Proposed Topic (Most preferred): :
Staff Engagement and Empowerment (motivating staff / teamwork / work revamp tackling manpower issue / staff wellness / OSH / retention)
Proposed Topic (Second preferred): :
HA Young Investigators Session (Projects to be presented by HA staff who had joined HA for 10 years or less)
Authors (including presenting author) :
Hung YW(1), Wong SF(1), Lam PL(1), Leung MK(1), Koo YY(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Community Nursing Service, Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital
Introduction :
Job-related stress was the key dominant factor for staff turnover and became the major health problem among Community Nurses (CN). Especially for the young-aged and junior CN with insufficient psychological support. The manpower turnover in OLMH Community Nursing Service (CNS) is significant with the annual turnover rate 13.33% and 32.43% in 2021 and 2022 respectively. The proportion of newly-joined staff is prominent. Peer-support approach was shown effective in reducing stress and burnout among nurses and helped them to stay engaged thus lowering the turnover intention. Therefore, an innovative and structured Preceptorship Program was tailored for the newly-joined CN, with enhancement of peer-support approach and VR simulation training.
Objectives :
(1)To explore the job-related stress and turnover intention among the newly-joined CN; (2) To improve the supervisory support for the newly-joined CN; (3) To adopt peer-support approach for the newly-joined CN; (4) To implement simulation training by using virtual reality (VR) for scenario-based case discussion; (5) To evaluate the satisfaction towards the peer-support groups and VR simulation training among the newly-joined CN
Methodology :
Total 11 peer-support group sessions were held in the enhanced Preceptorship Program. The duration of each session was 30-45 minutes. Designated topics were selected for each session, such as evidence-based clinical guideline/protocol sharing for specific nursing procedures (with the tailored-made reference guidebook). Advanced Practice Nurses acted as the facilitator and moderator for each session. Interactive conversation using the power of small-group dialogue was emphasized to facilitate two-way communication. Two scenario-based case discussions by simulation training using VR were designed. Data were collected using self‐reported questionnaires: (1) Community Nurses Stress Scale (CNSS) (Pre & Post), (2) Turnover Intention Rating (Pre & Post), (3) Knowledge tests (Pre & Post) and (4) Satisfaction Survey towards peer-support sessions and VR simulation training (Post).
Result & Outcome :
Total 16 newly-joined CN participated in the project between 03/2023 to 09/2023. After the project, the mean in total score of CNSS was 67.3 (decreased by 22.0%;p=0.0017) and the mean rating of Turnover Intention was 2.0 (decreased by 31.0%;p<0.05). For Knowledge tests, all topics’ knowledge scores increased significantly, percentage increase ranged from 62.4% to 97.7% (p<0.05 for all topics). The overall mean satisfaction score towards peer-support sessions and VR simulation training was 32.9 (maximum score = 40). Through the peer-support group sessions, all participants agreed that they had obtained useful knowledge/trouble-shooting skills; their clinical confidence, self-perceived competency, psychological well-being, job satisfaction, motivation and work engagement were also improved. Besides, all participants agreed that VR simulation was innovative and interesting, promoting real-time critical thinking and home assessment technique. The annual turnover rate in 2023 was 7.69%.
