What is the Workforce Ecosystem?
In an effort to provide nurses with the strategies and resources for their professional and personal growth, the Center for American Nurses organized its work into the Workforce
Ecosystem. This Workforce Ecosystem describes how the Center's tools empowered nurses into professional actions to create healthier work environments. Listed below are the elements of the Ecosystem that offer evidence-based solutions and powerful tools to navigate workplace challenges, optimize patient outcomes, and maximize career benefits.
* Staffing: refers to job assignments including: the volume of work assigned to individuals, the professional skills required for particular job assignments, the duration of experience in a particular job category, and work schedules.
* Workflow design: pertains to on-the-job activities of health care workers, including interactions among workers and the nature and scope of the work.
* Personal/social factors: refer to individual and group factors such as stress, job satisfaction, and professionalism, as well as skills that may be underdeveloped in the nursing population, such as financial literacy.
* Physical environment: includes aspects of the workplace such as light, aesthetics, and sound. Organizational factors: structural and process aspects of the organization as a whole, such as the use teams, divisions of labor, shared beliefs, and an increasing leadership capacity among nurses.
This approach offers a holistic view of the nurse from both a personal and professional perspective. It is the framework that guided the Center's approach to creating value-added products and services that addressed the needs of nurses. November 2010, the Center for American Nurses integrated its programs into the American Nurses Association. The Center for American Nurses' work continues as a part of the American Nurses Association's portfolio of products and services.
Source:
Hickam, D.H, Severance S, Feldstein A, et al. The effect of health care working conditions on patient safety. Evidence Report/Technology Assessment Number 74, (Prepared by Oregon Health & Science University under Contract NO. 290-97-0018.) AHRQ Publication No. 03-E031. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. April 2003. http://www.ahrq.gov or http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=hstat1a.chapter.9710