3. NURSE STAFFING AND QUALITY CARE IN NURSING PRACTICE:
Staffing is employing adequate and qualified personnel in appropriate position to produce a reasonable outcome.
Having enough nurses to properly manage patient flow affects hospital turn rate,patient satisfaction and quality outcome because nurses helps to get patients admitted,transfer them to other wards or department and also discharge them at the right time.
Mcfarland defined staffing as the function by which manager build an organization through the recruitment,selection and development of individuals as capable employees.
Nurse staffing has to do with recruiting or employing a certified nurses and placing them at the right position and specialties in a health care facility. Nurses
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Some organization avoids employing women in a job that involves physical exertion or maybe need to travel continuously. However, in nursing profession male nurses are preferred in some areas in practice not minding the skills of the female nurse applying for same position. In our society today workers are employed based on indigenes and non indigene criteria and not offering the right person a rightful position which we all know is common in so many countries today. Staffing is a managerial function that need to be properly addressed .it helps in getting the right person for various job in organization and ensure that there’s job satisfaction for the betterment of the organization and achieving a common goals.
Appropriate staffing is very crucial in nursing practice because it can affect the social life of a nurse,she may not have time for herself because she is worn out and not coordinating properly which can cause health hazard since patient are looking up to them.
APPLICATION TO CURRENT JOB:
In my place of work,nurse staffing helps in producing quality care to patients as no nurse complains of burning out due to work over load since there is enough hands to control the
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Researchers have spent decades trying to determine if having more nurse staff lead to better quality of nursing home care. Although the answer may seem to be obviously “yes”the literature feels to give us a clear answer . Bostick and colleagues reached a positive conclusion about the nursing staffing and quality relationship from their review of 87 articles .{Arling G.and Mueller C.2014}. Registered nurses have long acknowledged and continue to emphasize that staffing issues is an ongoing concern,one that influences the safety of both the patient and nurse. There is a strong relationship between adequate nurse to patient ratios and safe patient outcomes. Rising patient acuity and shortened hospital stay has contributed to challenges. Finding an optimal nurse-to-patient ratio has been a national challenge . however,rising patient acuity and shortened hospital stay have contributed to recent challenges .Ensuring adequate staffing levels have been shown to reduce medical and medication error s,decrease complication among patients,decrease mortality,improve patient satisfaction,reduce nurse fatigue,decrease nurse burnout and improve nurse job satisfaction.{ANA
The first step is for the hospitals to have a nurse driven staffing committee, which will create staffing plans that reflect that needs of the patient population and match the skills and experience of the staff for each shift. The second approach is for legislators to mandate specific nurse-patient ratios in legislation or regulation. The third approach would be a requiring of facilities to disclose staffing levels to the public and/or a regulatory body.
Needleman, J., Buerhaus, P., PKankratz, V. S., Leibson, C. L., Stevens, S. R., & Harris, M. (2011). Nurse Staffing and Inpateint Hospital Mortality. The New England Journal of Medicine , 364, 1037-1045.
The nurse to patient ratio is unrealistic in many hospitals. In most cases it is almost impossible to give each patient the true amount of detailed care they really need. This is seen in most cases where there is one nurse assigned to 16 patients and each patient requires a different level of attention. Nurses are pressed for time, forcing them to cut corners, resulting in an increase in nosocomial infections and patient deaths. “The past decade has been a unsettled time for many US hospitals and practicing nu...
Without participating in a longitudinal study, it is difficult to truly assess the efficacy in mandating nurse staffing ratios. It is difficult to measure the benefits of mandated staffing due to numerous confounding variables. These confounding variables include the resources available at specific hospitals in addition to the populations that they serve. Hospital volume, RN job satisfaction and the relationship between physicians and nurses have also been shown to affect patient outcomes (Duval et al., 2007).
HAI rates, nurse staffing, length of patient stay, and patient outcomes need to be evaluated in a collaborative manner. Nurses play a vital role within the health care system, and the effects of nurse staffing on patient stay, outcomes, and HAIs is a critical element in health care needing immediate attention. A positive increase in nurse-to-patient ratio, even by adding one additional nurse per shift, will decrease HAIs, patient length of stay, and patient mortality. Stronger educational programs within hospitals regarding infection control are also needed. A more informed and educated nursing staff will likely result in a better educated patient. Overall, staffing of nurses proves to be a critical link between patients and HAI rates.
In spite of the shortage among nurses, there are number of options and recommendations that can better help to maintain an adequate staff level and provide greater strategies needed to increase nursing. The choices open to cover for insufficient staff range from reallocating and postponing work, relocating staff within unit or from other units, to employing temporary additional nurses according to Buchan and Seccombe (1995). In health care, some of these options may not be available because ...
middle of paper ... ... qualified nurses diminishes. Based on this study, administrators should recruit nurses who understand that health care is at its best when health care professionals work collaboratively as members of a team, committed to providing the best possible patient care. References Aiken, L.H., Clarke, S.P, Sloane, D.M., Sochalski, J., & Silber, J.H. (2000). Hospital nurse staffing and patient mortality, nurse burnout, and job dissatisfaction.
Two main staffing methods that are currently used in most nursing facilities are staffing by patient acuity using patient classification systems and staffing by mandated nurse-to-patient rations. Each method has an impact on patient outcomes, safety and overall satisfaction determined from different articles and studies done on each staffing method. There are pros and cons to each staffing methods. Nursing facilities look at many of these pros and cons when determining staffing methods that are used, cost, patient outcomes, and nursing
Patient’s safety will be compromised because increase of patient to nurse ratio will lead to mistakes in delivering quality care. In 2007, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) conducted a metanalysis and found that “shortage of registered nurses, in combination with increased workload, poses a potential threat to the quality of care… increases in registered nurse staffing was associated with a reduction in hospital-related mortality and failure to rescue as well as reduced length of stay.” Intense workload, stress, and dissatisfaction in one’s profession can lead to health problems. Researchers found that maintaining and improving a healthy work environment will facilitate safety, quality healthcare and promote a desirable professional avenue.
How come my nurse doesn't spend more time with me? Why is she/he always rushing to get out of my room? Staffing in nursing is probably one of the biggest issues in health care nowadays. For one, there are just too many patients and not enough nurses, which makes it unsafe for the clients and the licensed professional.
These articles have many similarities when discussing the issue of staffing shortages. For patients, their loved ones and the general population, they don’t understand the ramifications and strain that staffing shortages have on nurses. People expect and deserve complete, competent and safe care when they are patients. These articles bring to light all the struggles that nurses have to deal with. Nurses are fearful that they will make mistakes, will harm patients, and will harm themselves. (Bae, 2012; Erlen, 2001; Martin, 2015) Overtime can be overwhelming and exhausting, which can lead to errors being made. (Bae, 2012; Erlen, 2001) These articles perceive that it may be beneficial for nurses, patients, and healthcare facilities to decrease the nurse-to-patient ratio, however, this option is not always
Moreover, the company has placed great significance on open and honest communications with the employees on many levels. Even more, leadership expected a plan that would utilize all human assets in a way that would support the organization’s attitude in servicing customers and employees. As such, they found it important to centralize the staffing initiative in order to maintain the unique corporate culture created in the beginning. Every one of these strategies would be focused on centralizing staffing, brining in the best possible employees, and retaining each on a high
Factors such as, heavy workloads, stress, job dissatisfaction, frequent medical errors, and intention of leaving the job are all common for nurses to experience, especially during the nursing shortage crisis. Not only do the nurses suffer during a shortage, but the patients ' health outcomes suffer even more. For instance, there are higher rates of infectious diseases and adverse patient outcomes, such as urinary tract infections (UTIs), upper gastrointestinal bleeding, shock, pneumonia, prolonged hospital stays, failure to rescue, and mortality. As a result, this leads to higher re-admission rates for patients. Furthermore, high patient-to-nurse ratios cause heavy workloads due to an inadequate supply of nurses, an increased demand for nurses, a reduction in staffing and an increase in overtime, and a shortened length of stay for patients. Without the heavy workloads that nurses have to endure on a daily basis, there would more time for nurses to communicate more effectively with physicians, insurance companies, and patients and their families. Those heavy workloads are the result of hospitals reducing the nursing staff and implementing mandatory overtime policies just to meet unexpectedly high demands. Unfortunately, the nursing shortage has affected nurses ' mental and physical health. For example, the most common health concerns for nurses include cardiovascular health, occupational injuries and illnesses, and emotional and physical exhaustion. Therefore, safe-staffing ratios/levels have to become the main
The literature supports that high nursing workload adversely affects the quality of patient care, nurses’ satisfaction with job, and the healthcare institutions’ attempt to provide cost effective nursing care.
Martin (2015) looks at the effect that nurse staffing has on quality care of patients. Using numerous studies, the article reviews nurse under-staffing in hospitals and how it not only impacts the care the patient receives but also the nurse’s well-being. This article supports that staffing has a direct impact on patient care and safety and