The shortage in nurse care presents immense challenges to the healthcare sector. Nurses are not only responsible for patient recovery, but are also under enormous pressure due to intense workload and high job expectation.
The daily work routine is characterized by triage and chronic understaffing, which leads to stress and emotional strain among nurses. The Pflegestudie 2.0 by Barmer and the Institute for Workplace Health Consultation (IFBG) highlights the severity of the situation: 62% of nurses report regular physical exhaustion, which is a significant increase from 43% pre-pandemic. Equally alarming is the rise in emotional exhaustion, which increased from 34% to 52% after Covid.
Significant rise in these numbers highlight the urgent need for two actions: adequate staffing levels and targeted stress management. Both of these measures are essential to protect the health of nurses and sustainably ensure the stability and efficiency of the healthcare system.
Common Contributors of Stress in Healthcare
Time pressure and workload are the top-most challenges when it comes to factors that contribute to stress in the healthcare sector. Tightly scheduled shifts and unexpected emergencies increase pressure on nurses and often lead to overwork. Moreover, there comes emotional strain from daily contact with suffering patients, illnesses, and deaths, which further requires mental resilience from nursing staff. Additionally, communication issues arising due to fewer staff often lead to tension among patients and their families. Additionally, bureaucratic tasks, such as time-intensive documentations further consume valuable time of nurses that could otherwise be spent on direct patient care.
According to a Statista survey, exhaustion from overwork is the most frequently cited problem in the nursing sector. Unclear working hours, high psychological strain, and poor work-life balance further exacerbate the situation. Hospitals identify these factors as key drivers of the shortage of qualified staff. Constant overwork not only reduces job satisfaction, but also contributes to stress-related illnesses such as burnout among the staff, which leads to decreased job performance.
Burnout in Nursing: A Risk for Staff and Patients
According to Pflegestudie 2.0, every second nurse feels frequently exhausted and shows signs of burnout.
The consequences: Increased absenteeism, high staff turnover, disrupted team dynamics, and reduced patient care. Exhaustion and overwork also lead to more errors, jeopardising patient safety. This vicious cycle is extremely harmful for both patient and the healthcare organization, which is why it urgently needs to be broken.
Strategies for a Healthy Work Environment
To reduce workload and protect employee health, comprehensive measures in place are essential. The HR department of the healthcare sector plays a central role in establishing stress management programs and fostering a supportive work environment. In our blog “Preventing Burnout”, you can learn more about effective strategies for employee retention and productivity enhancement—ensuring a sustainable healthcare system.
Clinics and care facilities have often already tried various measures including health workshops, external training sessions, and additional break regulations.
A practical example: Lisa, HR manager at a care facility, noticed increasing stress levels and rising turnover among the nursing staff. After attending a stress management workshop, she collaborated with management to create a guide for open communication and also introduced regular check-up conversations to identify stressors early.
However, such approaches often fail because they are too general and overlook the specific challenges faced by individual teams or departments. Additionally, in a hectic daily routine, the lack of clear implementation strategies and success monitoring often renders even promising measures ineffective.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution, since every clinic faces unique challenges. This is where atwork comes in with its flexible and data-driven tools that develop tailored solutions for actual relief, increased satisfaction, and sustainable improvements for both nursing staff and patients.
How Digital Solutions Relieve Teams and Improve Patient Care
The ongoing shortage of skilled workers presents immense challenges for clinics and care facilities, not only increasing the workload for employees but also jeopardizing the quality of patient care.
Using data-driven analyses, causes such as overwork or communication issues can be precisely identified, enabling targeted measures—such as optimized shift schedules or improved communication structures—to be implemented.
atwork’s platform offers customized solutions that not only increase team satisfaction but also enhance workplace attractiveness, ensuring long-term stability in healthcare delivery.
Tailored Action Plans for Sustainable Success
With atwork’s intelligent dashboard, you can create effective and individually tailored measures for your teams. The platform specifically identifies areas with the greatest impact on your KPIs, such as reducing staff turnover, increasing satisfaction, and lowering burnout rates.
With just a few clicks, you can develop a customized action plan tailored to the specific needs of your organization and directly address the most pressing challenges.
atwork goes beyond mere planning: your action plan includes clear responsibilities, necessary resources, and a realistic timeline for implementation. This ensures you always have full control and can verify that measures are not only planned but also effectively executed. By integrating existing company data or collecting employee feedback via atwork’s MEASURE tool, the quality of the plans is further optimized, which is a crucial factor for sustainable success.
The result? Reduced turnover, higher employee satisfaction, and a lower burnout rate. Not only do you have control over implementation, but you can also actively foster a healthier and more stable work environment.
Efficient Implementation and Transparent Communication
With atwork, Implementing measures has never been easier. The platform automatically transforms your plans into clear, actionable steps. Each step is precisely defined, making coordination and delegation easier. The communication function ensures seamless information flow among all parties involved. With pre-designed email templates, you can quickly and easily inform employees, teams, or management about planned measures, progress, or required resources.
Thanks to this feature, implementation remains structured, and everyone involved stays well-informed and engaged. This creates a work environment that promotes efficiency and team dynamics while elevating patient care to a new level.
Take the next step with atwork: from efficient implementation to precise measurement of your initiatives’ success.
Make Your HR Strategy Measurable
atwork uses predictive analytics to evaluate the impact of planned measures in advance and select the most effective strategies. Thanks to scientifically backed models, you can now receive precise recommendations tailored to the specific challenges of the healthcare sector.
Contact us today for a demo and discover how to successfully tackle the challenges in healthcare!
