Managing nurses with health concerns

Abstract

Healthcare reform requires that hospitals take more accountability for providing the highest quality, most cost-effective care. It's accepted that nurses are critical in determining the quality of care in hospitals and nurse managers have the responsibility of ensuring that their staff members are capable of providing quality care. Although many factors can influence nurses' productivity and ability to provide care, one area that's often overlooked is the health of the nurses themselves. Research has documented that poor health in healthcare workers can impact their work productivity, job performance, and quality of patient care.1–4Most nursing units are likely to have nurses working with health problems that are impacting their job performance. Fear of litigation and lack of knowledge about how to address health issues may prevent managers from properly handling these concerns.5