Nurse Ratio

Nurses have been successful advocates for improvement of the individuals, communities and indeed Nations. However much more work needs to be done to reduce health disparities, improvement of quality and safety in the health system. As well as improve access to care and formulate policies in organization that focus on the need of patients. In my opinion, nurses sometimes believe in a common mistake that nurses lack the power to be effective in the legislative arena. However, I just want to emphasize that nurses are the largest group of health care providers, and we can generate enough power to successfully reform the health care system based on numbers

Benefits of change to the institution 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.

, 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

A3a. Staffing Pattern Providing the best care to each patient starts with providing the proper amount of staff members to each unit. Looking at the needs of different units not only allows administration to see areas for improvement, but also areas that are being handled correctly. Utilizing the indicators provided by The Joint Commission, 4 East, a pediatric medical/surgical floor, has a high rate of falls and nosocomial pressure ulcers that appears to be related to the increase overtime nurses have been working for that floor (Nightingale, 2010). Research has shown increases in adverse events have been related to nurses working over 40 hours a week (Bae, 2012).

Staffing Ratios in Private and Non-Profit Hospitals Janie L. Kiester Lake Michigan College 4/12/2016 Types of staffing ratios Mandatory staffing ratios have been suggested as a way to meet nursing staffs’ concerns of high nurse to patient ratios. Mandatory staffing ratios are used as a way to reduce workload and patient mortality and are aimed at addressing the perceived imbalance between patient needs and nursing resources. (American Nursing Association, 2014). However, issues have been raised on applicability of staffing ratios since it could lead to increased costs without the guarantee of improvement in the quality of health care and could also lead to unintended consequences including unit closures, limited infrastructural development and limited access by patients (American Nursing Association, 2014).

When was the last time you were in the hospital or a loved one was in the hospital, and ever wondered where the nurse is, and they haven 't returned for hours. You finally push the assistance button several times, and they open the door and hurriedly say, “I will be right back”, then you don 't see them for a while again. When they come back to check up on you, you explain to them what you need, and then they send in a less qualified staff member to assist you. At this point, you become very annoyed and frustrated not to mention scared to be admitted in the hospital to begin with. Little do you know, your nurse has ten other patients and other non-nursing tasks that they are responsible taking care of. They have been working a double shift and are extremely exhausted, and a large stack of charts that they will have to do before their shift is over. As a patient, you now become frustrated and are not happy about this; as a nurse, they are just as frustrated as you are, not only because the amount of work they have but more importantly they can 't deliver the appropriate care they long to give. For most hospitals they do not hire enough registered nurses for reasons that are good and bad. This is an issue that needs to be addressed not only locally but nationally and on a constant basis. When there are too many patients for one registered nurse to attend to, nurses become exhausted, mistakes are made, and patients are unsatisfied. A minimum nurse to patient ratio needs to be

As one might predict from the articles reviewed not one eluded that the bedside nurse disagreed with an improved RN to patient ratio. At this point you may be reading this saying; so hospitals need more nurses, why don’t they hire them. The answer is hospitals do, but because of the growing number of patients in the hospitals, nurse burnout, and nurses moving from one department to another or quitting all together, there is a nursing shortage. The problem becomes how hospitals can retain nurses when there are so many opportunities elsewhere. The upper nursing management, often known as the VP of nursing, collaborate with the accountants and CEO’s of the hospitals and have pressure to save money

The economic impact on healthcare has taken its toll on the number of registered nurses providing bedside care to patients, compromising patient safety and dramatically increasing the potential for negative outcomes. Several factors have immensely contributed to the nursing shortages over the years, including healthcare organizations downsizing, increased workloads, inadequate staffing plans and job dissatisfaction. Mandated nurse-to-patient staffing ratios have been implemented in several states to date with many more trying to pass some type of legislation. Have these ratios affected the quality of care or is it more realistic to create staffing committees that are based on each unit’s unique situation and varying requirements?

Duffin (2012) stated, “The California Nursing Association argues that this [mandated nurse-to-patient ratios] reduces mortality levels and allows nurses to spend more time with patients” (p.7). Duffin also quoted the co-president of the California Nursing Association, who said “A study from the University of Pennsylvania which concluded that New Jersey hospitals would have 14 percent fewer deaths if they matched California’s surgical unit ratios” (p.7). Increased nurse-to-patient ratios have been shown to decrease the infection risks in facilities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2004) stated, “They have identified a link between improved nurse to patient ratios and lower hospital outbreaks of bloodstream infections”(p 1). Mandated staffing ratios have shown to have many positives but they are not without flaws.

Managers A manager should make sure that the resources that are provided to the staff are useful, effective, and helpful. The manager should ensure that they have the adequate amount of resources and tools in order to complete there work and job. When it comes to the issue of nurse staffing ratios, the manager has the responsibility of making sure that the unit is staffed to meet the demands of the patients and there level of care, or acuity (GCU, 2011). Utilizing there skills in leadership, quality care, people and communication can all be of benefit. Leadership skills, such as leading by example, are necessary for nurse managers. Quality care skills can be beneficial to gather the necessary data and provide adequate staffing to promote and improve overall performance. People skills are used to interview new employees and hopefully increase staffing

The Impact of Nurse Staffing on Patient Outcomes Kelly Adams McCann Drexel University The Impact of Nurse Staffing on Patient Outcomes When my daughter was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) 11 years ago, I was I was blissfully ignorant of patient-to-nurse ratios and budget constraints. I had confidence in the competence of

Nurse Patient Ratio and Patient Outcomes 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

Been working at the same facility for 22 years. Started working in CT-ICU (cardio thoracic intensive care), in 1993. The ratio was 1:2 or 1:1 if patient was just out of the operating room. Now the ratio is 2:1 or 3:1, in really acute cases 1:1. For the past 7 years been in a surgical ICU (SICU). The turnover rate is high. Which means that we are working 3:1 ratio. There has been a section of the unit for step down patients, with a 4:1 ratio. The acuity is high and we have a fair amount of new nurses. Presently we have 4 nurses that aren’t off probation. With the shortage of nurses, the facility has instituted to cross train nurses to the recovery room and CT-ICU, along with floating to other units. This band aid causes more duress

I agree with your post. we are facing this biggest concern shortage of nursing in our hospital every day and I think this is happening because of lack of financial resources. As we struggle to improve the shortage of nurses,

Background on Nurse Staffing Nurse staffing and how it relates to the quality of patient care has been an important issue in the field of nursing for quite some time. This topic has been particularly popular recently due to the fact that there is an increasing age among those who make