|
For Immediate Release
January 12, 2006
Mercy Tracks Nurse Movement and Stress for
National Study
Oklahoma City — In an effort to give patients
the best care possible, Mercy Health Center is undergoing a
transformation this week. Wired to track nurse activity and nurse stress
levels, Mercy joins two dozen hospitals nationwide in a study to help
Purdue University researchers and scientists discover how to increase
nurses’ time at the bedside, and what exactly stresses nurses out during
their shifts.
“For a week, the nurses on our medical surgical unit
will be studied to see how much time they spend completing paperwork,
how much they actually walk in a day and when nurses reach peak stress
levels,” said Chris Weigel, Mercy’s chief nursing officer. “We’re the
only ones in the state participating in this Time and Motion Study. We
are very interested in what researchers find.”
With personal digital assistants and electronic
armbands, researchers will be able to collect a treasure-trove of data.
While it’s already known that most nurses walk a total of five miles
each day on the job, this study will track not only the distance but
where their time is spent.
“We will also find out exactly when nurses feel
stress,” said Gary Parker, RN, Mercy’s clinical education and research
manager. “Is it when they first get up in the morning? Is it on the
drive to work? Or does it hit at some other time during the day? Finding
out that kind of information is critical to help us know how to help our
nurses manage stress.”
 The
goal of the national study—supported in part by a grant from the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation—is to identify specific changes that will
improve nursing satisfaction and retention, as well as patient safety in
U.S. hospitals. Numerous studies already show that the more time nurses
spend at a patient’s bedside, the more satisfied they are. When nurses
get to do what they are trained to do—care for patients—they’re happier
and that translates directly into happier patients.
“With this study, we want to learn how we can reduce
the time spent on tasks that take nurses away from the patient, tasks
that often have a negative impact on nurse job satisfaction and,
ultimately, the quality and safety of patient care,” said Parker.
While Mercy is expected to receive results from its
data rather quickly, the overall study findings won’t be released until
later in the year.
“This study is going to have a far-reaching impact,
including influencing future hospital designs and renovations, with a
goal of transforming the work environment of nurses,” Parker said.
|
