Safe Staffing - Assignment Example

Safe Staffing (Practicum) al Affiliation Safe Staffing (Practicum) The issue of nurse-patient ratio has become an important concern as nursing practice changes along with the needs of the healthcare sector in the U.S. Evidence has shown that the nurse-patient ratio must be balanced for nurses to be able to provide an effective care to patients and improve patient outcomes in different environments and institutions of healthcare. However, an appropriate nurse-patient ratio has not been achieved for a long time in the country and has negatively affected the work output of nurses. Along these lines, nurse-staffing needs have also been affected. Most importantly, the issue of safe nurse staffing has become an important aspect in the nursing profession as an issue that helps nurses to achieve effectiveness in their work output. Nurse staff perceptions of need in the area of safer staffing have indicated that safe nursing staff needs have not yet been addressed, yet it is an important aspect in the nursing profession. Massive reductions in nursing budgets and the challenges that come from an ever growing problem of nursing shortage have led to a situation where there are a few nurses working for longer hours and caring for many patients at the same time (Douglas, 2010). This has compromised the quality of care and contributed to the shortage of nurses because the environment they work in is unfriendly and does not support professional growth (Arling & Mueller, 2014). The perceptions of nurses are that there is a strong linkage and consistency in nursing staffing levels and patient outcomes (Duffin, 2014). Evidence has shown that improved RN-to-patient ratios enables nurses to care for the patients better because nurses get adequate time to spend with a patient, understand their needs and offer them assistance that they require. It also form close links with patients that helps them develop confidence that they can be free to share personal information, which can help nurses to provide better care to them. This helps in ensuring that patients get better outcomes from the professional services of the nurses (Tellez & Seago, 2013). The perceptions of nurses towards safe staffing is that a staff mix that takes into account the educational preparation, experience and professional requirements must be given priority as an aspect that will help in addressing nursing shortage and the poor nurse workout put that comes with being overworked. Safe staffing enables nurses to have room to work together, take advice from colleagues and reflect on their own performance in their work output. However, this cannot happen when nurses feel that they are not safe in their places of work (Frost & Alexandrou, 2013). Safe staffing according to nurses is not just about improving the needs of the patients and improving their outcomes while in healthcare settings. It also features an aspect of ensuring that nurses feel safe in the environment where they work. Safe staffing should provide an environment where nurses can work without injuring themselves or feel exhausted to the extent that they cannot provide adequate care to the patients (Tierney, Seymour-Route, Crawford, 2013). The environment in safe staffing requirements ensures that all nurses feel motivated to work hard and not being forced to work hard because of the circumstances that the work place exposes them to. These aspects must be assured in the environment where nurses work. Therefore, safe staffing needs encompasses the needs of the nurses first for them to be in a position to provide effective care services for patients (Rogowski, Staiger, Patrick, Horbar, Kenny & Lake, 2013). The perception of nurses with regard to safe staffing needs is that healthcare institutions have not achieved these needs because they focus much on issues of meeting the minimum safe staffing limits instead of focusing on the conditions and needs of the nurses. The healthcare today has become patient focused because of the challenges that are increasing in the healthcare sector. Despite the fact that a patient-focused healthcare is good, it has ignored the needs of nurses who are the key persons who contribute to the well-being of patients in a major way. This means that nurses should receive as much attention as patients to enable them provide the patients with the care that they require. Healthcare institutions should do this by providing adequate support for nurses so that they can adequately respond to the needs of the patients. Nurse satisfaction directly links with the satisfaction of patients in healthcare settings (Shekelle, 2013). ANA and its Constituent & State Nurses Associations (C/SNAs) are in the process of promoting a legislation that will ensure that hospitals are responsible and accountable for the development and implementation of proper and safe nursing staffing. This will help the healthcare sector improve its services to the general population (Staggs & He, 2013). ANA proposes that healthcare institutions should come up with adjustable minimum number of RNs because the numbers of patients can rise and fall anytime and the number of RNs at a particular time should reflect these changes. It also proposes that safe staffing needs should be based on patient numbers and the intensity of the care that is required. It also proposes that healthcare institutions should consider the staffing levels that are recommended by the specialty nursing institutions because they provide a detailed and well-researched recommendation for safe nurse staffing since it is actively involved with nurses. These propositions among others by ANA are meant to ensure that nurses are put in an environment that supports their professional growth, keeps them motivated in their responsibilities and helps them provide the best care for all patients that are put under their care (Nurse staffing ratios, 2013). Evidence has also shown that safe nurse staffing needs are important because they are directly linked to issues of medication errors. Higher numbers of nurses are associated with an improved care and survival rates among patients. For example, in emergencies when patients are brought to hospitals they always need a nurse or several nurses and doctors who can attend to them immediately (Wallace, 2013). Therefore, in a care setting that has adequate nurse staff, the patients are likely to get immediate help and achieve health stability (Rajecki, 2009). However, in setting where nurses are inadequate, the patients are likely to take long before they are attended to because of the shortage of nurses. In addition, a situation like this increases the risk of further injury to the patients or even the risk of death. Research has also proven that medication errors are directly linked to issues of nurse shortage, poor working environment and lack of motivation among other issues that characterize unsafe nurse staffing (Tevington, 2011). This is because unsafe nursing staffing makes nurses ineffective because they are demotivated and are tired because of too much work or a poor working environment. It also forces them to operate in conditions that do not support their service to patients. Therefore, safe staffing needs will ultimately help in solving issues of medication errors in a major way (Frith, Anderson, Tseng & Fong, 2012). Safe staffing needs also help in nurse retention in healthcare institutions. Over the last couple of years, healthcare institutions and the healthcare industry has faced a lot of difficulty in retaining nurses in the sector because of poor working conditions, poor remuneration, overworking and general lack of motivation. This makes nurses to leave the sector in search of places where they can get a good working environment, better remuneration and motivation to work. Therefore, achieving safe nurse staffing needs will ensure that more nurses are retained in the sector and others are encouraged to join (Hertel, 2012). In conclusion, safe staffing needs are a concern for all nurses and shows that it must be ranked among the most important issues that should be addressed with regard to nurses. Safe nurse staffing needs are directly linked to patient outcomes and nurse work output. As such, all healthcare institutions and the healthcare sector should ensure that safe staffing needs are provided for nurses to make them effective in healthcare delivery. References Arling, G. & Mueller, C. (2014). Nurse staffing and quality: The unanswered question. Journal of American Medical Directors Association, 15(6), 376-378. Douglas, K. (2010). Ratios: If it were only that easy. Nursing Economics, 28(2), 119–125. Duffin, C. (2014). Increase in nurse numbers linked to better patient survival rates in ICU. Nursing Standard, 28 (33), 10. Frith, K., Anderson, E., Tseng, F., & Fong, E. (2012). Nurse staffing is an important strategy to prevent medication errors in community hospitals. Nursing Economics, 30(5), 288–294. Frost, S., & Alexandrou, A. (2013). 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