Nurses have long been front line patient and family advocates. Over the year’s research has helped legitimize nursing as a profession. It is imperative for nursing contributions to be publicly known so the nursing profession can be appreciated and respected as professionals. It is imperative to continue holding nursing in high regards as a respectable profession. Research reflects commitment to the promotion of health and the critical importance of basing professional nursing practice on research (American assiciation of Colleges of Nursing, 2016). Nursing research has a tremendous influence on current and future professional nursing practice, thus rendering it an essential component of the educational process (Tingen, Burnett, & Murchinson, …show more content…
One such change in staffing came in changing from an acuity based staffing model to a system of nursing care per patient hours (NCPPH). This innovative way of staffing was developed by the American Nurses Association (McKenna, et al., 2011). By providing alternatives to the traditional way of staffing they were able to increase their retention and increased their nurse satisfaction. The article states that by better managing productive and nonproductive work hours and by eliminating agency staff they were able to make a significant financial change. According to the article, by staffing according to NCPPH instead of by acuity they were able reduce the patient nurse ratio (McKenna, et al., 2011). The reduction in patient nurse ratio thus decreased the nursing stress level which led to better patient outcomes and increased staff satisfaction. The second article addresses the empowerment of renal nurses while working within the central government. The article addresses the importance of nurses working within the central government as change agents. They are at an advantage as they can facilitate, inform and influence meetings between key stake holders. Key points to this article were areas in nephrology such as renal transplantation, chronic kidney disease, and renal consumer information are being added to the National Health Care Agenda (Polaschek, …show more content…
In studies unique situations can be controlled and described through reports which can be imperative in advancing patient care and improving outcomes. Polit and Tatano also write, “Other findings will help nurses identify practices that improve health car outcomes and contain costs as well” (Polit & Tatano,
The nursing profession is at the forefront of healthcare, and is gaining more influence and opportunities because of the professional organizations and passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. However, not all practice areas of nursing are seeing benefits in the terms of growth when it comes to staffing issue, such as renal nursing. It is in
In most aspects of life the saying “less is always more” may ring true; however when it comes to providing quality care to patients, less only creates problems which can lead to a decrease in patient’s quality of life as well as nurse’s satisfaction with their jobs. The massive shortage of nurses throughout the United States has gotten attention from some of the most prestigious schools, news media and political leaders. Nurses are being burnt out from their jobs, they are being overworked and overlooked. New nurses are not being properly trained, and old nurses are on their way to retirement. All the while the rate of patient admissions is on the rise. Nurses are reporting lower satisfaction in their job positions and hospital retention rates are at an all-time low, conversely this is affecting all patients’ quality of care. As stated in the article Addressing The Nurse Shortage To Improve The Quality Of Patient Care “According to an Institute of Medicine report, Nurses are the largest group of health care professionals providing direct patient care in hospitals, and the quality of care for hospital patients is strongly linked to the performance of nursing staff”.
Polit, D. F. & Beck, C. T. (2012). Nursing research: Generating and assessing evidence for nursing practice (9th ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott.
The American Nurses Association (ANA) developed a foundation for which all nurses are expected to perform their basic duties in order to meet the needs of the society we serve. The ANA “has long been instrumental in the development of three foundational documents for professional nursing; its code of ethics, its scope and standards of practice, ands statement of social policy.” (ANA, 2010, p. 87) The ANA defined nursing as “the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations” and used to create the scope and standards of nursing practice. (ANA, 2010, p. 1) These “outline the steps that nurses must take to meet client healthcare needs.” () The nursing process, for example, is one of the things I use daily. Other examples include communicating and collaborating with my patient, their families, and my peers, and being a lifelong learner. I continually research new diagnoses, medications, and treatments for my patients. As a nurse of ...
Research based practice is arguably the hallmark of professional nursing and is essential for high quality clinical and cost effective nursing care (ICN 2009)
Since the 1990’s, the interest in nursing and the profession as a whole has decreased dramatically and is still expected to do so over the next 10-15 years according to some researchers. With this nursing shortage, many factors are affected. Organizations have to face challenges of low staffing, higher costs for resources, recruiting and reserving of registered nurses, among liability issues as well. Some of the main issues arising from this nurse shortage are the impact of quality and continuity of care, organizational costs, the effect it has on nursing staff, and etc. However, this not only affects an organization and community, but affects the nurses the same. Nurses are becoming overwhelmed and are questioning the quality of care that each patient deserves. This shortage is not an issue that is to be taken lightly. The repercussions that are faced by both nurses and the organization are critical. Therefore, state funding should be implemented to private hospitals in order to resolve the shortage of nurses. State funds will therefore, relieve the overwhelming burdens on the staff, provide a safe and stress free environment for the patient, and allow appropriate funds needed to keep the facility and organization operational.
Many people in our community think being a registered nurse simply means having the degree, working in a hospital and getting paid. Being a registered nurse implies all of these plus many other duties and responsibilities for taking good care of patients and their families as well as a good professional relationship with other health care personnel. In order to assess the professional role of a registered nurse in today’s health care system, one can ask questions from the nurse or the people they work with, or read some professional writings about what they do either our communities and hospitals.
Nursing is a growing and constantly changing profession, making a bigger impact in healthcare with every turn. In fact, it was not so long ago that nursing was not even thought of as a profession and we have come a long way since the pioneer days of Florence Nightingale. Nursing is steadily evolving in terms of opportunities, educational requirements, professional recognition, and the advancement of nursing theories. These theories influence the environment, the patient, health, and overall nursing. Nursing theories will continue to evolve and guide as we continue to explore and learn new ways to improve overall nursing practice not only for the sake of the patients, but also for the future of nursing as a whole. However, when one looks to the future of nursing, they must also remember where it started; the basics of Florence Nightingale and that “Were there none who were discontented with what they have, the world would never reach anything better” (Nightingale, 1859).
Many health care professionals are wondering why shortage transpired when managed care cost initiatives, implemented throughout the country, are dramatically decreasing the length of patient stays (Upenieks, 2003). In fact, such a situation should be resulting in a nursing oversupply. As the nursing shortage ensues, the need for recruiting and retaining highly skilled nurses committed to the organization will become necessary to maintain high-quality patient care. The recent national nurse shortage has resulted in higher nurse workloads; fewer support resources, greater nursing dissatisfaction, and burnout, making it more difficult to provide optimal patient care (Upenieks, 2003). The primary role of nursing is to provide the best possible care to patients.
Over the past years, there has been a nursing shortage which has led to the need of more registered nurses in the hospital setting. This is the result of higher acuity of patient care and a decrease in their length of hospital stay. In order for the patients to get safe and quality care, the staffing, education and experience of the nursing staff needs to be made a priority. Because of the lack of nurses, patient quality of care has suffered.
Thousands of nurses throughout the nation are exhausted and overwhelmed due to their heavy workload. The administrators do not staff the units properly; therefore, they give each nurse more patients to care for to compensate for the lack of staff. There are several reasons to why
For nursing, research has played a major role in the way clinical practice is done. Research has allowed nurses to provide appropriate care to patients. It allows them to perform their job by providing them the tools and information they need in order to make the decisions on the concerns for caring the patient (Polit & Beck, 2006). Moreover, research can also take focus on the workers themselves in order to improve the practice both on a professional and personal level. An example of a study conducted by King, Vidourek, and Schweibert of University of Cincinnati created a study to determine if there is a correlation between ...
From over-crowding and long waiting lists to staff shortages which have knock on effects resulting in inadequate skills mix and unacceptable nurse-patient ratios. An aging population, high birth rates and an increase in chronic diseases also puts pressure on the healthcare system. The nursing role has had to evolve in response to changing societal needs and the challenges in the healthcare system today. (McCurry et al. 2009). This can bring additional challenges to nurses’ professional identity. ??
According to Parahoo (2014), Nursing research is a systematic inquiry designed to come up with knowledge about several issues of the importance to the nursing profession including education, nursing practice, informatics and administration Nieswiadomy, and Bailey (2017) on the other hand define nursing research as a scientific process adopted by hospitals and health care professionals that refines and validates existing knowledge and generates new knowledge that indirectly and directly influences nursing practice. from this two definition, education and nursing research can be defined as the objective and systematic process of analyzing phenomena of importance to nursing .
Nurse to patient ratios are extremely paramount in assisting with overall patient mortality and wellness of our nurses. It is an issues which unfortunately affected by legislation of our government (which is affect specifically on a monetary basis). My research via Academic Search Complete allowed me to identify topics that assist my PICOT question, and enables me to further analyze and research to find out what issues directly affect is matter. Proper nurse to patient ratio, operational costs, government regulation, nurse work life and health, patient wellness, and nursing procedures and duration of those procedures are all affected by this topic and we must ensure that all are properly balanced.