Effects of Leader Rounding on Staff Satisfaction

Abstract

The literature review focuses on a manager's role in staff satisfaction through four common themes: visibility, communication, recognition, and support. As the themes improve, research validates that staff satisfaction improves when an effort is placed into these four areas. Since scores in the annual Press Ganey survey were low for OB Triage, the goal of this Quality Improvement project was to improve staff satisfaction. Research revealed staff-management relationships provide the highest potential for the most significant impact. The hypothesis involves leader rounding on staff to improve each management category statement rating and the overall 2021 “management category” composite rating. The goal is to reach at least a 5% improvement for all 11 areas (ten questions and one composite score). Throughout the 16-weeks, leaders rounded on 28-30 female staff (nurses and nurse techs) three times on both day and night shifts. During rounds, the team discussed Celebrations, Updates, Barriers, Support, and what work is in progress. Action items included dividing up with tasks, follow-through with staff, and assessing weekly PDSA steps to provide changes if needed. Every 28 days for four months, the staff took the survey to rate how they feel about their management team with the same ten statements. After the QI project was complete, the individual statement ratings from October 2020 to May 2021 increased anywhere from 16.35%-33.83%, and the overall composite scores increased by 25.07%. All results are a substantial increase over the initial hypothesis to reach a 5% improvement or more. As relationships improve between leaders and managers, so does job satisfaction, retention rates, staff engagement, and the unit's morale.