Nurse Staffing Case Study

SAFETY IN THE NURSING PROFESSION It is the belief of many medical professionals that proper safety protocols in the medical environment is paramount. There is nothing more important in a hospital setting than overall safety. This goes for both patient safety as well as the safety of the hospital staff. Both patient and staff have their own precautions that must be taken and steps that must be followed to ensure there are no mishaps.

Most notably, patient safety is in jeopardy causing medical errors that otherwise would not occur. Nurses are also feeling frustrated and unappreciated within their careers causing these errors. It is important that the nursing shortage be talked about and addressed, before the impact of the shortage is too impaired to come back

hence when nurse are understaffed, the patient centered safety culture is broken, health care provided in safe manner and safe environment is essential for patients wellbeing, but when the nurse/patient ratio is compromised, the nurses are unable to perform quality care and often leads to deterioration of health standard for the public leading to more mortality and morbidity. She also highlights that profit motivation becomes the main driving engine for the corporate driven hospitals and the health care system thus compromising on the patient safety. So with the understaffing of nurses, some of the common health care needs of individuals and communities lay threatened. The very first need of the individual to get a standard quality health care is being compromised.

The importance for the nursing community to be involved in patients safety encompasses the method from health policy legislation to local system policy. We discussed in earlier chapter nurses must become familiar with the legislative process that dictates nurses work environment, safety, and ultimately affects patient care and outcomes (Wallace, & Ivanov, 2014). Therefore nurses must commit to patient safety by creating a healthy work environment in which teamwork and communication are utilized as an essential daily task as outlined in the American Association of Critical Care Nurses Healthy Work Environment Standards of Care (Wallace, & Ivanov,

Since nursing school, a nurse is trained to prioritized and one of the major priorities is safety. Nursing is an evidence-based practice and it has been proven that the more workload given to a nurse, the increase risk to harm a patient. By increasing the ratio of patients per nurse, there is a cut in the budget but that nosey been safe could go right back with the possible law suit for negligences due to the lack of good care of an overworked nurse (Janes,

Introduction: The goal of every nurse leader is to establish and sustain a healthy work environment for nursing staff. This must be a priority if nurses are to make their optimal contributions to caring for critical care patients and their families. The link between healthy work environments and patient safety, nurse retention and recruitment are well documented in the nursing literature. Nursing organizations like American Association of Critical Care (AACN) believe that all workplaces where nurses practice can be healthy if nurses and nurse leaders are determined to address not only the physical environment, but also the less tangible barriers to staff and patient safety; e.g. skilled and effective communication, collaboration among disciplines and effective decision making. Continuity of care, especially in the critical care environment is essential to overcoming the obstacles of missed communication opportunities, nurse dependence on a medical model for the plan of care, and multiple disciplines practicing in silos.

Since the beginning of my nursing career, the trend of patient safety has been the number one priority. In order to keep up with the current safety culture, we have to keep up with the changes in nursing education related to safety. The safety of patients is taught in Nursing 101, and is on-going throughout our nursing careers. Students need to become knowledgeable about system vulnerabilities and understand how knowledge, skills, and attitudes promoting utilization of safety science will lead to safer care for patients and families (Barnsteiner, 2011). As nursing students we need to learn about both patient safety and system vulnerabilities needs to begin in pre-licensure programs and become an integral part of learning in all phases of nursing

6). I can easily say three of the places that I have been employed for in the past experienced a shortage in nursing staff. Therefore, it is easy for me to see current issue as well as the negative impacts a shortage of nursing staff can have on nurses, patients, and the healthcare organization as a whole. The Affordable Care Act has its pros and cons while increasing the number of individuals with health insurance; the con is the shortage of APRNs and Physicians. As a result of the Affordable Care Act, “The Physicians Foundation found that 81 percent of doctors describe themselves as either over-extended or at full capacity, and 44 percent said they planned to cut back on the number of patients they see, retire, work part-time or close their practice to new patients” (Kennedy, 2014, p. 1).

Nurse staffing is a significant region of worry because it can place a strain on patient safety as well as quality of patient care. With cost effectiveness in mind, hospital administrations have elected to reduce nursing staffing ratios and substitute licensed nurses using cheaper unlicensed personnel. This increases uneasiness as the quality of care in hospitals might be undesirably reduced. The necessity to evaluate nurse staffing is essential.

Deadlines are not met, a cynical or resentful attitude develops, a persistent sense of fatigue pervades both are the nurse’s personal and professional’s life. Today the proportion of acute patients entering the health care system through emergency

It is crucial to maintaining the appropriate nurse-to- patient staffing ratio for providing safe patient care outcomes. Nursing shortage lowers the nurse to patient ratio that can increase medical and medication errors, patient complication, mortality and also increase dissatisfaction and burnout among nurses. According to researcher Shekelle, he found the significant relationship between high patient-to-nurse ratio and mortality rate. For example, in 232 342 patients discharges, post surgery of some hospitals in Pennsylvania, 2 percent (4535 patients) died within 30 days of hospitalization. As the result, this study found the difference between 4:1 and 8:1 ratios of the patient each nurse has may cause about 1000 deaths of the total amount

The success of patient safety, prognosis and improve health outcomes within the nursing profession is dependent upon proficient communication. When communication is not proficient, patient safety and wellness is compromised (Gore et al., 2015). There are numerous safety issues that can arise from inapt communication within nursing. Two issues that have the potential to impact patient care and safety are hand-off communication errors and cultural competence. Mitigating these safety issues within the nursing profession will be vital to improving and maintaining patient safety and promote positive health outcomes.

Meliza Hernandez 1-24-18 Period 6 Mr. Hancock Nurse Shortage There is no secret that the United States faces a vital shortage of registered nurses. Nurse shortage refers to a situation where the demand for nursing professionals exceeds the supply locally, nationally, or globally. There are multiple issues that contribute to nurse shortage like, burnout, an increase with incomplete education, limited resources, job dissatisfaction, and many more. Although nurse shortage gives incoming nurses an opportunity in the workforce, many patients and current nurses are suffering.

Problem Identification The extent and impact that Staff Shortage has on administration are: balancing quality and safety with efficiency, providing everyone with access to basic medical care, prescription shortage and building and sustaining the workforce needed for the future. According to the Department of Labor staff shortage in the healthcare industry will reach crisis levels within the next decade. It’s time now to reinvent the wheel in healthcare systems.

But with the current shortage things become more difficult on the current nurses and their patients. By not having enough educational opportunities available to those who want to learn the trade and an aging work force with large numbers of employees approaching retirement coupled with a dramatic increase in the number of patients in need of care the shortage has become quite concerning for many in the health care industry. Hopefully as the causes become identified by those in charge of nurse recruitment new steps can be taken to fix the problem and end the