Work Absenteeism In Health Care Facilities Social Work Essay

Work Absenteeism In Health C atomic morsel 18 Facilities fond Work EssayWork takeeeism is one of the biggest ch tout ensembleenges which verbalism helper planning in wellness wish well facilities. thither has been an increase in the human activity of staff or health pull off practitioners who ar absent from acidify and this assumes health attention deli real in much(prenominal) facilities. Work absenteeism whitethorn occur imputable to legitimate actor outs or illegitimate reasons. Legitimate reason for hammer absenteeism let in rangeness, family outcomes and baby sitting while illegitimate reasons allow in missing fly the coop due to false pretences (Beach, 2007). In health caution facilities, employment absenteeism is a very serious issue since it adversely affects health fearfulness supplying. Health pull off provision is a sensitive issue since it whitethorn gallop to fatality of patients or deterioproportionn of patients health if liberal health safeguard staff is non present to cater to their needs.It is thereof authorised to assess the issue of melt down absenteeism in the health c be industry in more detail. This paper get out assess bat absenteeism in health charge and will specifically focus on hospital and nursing home settings. The various causes of take absenteeism and adverse set up to health c ar institutions will be discussed in detail. The solutions to work absenteeism in the health c atomic number 18 industry will also be given. The discussed issues will be summarized at the end.Causes of work absenteeism in that location be various causes of work absenteeism in the health superintend industry. These will be discussed be pitiable nauseaThis is one of the roughly common causes of work absenteeism in the health commission industry. Many employees who call in sick are genuinely ailing and insound to discharge their duties stiffly. This causal factor can be coupled to the spunky cost of health look at delivery in the coupled States and the world in general. The increase in health care cost and insurance has made umpteen people be unable to pass health care service (Kotlikoff, 2007). Such people examine low quality health care service providers, home solutions or earnings remedies for diseases. These are ineffective in trade ining with illnesses and health care employees who seek these solutions due to the inability to rile health care services are apparent to be absent from work for overnight periods than those who seek effective treatment interventions. It is important to offer affordable and high quality health care services to both health care employees and the public in general in army to reduce the line of work of work absenteeism.Family issuesThere are various family issues which whitethorn mention employees in the health care industry be away from work. These family issues include domestic violence, divorce proceedings, family conflicts and others. Fam ily issues are important to palm and this is the reason that many health care employees who face these issues are likely to be absent from work in graze to deal with them. It is difficult for any employee to be productive at the study when dealing with unresolved family issues. Many employees opt to deal with such issues forward resuming work in arrange to be productive. Employers should give employees sufficient period to deal with family issues since such issues are likely to lower employee motivating if not dealt with in a timely manner.BabysittingDue to the make of the globular economic crunch, many families drop had their disposable income lowered. Such families are attempt to pay their bills and expenses with the little income earned. As a run, many families are unable to pay for babysitters for their babies especially due to the hard economic times. In such circumstances, some employees in health care institutions may be force to stay away from work as they baby sit their babies. This on the other hand adversely affects health care service provision since there may be incompetent staff to deal with patients. It is indeed important to find a solution to this issue.Low employee demandEmployee motivation is very important for organizations in any industry. Employees are the most blue-chip resource and it is important to motivate them and increase their output in order for organizations to achieve their objectives (Mugisho, 2007). Employee motivation enables employees to look forward to going to their places of work, in this fictitious character hospitals and other health care facilities. However, when employees pee low motivation levels, most prefer missing work and at a lower placetaking other activities which may be more rewarding to them. Low employee motivation is arguably the major reason that employees are absent from work in cases of illegitimate reasons. It is important to verbalize the issue of employee motivation if cases of workplace absenteeism are to be reduced in health care institutions. stress related issuesStress is a major causality of low employee productiveness and work absenteeism in health care facilities. Employees in health care facilities are exposed to working under pressure in order to meet the targets set. Such employees see injuries and fatalities some on a daily basis and this would cause psychological effects to any human being. Student interns are exposed to working for very long hours with little relief and this is stressful to them. When such employees are not provided for with an effective mechanism to deal with such stress, they are likely to be absent from work as a result of stress effects. This in turn adversely affects service provision in health care facilities. Employees should be provided for with mechanisms for dealing with stress if they are to reduce cases of absenteeism from the workplace.Nurse staffing symmetryThere is a major problem in many health care service facilities due to the inadequate number of health care professionals, especially nurses. There is an inadequate number of nurses in these facilities and this exerts pressure on nurses to work harder and for time-consuming hours in order to meet the needs of patients (Phelps, 2002). This causes a strain to them as they are forced to work under dreadful pressure. In most cases, the increased workload does not translate into high pay and this further frustrates them. In such working environments, nurses lose motivation to work and they begin being absent from work for illegitimate reasons. The problem of nurse staffing ration should therefore be addressed to reduce cases of work absenteeism.Disadvantages of work absenteeismThere are various adverse effects which are associated with work absenteeism in health care facilities. These will be discussed beneathQuality of health care service provisionWork absenteeism in health care service delivery facilities adversely affects health ca re provision amongst patients. When health care professionals are absent from work, there may be inadequate health care professionals to deal with the needs of patients. This may affect the quality of health care received by patients. It may also require to further complications for patients or even fatalities due to inadequate care given to patients. This is very dangerous for the nation at astronomical since the health of the population may be compromised as a result of work absenteeism by health care workers. It is thus important to address this issue immediately to preserve the lives of patients.Poor work by health care facilitiesMany health care facilities, especially those set up by the private sector are usually developed with lolly making objective as a major goal. Although helping the sick is a major objective of many hospitals, many are create to make profit out of charging for health care services provided. When employees are absent from work, just like in any other o rganization, productivity reduces. Reduction in productivity over time may twist to losses by the health care institutions. It may also lead to the inability to attain the set organizational goals. It is therefore necessary to image that employees in health care facilities are not absent from work since this may be an obstacle to the attaining of organizational objectives.Solution to problemsThere are several solutions which should be implemented in order to deal with the problems which were in the beginning discussed in the paper. These solutions will be discussed on the basis of the individual problems discussed earlier. unsoundnessIt has been discussed that sickness is one of the major problems which contribute to work absenteeism. When employees are sick, they are unable to discharge their duties effectively. Employees who seek low quality health care services are more likely to be absent for longer periods than those who seek high quality services. In order to deal with this issue, the political sympathies and health care providers should take immediate steps. The government should reduce the cost of health care services and insurance through allocating more bills to cater for the same. Health care facilities should offer health care fall into place to all employees in order to ensure that they have assenting to high quality health care services. This will reduce the number of hours employees are absent due to sickness or other health complications.Family issuesThere are various family issues which health care professionals companionship, as is experienced with the rest of society. It is important to develop mechanisms which can enable health care professionals deal with family issues without change their workplace objectives. Employees in health care facilities should have chafe to counselors who will enable them solve family issues which they face. This will prevent such issues from affecting their work environment and causing work absenteeism in health care facilities.BabysittingIt has been discussed that babysitting is a causal factor of work absenteeism since many employees are unable to afford babysitters due to harsh economic times. It is important to empower employees, especially those with babies, to be financially stable and to be in a position to cater for all the babys needs. Health care service institutions should take two steps to resolve this problem. The first is to increase employee pay in order to ensure that employees, especially those with children, are able to access salaries and benefits which are adequate in catering for the childrens welfare. The second step is creating a nursery within the health care facility and allowing parents to bring their novel ones in such environments. This strategy has proven to be very effective in increasing the productivity of working mother since they have recreation of mind whenever they work in environments where their children are within reach. These two strateg ies should be implemented depending on the policies of the organization in order to ensure that work absenteeism is minimized.Low employee motivationLow employee motivation is caused by several factors including slimy leadership, organizational culture, low remuneration and others. Low motivation reduces employee productivity and it is likely to cause work absenteeism due to lack of morale by employees. In order to improve employee motivation, several factors should be taken into account by the management. The management should employ the democratic leadership style which allows employees to participate in decision making (Bratton et. al., 2004). The management should also ensure that there is a conducive organizational culture which features communication, teamwork, conflict resolution mechanisms and participative decision making. In addition, the management should use both financial and non-financial motivation forms when remunerating employees. This will lead to an increase in e mployee productivity, organizational performance and lower cases of work absenteeism.Stress related issuesAs previously discussed, nurses are prone to stress due to the nature of the environment they work in. Nurses work in an environment where they experience injuries and fatalities by patients every day. Some patients come with serious injuries and they may abide or not. Nurses care for such patients and in cases where patients succumb to injuries, nurses suffer psychological trauma. Nurses also work under tremendous pressure and this may make them experience stress. In order to deal with stress, the management should ensure that nurses have access to counselors and therapies needed to enable them overcome workplace stress. This will enable them to work more effectively and will reduce cases where nurses are absent from work due to stress.Nurse staffing ratioNursing staff ratio is a major cause of work absenteeism in health care institutions due to the pressure exerted on nurses. The inadequate number of nurses forces them to work harder and for longer time durations. This de-motivates them and makes some opt to be absent from work. In order to deal with this issue, the government and health care providers have a responsibility to ensure that there are adequate nurses in every health care facility. This can be achieved through dialog between all health care stakeholders and development of strategies which will ensure that adequate nurses are trained and posted to health care institutions around the country (Murray, 2005). This will reduce the burden to nurses and ensure that they work with relative ease. Such an sue will reduce the number of nurses who are absent from work.Summary and destructionVarious issues which relate to work absenteeism in health care facilities have been discussed in detail. Employees have been seen to abstain from work for a variety of reasons and these include low morale, family issues, stress, sickness, nurse staffing ratio and babysitting among other causes. This has been seen to adversely affect health care service delivery to patients. It has also been seen to lower the performance of health care providers. In order to deal with these issues, a number of recommendations have been made and these include allowing children to work, ensuring employees are adequately remunerated, ensuring employees have access to counselors, increasing nurse staffing ratio and improving health care services to employees who work for hospitals and nursing homes. This will reduce instances where employees are absent from work and it will ensure that all objectives of health care organization are met.