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Wednesday, 14 July 2010: 8:30 AM
Learning Objective 1: describe the barriers faced by injured nurses as they attempt to return to work.
Learning Objective 2: describe how the unsuccessfull return of an injured nurse to health care employment adds to the global nursing shortage.
Purpose: Nursing is a high risk profession for injuries, illnesses and disabilities (Statistics Canada, Health Canada, & Canadian Institute of Health Information, 2006). In Ontario Canada, a legislated injury management approach called the “Early and Safe Return to Work (ESRTW)” is promoted as beneficial to both the injured worker and the employer. Hence the purpose of this study was to discover the ways in which ESRTW and hospital injury management practices organize, concert and shape the everyday lives of registered nurses who have been injured at work.
Methods: Institutional Ethnography (Smith, 1987; 2005), an investigative and social analytical approach, was employed to uncover the social organization of injury management. This type of inquiry is useful because it moves beyond any one individual’s experience to discover how the social organization of hospital structures and injury management practices work to organize, shape and determine the actualities of injured nurses’ lives.
Results: The “return to work” phase was described by the injured nurses as an intense, effortful and challenging time. The scheduling of shifts and rehabilitation appointments, inappropriately modified duties, and unwelcoming social environment are all workplace factors that make return to work like a “second job”. The overwhelming nature of this time caused all injured nurses to reconsider their employment and professional relationships with the hospital.
Conclusion: Early return to work, patient safety and hospital efficiencies strategies create barriers to the successful return of the injured nurse. This paper challenges the audience to reconsider return to work processes and practices used with injured nurses so that this phase of injury management can be made manageable. The value of doing this could aid in retaining valuable nurses in an already challenged system.
Methods: Institutional Ethnography (Smith, 1987; 2005), an investigative and social analytical approach, was employed to uncover the social organization of injury management. This type of inquiry is useful because it moves beyond any one individual’s experience to discover how the social organization of hospital structures and injury management practices work to organize, shape and determine the actualities of injured nurses’ lives.
Results: The “return to work” phase was described by the injured nurses as an intense, effortful and challenging time. The scheduling of shifts and rehabilitation appointments, inappropriately modified duties, and unwelcoming social environment are all workplace factors that make return to work like a “second job”. The overwhelming nature of this time caused all injured nurses to reconsider their employment and professional relationships with the hospital.
Conclusion: Early return to work, patient safety and hospital efficiencies strategies create barriers to the successful return of the injured nurse. This paper challenges the audience to reconsider return to work processes and practices used with injured nurses so that this phase of injury management can be made manageable. The value of doing this could aid in retaining valuable nurses in an already challenged system.
See more of: Practitioner Issues in the Clinical Setting
See more of: Research Sessions – Oral Paper & Posters
See more of: Research Sessions – Oral Paper & Posters