion, leading to inconsistencies and perceived unfairness.

Methods

Implemented an Acuity Trend Tool to categorize patients based on their severity, standardizing workload distribution. Conducted Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles to refine assignment practices.

Results

Satisfaction with patient assignments improved from 42.9% to 55.3%. Difficulty in assigning staff to patients fairly reduced from 85% to 60%. Difficulty justifying assignment decisions dropped from 80% to 53.4%.

Conclusion

The Acuity Trend Tool successfully enhanced staff workload perception. Future plans include refining the tool and expanding implementation to other ICUs.

Lessons Learnt

Incorporating objective patient acuity measures into workload assignment improves fairness and staff satisfaction.

Keywords

Registered Nurses, Staff Satisfaction, Ishikawa Diagram, Nurse Burnout, Acuity Trend Tool, Quality Improvement

Innovators' Details

Connect with this contributor!

Ms Lee Qi Carin - Carin.leeqi@gleneagles.com.sg

Project Attachment

158_IHH_NHIP_2024_Improving_Staff_Satisfaction_of_Perceived_Workload_in_the_ICU.pdf