Persuasive Essay: The Unfair Workload Of Nurses

Improved Essays
The argument I will be addressing in my persuasive essay will be about the unfair workload of nurses. I will be arguing that nurses are overworked and do not have the support of the administrators. My main argument is to have the administrators hiring more nurse staff or to lower the ratio of nurse to patient. This argument is derived from my field of work. I am an RN, and I work in the same circumstances.
Three key points for my selected topic are: ratio of nurse to patient, nurse’s burnout, and patient safety. Ratio of nurse to patient supports my argument because my main goal is to lower this ratio. It supports my argument because the administrators do not staff the units properly, so they to give each nurse more patients to care for to compensate for the lack of staff. Nurses burnout supports my argument because when a unit is under staff, RN's will have more work to do and more responsibility, which makes them feel overwhelmed. When they are overwhelmed, they feel tired, fatigued, and may not provide adequate patient care. Patient
…show more content…
Patients do not want to feel rushed by nurses. They want their needs to be met in a timely manner. The other source, "the Effects of Nurse Staffing on Quality of Care" aligns with the key point of nurse’s burnout. This source shows the effects of nurse’s burnout such as "chronic fatigue, poor sleep patterns, and job dissatisfaction." Patient safety, my last key point, aligns with the supporting resource, Professional Collaboration: Who Should Determine Safe Staffing for Nurses?" because this resource demonstrates that when there is enough staff to care for clients, the rate of mortality decreases

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Nurse staffing is a complex issue with no easy or quick solution. Staffing needs and problems will intensify as the changing need for health care grows in our society. Nurses have an integral and important role in the health care system. In order to retain nurses and have quality patient care, acceptable nurse to patient ratios must be obtained. Hiring additional staff is an economic issue, however, the outcomes could offset the cost. In the long run, satisfactory nurse to patient ratios will reduce spending and recruitment and retention of quality nurses will improve. Three of the many benefits of adequate nurse to patient ratios are quality patient care, retention of nurses, and patient safety.…

    • 1026 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The American Nurses Association’s State Government Affairs program monitors numerous nursing and healthcare related bills each year. They assess each bill for significance of relation to current healthcare issues and trends (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2015). One of the issues being addressed in 2015 is nurse staffing. This is not a new legislative issue, as it has been reviewed for several years now. Nurse staffing is taking center stage in the legislative arena because of the ongoing nursing shortage and the imminent retirement of many nurses. “Identifying and maintaining the appropriate number and mix of nursing staff is critical to the delivery of quality patient care. Numerous studies reveal an association…

    • 1775 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Avoid Nurse Burnout

    • 96 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Nurses enter the health-care profession out of compassion and a desire to care for others. They are sensitive to the needs of others. But nursing is one of the most demanding careers. Nurses deal with pain, suffering, and fear on a daily basis. Adding to the emotional challenge, is the physical demands of long hours and being on their feet all day. This combination of stressors that can take a significant toll on their physical and emotional well being – which can lead to nurse burnout.…

    • 96 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    C464 Task 1 Business Plan

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages

    a. Burnout can lead to physical and psychological problems for nurses, as well as time lost to sick calls, reduced productivity, and loss of staff through staff quitting (Cohen-Katz, Wiley, Capuano, Baker & Shapiro, 2005)…

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Essay On Nurse Burnout

    • 1457 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The nursing career is one of the fastest growing, in demand and high paying jobs in the health industry. It is also one of the top stressful jobs with many nurses experiencing fatigue, stress and eventually burnout. Various factors attribute to the negative physiological and physical effects of this career, specifically a shortage of nurses, long work hours and when the labor seems almost not worth the salary paid.…

    • 1457 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Each person’s circumstance is different, which is another reason why it’s important for nurses to be aware of different factors that affect a person’s access to healthcare in order to advocate for the patient. Nursing advocacy includes multifaceted dimensions like communicating with, informing, educating, protecting, speaking out for patients as well as building relationship with patients, community and society.…

    • 1317 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Essay On Staffing Ratios

    • 1164 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Patients are harmed by inadequate staffing at hospitals which then increase the number of people suffering from chronic illnesses and who are unable to access health care services. Hospitals with low staffing levels tend to have higher rates of poor patient outcomes. Staffing ratio in hospitals are affected by the changes in attitudes of employees, career expectations and the future of nursing. This implies that there is need to have a larger number of nursing staff in hospitals to provide care for the increasing population. Workers dissatisfaction has led to incidences of higher turnover rates with employees seeking other alternatives to besides nursing. Technological innovations have also led to an increase in the amount of care required by patients such that nurses feel they are…

    • 1164 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Nursing Unions

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Staffing is one of the most important contributing factors to a nurse being able to provide safe, quality patient care. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2004) “hospitals with low nurse staffing levels tend to have higher rates of poor patient outcomes such…

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Nurse Staffing Paper

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Since 2005, without much success, the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) has been encouraging hospital chief executive officers and/or administrators to set a baseline minimum staffing standard or create policy to protect patient safety (Minnesota Nurses Association, 2017). In 2010, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) implemented a new model of healthcare delivery and payment that was designed to improve quality and reduce costs, but as a result, cost control pressures have been put on nurse staffing levels in order to reduce nurse labor hours and their associated costs (Avalere, 2015). With a goal of making a case for sufficient nurse staffing levels and/or models, the American Nurses Association (ANA) teamed up with Avalere to conduct a targeted review of published literature, government reports, and other publicly available evaluations of nurse staffing and patient outcomes (Avalere, 2015). Their key findings with appropriate nurse staffing included: nurse staffing models should consider the number of nurses, the nurse-to-patient ratios and staffing should be adjusted to account for unit and shift level factors; helps to achieve clinical and economic improvement in patient care; improves patient satisfaction and patient quality of life; decreases/reduces: medical and medication errors, patient mortality,…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The AACN suggests nurses nurse staffing must ensure an effective match between nurse skills and patient needs (AACN, 2016). Not only does inappropriate staffing lead to medical errors, it can also bring about stressed and overworked nurses. The unit I work on is often short-staffed leading nurses to take on more than they are used to and leaving charge nurses scrambling to assign duties and calling in reinforcements. To the best of my ability, I will try to match my nurse’s abilities to the patient’s acuities and request critique if the assignments do not work effectively with current staffing. In order to address the staffing needs and the workflow that changes hour to hour, I believe the implementation of a resource nurse role will help address the staffing needs when patient loads become hectic. In order to keep the patients safe and staff happy, healthy, and stress free, it is crucial to put people where they work best and continually reassess the patient load and offer my leadership services as…

    • 1013 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essay On Nursing Shortage

    • 2146 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Within the next ten years, more than one million registered nurses in the United States will be eligible for retirement. This will potentially leave the nursing profession with the largest shortage in history. The need for health care is only growing due to the aging baby boomer population. “Nursing researchers have noted that the projected nursing shortage, if not rectified, is expected to affect health care cost, job satisfaction and quality patient care” (Lartey, 2014, p. 1027). Without an adequate number of nurses’ patient safety is at risk, resulting in medical errors due to understaffing. Many nurses across the country are feeling dissatisfied with their careers due to understaffing, undertraining, bullying, and negative stereotypes.…

    • 2146 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Inadequate staffing can be the downfall for any organization and when inadequate staffing effects the healthcare field, the ramifications can affect patients and the nurses caring for them with negative ramifications. Nurses face dilemmas such as patient safety, patient satisfaction, nurse burnout, as well as a decrease in job satisfaction. These dilemmas can be attributed to inadequate staffing of facilities. Creating an adequate staffing model would reduce medication errors, patient complications and mortality, increase patient satisfaction, reduce nurse fatigue and burnout and improve job satisfaction. It is pertinent that healthcare leaders collaborate to create strategies to provide safer outcomes for patients and…

    • 990 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    A nursing shortage provides opportunities for future nurses; however, it causes consequences as well. The impacts of low nursing levels have several negative effects, such as increased risk for medical errors, death, workplace injuries, etc. For a healthcare facility to work efficiently, effectively and safely, there needs to be a sufficient number of working nurses and experienced nurses available to care for patients. Since there is a close connection between patient safety and nurses, staffing levels have become a concern for the public, government and healthcare…

    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many Americans are jobless, some are looking for a job while many of them are not. There are many people who rely on the government to get them the things they need. People should not be happy because they rely on the government for these things they should be sad or embarrassed that they can not get a job to get things in their life for themselves. There are many great jobs in America, there is a job for almost anyone who is willing to work and have a passion for the job they are doing. A great job to have is being a nurse. People say that being a nurse takes too much work or that it is to hard. Those people are right, nursing does take a lot of work and it is hard. It takes a very strong and kind hearted person to be a nurse. Being a nurse…

    • 1024 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Nurses play an essential role in the healthcare business, providing care to patients and filling leadership roles at various hospitals, health systems and other organizations. According to the world health organization (WHO) nursing is defined as an autonomous and collaborative care of individuals of all ages, families, groups and communities, sick or well and in all settings. It includes the promotion of health, the prevention of illness, and the care of the ill, disabled and dying people. However, it is a tough profession that requires a lot of dedication and commitment however there are many challenges that nurses’ face today. The two problems that really stand out to me as a nursing student are the shortage of staff and the daily hazards that our job exposes us to on a daily basis.…

    • 1674 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays