Healthcare Staffing Issues

Over the last decades both public and private hospitals have been experiencing severe financial situations (Everhart, Neff, Al-Amin, Nogle, & Weech-Maldonado, 2013). The financial shortage is associated with delay or even lack of governmental sponsorship and competition from their rivals. Enacting the policy will mount financial pressure on these hospitals that are on cost-cutting strategies. The salaries and wages of nurses are dominating the costs of operation in the hospitals and therefore adding more staff to correct the understaffing will be like creating another problem (Goddard, 2003). Contrary, Empirical studies prove that adequate nurse staffing produces better outcomes for both the staffs and the patients (Donaldson & Shapiro, 2010). These do not mean that the financial performance of the health centers will be at stake. Quality is associated with profitability. Understaffing leads to increased workloads, fatigue and job dissatisfaction. These situations that can be corrected on the implementation of proper staffing policies (Everhart, Neff, Al-Amin, Nogle, & Weech-Maldonado, 2013). The policy aims at offering quality service, reasonable patient-doctor ratios, reducing high mortality rates, improving the health of patients through proper examination and disease diagnosis among other

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).

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.

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.

The most challenging area Mrs. Dukes faces is staffing. For a well- developed health care system, sufficient, highly motivated and skillful employees are essential components (Saleem, 2015). It is important that we remember people are the most important and valuable asset of an organization. Every position is an important position and it takes skillful and effective people to fill those spots. “Staffing is the managerial function concerned with the procurement and maintenance of human resources” (Dunn, 2010). Having the right staff members is key in running an organization. If you hire individuals who are

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.

I could not agree with you more. I also believe that Mrs. Wallace is not receiving the care that is warranted. People trust health care personnel to do what is right, and to assist in the recovery process. In this day and time, more and more cuts are being made in the health care field. I actually wrote about this same subject in my journal this week. The employees are expected to do more with less, and the care is suffering. I don’t believe that administration wants the care to suffer, but their hands are tied as well. A facility cannot remain open if the bills are not being paid, but at the same time, the staff will not idly stand by and allow patients to suffer harm because of the staffing constraints. It is becoming a no-win situation for all of those involved. I am

al., 2011). Additionally, costs for replacing one RN are estimated at 1-3 times the annual salary

Nurse staffing have an effect on a variety of areas within nursing. Quality of care is usually affected. Hospitals with low staffing tend to have higher incidence of poor patient outcomes. Martin, (2015) wrote an article on how insufficient nursing staff increases workload and job dissatisfaction, which in effect decreases total patient care over all. When nurse staffing is inadequate, the ability to practice ethically becomes questionable. Time worked, overtime, and total hours per week have significant effect on errors. When nurses works long hours, the more likely errors will be made. He also argued that inadequate staffing not only affects their patients but also their loved ones, future and current nursing staff, and the hospitals in which they are employed. An unrealistic workload may result in chronic fatigue, poor sleep patterns, and absenteeism thus affecting the patients they take care of.

Staffing models play a significant part in the deliverance of care in a health system as it allows systems to put forth adequate staffing to provide a high level of care. The quality of care providers deliver is influenced by individual provider characteristics such as knowledge and experience, as well as human factors such as fatigue. The quality of care is also influenced by the health care organization or system, which involve not only staffing levels, but also patient need, the availability and organization of other staff and support services, and the climate and culture created by leaders in that setting. The same nurse may provide care of differing quality to patients with similar needs under variable staffing conditions and in different work environments. According to The National Center for Biotechnology Information, staffing and patient care quality and safety are directly related. Figure 1 generically illustrates staffing model framework and

Issues such as staffing levels affect nursing sensitive outcomes negatively by causing increases in medical errors, patient infections, increased mortality, increased injuries to the patient and staff, and cause longer hospital stays. The positive side of staffing levels occurs when staffing is at an optimal level. This allows nurses to give better patient centered care, increases opportunities to educate the patient, and advocate for the patient more. In essence, staffing levels can ultimately affect patient safety outcomes and quality of care.

This highly studied issue is one of great importance. A majority of the studies conducted on this topic, including the ones mentioned above, have concluded with the same grim results: understaffed hospitals result in needless patient deaths. Chapter twenty-five in the Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses provides a substantial overview of the studies that have been carried out on this topic; it reiterates the concepts of the studies, and strengthens their findings: high patient to nurse ratios result in heavier workloads, decreased job satisfaction and patient danger. Conversely, this chapter also maintains

Finally, when you have charges nurses fully staffed with the maximum amount of patients this can cause burnout and potentially scare other nurses from wanting to take on this role due to the amount of stress and exhaustion that

Crystal Martin (2015) states that studies have proven low staffing and adverse effects are directly related. Hospitals with low staffing tend to have higher incidences of poor patient

There are many issues affecting the healthcare sector in this day and age. Some of these issues include the cost of healthcare and the rise of it, the quality or efficiency of healthcare, or the shortage of physicians. All of these issues directly affect patient care and can be avoided with proper standards and practice. However, in 2015, there is no other issue directly affecting patients, in terms of patient privacy and willingness to come back to a certain entity, more than identity theft.