The Need to Optimize the Span of Control for Nurse Managers in Long-Term Care Setting

Abstract

The demand for the nursing home business is increasing due to the aging population in the United States, while the current nursing workforce across the country is short and not meeting the demand. Further, the workforce shortages during COVID-19 created a complex environment for Nurse managers (NMs) through additional workloads such as direct patient care, preventing turnover, and other rigorous administrative and clinical tasks, leading them to burnout in nursing homes. Also, it created unsafe working conditions for the nurses and nurse leaders, as evidenced by poor- quality outcomes and business closure. This article aims to identify the need to optimize the span of control for nurse managers and recommend strategies to reduce burnout to improve long-term care (LTC) outcomes and establish a safe environment for the stakeholders (residents, employees & shareholders)