Practicum Project: PICOT Paper
The hospital where my practicum took place is a recognized magnet hospital that currently re-structured their shared governance councils that includes inter-professional clinical care, research, nurse practice, professional recognition and development, quality and patient safety, and patient and family experience. These councils will be composed of smaller groups in which members will represent a broader scope than their own unit. In addition, the hospital recently received the perinatal certification awarded to them by The Joint Commission. The preceptor I was shadowing is the Labor and Delivery manager in Valley Hospital. In this department they practice a high degree of nurses autonomy, nurses control of practice, …show more content…
With the higher census and the unsuccessful request, the manager opted to use per diem, rewarding the staff from working and the use of travel nurses to ensure patient safety and quality care. Study showed that the nurse patient ratio or short staffing significantly delay the patient treatment that can affect the patients’ safety and the outcome of the care rendered (Zhu, You, Zheng, Liu, & Fang, 2012). Additionally, this can adversely affect the early detection of patient complications or the time for team collaboration and the nurses' ability to keep the patient safe (Twigg, Duffield, Thompson, & Rapley, 2010). The nurses’ role in providing continuous observation to the patient is essential for early detection and prompt intervention when deterioration of patient’s condition detected (Twigg et al., 2010). The nurses’ ability to start the treatment that can minimize the adverse events that might happen with the delayed treatment and undesirable outcomes for the patient is directly linked to the nurses’ hours of care spent to the patient (Twigg et al., 2010). Moreover, each additional patient added for the nurses to take care of was linked to a seven percent mortality rate increase after a common surgical procedure (Zhu et al., 2012). The patient outcome will not only get affected by the short staffing but the nurses as well. Several study …show more content…
Adequate staff nurses working in the unit have a positive impact on the quality of the patient care rendered. The increase of the number of patient assign to each nurses, higher acuity levels and the complexity of care added to the excessive workload (Zhu et al., 2012). The insufficient staffing was linked to increased workload, stress, job dissatisfaction, increased turnover, burnout and poor quality patient care (Zhu et al., 2012). As an example, the better nurse staffing levels in California hospitals showed a major decrease mortality rate as a result of early detection on any complications that the patient experienced compared to the other states without a regulated staffing ratio (Aiken, 2010). In California hospitals, there were fewer patient died each year in general surgical discharges as compared to other states (Aiken, 2010). The study estimated that if the patient and nurse staffing levels in New Jersey and Pennsylvania hospitals are the same in California hospitals, there might be 486 lives saved in the two year study period with patients having general surgery from both states (Aiken, 2010). Additionally adequate staffing level increases the nurses’ job satisfaction, significantly lower burnout rates and better quality patient care (Aiken, 2010). Repeated stress from heavy workload can lead to burnout, not just for the staff nurse but also to the manager (Merlani,
The hospital where my practicum took place is a recognized magnet hospital that currently re-structured their shared governance councils that includes inter-professional clinical care, research, nurse practice, professional recognition and development, quality and patient safety, and patient and family experience. These councils will be composed of smaller groups in which members will represent a broader scope than their own unit. In addition, the hospital recently received the perinatal certification awarded to them by The Joint Commission. The preceptor I was shadowing is the Labor and Delivery manager in Valley Hospital. In this department they practice a high degree of nurses autonomy, nurses control of practice, …show more content…
With the higher census and the unsuccessful request, the manager opted to use per diem, rewarding the staff from working and the use of travel nurses to ensure patient safety and quality care. Study showed that the nurse patient ratio or short staffing significantly delay the patient treatment that can affect the patients’ safety and the outcome of the care rendered (Zhu, You, Zheng, Liu, & Fang, 2012). Additionally, this can adversely affect the early detection of patient complications or the time for team collaboration and the nurses' ability to keep the patient safe (Twigg, Duffield, Thompson, & Rapley, 2010). The nurses’ role in providing continuous observation to the patient is essential for early detection and prompt intervention when deterioration of patient’s condition detected (Twigg et al., 2010). The nurses’ ability to start the treatment that can minimize the adverse events that might happen with the delayed treatment and undesirable outcomes for the patient is directly linked to the nurses’ hours of care spent to the patient (Twigg et al., 2010). Moreover, each additional patient added for the nurses to take care of was linked to a seven percent mortality rate increase after a common surgical procedure (Zhu et al., 2012). The patient outcome will not only get affected by the short staffing but the nurses as well. Several study …show more content…
Adequate staff nurses working in the unit have a positive impact on the quality of the patient care rendered. The increase of the number of patient assign to each nurses, higher acuity levels and the complexity of care added to the excessive workload (Zhu et al., 2012). The insufficient staffing was linked to increased workload, stress, job dissatisfaction, increased turnover, burnout and poor quality patient care (Zhu et al., 2012). As an example, the better nurse staffing levels in California hospitals showed a major decrease mortality rate as a result of early detection on any complications that the patient experienced compared to the other states without a regulated staffing ratio (Aiken, 2010). In California hospitals, there were fewer patient died each year in general surgical discharges as compared to other states (Aiken, 2010). The study estimated that if the patient and nurse staffing levels in New Jersey and Pennsylvania hospitals are the same in California hospitals, there might be 486 lives saved in the two year study period with patients having general surgery from both states (Aiken, 2010). Additionally adequate staffing level increases the nurses’ job satisfaction, significantly lower burnout rates and better quality patient care (Aiken, 2010). Repeated stress from heavy workload can lead to burnout, not just for the staff nurse but also to the manager (Merlani,