Staffing Is a Major Problem in the Nursing Industry - Essay Example

? Introduction Staffing is a major problem in our country in the nursing industry. Hospitals have reported either a shortage of nurses or poor results provided by the latter. The problems identified in this report lie with the policies the government has put in place to control issues of poor nursing results and shortages. Currently, the policy is not in place but under construction. Overview of the Legislative Visit The first part of organizing the legislative visit is booking appointments with the policy makers. The first step in this stage is to obtain the contacts of the policy makers’ offices. The contacts can be found in a government directory. The next step is initiating contact. This involves calling the offices or traveling to the offices personally. If an appointment is granted, the plan moves to the next part which involves correspondence on material. This is the part where any question that will be posed to the policy makers during the visit get availed to allow ample time for preparation. In addition, the policy makers will get a copy of the policy recommendation report to allow them to prepare for the discussion during the visit. After providing the material in focus, the next stage will involve setting up a date for the visit and the itinerary. The itinerary is generally focused on arrival at the policy makers’ offices and a schedule of the debates that will take place. The itinerary will be approved by both sides (we, the visitors and the policy makers). The visit will last for not more than two hours (Bensley & Brookins-Fisher, 2008). Overview of Recommendations The key strategies of the recommendations are proper patient-to-nurse ratio staffing, proper shift managements, and proper overtime management. The importance of these aspects of nursing is that they are the backbone of proper nursing environment. On proper nurse-to-patient ratio, the problem was that nurses in many hospitals were overwhelmed by the work they had to do. In some cases, one nurse had to tend to over sixty patients. This is a dangerous situation because nurses who are overwhelmed by their work get fatigued and, as a result, produce poor quality results (Kenner & Finkelman, 2012). On proper shift management, the problem identified was that nurses had to do very long shifts and in most cases worked on the same working quadrant for a long time. The long shifts made the nurses fatigued and demoralized them. The notion of working in the same quadrant over a long period of time made their work seem repetitive. Repetitive work makes the nurses numb to developments in the workplace. These developments are such as patient condition deterioration or any routine procedures that may need to be changed. My recommendation at this point is that the nurses should work shifts of less than eight hours and that the hospitals should do frequent rotation of the nurses in the wards (Kenner & Finkelman, 2012). On overtime management, the problem identified was that nurses did much overtime work. Daytime nurses tended to stretch their shifts into the night and vice versa. Other nurses took weekend jobs. The problem with overtime work is that it exhausts the nurses and confuses the doctors who will have already changed shifts. My recommendation is that nurses should be allowed as little overtime work as possible due to the nature of their work. Their work is sensitive and demands a lot of keenness (Kenner & Finkelman, 2012). Analysis of Empirical Evidence Empirical evidence showed that nurses who worked for long shifts had alarmingly poor results with many nursing related conditions attributed to them. Generally, nurses who worked long shifts complained of loss of concentration in work and stress. Doctors who worked with nurses, who worked long shifts, complained of laxity among those nurses and reduction in the quality of the nurses’ work. The case was worse among nurses who were registered and their unregistered assistants. In such cases, there was a breakdown in communication. Registered nurses who worked extremely long shifts neglected details when giving orders to their unregistered assistants. Unregistered nurses, on the other hand, neglected monitoring patient details and, hence, reported inaccurate results to their registered bosses (Barker, 2009). Nurses who worked overtime also posted worrying results. One problem that was identified among nurses who worked overtime frequently was stress. These nurses were linked to excessive alcohol consumption. Their overtime work exposed them to danger. 40% of nursing accidents were attributed to nurses who had worked overtime frequently over a long period of time. In addition to exposing themselves to danger, these nurses also exposed the patients to danger as a result of their fatigue and negligence caused by reduced sensitivity. This reduced sensitivity which is attributed to working long hours. Moreover, time management in shifts and repetitive working shifts also caused quite a number of poor results among the nurses. Nurses who worked at the same place over a long period of time reported boredom in their work. Their interest in the work was reduced and so did their interest in patients. Sadly, but this problem is not a matter the nurses can control, they admitted. This disinterest in work cause delayed progress in about 34% of their patients (Barker, 2009). Lastly, nurses who attended to more than fifteen patients per day reported poor results as compared to nurses who handled only ten patients per day. Nurses who attended to more than twenty patients complained of being overwhelmed. The large number of patients required haste in their working. Cases of negligent treatment were high among such nurses. In addition, these nurses claimed they got stressed and disliked their work as a result of anxiety caused by unpredictability of their workplace when they worked with more patients than they could handle (Barker, 2009). These cases support the need for a policy to control the workplace conditions of nurses. The approach of reducing the length of shifts and overtime hours will serve as motivators for the nurses. Rotating their shifts will make their work more exciting since the change in workplace will involve the nurses meeting new challenges will keep them interested in their works. It is important to reduce the number of patients one nurse attends to in a day in order to improve the quality of treatments administered to the patients. (Bensley & Brookins-Fisher, 2008). The government can follow up progress made by the recommendations through patient condition surveys and carrying out interviews among nurses in various hospitals which will implement the strategy if included in upcoming policies (Barker, 2009). Significance of Legislative Visit The importance of the legislative visit is to make the government aware of solutions to staffing problems from an academic perspective. These recommendations are the result of extensive research and commitment to the improvement of nursing in the country. The recommendations will serve to motivate the workers of the nursing industry and from this inspiration significant improvements are guaranteed in the health sector. The gist of the recommendations is that by improving the workers’ workplace conditions, many problems that the government has marked in the health sector will be eliminated. For example, if the shift hours of nurses who work in a ward for diabetics are shortened, the nurses will monitor their patients with the amount of keenness required. Diabetes is a condition which requires attentive nursing. The visit, if successful, will yield better results in wards such as the diabetes ward mentioned above (Kenner & Finkelman, 2012). Conclusion The government can handle the staffing issue through academic solutions. The policy makers should note that the legislative visit is a means to help them understand the report and ask any question that concerns the nursing sector in relation to the report. I sincerely hope that the legislative visit will bear fruit. Summary The staffing issue has three main concerns: nurse-to-patient ratio, overtime management and shift management. Nurse-to-patient ratio is about nurses who attend to more patients than they can handle in a day. The strategy of eliminating this predicament is to augment the number of nurses and lessen the number of patients each has to attend to. Overtime management concerns how nurses produce poor results when they work overtime. The strategy of eliminating problems associated with this issue is to discourage nurses from taking overtime work frequently. Lastly, the concern of shift management is on long shift hours and repetitive shifts. The method of eliminating problems associated with shift management is to reduce shift hours and to rotate nurses in their work places from time to time. All these issues have been tackled from an academic perspective. The purpose of the legislative visit is to acquaint policy makers with the academic recommendations. References Barker, A. M. (2009). Advanced Practice Nursing: Essential Knowledge for the Proffesion. New York: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Bensley, R. J., & Brookins-Fisher, J. (2008). Community Health Education Methods: A Practical Guide. New York: Jones and Bartlett Learning. Kenner, C., & Finkelman, A. (2012). Proffessional Nursing Concepts: Competencies for Quality Leadership. New York: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Read More