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.…
Over the past several years, the demand for nursing staff has increased tremendously. In fact, the nursing shortage in the United States is anticipated to grow to 260,000 by 2025. (Buerhas, Auerbach, & Staiger, 2009). This foreseen shortage in nurses builds off of the knowledge that the average age of nurses is increasing, whilst the demand for nurses increases. More nurses are retiring or are close to retirement and an equal amount of nurses are not being recruited to organizations to take over the jobs of nurses that have left.…
Along with being adequately staffed, hospitals also have to make sure their nurses are not being overworked. Proper staffing and better hours are two of the most common issues nursing unions fight for. 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…
Leiah Acfalle BA444-01 8/26/15 Internet Article #2 Hospitals get guidelines on safe nurse numbers Triggle, N. (2014, July 15). Hospitals get guidelines on safe nurse numbers. BBC News. Retrieved August 25, 2015 from http://www.bbc.com/news/health-28300146 After reading and selecting this article, I thought this would relate to staffing guide because hospitals in New England are looking at giving precise guidelines on “safe staffing levels for nurses.” (Triggle, 2014, para.…
Personnel Management Safe Work Environment Providing a safe work environment will be a strong recruitment strategy for the CSU at TCCH. One of the nation’s largest secure forensic psychiatric hospitals, Atascadero State Hospitals (ASH) is located ten miles from TCCH. There are over 1,900 mental health professionals that work at ASH and living in the community around TCCH. ASH provides care to violent individuals who were not able to stand trial due to their mental illness.…
Ms. Greene was involved in presenting a specific section of the staffing methodology for nursing personnel on the Mental Health Behavioral Science (MHBS) inpatient department. This methodology is intended to determine full-time equivalent (FTE) employees for long-range planning and budget projections. This directive defines the steps that all VHA facilities must follow to determine appropriate levels of nursing staff (numbers and types) at all points of care. Staffing requirements determined through this methodology support and maintain a standardized approach to ensuring adequate nursing personnel across the organization.…
There have been many research done on the effects of proper staffing. Studies have concluded that “in 1,477 hospitals examined… one additional patient per LPN (licensed practical nurse)/ LVN (licensed vocational nurse) per shift increased the rates of surgical wound infections by 0.02 percent, pulmonary failure by 0.04 percent, pneumonia by 0.06 percent, patient falls by 0.03 percent, and cardiac arrest by 0.03 percent” (Kane, R. L., Shamliyan, T., Mueller, C., Duval, S., & Wilt, T. J., 2007). One additional patient that much of an increase in complications. An improvement may be possible with the increase in nursing staffing “with the use of staffing plans or committees, hospital administrators and nursing staff jointly determine and implement…
I agree that safe staffing is a big issue in the workforce today. NYSNA is working to get California based safe staffing laws passed in New York State. In Plattsburgh Hospital CVPH, the Med-Surg nurse to patient ratio is 1 to 5, but the groups are arranged by the team leaders (charge nurses) on the floor. Many patient assignments are as fair as possible but it is not uncommon for a nurse to be overwhelmed because 3 out of 5 of the patients are "jumpers" or sometimes you get too many total care patients. I found a chart that shows the haphazardness of scheduling patients to a group, and many things can go wrong, patient needs are just the start of the list and that's mostly what determines a patient assignment (Figure 1).…
Nurses play a vital role in the delivery of safe, effective patient care. When the nurse to patient ratio is at a manageable level, studies indicate a healthier outcome for patients. However, when the ratio is not at a manageable level patient and nurses suffer the consequences. Because nurse to patient ratio has such a large impact on the health of both the patient and the nurse, a public policy is appropriate for the nurse to patient ratio to establish minimum nurse to patient ratio. This can be done by requiring a specific number or by requiring hospitals to have nurse staffing committees.…
Abstract Patient safety is the absence of preventable harm to a patient during the process of health care and considered the cornerstone of high-quality health care. Nurses play an important role in that vital care. Nurses need to know what proven techniques and interventions they can use to enhance patient outcomes.…
Based on Guidelines for Medical Examination (2016) employers have a duty of care to provide a safe work environment and protect the health, safety and welfare of marine employees. Marine employees similarly have a duty of care for their own safety and that of the people they work with and the community. Medical assessment of physical fitness is one aspect of meeting this duty of care. This assessment is to ensure that individuals are fit to perform the essential tasks of their job at sea effectively and to anticipate and, where possible, prevent the avoidable occurrence of ill-health offshore which could place individuals, their colleagues and emergency personnel at…
Introduction Nursing is a dynamic profession of providing care for infirm and sick individuals. This profession exists due to the demands of society. One major problem society is facing today is a shortage of nurses. Lois Berry and Paul Curry (2012) state, “by the year 2022, there will be a need of 60 000 full time registered nurses (p.35). Berry and Curry note that the number of nurses will decrease by 2022.…
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…
I am aware of my tendency to over-analyze situations, especially ethical ones, as I search for solutions. As my paper indicated, when the nurse staffing is not appropriate, patient outcomes are poorer. Families are affected when they know their family member is not receiving the best of care. Healthcare works are affected as their stress levels increase which often results in job…
Introduction Safety is an important part of life that people sometimes overlooked until it costs them money or personal discomfort. Webster’s dictionary defines safe as “the condition of being safe from undergoing or causing hurt, injury, or loss.” As a wastewater professional, can you do your job safely? This book is intended to stress the importance of safety in the workplace by dividing it into two categories: Risk Awareness and Risk Management.…