Our Top-4 Ways to be happier at work
Better hospital care linked to happy staff
A study of staff perceptions of quality of care at the National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in England suggest a possible link between higher healthcare staff job satisfaction and better quality of care and patient outcomes.
Published in 2012, and revised in 2013, the study points to evidence that increased workplace and job satisfaction in specific settings is linked to lower mortality rates and increased positive patient outcomes.
The study’s aims were to “…assess the potential of staff satisfaction to be used as an indicator of institutional performance”. Over 60,000 respondents from 147 NHS trusts were included in the analysis.
It may not be surprising to hear that a happier nurse or doctor can provide better patient outcomes. In most professions it would be intuitive to find that a person who is happy in their job is going to be more focused and attentive to the task they are performing. Healthcare should be no exception.
The study did not identify what factors contributed to a happier work environment. So, we thought we would make up our own based on customer feedback and our own personal experience:
- Focus on what you love to do — Clinical staff want to spend more time with patients. DQM’s and RM’s want to be educating and consulting. Neither want to be wasting their time with antiquated systems that don’t contribute to better patient care. If a system or process is making your job harder, and not easier, it is likely time for a new one.
- Be social and communicate — One of the most effective ways to improve workplace happiness (and the subject of an upcoming post) is communication and collaboration with coworkers. Team-building exercises and retreats are fine and well. But, nothing can take the place a real, collaborative workplace. More often than not, that begins with simply talking.
- Know the results of your hard work — From far too many of our clients we hear, “With our old risk/quality systems we never knew the outcome of an incident. We would fill out the reports, submit them, and that was it… I don’t even know where they went.” How demoralizing is it to work your hardest and not know if the energy was worth the effort? If you do not know the outcomes of your hard work, you might want to find out how to change that.
- Work smart, not hard — Throughout history humans have used their intelligence to develop tools to make their jobs easier. However, no matter how advanced a technology is, it has a lifespan. Before long a newer, better way to do the same task is developed. Don’t be guilty of saying “we’ve always done it this way”. More advanced tools save time and money.
We built the ActionCue application for that strict purpose, to make your job easier, improve the quality of care, reduce healthcare costs and, ultimately, to improve patient outcomes.
Don’t just take our word for it though. We have a whole list of subscribers that credit the ActionCue application for their success. Visit our testimonials page and read from just a few of them. With a 100% subscriber retention since 2009, we must be doing something right.
Click here to read the study abstract.
To learn how the ActionCue hospital risk management software click here can make your hospital a ‘happier’ place, click the link above.
About the Author Faris Islam
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