Nurse Staffing Paper

In a different review of literature on staffing and patient outcomes, Heinz (2004) describes the relationships between staffing and mortality, length of stay, and complications of patients. At first the article paints a clear picture of the future of nursing as it starts to feel the shortage which is approaching due to aging of present nurses, lowered nursing school admissions, and other hospital issues including financial hardships. In looking at the impact of ratios on mortality there were five different studies identified that showed that the lower the ratio, the lower the risk of mortality of patients. A patient's length of stay was also influenced negatively with higher nurse-to-patient ratios and positively with specialized units and care from nurses. The impact of staffing on patient complications also showed that there was an inverse relationship between the two. Heinz concludes that the key to solving these problems in nursing and reducing negative patient outcomes is nursing recruitment and retention (Heinz, 2004).

The study found that better teamwork was related to higher levels of staffing where nurses were concerned Additionally, the study indicated that staffing times where there were higher skill mixes among the nurses related to great teamwork, as did the number of hours per patient day. If nurses want to continue to have good teamwork and successful outcomes, there must be adequate staffing to ensure that this takes place. This study is clinically significant because proper patient care is of the utmost

This study uses nurse staffing variables, patient outcome variables, and background variables. The nurse staffing variables will involve the number of nurses to skill mix and patient volume. Patient outcome variables will be categorized into infection control, patient safety, subjective and objective outcomes, and complications. The background variables are important to accurate correlation and may relate to both patient outcome and nurse staffing and will include organizational systems, nurse characteristics, patient characteristics, and organizational characteristics.

The priority issue is safe staffing for nurses working in hospitals. This issue is a priority because many times nurses are overwhelmed with his or her patient load and cannot provide safe, effective patient care. With such a heavy emphasis on patient outcomes and patient satisfaction, more attention should be dedicated to this issue. Research studies consistently find that whenever there is high patient-nurse ratio it negatively impacts patient safety. A great number of studies have demonstrated that higher nurse staffing levels and richer skill mix have a strong association with reduced adverse patient outcomes (Twigg, Gelder, & Myers, 2015). This paper will discuss policy priority issue of safe staffing by identifying key points, providing supporting empirical evidence and recommendations to improve safe staffing, and the impact and importance safe staffing has on nursing.

The nursing shortage and provision of safe nursing care is a significant problem in all countries, and it affects nurses in all practice areas ranging from the bedside nurse to the boardroom. Inadequate nurse staffing levels by experienced Registered Nurses (RNs) is linked to poor health outcomes and higher costs. The reductions in nursing budgets, combined with the challenges presented by a growing nursing shortage has resulted in fewer bedside nurses working longer hours and care for high acuity patients. This situation compromises care and contributes further to the nursing shortage by creating an environment that drives nurses from the bedside.

Nursing staff may be limited, and therefore could reflect poorly on patient care. With nursing staff shortages, client cares are being missed. With patient cares not being completed thoroughly, this can lead to dimmer patient outcomes. Does staffing really play that big of a role in how a patient’s outcome is determined? I will discuss some of the findings in the article and how they correlate to the patient’s response to treatment. I will show that the study suggests that staffing may have a direct result on patient outcomes. I will also discuss how I think that this will help me as I further my career in the nursing field.

An increase in patient acuities, readmissions, and requirement for patient satisfaction among other issues has created a greater need for more registered nurses in the hospital setting. Quality and safe patient care is a direct correlation to the number of staff. With the demand of nurses on the rise, some health care institutions have not readjusted the nurse-patient ratios and the result is decreased patient satisfaction, increased mortality/morbidity in patients, more health care associated infection, and decreased employee satisfaction; leading to burnout and decreased staff

The provision of appropriate nurse staffing is necessary to reach safe, quality outcomes; it is achieved by dynamic, multifaceted decision-making processes that must take into account a wide range of variables” There are two different types of nursing one being centralized and the other is decentralized. Centralized staffing occurs when one department must staff all units, and decentralized is when unit leaders such as managers must regulate the level of staffing that must occur before and during a shift based on different circumstances. All hospitals do not use the same staffing method. Some might use budget based where nursing staff is billed per nursing hours per patient day, while other uses the nurse-patient ratio where the number of nurse per patient controls the staffing level, and lastly some hospitals go by the patient acuity where patient characteristics are used to regulate a shifts staffing needs (What Every Nurse Should Know about Staffing, 2014). No one method is better than the other and most hospitals seem to use all three, but one should question how accurately these methods are accomplished when there are so many nurses complaining about the hours they work and the number of patients that they are responsible for, and so many patients suffering from the lack care they are receiving

Nursing is never steady and change is inevitable. Therefore, nurses should be open for changes and be mindful of good health outcomes. Development of evidence-based practice is fueled by the increasing public and professional demand for accountability in safety and quality improvement in health care (Stevens, 2013). My current hospital is small, but nurses and other staff are very compliance and can easily adapt to changes. Nursing staff shortage remained an issue and when faced to deal with these, nurses focuses on the most important priorities regarding the demands of the patient care and associated workloads. The daily duties of the nurses are crucial and imperative based on the needs of the patients and families, and thus provide hands

Over the past twenty years, research has established a clear correlation between insufficient nursing staff and poor patient outcomes. An increased incidence of medication errors, infection, pressure ulcers, sepsis, falls, and death rates have been reported due to inadequate staffing and unmanageable workloads (The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, 2012). When patients come to the hospital they rightfully expect that nurses will have the time and ability to manage their care in a holistic and safe manner. Instead, nurses are given unmanageable patient loads and end up rushing through care, negatively impacting the well-being of the patient, the nurse, and even the health care system.

The debates about proper nurse to patient staffing issues have been going on for decades, but now with the changing healthcare environment and the tendency of patients to be sicker with more comorbidities, it is more important than ever to discuss and determine adequate nurse to patient ratios (Unruh & Fotter 2006). Research studies have been conducted to examine and study best approach with mixed findings. Studies conducted in support of patient safety have shown a decrease in mortality with an increase in nurse staffing levels. (Aiken et al) There are lots of variables that need to be considered. One thing is for sure, appropriate nurse staffing is critical to patient safety and well-being and inadequate nurse staffing levels are known to

When it comes to quality care in health care facilities, it is found that nurse staffing plays an integral role in process barriers that may occur.. According to Clarke and Donaldson (2008):

Appropriate nurse staffing in health centers is very critical to patient well-being and safety. This, therefore, means that inappropriate nurse staffing results to patient’s dissatisfaction, and consequently complaints. From the literature review, multiple studies have established a relationship between the number of complaints registered from patients and the number of nurses attending to the patients in question. An optimal level of staffing will ensure that duties and responsibilities are well shared among nurses about the patients that have to be attended to. Conditions that could be prevented such as pneumonia, pressure ulcers, urinary tract infection and post-operative infections were inversely related to RN skill mix and nurse staffing. Similarly, it was reported that lower level of

The orientation process for new hires lasts six weeks. The new nurse attends nursing orientation for one week and then is assign a preceptor on the unit for each shift. The DPCS introduces the new employee to their preceptor. This nurse works three weeks on the day shift, one week on the evening shift and one week on the night shift working with both medically acute rehabilitation patients and surgical patients. Nurses receive extra days of their orientation with patients that the nurse has limited clinical experience such as a nurse with postoperative experience will work more with the medically acute rehabilitation patients to practice new skills. For new graduates their orientation is individualize and can last from 8-16 weeks.

Various recent studies link the nursing staffing level with the quality of services accorded to the patients in hospitals and in nursing homes (Griffiths et al., 2016; Nantsupawat, Nantsupawat, Kunaviktikul, Turale, & Poghosyan, 2015; Griffiths, Ball, Murrells, Jones, & Rafferty, 2016; and Spetz, 2002). Whereas the quality of the patient outcome is a function of myriad factors, the staffing level is one of the most significant factors. As Clarke & Aiken (2003), noted, an increased number of hours spent with the patient boosts the patients’ outcome in areas such as short duration of hospitalization period and decreases chances of acquiring catheter inserted urinary tract infection (CAUTI), gastrointestinal bleeding, pneumonia, cardiac arrest, and as well death. The study was conducted on 799 hospitals across 11 states in an attempt to gather sufficient data to draw and inclusion of many outcome measures. The scholars were