There are many concerns the scenario illuminates for practicing nurses. Prior to going out on placement to a healthy facility,
State-mandated nurse-to-patient ratios remains a controversial topic in healthcare. Sufficient nurse staffing is key to ensure adequate patient care, while scarce staffing effects patients’ safety and puts nurses at risk for burnout. Determining nurse-to-patient ratios in nursing facilities remains a challenge for the nursing profession. There are many factors to consider when determining staffing methods, such as cost, nurses’ satisfaction, patient outcomes and safety. Mandating ratios is one attempt at ensuring nurses’ workloads do not exceed what is needed for adequate patient care and safety.
Decision makers will need to determine how to best utilize nurses, technicians, and other professionals to close the gap in providing services to patients. Nurses require less time to train, are less expensive to train, cost less to employ, and can increase the efficiency and productivity of physicians who provide care to patients. The increase in the use of health care services as well as the increase in the number of venues where health care is provided has also increased the job opportunities for nurses and other members of the healthcare workforce. The demand for primary care services has stimulated the training of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and certified nurse
NU 413 Week 9 Discussion Board Post student response to Katie-Lynn Fournier by Kathryn Moultrie Good afternoon Kathie, Enjoyed reading your post, and seeing how other organizations handle the operations of their facility and nursing departments. My biggest concern with improving quality care and patient safety issues in that, the responsibility is not ours alone, our Chief Nurse Executives (CNEs) and Director of Nursing (DON), and senior nursing management staffs to lead the journey Disch J. (2008). I find it overwhelming that the majority of the research literature (studies, surveys and reports believe nursing plays the pivotal role in changing the face of health care and improving quality care and patient safety.
Our nurses are being over worked and understaffed and no one is saying anything! There are mountains of evidence that show the adverse relationship between subpar nursing care and patient outcomes. Many people work overtime to make that overtime money because the hospital is usually understaffed. But because patient outcomes really depend on nurses to be in tip top shape, I think it is extremely important that hospitals eliminate working overtime. That is why I am asking policy makers to cosponsor the bill S. 1132: the Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2015.
Due to hospital care reaching an all-time high in America, we need nurses now more than ever before. Currently in America, we have an issue with nurses having too many paperwork to fill out. In the article “We Need More Nurses” by Alexandra Robbins argues we need more nurses in the hospital. Nursing shortage has been a common issue throughout the world. Because of this issue others are being affected in many different ways.
Nurses play an essential role in the healthcare industry. The nurse workforce is made up of licensed nurses: registered nurses (RNs), licensed vocational nurses (LVNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs), along with nurse aides. Registered nurses are responsible for assessments of patients’ needs, development of care plans, medication administration, and treatments, while licensed vocational nurses perform specific care under the delegation of the registered nurses and supervisions. Nursing aides perform activities of daily living (unskilled attention) to the patient. Adequate nursing staffing is essential to both patient care and outcomes, also to the retention of nurses while inadequate staffing creates problems for both the patients and
The concern for safety has become a bigger and more important issue, and these two departments are forming a relationship. Although it has been the tradition for these two departments to work separately, they both have a common goal, to oversee the safety and excellence in healthcare organizations. Some smaller organizations have always had the same person control quality and risk and remained successful. These days, we are seeing a lot more collaborations, goal sharing, ad idea exchanging among these two groups (Perry, 2007). Risk management is critical to every organization.
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.
Clinical question The clinical question for my article was based on quantitative search, nurse to patient ratios must increase to improve safety and the clinical question that is identified in the quantitative research article is how to increase nurses to patient ratio in order to improve patient safety and quality of life especially in older adult patients. Description of the Problem The problem description in this article identified is that when there are too many patients assigned to a nurse there will not be an effective and well done job by the nurses and the patient will not be save.
This is important evidence because it gives us conditions and results of what can happen if patients get lower quality care. Patients’ are not having enough time getting checked up by a nurse, and nurses would miss some diagnostics. Patients are getting sick because of the poor care they are receiving from nurses. The care patients can get is affected by a nurse shortage, “Nursing workload definitely affects the time that a nurse can allot to various tasks. Under a heavy workload, nurses may not have sufficient time to perform tasks that can have a direct effect on patient safety.
“More highly educated nursing workforce is critical to meeting the nation’s nursing needs and delivering safe, effective patient care….. Without a more educated nursing workforce, the nation’s health will be further at risk (Tri-council for Nursing, 2010).” As the acuity of the patient increases daily, so is the need for increases of higher education for nurses. The factor of increasing complexity of patient health require higher education for the liability of safe practice, thus is an agreeable requirement for employers to place upon the employees. Acquiring a bachelor’s degree is only an improvement for everyone.
Kaidence Vaughn BSN 415: Sentinel Hospital Professor Yvonne Myette July 28th, 2023 Introduction As the charge nurse at Sentinel Hospital, I hold a critical and rewarding role in overseeing and coordinating the nursing staff and patient care. This position brings a mix of emotions, from a sense of responsibility and pride in contributing to patient care and unit efficiency to moments of stress and pressure in ensuring tasks are appropriately assigned and nurses are adequately supported. Open communication plays a pivotal role in this role, as I strive to maintain clear lines of communication with the nursing team, addressing their concerns, and providing necessary support to foster a cohesive work environment. In this reflective essay, I will delve into my experiences and the lessons learned concerning delegation, caseload management, and advocacy, as well as explore the positive impacts and potential areas for improvement in my practice.
Registered nurses are required to deliver wide-range nursing attention and treatment to all persons in a healthcare setup (American Nurses ' Association, 2000). Notably, they have to offer emergency care and guarantee the safe execution of treatment. It is mandatory for nurses to demonstrate a broad knowledge of the laws and regulations that are in line with their profession. Additionally,
Large patient loads combined with a stressful work environment affects nurses’ abilities to provide quality healthcare. Patient safety should never be compromised. It is our responsibility to learn from research and improve our current nurse staffing ratios. Nurse staffing is key and affects all other outcomes. Without nurses administering the right treatment at the right time to the right patients, all other healthcare interventions are not effective.
