Short-Staffed In Nursing Essay

When a person enters the world of nursing usually it’s an exciting experience you have worked very hard, and dedicated a lot of time to this, and you’ve finally made it. With any job there are things that they don’t teach you in school, simply because they don’t want to scare you away, or it’s something you have to learn when you’re in the field. The cause and effect of being short-staffed in the nursing industry is at an all-time high. It leads people to wonder if being short-staffed is the cause of more falls, improper patient care, not having proper documentation, even if mistakes are going to be made because the staff that is overworked. There are many obstacles that have to be overcome when there isn’t enough people to cover the patient ratio. Usually, in situations like this it’s understandable that staff complain to administration about the issues at hand. There is a more efficient and proper way to go about it, without making waves with the higher ups. It’s no secret that things aren’t running as smoothly as they should be when not having enough workers becomes an issue. The stress levels are high, workers are agitated, and tired from the countless hours of overtime. Administration is relying on everyone to pitch in to make up for the missing spots on the

A good portion of the time administration will highlight their long term employees, stating that they can work short because they are the best. Making it seem like the situation at hand isn’t as bad because they have people who do their jobs. However, this tactic only works for so long, people who are overworked get tired, which could lead to dangerous even life threatening effects. Mixing up medications, giving the wrong dosage of a narcotic, even being so exhausted after another 12, or 16 hour shift that they fall asleep on the way home. Any sane person can see how discombobulated this can