Nursing SWOT Analysis: Know your Strengths and Weaknesses!

A SWOT analysis is a planning tool used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or business venture. The analysis can be conducted by individuals or groups, and it can be used for marketing purposes, strategic planning, or risk assessment. The results of a SWOT analysis can help individuals and businesses make better decisions about their projects and operations.

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Introduction: What is a SWOT analysis?

A nursing SWOT analysis is a planning tool used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or business venture. The analysis can be conducted by individuals or groups, and it can be used for marketing purposes, strategic planning, or risk assessment. The results of a SWOT analysis can help individuals and businesses make better decisions about their projects and operations.

A SWOT analysis is an acronym that stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It’s a strategic planning method that helps individuals or groups identify their most important internal factors and external factors in order to manage the business or project more effectively.

Strengths: What are some strengths of nurses?

There are many strengths of nurses. They are some of the most highly trained and educated professionals in the world. Nurses are able to care for patients in a variety of ways, from providing basic needs such as food and water, to administering medication and treatments. Nurses also have a unique understanding of the human body and how it works, which allows them to provide valuable health information to their patients. Additionally, nurses are often able to develop close relationships with their patients, which can help improve patient outcomes.

Weaknesses: What are some weaknesses of nurses?

There are many weaknesses of nurses. One weakness is that nurses often work long hours and may be overworked. This can lead to fatigue and make it difficult for nurses to provide quality care to their patients. Nursing is also a physically demanding job, and nurses can be injured if they are not careful. Nurses also need to be able to communicate effectively with patients and their families, and some people may find this challenging. Nurses also need to be able to handle difficult situations, such as dealing with death or caring for patients who are in pain.

Opportunities: What are some opportunities for nurses?

There are many opportunities for nurses. Nurses can work in a hospital, clinic, or private practice. Nurses can also work in the public or private sector. Nurses can specialize in a certain area of nursing, such as pediatric nursing or critical care nursing. Nurses can also work in administration or management.

Threats: What are some threats to nurses?

Nurses are one of the most important members of the medical team. They are on the front line, taking care of patients and working closely with doctors. It is essential that nurses are able to work in a safe environment. Unfortunately, there are many threats to nurses’ safety.

Some of the most common threats to nurses include: violence from patients or their families, hazardous materials, infections, and workplace injuries. Violence from patients or their families is a serious problem for nurses. In some cases, they can be seriously injured or even killed. Nurses also face a risk of exposure to hazardous materials such as radiation, toxic chemicals, and blood-borne pathogens. Infections can also be a serious threat to nurses’ safety. They can spread easily from patient to patient and can be difficult to treat. Workplace injuries are another major hazard for nurses.

Basic nursing SWOT analysis, precisely identifying the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Strengths

Supportive and committed nursing leadership.
Accredited by national and international bodies
Perceived by our external contractor as delivering an excellent standard of nursing care.
Dedicated nursing education team recognized in the entire organization.
Specialist nursing services.
Established mandatory & departmental orientation program.
Established competency program; all staff are familiar with the process.
Comprehensive policies and procedures that support nursing practice.
Availability of well-trained nurses in the nursing department with more than five years clinical experience in spite of the impending problem of staff shortage.
Available of detailed job descriptions for all nursing levels.
Compliance to code of conduct of hospital care providers.
Structured periodic evaluation of nursing staff (human resource department & unit competencies).
Availability of in-service education program for all staff.
Strong informal communication channel.

Weaknesses

Frequent turnover of nursing staff especially in specialist areas, which depletes experienced pool of nurses.
Insufficient number of support staff i.e. Clerical and portering, which means nursing, has to carry out non-nursing duties.
Dependence on the nursing education team for life support training both internal and external.
Lack of empowerment on some nurse managers which in turn is filtered to the lowermost member of the department.
Insufficient reward and recognition for nurses.
Centralized structure of hospital administration.
Top management controls every aspect of the organization’s planning and decision making which results in low commitment.
High nurse-patient ratio as effect of frequent staff turnover.
High rate of absenteeism among staff.
High rate of job dissatisfaction and burnout among nursing staff.

Opportunities

Optimal location of the hospital.
Serves large population in the locality and neighboring municipalities.
Continuous renovation of areas in the hospital.
Expansion of the hospital to improve services.
Access to training facilities in other facilities to enhance skills and experience of nursing staff.
Access to experts in the field of nursing competency program.
Not working alone; part of a group to develop and implement program.

Threats

Global nursing manpower shortage affects recruitment.
Opportunities with competition for nurses with experience to return to positions in government and ministry facility with better working and housing conditions.
Inability to attract new hires and retain nurses due to low salary bracket compared to other hospitals.
Opportunities for experienced nursing staff in UK, US, Australia and parts of the middleast etc.
Insufficient support in information technology to encourage staff development.

Six strategic directions

Every hospital should adapt the six different directions as follows:

Customer Perspective
Employee Perspective
Financial Perspective
Continuous Improvement Perspective
Community Perspective
Learning Growth Perspective

Customer Perspective:

Goals

Improve patient safety.
Improve patient satisfaction.

Objectives

To assure our patients that the nursing staffs are equipped with relevant trainings and competencies necessary for delivery safe patient care.
To monitor hospital efforts and activities in ensuring that patients are safe during their visits and stay in our hospital.

Target

By the second quarter of starting the service, the Nursing Education Unit will be able to strengthen the Nursing Competency Program with the influx of new staffs and to fully implement the additional competencies required in conjunction with local and international accreditation requirements.
To achieve 100% Basic Life Support for Nurses, Emergency Medical Technicians and Anesthesia Assistants and CPR Heartsaver & AED trained Health Aides, Porters and Ward Aides in all areas of the Nursing Department by end of the year.
To increase Patient Satisfaction Survey by at least 5% from the previous year’s results.

Customer Perspective Action Plan

Activity	Responsible party	Timeline for achievement	Resources needed	Evaluation indicators	Status of progress
Strengthen the nursing competency program with the influx of new staffs and fully implement additional competencies required for local and international accreditation requirements.	Nursing education unit	Second quarter	Office Supplies Reference materials (books)	All staff completed the required competencies.	Implementation of the new competencies has commenced and is ongoing for all staff in the areas.
Increase opportunities for training in and outside hospital venues.	Nursing education unit	Annually	Financial allocation	Attendance sheets and certificates	In-hospital training conducted. Request for life support training to be forwarded to a certified training center for PALS, NRP and ATLS.
Increase participation with QI activities.	Nursing QI coordinator and all nursing staff	Annually	Over head projector, computer and officer supplies	Attendance sheets and Nursing QI annual report	Activities are ongoing; monthly lectures already planned and scheduled.
Improve compliance to the international patient safety goals.	Nursing QI coordinator, all nursing staff and NQI team	Annually	Hospital supplies, equipment and manpower	Annual QI report	Monthly monitoring is conducted and reports are being consolidated.
Decrease incidence of patient injury in the hospital.	Nursing QI coordinator and all nursing staff	Annually	Hospital supplies, equipment and manpower	Annual QI reports and submitted incident reports	Monthly monitoring is ongoing and incident reporting are made, filed and taken action.
Conduct of drills to assess readiness in case of true hospital emergency codes.	Head nurses, nursing Supervisors, FMS department	Annually	Hospital supplies, equipment and manpower	Attendance sheets and certificates	Fire drills and mock hospital code drills were conducted in some areas, others are scheduled already.

Employee Perspective:

Goals

Better staff job satisfaction
Increase staff retention

Objectives

To provide opportunities and activities to all nursing staff to update their knowledge and skills and develop their attitude in the performance of their nursing profession.
To create a work environment that would best make use of our staff potentials and provide chances for professional growth.

Target

To increase by 5% in next year, the total number of staff nurses sent for outside hospital relevant trainings and lectures.
To decrease by at least 5-10% the number of staff who will go exit in last six months compared to the previous year.
To be in the top 5 departments in the hospital with high satisfaction rate in the annual staff satisfaction survey.

Employee Perspective Action Plan

Activity	Responsible party	Timeline for achievement	Resources needed	Evaluation indicators	Status of progress
Acquisition of books and reading materials for research and references.	Nursing education unit and the nursing director.	Second quarter of the year	Financial allocation	Purchased books and reference materials plus reports from medication supervisor	New edition of Lippincott Manual of Nursing Practice and other specialty reference books i.e. AACN and AORN has been purchased and distributed to the areas for their use. Anatomy and physiology and emergency nursing reference book to be purchased.
Workload analysis	Head nurses nursing supervisor nursing quality improvement coordinator and nursing director	End of the year	Ward Data (census, bed occupancy, etc) and office supplies	Nursing quality improvement coordinator report and director of nursing annual report	Reviewing staffing plan in every ward
Develop and implement a training program for all nursing staff	Nursing education unit	Annually	Financial allocation and office supplies	Yearly training program schedule attendance sheets and certificates	Nursing education is keeping track of the staff due for training renewals and other needed trainings
Orientation of new hired nursing staff and competency evaluation to both new hired and existing nursing staff	Nursing education unit and head nurses	To be completed on respective due dates	Office supplies	Accomplished and updated competency evaluations	Ongoing competency evaluations are done in all the units
Develop and implement a retention plan to decrease turnover rate	Nursing director	For coming year	Financial allocation and manpower	Director of nursing annual report and the staff retention rate	Concerns of the staff mentioned in the exit form for last year shall be aggregated and interpreted
Open more opportunities for outside Hospital trainings lectures and seminars	Nursing education unit and director of Nursing	Annually	Financial allocation and manpower	Attendance sheets, certificates and annual report of nursing education unit for the last year	Some staff has been sent already for training while others are already scheduled for upcoming trainings
Conduct staff satisfaction survey	Nursing quality improvement coordinator and quality management department	Annually	Office supplies	Annual employees satisfaction survey report	Some reports for staff satisfaction surveys has been consolidated

Financial Perspective:

Goals

Improve cost-efficiency in the hospital
Maximize the hospital’s expenditure

Objectives

To optimize the use of hospital resources and equipment during delivery of health care services.
To minimize high staff turnover rate.

Target

To decrease by at least 5-10% the Nursing Department’s staff turnover rate in coming compared to last.
To decrease by 10% the number of equipment directly handled by nursing staff sent to maintenance for repair.

Financial Perspective Action Plan

Activity	Responsible party	Timeline for achievement	Resources needed	Evaluation indicators	Status of progress
Provide training activities relevant to hospital setting specially outside Hospital venues	Nursing education unit and nursing director	Annually	Financial allocation and manpower	Attendance sheets, certificates and annual report of nursing education unit supervisor	Some staff has been sent already for training while others are already scheduled for any upcoming trainings
Employee experience and competent nurses through recruitment mechanism	Nursing director	Anually	Financial allocation	Nursing director annual stuffing report	Central nursing office is conducting verification on the employed nursing staff in hospital
Regular checking of the hospital equipment and machines	Head nurses all nursing staff and maintenance department	Daily for nurses and as per request for maintenance department	Financial allocation and office supplies	Compilation of equipment monitoring sheets and maintenance report	This system was already established in the areas
Acquisition of latest model of equipment and machineries	Director of Nursing	Annually	Financial allocation	Copies of purchase request forms and filed equipment distribution forms	New equipment already in use in the unit
Proper utilization of paramedical, stationary, laboratory items, linens and equipment	Head nurses, nursing staff and the nursing supervisors	Annually	Manpower	Annual unit/ward report	All units are conducting monitoring and inventory of the equipment, linens etc. in their area

Continuous Improvement Perspective:

Goals

Intensify quality improvement in the hospital.
Institutionalize quality systems and planning in the organization.

Objectives

To promote participation of all staff nurses in quality improvement projects in the hospital.
To develop a quality improvement project in every hospital unit/area.
To understand that quality is a vital component of the organization’s growth.

Target

By the end of next year, all nursing staff in all hospital units will have a full implementation of their respective Quality Improvement Project.
To decrease by 5% in next year, the total number of incident reports submitted from last year.

Continuous Improvement Perspective Action Plan

Activity	Responsible party	Timeline for achievement	Resources needed	Evaluation indicators	Status of progress
Conduct Awareness of the importance of reporting risk events in hospital nursing	Quality improvement coordinator	Annually	Overhead projector computer office supplies	Attendance sheet, certificates and annual report of quality improved in nurse coordinator	Nursing quality improvement coordinator contacts lectures on incident and Sentinel event reporting
Workload analysis	Head nurses, nursing supervisors, nursing quality improvement coordinator and nursing director	Semi-annually	Ward data (census, bed occupancy, etc.)and office supplies	Nursing quality improvement coordinator and nursing director annual report	Staffing plan in every ward is currently reviewed
Participate in clinical monitoring activities in hospital	Nursing quality improvement coordinator, the nursing quality improvement team and quality management department	Quarterly	Office supplies	Compiled copies of unit focus-pdca projects and nursing quality coordinator annual report	Quarterly clinical monitoring is now conducted randomly in the area.
Develop and implement per unit quality project using FOCUS-PDCA	All nursing staff, nursing quality improvement coordinator and quality management department	Hospital year	Financial allocation and office supplies	Compiled copies of unit focus-pdca projects and nursing quality coordinator annual report	To identify 1 FOCUS PDCA for the Nursing Department for the year and then identify area specific FOCUS PDCAs.
Conduct root cause analysis for hospital events with adverse effects patients	Nursing quality improvement coordinator, nursing director and quality management department	Per occurrence	Office supplies	Nursing quality improvement coordinator report	This activity is already established in hospital
Monitoring and reporting of nursing quality indicators	Nursing quality improvement coordinator and nursing quality improvement team	Annually	Office supplies	Nursing quality improvement coordinator or annual report	Monthly monitoring on nursing quality indicators are being done

Community Perspective:

Goals

Improve hospital services for the community.
Increase the customer-based services catered in the hospital.

Objectives

To have additional services in the hospital.
To have an additional building/clinical area in the hospital.
To encourage the community population to seek healthcare services in our institution.

Target

To increase at least 5% the Patient Satisfaction Rate both inpatients of the hospital for the coming year
To increase community outreach participation for the coming year by 2-3% (i.e. Outreach Programs arranged thru Marketing Department).

Community Perspective Action Plan

Activity	Responsible party	Timeline for achievement	Resources needed	Evaluation indicators	Status of progress
Increase Awareness of newly opened Hospital services	Nursing quality improvement coordinator	Annually	Office supplies	Reading materials, leaflets, brochures and annual report of nursing quality improvement coordinator	Hospital renovation are ongoing and new services or soon to be opened
Conduct inpatient and outpatient satisfaction survey	Nursing quality improvement coordinator, social worker and quality management department	Annually	Office supplies	Annual patient satisfaction survey report	Last year patient satisfaction survey report has been consolidated
Improve staffing in the hospital units including out-patient department	Nursing director	Hospital year	Financial allocation and manpower	Nursing director annual staffing report	Staffing plan in every ward is currently reviewed
Acquisition of additional equipment and Hospital supplies	Nursing director	Annually	Financial allocation	Copies of purchase request forms	Some new equipment received and is already used in the unit
Staffing of new clinical areas in the hospital	Nursing director	Annually	Financial allocation and manpower	Staffing plan for new area	Hospital renovation are ongoing and new services or soon to be opened

Learning Growth Perspective:

Goals

Continuous growth of being a learning institution.
Increase opportunities for staff professional growth.

Objectives

To provide more opportunities for training and professional practice updates for nursing staff.
To comply with special staff training as required by the national and international accreditation institutions.
To adopt methodologies by International Accreditation to promote growth and improvement of hospital systems and management.

Target

By the end of the current hospital year, the nursing education unit will be able to send staff from hospital special areas to at least 2-3 new relevant trainings as required by the national and international accreditations.
To increase by 5% the total number of educational activities within the hospital (lectures, demonstrations, seminars, symposium, etc.) for next year.

Learning Growth Perspective Action Plan

Activity	Responsible party	Timeline for achievement	Resources needed	Evaluation indicators	Status of progress
Increase educational activities and training including inter-unit and cross training and outside hospital venues	Nursing education unit and nursing director	Annually	Financial allocation and manpower	Attendance sheets, certificates and annual report of nursing education unit supervisor	Some staff has been sent already for trainings while others for already scheduled for any upcoming training
Implement quality standards and guidelines consistent with hospital quality management plan	Nursing quality improvement coordinator and nursing director	Annually	Financial allocation, manpower and office supplies	Nursing quality improvement coordinator report, director of nursing annual report and filed documentation of quality plans and implementation	Unit quality projects are currently ongoing
Participate actively in the tracer methodology conducted by a multidisciplinary team in hospital	Nursing quality improvement coordinator, nursing education unit, nursing director and quality management department	Annually	Office supplies, files and records	Attendance sheets, tracer methodology team reports	–
Implement new nursing competencies required in preparation for accreditation	Nursing education unit	First quarter of hospital year	Office supplies and reference books	Ongoing training for new competencies in preparation for competency assessment procedure	Implementation of new competencies is started in all the relevant areas

Conclusion:

This strategic plan is a clear and concise strategy towards achieving our vision that:

“the nursing department will inspire excellence in nursing care provision through knowledge sharing and leadership.”

The formulation of the strategic plan is the biggest challenge to the department’s leadership to ensure its sustainability in planning, implementing and maintaining its gains. A systematic implementation will guarantee that it is not just a document for presentation but instead a blueprint that guides actions for continuous improvement.

Essential considerations will have to be made to ensure that the plan is carried out and that the progress is visible. It has to be disseminated to elicit awareness and cooperation among the people in the department. Committees/working groups should be organized and to ensure sustainability and commitment towards one goal. Regular monitoring should be Conducted to ascertain that the plan is realistic and attainable.

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