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) :
Mok HT(1), Tang YMV(1), Lui TC(1), Li WH(1), Lee SC(1), Choy WF(1), On SL(1), Chan SM(1), Chan LW(1), Cheung CL(1), Li OT(1), Lam MY(1), Wong LP(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Community Nursing Services, Kowloon Hospital
Introduction :
Having been embroiled in heightened staff turnover across the healthcare industry, how should nurses collectively respond? A gratitude intervention programme might provide some insights where bottom up self-help can enhance engagement and build a stronger sense of belonging among colleagues. Such a programme was launched in the Community Nursing Services (CNS) unit of Kowloon Hospital (KH) focusing on newly-transitioned staff. The ideal outcome is a stable workforce dedicated to patient care delivery, with continual accumulation and development of experience and knowledge.
Objectives :
1. To improve the employee engagement among newly-transitioned community nurses. 2. To increase their sense of belonging to the department. 3. To foster a closer relationship between colleagues.
Methodology :
A pre-test and post-test project was conducted in KH CNS. Nurses were recruited if they were currently working in KH CNS and having less than three years of community nursing experience. They were invited to participate in a 4-week gratitude intervention programme, which included keeping gratitude diaries and exchanging gratitude letters with senior colleagues. The level of employee engagement was assessed by the Employee Engagement Scale (EES) at the time of enrolment and after the programme.
Result & Outcome :
Data were analysed from ten newly-transitioned community nurses. A general improvement from the individual pre-test scores of 29 to 46 was observed in all participants after the programme. The mean score of EES rose from 37.8 to 51.5. Concerning the sense of belonging, there was a 52% rise in the score. This suggests that the level of employee engagement among the recruited nurses was significantly higher after the gratitude intervention programme. Total 85 diary entries and 40 letters were collected. The most frequent work-related grateful event shared by the participants was “practical support from colleagues”. As for the contents of gratitude letters, “compliment for being a good mentor” stood out as the most common theme. Through the introduction of the gratitude intervention programme, participants were empowered to deepen their awareness of thankful occasions, and to reflect on the people and events that benefited them professionally. In turn, there was a remarkable improvement in engagement for this group of new team members, whose fresh perspectives would significantly contribute to this evolving nursing specialty. Such stiffened emotional attachment would play an important role in dampening turnover intentions among these newcomers.
