The fear of the unknown and how it will affect our jobs and our workplace has caused tension to be very high. Instead of focusing on our patients, and the assessments that we normally complete to determine eligibility for services, worry and stress are redirecting our thoughts to ourselves and the uncertainty of our future employment. This directly affects the quality of the workplace and causes morale to decline. Change in healthcare is the expected norm but how change is presented and handled by everyone involved can directly affect the outcomes and morale of the workers. Involving the employees in the various stages of restructuring and placing value on the information that is shared would improve the morale and quality of the workplace. The focus needs to be reshifted back to the patient and our goal to provide patient centred care. There needs to be rebuilding of trust, and improving the morale in the community care access centre. Collaboration between the employer and the care coordinators would be a good place to start. To listen to what the employees, who provide direct patient care, have to say and utilizing these recommentations to rebuild the trust and employee buy-in to grow as an agency. An innoculation to moral distress is collective action. (Burston &Tuckett 2012, p. 320) Another factor in the issues at the workplace are directly related to nursing ethics. As part of promoting justice, “nurses make fair decisions about the allocation of resources under their control based on the needs of the persons, groups of communities to whom they are providing care. They advocate for fair treatment and for fair distribution of resources for those in their care.” (Code of Ethics 2008, p. 17) The nursing care coordinators complete assessments that are based on the criteria that management has determined for care needs.
The fear of the unknown and how it will affect our jobs and our workplace has caused tension to be very high. Instead of focusing on our patients, and the assessments that we normally complete to determine eligibility for services, worry and stress are redirecting our thoughts to ourselves and the uncertainty of our future employment. This directly affects the quality of the workplace and causes morale to decline. Change in healthcare is the expected norm but how change is presented and handled by everyone involved can directly affect the outcomes and morale of the workers. Involving the employees in the various stages of restructuring and placing value on the information that is shared would improve the morale and quality of the workplace. The focus needs to be reshifted back to the patient and our goal to provide patient centred care. There needs to be rebuilding of trust, and improving the morale in the community care access centre. Collaboration between the employer and the care coordinators would be a good place to start. To listen to what the employees, who provide direct patient care, have to say and utilizing these recommentations to rebuild the trust and employee buy-in to grow as an agency. An innoculation to moral distress is collective action. (Burston &Tuckett 2012, p. 320) Another factor in the issues at the workplace are directly related to nursing ethics. As part of promoting justice, “nurses make fair decisions about the allocation of resources under their control based on the needs of the persons, groups of communities to whom they are providing care. They advocate for fair treatment and for fair distribution of resources for those in their care.” (Code of Ethics 2008, p. 17) The nursing care coordinators complete assessments that are based on the criteria that management has determined for care needs.