Essay on DEVELOPING A SHRED VISION

I am a Nursing Student at the University of Massachusetts Boston and a resident of Roxbury. The purpose of this memo is to propose a healthcare policy on adequate nurse staffing levels. The State of Massachusetts is highly understaffed a situation which requires immediate measures to correct this disarray (MNA, 2017). The policy will involve an audit in all the public hospitals in Massachusetts this will help determine the number of nurses needed. This policy should be implemented as it will offer a solution to the long-term problem of limited nurses in health centers to a surplus of patients. Research indicates that nurses are essential for quality healthcare for both private and public health centers. Adequate nurse staffing levels are critical

Staffing needs affect the nursing department’s budget, staff productivity, the quality of care provided to patients and even the retention of nurses (Jooste, 2013). The nurse manager has to explain to the management of the benefits of change in providing adequate staffing all the time. Adequate staffing helps staff retention. Staff retention saves a lot of money in terms of orienting new people to the unit. Safe staffing always helps in the reduction of falls, infection rates, pressure ulcers, decrease hospital stays and death. Flexible and creative scheduling is essential for retaining staff and promoting a positive work climate (Grohar-Murray & Langan, 2011). Adequate staffing with good staffing ratio will help nurses to concentrate on their patient care which may help in a reduction in medical errors and lawsuits to the hospital.

There is a shortage of all health care professions throughout the United States. One shortage in particular that society should be very concerned about is the shortage of Registered Nurses. Registered Nurses make up the single largest healthcare profession in the United States. A registered nurse is a vital healthcare professional that has earned a two or four year degree and has the upper-most responsibility in providing direct patient care and staff management in a hospital or other treatment facilities (Registered Nurse (RN) Degree and Career Overview., 2009). This shortage issue is imperative because RN's affect everyone sometime in their lifetime. Nurses serve groups, families and individuals to foster

“United States Registered Nurse Workforce Report Card and Shortage Forecast.” American Journal of Medical Quality. January 2012

Hall and Waver ( 2001) defines Interprofessional as a group of professionals from different disciplines such as nurses, doctors, pharmacist that are working and communicating with each other while providing their knowledge, skills and attributes to enhance and support the contributions of others. Suter et al (2009) also said that the ability to work in an interprofessional team to convey collaborative, patient-centered care is an important aspect of professional practice that involves a possession of a particular set of competencies, such as communication skills. In relation to (Weinstein et al., 2003) Collaboration is the collection of knowledge, skills, values and motives which transforms to effective practice when applied by practitioners.

The nursing shortage in healthcare has been a highlighted issue for many years. With the ever-growing health care system, hospitals and healthcare facilities often find themselves searching for ways to acquire new nurses and retain their very own. Throughout the years, the number one solution to this problem remains the same: decreasing nurse turnover, and increasing nurse retention. This paper discusses the causes of high nurse turnover rate, the negative effects on health care, and ways to improve the turnover rate.

In recent years, the healthcare industry has seen a significant decline in the quality of patient care it provides. This has been the result of reduced staffing levels, overworked nurses, and an extremely high nurse to patient ratio. The importance of nurse staffing in hospital settings is an issue of great controversy. Too much staff results in costs that are too great for the facility to bear, but too little staffing results in patient care that is greatly hindered. Moreover, the shaky economy has led to widespread budget cuts; this, combined with the financial pressures associated with Medicare and private insurance companies have forced facilities to make due with fewer

The current and growing shortage of nurses is posing a real threat to the ability of hospitals, long-term care facilities, and others to provide timely access to quality care. Nurse staffing shortages and nurse turn-over contributes to the growing reduction in the number of staffed patient beds available for services, increasing costs, and rising concerns about the quality of care. Health care organizations highly depend on nurse managers and leaders to reverse this trend. This paper discusses the reasons for nursing shortage and turn-over, different approaches to solve this issue, and my personal philosophy about this issue.

An article by the New York Times (2015), states, “Without nurses, the largest group of health care professionals in this country, there simply is no quality health care system.” (Nurse Staffing and Patient Safety, 2015) Many of us agree with the statement, as nurses are fundamental to the health and safety for all of us at some time in our lives. Knowing several nurses, the question was raised as to what they felt was the largest contributor to the nursing shortage.

I am looking forward to our meeting this Friday because as we discussed the transitional meeting would be very beneficial to address upcoming changes and everyone's role in our department. Thankfully we will have Patty as our MSA which would make that transition much smoother process. Therefore, I am prepared to make suggestions how to avoid double work which takes place on the everyday basis causing the complete burnout. With that in mind, my plans in this department are focused on patient education and beeing a resource to fellows in their busy training. However, that requires more time so please if you could if that is still your goal to create the position fit for a nurse.

Instability with nurse staffing is costly and not only the financial aspect of it, unstable nurse staffing and turnover can result in inadequate care, decrease productivity, and cause poor work environment, and cause additional turnover. Studies have shown that hospitals with lower nursing turnover rates have lower risk-adjusted mortality and lower lengths of stay (Minority Nurse, 2013). There are multiple recruitment initiatives that healthcare organizations can be instituted to assist in reversing the nursing shortage. External initiatives might consist of offering referral bonuses, working collaboratively with nursing schools as primary clinical site rotations, hiring new graduate nurses, establishing residency programs, targeting more males for the field, and having clinical nurses visit high schools to increase students' interest in the health care field are ways to combat the shortage of nurses.

As vice president of Human Resources for VS Lecoin 's Family Hospital I am responsible for 500 employees. I have a proposal that will address what type of staff VS Lecoin 's Family Hospital requires, what type of organizational behaviors we should include in the facility toward our staff, workforce diversity, implementing diversity, employee relations, and employee retention plans. I also want to focus on why we should not use outsourcing for this facility.

Hospitals nationwide are experiencing nurse shortage and increased workloads because of shorter hospital stays, fewer support resources and higher acuity in patients (Vahey, D. C., Aiken, L. H., Sloane, D. M., Clarke, S. P., & Vargas, D., 2004). Higher nurse workloads are directly associated with job burnout and job dissatisfaction which in turn causes more voluntary nurse turnover and relates to the increased nursing shortage. According to the Missouri Hospital Association the turnover rate of nurses has increased by fourteen percent in the last five years (Browning M., 2012). Nursing shortage is a real threat to the patient population. According to the Quality Health Outcomes Model by the American Academy of Nursing by Donabedian, effects of the healthcare interventions are characterized by the environment the staff works in (Vahey et al., 2004). Donabedian describes that quality metrics can be divided into three broad categories, structural, process, and clinical.

Inadequate staffing continues to be a clinical management issue within the nursing profession. Ineffective scheduling of qualified nurses presents various challenges to staff, patient population, and healthcare organizations. These challenges arise from extensive physiological and psychological demands placed on nurses, poor nurse-to-patient ratio, unfavorable relationships among staff, low monetary compensation, and job dissatisfaction. Without proper stress management tools, nurse burnout and withdrawal from profession eventually occurs. Clinical leaders have a responsibility to promote nurse wellbeing and retention through fair-minded and supportive behavior. Additionally, authentic clinical leaders should inspire staff members to consistently

A continuous concern that continues to present itself within the healthcare environment is adequate staffing on nursing units. Most hospital organizations try their very best to accommodate staffing needs, though many units remain understaffed for an unspecified amount of time. Inadequate staffing can negatively affect patient outcomes, lead to nurse burnout, and decrease patient satisfaction scores. Combating this issue will require a great deal of effort, as many geographical face nursing shortages when seeking new graduates and qualified candidates. Employees may begin to feel that they are unable to pursue personal goals within a healthcare organization, due to inability to transfer as a result of staffing shortages. This often results in nursing seeking employment or career advancement outside of the organization or geographical area, which further intensifies ramification associated with inadequate staffing.