Ethical Nursing Practices

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the problems related to inappropriate nurse-patient ratios and provide suggestions that may improve the problem. The American Nurses Association advocates for proper number of nursing staff for delivery of quality patient care. However, hospitals are faced with problems related to decreasing staff levels. The Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2015 provides for patient protection by establishing safe staffing levels. This bill requires the staff nurse to be actively involved on committees and in the development of unit-based staffing plans. The formation of the Protest of Assignment allows nurses to advocate for change to ensure proper patient care. Nurse recruitment is another challenge that is

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.

After working under these horrendous conditions, including lack of sleep, lack of electricity to keep the newest technology machines working, shut-down elevators and air conditioning, and an unsanitary working environment, the remaining staff members at Memorial did what they could. The reason and quantity of the medications that were found in patients’ bodies were unquestionably incorrect with the justification by Dr. Pou that she was simply trying to reduce their physical suffering and relieve their anxiety. In this case, Dr. Pou’s situation was considered malpractice, because people argued that there were other ways to help these patients. Rodney Scott, one of the last patients to leave the hospital stated, “How can you say euthanasia is better than evacuation?..If they had vital signs, then get ‘em out. Let God make that decision,” (Fink, 28). It is anticipated that nurses will experience challenging working conditions, including an environment of fear, and too much responsibilities or things to focus on. To prevent faster burnout and secondary trauma, nurses will need sufficient rest periods, emotional support especially from the hospital facilities and

The purpose of this article is to discuss appropriate nurse staffing and staffing ratios and its impact on patient care. Although the issue is just not about numbers as we discuss staffing we begin to see how complex the issue has become over the years. Many factors can affect appropriate nurse staffing ratios. As we investigate nurse staffing ratios we can see the importance of finding the right mix and number of nurses to provide quality care for patients.

Nurse-to-patient ratios is not a new topic of debate for all of us who deliver care to patients every day. Only lately it has been a big issue that have caught the attention of many. Demands by the medical community for changes concerning staffing, asking for the government interventions in minimum staffing laws. Registered nurses have long acknowledged and continue to emphasize that staffing issues are an ongoing concern, one that influences the safety of both the patient and the nurse. (ANA, 2015) .nowadays hospitals are running for profit and the emphasis is not put on job burnout, stress, and endangerment of patients. Nursing shortages is a very pertinent problem, it will be optimum to have laws in place to help with the issue, however meanwhile leadership and management methods to the matter can help to mend the nursing situation and avoid many of the damaging effects of unfitting nurse-to-patient ratios.

With a shortage of nurses, the care and safety of patients may become compromised. The nurses themselves may be having feelings of dissatisfaction, overwhelm and distress. Nurses who may become overwhelmed with the high number of patients may become frustrated and burnt out. And inadequate staff of nurses may lead to a negative impact on the patient’s outcome. The quality of care the patients may receive in facilities with low staffing may be poor.

There was additional backup staff present (including a respiratory therapist) that could have been called upon for help, yet they never were. The charge nurse or nurse supervisor could have stepped in at this point to provide additional help. A lack of present nursing staff and support can lead to unfavorable patient outcomes, as is the case with Mr. B. Additionally, the staff on duty could have lacked training regarding protocols or their training could have been out of date.

The nurse unable to convince a physician of a patient’s failing health status, can result in harm to the patient. Nurses’ and physicians’ have different styles of communication and gender differences that play a primary role in this constraint (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014). Another constraint would be nursing management’s lack of support for a staff member. The nursing supervisor could have assessed Mrs. Kelly with Joanna and suggested a more detailed assessment, and possibly contacting the house physician. She herself could have called the resident and insisted that he come evaluate Mrs. Kelly’s condition or contacted the house physician. Institutional constraints that may apply here is the hospital’s lack of shared decision making processes that promote and support the nurse as the patient’s advocate. Also, Management that does not support a culture of

Significance: Because nursing is the largest health care profession and nurses provide most of the patient care, and as an acute nurse, I can relate to how unsafe nurse staffing/low nurse-to-patient ratios can have negative impact on patient satisfaction and outcome, can lead to medical and/or medication errors and nurse burnout. It can also bring about anxiety and frustration, which can also clouds the nurses’ critical thinking. Most patients might not know the work load on a particular nurse and can assume that her nurse is just not efficient. Doctors also can become very impatient with their nurses because orders are not being followed through that can delay treatments to their patients. There is also delays in attending to call lights resulting in very unhappy patients who needed help.

The research article was written by MacPhee, Dahinten, and Havaei (2017) shared their aim of study which was to understand the effect of the unit. The job and task-level workload factors on three adverse patient outcomes (medication errors, urinary tract infections, and patient falls) and two nurse outcomes (emotional exhaustion and job dissatisfaction). These higher workloads to show adverse outcomes due to staffing ratios.

Nurse-Patient staffing ratios have created debate among health care professionals for years. Who determines where, when and how many patients a nurse can handle on any given shift? Who determines the acuity of the patients handled by the nurse? Does the floor nurse have a say in what she or he can feasibly handle during their shift? At what point does patient care begin to suffer? These questions and many others have led to federal and state legislation coming to light to better serve the care of a patient. “The varied agendas and the inability of nurses, hospital administrators, and financial experts to communicate toward a single purpose, as well as the complexity of meeting staffing needs, have moved the issue into the political arena (Hertel, 2012, p. 1)”. Several states have already instituted mandatory nurse-patient ratios. While you can debate for or against political involvement, I will look at many factors regarding care and safety of patients.

The three professional considerations that pertain to this case are similar to the ethical considerations. It was unprofessional for the nurses to call off, leave patients un-attended, and also breaking the patient legal duty to provide proper service to patients. According to (makely), “enhancing professionalism has become a major challenge for healthcare educators, employers, and personnel” (2009).

The first legal consideration in this case is related to corporate liability. The hospital itself is negligent under this doctrine. Corporate negligence is the failure to provide the equipment, facilities, and staff to carry out the duties of the corporation in accordance with the established standard of conduct (Showalter, 2007). Corporate negligence is evident in this case in regard to the failure to ensure that sufficient healthcare personnel were available to provide the established standard of care to the patients in the facility. Moreover, the personnel that were required to remain at the hospital from the day shift were likely

Relaxation is a necessity in life. The way someone chooses to relax is up to that person. Some people run, some people exercise, some people read a book. Being in a hospital setting can be stressful and some outlets were not possible. A mediation room gives the nurses an outlet.

As a result, the nurses had to leave behind some sick individuals. Since nurses have an ethical obligation to remain committed to their patients no matter the circumstances, the situation facing the nurses in this incidence presented a