Michigan nurses are doing better but still burned out, according to U-M study

Christopher Friese says workload was the top reason nurses were looking to leave their jobs in 2023, according to the 2023 Michigan Nurses' Study, for which Friese was principal investigator. 

“We have other evidence that nurses were burnt out before COVID even hit," says Friese, who is also a University of Michigan nursing professor. "Things got worse with COVID, but the stressors that were already there still haven’t been addressed.”

Compared to last year’s study, nurses across the state have reported overall improved working conditions. Mandatory overtime has been implemented much less, and state mandates have led to improvements regarding violence against nurses and other hospital staff. Friese says that while conditions were exacerbated at the height of the COVID pandemic due to the increased patient volume hospitals were facing, conditions in general have slowly been reaching more normal levels, which has reduced the stress on many nurses.

“Nurses were telling us that operations were starting to resume normal speed, with lingering concerns that still need attention,” Friese says. “Over a third of nurses surveyed said they are looking for another position, which is worrisome, but I do think there is a general sense of moving in the right direction.”

Friese also mentions that while there are certainly staffing concerns across the state in nursing as well as other medical fields like pharmacy and nursing home staff, more schools and hospitals are actually implementing several approaches “to expand nursing programs and make them more affordable.” While Friese agrees that increasing accessibility to education is “encouraging,” the main issue is still that many nurses in the state are choosing not to work because of the extensive workloads being placed on them. 

One solution that Friese suggests based on this study’s findings, as well as other similar studies from across the country, is reducing the number of patients a nurse has under their care from five or six at a time to four. Another possible solution he mentions, prompted by his personal experience working as a nurse during the height of COVID, is adjusting the way nurses collect patient data and utilizing a method called “disaster charting." Friese says the method “slimmed down the amount of documentation” and ultimately made his work much more streamlined. 

Friese calls adjustments like these “not necessarily cost-neutral, but investments." He says that both nurses and their managers would benefit greatly from expressing their concerns and developing plans of action to address them in a timely way.

“When health care leaders come to me asking questions, I tell them to deeply listen to their nurses about their working conditions and commit to a plan to address them,” Friese says. “That’s what nurses are looking for: to establish strong trust with their leadership.”

The Michigan Nurses' Study can be found at this link, and more information can be found here.

Rylee Barnsdale is a Michigan native and longtime Washtenaw County resident. She wants to use her journalistic experience from her time at Eastern Michigan University writing for the Eastern Echo to tell the stories of Washtenaw County residents that need to be heard.