Hospital Nurse Staffing

Introduction

One’s health may be negatively impacted by the length of shifts he/she works which may affect patient outcomes. The purpose of this paper focuses on the working shifts of psychiatric nurses who are working in an inpatient Behavioral Health Unit. The primary focus is to determine whether or not the shifts and hours nurses are working have a direct correlation to the staffing needs of the organization which may affect patient safety. Stimpfel, Sloane, and Aiken (2012) stated more than 70 percent of working nurses perceive their scheduling practices as acceptable at their hospitals. Patients on the other hands voiced their dissatisfaction with the increased in the numbers of hours the healthcare worker are working. Nurses for many

A hybrid staffing grid has been developed to allow both considerations to be accomplished (see Table 4.0, 4.01 and 4.02). The evidence reflects that appropriate nurse staffing is not only crucial for the well-being and safety needs of the staff; it is also essential to the safety of the patients. According to Butler et al., (2011), “Hospital nurse staffing models and patient and staff-related outcomes”, interventions involving hospital nurse staffing models may improve patient results and staff-related outcomes, which applies in particular to the introduction of primary nursing and self-scheduling. CAN Vantage point (2009) “Safe Nurse Staffing: Looking Beyond the Raw Numbers”, has implied when implementing a staffing model, many variables must be included such as

Nursing leaders must collaborate effectively when developing a staffing plan to ensure safety and quality meet the institution 's mission and values as this study has done (see Figure 4 and 5). Anderson, Ellerbe, Haas, Kerfoot, Kirby, and Nickitas (2014), “Excellence and Evidence in Staffing: A Data-Driven Model for Excellence in Staffing”, stated nurses should be engaged in recognizing new models of care of which staffing enhances class and outcomes while decreasing the cost of healthcare. According to Anderson et al., (2014) sufficient staffing is typically done by accomplishing quality results, which reduces the cost of care. The evidence according to Anderson et al., (2014) demonstrates that nursing care has a direct influence on the overall quality of services