By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN
It seems hard to believe that this week we celebrate a one-year battle with the COVID-19 pandemic. The census of COVID patients is dropping in most settings, and nurse leaders are looking toward the future. Yet, the nursing workforce today is not the same workforce as it was a year ago. Many nurse leaders have described it as looking at an army returning from battle – exhausted and traumatized by all the upheaval in both their personal and professional lives. In many departments, a significant percentage of nurses are relatively new graduates who have only worked in a COVID impacted environment. A question that I am frequently asked by leaders right now is whether it is okay to let nurses be disengaged.
A typical scenario presented is this – before the pandemic, we had a very engaged practice council. Our unit had a high volume of COVID patients during most of 2020 and through January of 2021. Our census of COVID patients has thankfully significantly dropped. With the vaccine and other factors, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Last week, I tried to get our practice council to start planning some nursing week activities. Even some of my previously most engaged staff have told me that they can’t engage with the planning. They are just too tired to take on any more activities. Our engagement scores are down right now, and I don’t know how hard to push as a manager. Some of these nurses don’t seem to have the emotional bandwidth to do more than come to work and put in their 12 hours.
I have discussed the problem with several seasoned frontline leaders. Many realize that they are dealing with staff who have been through trauma and use trauma-informed leadership principles to guide their approach. Trauma-informed leadership recognizes and honors the emotional scars that people have. It can help the leader empathize with their employees, both powerful emotions themselves for a leader to have. They are asking questions such as:
- I have noticed that you seem less engaged in your work than you once were; what is happening in your life?
- What matters most to you in your work right now?
- What talents and gifts do you have that could help the team right now?
- How can I help you to do more of the things that bring joy to you in nursing?
- What are some small things you could do to help the unit in our shared-governance efforts?
Nurse leaders tell me that they tread lightly right now on the issue of engagement – attempting to get staff involved in the things that matter most to them. Most leaders I have talked with have told me that they are philosophical about the engagement issue given what has happened. They anticipate with all the changes that staff has experienced; the re-engagement process is likely to be slower than they might like.
As one leader explained to me, the challenge is that periodically, all of us disengage from our work because of issues in our personal lives. Up until now, it has not been that noticeable because others step up to the plate. But right now, personal issues are more universal, and fewer nurses are stepping up to the plate. That’s what makes this hard.
There are no easy answers about whether to pressure for more staff engagement at this time. This is a very demanding time for leaders and they are working without a playbook to guide some of their actions.
© emergingrnleader.com 2021
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