Driving Forces Be Augmented or the Restraining

¶ … DRIVING FORCES BE AUGMENTED OR THE RESTRAINING FORCES BE REDUCED?

This question deals directly with the management expert Kurt Lewin's analysis of the crux of improving efficiency as the increasing of productive or driving forces in the workplace, and the decreasing of restraining or hostile forces. (Accel-Team.com, 2000 Force Field Analysis) How can a state of equilibrium be created on the ward, where hostile forces do not predominate over driving forces?

As discussed in the answer to the previous question, there is a great sense of hostility on the nursing ward because of the belief that management has been unresponsive to the issues of safety on the ward. Nurses do not have adequate support, and they are overworked. To reduce this sense of hostility towards management, there must be adequate support for all of the nurses on staff when restraining difficult patients. Individuals who are physically and technically equipped to deal with such patients must be on hand in adequate numbers so that nurses can perform their duties efficiently and safety. To proceed as things are currently are will only result in further incidents, perhaps with some potential for lawsuits against the hospital in the future, should a patient not be adequately restrained and cause harm to others. Furthermore, by asking nurses to perform restraints not within the scope of their duties results in the nurses being less attentive to the duties they are actually employed to perform, again increasing the potential for risk and misapplication of procedures and medications.