Nursing Research The purpose of this research is to determine if there is correlation between nursing shortages and/or staffing ratios and quality of patient care and satisfaction with the outcome. The results of several studies show the relationship between the ratio of nurses/patients with quality of care and patient outcomes (Negarandeh, 2014, p. 3). There is a nursing shortage throughout the world. Patient care around the world has changed due to this shortage. Nurses are taking on more and more patients with each assignment and the acuity level of care the patient needs has not improved and may even be worse.
Research Questions
Patient to nurse ratios have been the topic of debate for many years. Nurses are assigned to a patient team, …show more content…
Marzano and Dr. Chhindra. Dr. Marzano is board certified in internal medicine and practiced in an office until two years ago when he took the position of director for the hospitalists. He has seen the changes in nurse staffing and is concerned for the care of his patients. He feels that nurses cannot be as observant of our patients when the ratio is as high as it is. Patient satisfaction and outcome are effected poorly when nurses do not have the time to provide adequate care and the potential for error increases. Dr. Marzano believes that the hospital system needs to evaluate patient outcomes and satisfaction ratings as well as the satisfaction of the nursing staff to determine an effective ratio that will improve employee job satisfaction, which will ultimately improve patient satisfaction. Dr. Chhindra is board certified in internal medicine and started out as a hospitalist. He now has his own practice while continuing to see patients in the hospital. Dr. Chhindra has seen many changes over the past few years and feels that patient care has been affected poorly. He is also concerned about the nursing staff being overwhelmed and the potential for mistakes that could adversely affect his patient’s …show more content…
There is no doubt that patient care is effected when the nurse to patient ratio is greater. One of my questions was: What happens to patients when nurses are short staffed? This question seemed to get the most concern because everyone involved with patient care wants the best outcome possible for the patients. However, I think another appropriate question would be: What happens to nurses when they are short staffed? In the late 1990’s, hospitals reduced essential healthcare resources (RN’s) in order to cut costs. Hospitals then experienced an increased demand for nurses to provide care for their acutely ill hospitalized patients and were faced with high vacancy rates which emphasized the nursing shortage (Zinn, Guglielmi, Davis, & Moses, 2012, p. 652). According to Dolan (2011), the nursing workforce is projected to increase by only 22% by 2018, which will be inadequate to meet the anticipated demands (p. 9). In order to decrease the nursing shortage, there will be a need to increase the admission rates into nursing schools. However, there is also a shortage of nurses that meet the requirements to be nursing teachers. According to an AACN survey, the nursing school faculty vacancy rate in 2010 was 6.9%. Of the unfilled positions, more than half listed a doctorate degree as a prerequisite for employment (Dolan, 2011, p.
Research Questions
Patient to nurse ratios have been the topic of debate for many years. Nurses are assigned to a patient team, …show more content…
Marzano and Dr. Chhindra. Dr. Marzano is board certified in internal medicine and practiced in an office until two years ago when he took the position of director for the hospitalists. He has seen the changes in nurse staffing and is concerned for the care of his patients. He feels that nurses cannot be as observant of our patients when the ratio is as high as it is. Patient satisfaction and outcome are effected poorly when nurses do not have the time to provide adequate care and the potential for error increases. Dr. Marzano believes that the hospital system needs to evaluate patient outcomes and satisfaction ratings as well as the satisfaction of the nursing staff to determine an effective ratio that will improve employee job satisfaction, which will ultimately improve patient satisfaction. Dr. Chhindra is board certified in internal medicine and started out as a hospitalist. He now has his own practice while continuing to see patients in the hospital. Dr. Chhindra has seen many changes over the past few years and feels that patient care has been affected poorly. He is also concerned about the nursing staff being overwhelmed and the potential for mistakes that could adversely affect his patient’s …show more content…
There is no doubt that patient care is effected when the nurse to patient ratio is greater. One of my questions was: What happens to patients when nurses are short staffed? This question seemed to get the most concern because everyone involved with patient care wants the best outcome possible for the patients. However, I think another appropriate question would be: What happens to nurses when they are short staffed? In the late 1990’s, hospitals reduced essential healthcare resources (RN’s) in order to cut costs. Hospitals then experienced an increased demand for nurses to provide care for their acutely ill hospitalized patients and were faced with high vacancy rates which emphasized the nursing shortage (Zinn, Guglielmi, Davis, & Moses, 2012, p. 652). According to Dolan (2011), the nursing workforce is projected to increase by only 22% by 2018, which will be inadequate to meet the anticipated demands (p. 9). In order to decrease the nursing shortage, there will be a need to increase the admission rates into nursing schools. However, there is also a shortage of nurses that meet the requirements to be nursing teachers. According to an AACN survey, the nursing school faculty vacancy rate in 2010 was 6.9%. Of the unfilled positions, more than half listed a doctorate degree as a prerequisite for employment (Dolan, 2011, p.