Nurse fatigue is one of many problems nurses face every day. However, hospitals, home care agencies, nursing homes, urgent care centers and rehabilitation facilities can make things easier for their conscientious, hard-working nurses.
In the hospital setting, nurses have more responsibility, are always busy with documentation, orienting new staff, spending minimal time with patient care. Fatigue has major implications for the health and safety of nurses and can result in compromised patient care. This phenomenon can be very costly to employers and can result in increased health care and workers’ compensation, disability, and legal fees. (American Nurses Association, 2014). The problem of nurse fatigue is seen in my daily routine, as a Registered Nurse/Case Manager, where other staff members are overwhelmed with an extensive caseload, often resulting in delayed communication of essential information to the physician. The purpose of choosing this problem is to bring an awareness of its existence and the detrimental effects it has on patient safety. Fatigue can be defined as mental or physical exhaustion that stops a person from being able to function normally. (Weinstein, 2016). It is imperative that registered nurses communicate pertinent patient
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According to the ANA, 2014, registered nurses and employers have the joint responsibility to reduce risks from nurse fatigue and to create and sustain a culture of safety, a healthy work environment, and a work-life balance. Registered nurses, in some cases, are demanded to work extra hours. They are overworked to the point of exhaustion resulting in harm to self and more importantly the patients in their care. The ability to thinking critically and make concrete decisions regarding patient care are at risk and the outcome can be detrimental to patients’