The Effects on Patient Care due to the Nursing Shortage
In the past couple years, there have been an abundance literature produce about how different variable that the affect the care given to a patient and the quality of care given by a nurse. This topic is important because quality care is a cornerstone in the practice of nursing. Nurses are at a time in the world to stay up-to-date with the new information to provide the highest quality of patient care, making a commitment to the advancement of nursing and using research evidence in practice. (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber p. 6, 2014) Research helps implements evidence base practice in which provides the most optimum level of care. Furthermore, clinical research is important in improving the standards …show more content…
In Bae, Mark, and Fired (2010) article, Use of temporary nurses and nurse and patient safety outcomes in acute care hospital units. Health Care Management Review, the purpose of the study was to identify the connection between the use of temporary nurses and nurse and patient safety outcomes. The gap that lead to this article was that there was no specific literature about how the use of temporary nurses, as solution to the nursing shortage affected the outcomes on patient care and nursing staff. The authors hypothesized that there is a correlation between a high number of temporary nurses on a unit resulting in adverse patient and nurse outcomes. The authors strengthen this idea by stating that the temporary nurses may interfere with continuity of care because of the inexperience with the care given and are unable to have a stable relationship with the patients. The independent variables of this article included care hours provided by: internal temporary nurses (float/per diem), external temporary nurses (agency RNs), and the total temporary care hours provided by both external and internal nurses. While the dependent variables included the number of incidents reported, the number of patient falls, and the number of medication errors (Bae et al., 2010). Even though, the article included hospital, nursing, …show more content…
All three articles have brought light to different variables that influenced either the nurses and/or the outcomes for the patients. With the lack of nurses due to the most recent shortage, it leads to heavier work load for the nurses who are working. Having a higher number of patients per nurse can lead to a higher rates of medication error, risk for emotional burnouts, and a decrease in the quality of care given to a patient. In addition, the use of temporary nurses may not always be a solution and can do more harm than good for patient safety, depending on the level of use of
In the past couple years, there have been an abundance literature produce about how different variable that the affect the care given to a patient and the quality of care given by a nurse. This topic is important because quality care is a cornerstone in the practice of nursing. Nurses are at a time in the world to stay up-to-date with the new information to provide the highest quality of patient care, making a commitment to the advancement of nursing and using research evidence in practice. (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber p. 6, 2014) Research helps implements evidence base practice in which provides the most optimum level of care. Furthermore, clinical research is important in improving the standards …show more content…
In Bae, Mark, and Fired (2010) article, Use of temporary nurses and nurse and patient safety outcomes in acute care hospital units. Health Care Management Review, the purpose of the study was to identify the connection between the use of temporary nurses and nurse and patient safety outcomes. The gap that lead to this article was that there was no specific literature about how the use of temporary nurses, as solution to the nursing shortage affected the outcomes on patient care and nursing staff. The authors hypothesized that there is a correlation between a high number of temporary nurses on a unit resulting in adverse patient and nurse outcomes. The authors strengthen this idea by stating that the temporary nurses may interfere with continuity of care because of the inexperience with the care given and are unable to have a stable relationship with the patients. The independent variables of this article included care hours provided by: internal temporary nurses (float/per diem), external temporary nurses (agency RNs), and the total temporary care hours provided by both external and internal nurses. While the dependent variables included the number of incidents reported, the number of patient falls, and the number of medication errors (Bae et al., 2010). Even though, the article included hospital, nursing, …show more content…
All three articles have brought light to different variables that influenced either the nurses and/or the outcomes for the patients. With the lack of nurses due to the most recent shortage, it leads to heavier work load for the nurses who are working. Having a higher number of patients per nurse can lead to a higher rates of medication error, risk for emotional burnouts, and a decrease in the quality of care given to a patient. In addition, the use of temporary nurses may not always be a solution and can do more harm than good for patient safety, depending on the level of use of