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Nursing Care Issues Paper

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One the most important issues facing nursing these days is the changing healthcare insurance industry. I saw how these changes affected staff firsthand. I worked at Quincy Medical Center for three years until it closed in December of 2014. The Affordable Care Act led to cuts to Medicaid supplemental payments for the uninsured and has forced many hospitals to reduce staff or close like Quincy Medical Center. This is a concern for nurses because under current federal regulations there are no specific requirements for nurse to patient ratios. Multiple research studies demonstrate that lower nurse-patient ratios save both lives and money long term. For example, hospitals that routinely staff with 1-to-8 nurse-to-patient ratios experience five additional deaths per 1,000 patients than those staffing with 1-to-4 ratios, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. Higher nurse to patient traditions lead to higher burnout …show more content…

When the hospitals and other health care facilities were adequately staffed with nurses, the facilities saved more money. When nurses are out for 7 to 8 days from work related injuries, temporary nurse from agencies would come in to fill their spot. This process cost the health care facilities even more money, because temporary nurse agencies are paid more than regular staff nurses. Also when nurses are required to work overtime to cover shifts, nurses reported feeling burned out from work related stress. Nurses working overtime, also reported feeling depressed and stressed from the demand placed on their jobs. As a result of this demand, nurses often would leave their place of employment after a year. This resulted in high overturn rates of nurses. Facilities would then spend more money on new hires and temporary nurses. When ratio of nurse to patient is low facilities spend more on covering for nurses out on leave and patient care

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