Nurses and providers have an important role to play in the health care system. High patient to staff ratio is an essential feature in ensuring patient safety and quality of health care provided (Manion, 2012). Adequate staffing is a key requirement for nurse retention and patient care. While on the other hand, inadequate staff ratios endangers the patient’s life and the quality of care provided by driving the nurses away from their profession (Connecticut, 2000).
In essence, high patient to staff ratio reduces the patient 's care and the quality of health care provided. Different studies have shown increased patients mortality due to the high patient to staffing ratios in health care provision centers. Additionally, low staffing affects the …show more content…
All these are associated with the staff dispensing the wrong drugs to the wrong patient due to the high number of patients and confusion. Some of these prevention errors are life threatening (Kalra, 2011). On the other hand, diagnostic errors are associated with stress and fatigue in following the recommended procedures e.g. doing diagnostic tests (Connecticut, 2000). For example, a nurse may skip eye tests when testing for diabetes if the he has a long line of patient waiting for the same tests. These may lead to poor results and conclusions. Lastly, surgical errors are associated with caseloads and fatigue. Surgical errors lead to would infections or even technical complication that may be life-threatening to the involved patients (Kalra, 2011). All these errors occur as a result of poor logistics, insufficient communication, low nurse spirit and poorly defined responsibilities due to the high patient to staff situation (Kalra, …show more content…
This can be achieved through the provision of scholarships, funding for nursing education or even standardization of the postgraduate nursing programs. This promotes the high number of enrollments into the nursing career therefore reducing the high patient to staff ratios in health care centers (Kalra, 2011). Variously, this can be supported by providing in-service and continued the education of staffs while still in service. It will help in reducing the number of staff in the health service center at a given time. The organization must also establish a financial incentive for investing in the nursing staff. It ensures that the involved staff is paid in time. This attracts more individual to enrolling into nursing cases therefore reducing the nursing deficits in hospitals (Connecticut,
In essence, high patient to staff ratio reduces the patient 's care and the quality of health care provided. Different studies have shown increased patients mortality due to the high patient to staffing ratios in health care provision centers. Additionally, low staffing affects the …show more content…
All these are associated with the staff dispensing the wrong drugs to the wrong patient due to the high number of patients and confusion. Some of these prevention errors are life threatening (Kalra, 2011). On the other hand, diagnostic errors are associated with stress and fatigue in following the recommended procedures e.g. doing diagnostic tests (Connecticut, 2000). For example, a nurse may skip eye tests when testing for diabetes if the he has a long line of patient waiting for the same tests. These may lead to poor results and conclusions. Lastly, surgical errors are associated with caseloads and fatigue. Surgical errors lead to would infections or even technical complication that may be life-threatening to the involved patients (Kalra, 2011). All these errors occur as a result of poor logistics, insufficient communication, low nurse spirit and poorly defined responsibilities due to the high patient to staff situation (Kalra, …show more content…
This can be achieved through the provision of scholarships, funding for nursing education or even standardization of the postgraduate nursing programs. This promotes the high number of enrollments into the nursing career therefore reducing the high patient to staff ratios in health care centers (Kalra, 2011). Variously, this can be supported by providing in-service and continued the education of staffs while still in service. It will help in reducing the number of staff in the health service center at a given time. The organization must also establish a financial incentive for investing in the nursing staff. It ensures that the involved staff is paid in time. This attracts more individual to enrolling into nursing cases therefore reducing the nursing deficits in hospitals (Connecticut,