Nursing Workload In Nursing

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.

Current nurse-to-patient ratios is a topic that has constant focus on today’s patient outcomes and safety. There have be many studies and there continues to be studies done on how a higher nurse to patient ratio effects not only patient and nurse safety and patient outcomes once they leave the hospital, but also patient mortality rates as well. When a nurse has been assigned more of a patient load than they can safely handle, whether it be because of a large patient volume or patient acuity, patients suffer and the quality of care declines. With the higher ratio,

Many nurses face the issue of understaffing and having too much of a workload during one shift. When a unit is understaffed not only do the nurses get burnt out, but the patients also don’t receive the care they deserve. The nurse-patient ratio is an aspect that gets overlooked in many facilities that could lead to possible devastating errors. Nurse- patient ratio issues have been a widely studied topic and recently new changes have been made to improve the problem.

This issue is important to address because having an increased workload can have detrimental issues such as mental frustration and physical exhaustion. The conclusion of this study is that it calls for action to take place in the health care system. It is important to investigate these problems, so there can be modifications made by management to the health care systems to overall decrease the nursing shortage.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how safety in the nursing profession affects the nursing education, nursing practice, and nursing research. Safety in the nursing profession means to minimize the risk of harm to patients and providers through both system effectiveness and individual performances (QSEN, 2014). Patient safety is a very important aspect in the profession of nursing. It is the nurse’s job to keep up to date with their patients and to make sure that protocol is being followed at all times. To maintain this strategy, the nurse must show proper knowledge of a nurse, skills of a nurse, and also a professional attitude.

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.

Nurses are undoubtedly one of the most trusted professionals worldwide. Patients, family members, and doctors entrust nurses to provide the utmost quality care to sick individuals. Top priorities of all nurses are advocacy for their patients: including advocating for their physical health, holistic welfare, and utmost importantly, their safety. Patient safety will always be the top priority when providing patient care. The nurse’s responsibility during every patient encounter is to ensure that each patient under her care, receives no harm. As a direct result of the previous statement, it is crucial that every nurse knows their rights to refuse unsafe patient assignments, the process to refuse unsafe patient assignments, and the legal or ethical ramifications that could present themselves if proper judgement is not used. By understanding these rules, nurses not only achieve the responsibility of advocating for patient safety but also safeguard their careers and license.

Inconsistent nurse-patient ratios are a concern in hospitals across the nation because they limit nurse’s ability to provide safe patient care. Healthcare professionals such as nurses and physicians agree that current nurse staffing systems are inadequate and unreliable and not only affect patient health outcomes, but also create job dissatisfaction among medical staff (Avalere Health, 2015). A 2002 study led by RN and PhD Linda Aiken suggests that "forty percent of hospitals nurses have burnout levels that exceed the norms for healthcare workers" (Aiken, Clarke, Sloane, Sochalski & Silber, 2002). These data represents the constant struggle of nurses when trying to provide high quality care in a hospital setting.

Adequate nurse staffing is clearly a crucial element in safe, effective hospital care. A 2011 study by nurse researchers concluded that adding more nurses to a unit markedly improves patient outcomes and safety in hospitals (Griffith, Ball, Murrel, Jons & Rufferty,

Despite the concern for patient safety amongst healthcare leaders, the American healthcare system is experiencing major problems with patient safety and medical errors. Per the World Health Organization, “as many as 1 in 10 patients are harmed whilst receiving health care”. “Approximately 43 million safety incidences occur each year”. “Medication errors costs 42 billion US dollars annually”. The connection of nurse fatigue and its adverse events on patients is substantiated in numerous studies The AHRQ performed a study that indicated shifts longer than 12 hours were substantially associated with increased nursing errors. It further

Advocacy is one of the essential roles of the nurse and allows for nurses to use their voice to influence policies that ensure patient safety. Promoting patient safety and using whistle-blower protection are strategies the nurse can use to effectively support quality care and safe environment (Cherry & Jacob, 2017). Approximately 44,000 to 98,000 patients die in hospitals each year as a result of preventable medical errors (Cherry & Jacob, 2017). One way to support a safe and quality care to patients is by limiting interruptions during medication administration (Flynn, Evanish, Fernald, Hutchison, & Lefaiver, 2016). Additionally, incomplete handoff reports have been associated with poor patient outcomes (Kear, 2016). Kear (2016) recommends systematic tools for handoff communication such as SBAR (situation, background, assessment, & recommendation) for effective handoff reports.

Errors pervade in our lives whether it is our home, in our workplace, or in our society. The effects of healthcare errors have impacted all our lives either directly or indirectly. Patient safety and quality care are at the core of healthcare system which strongly depends upon nurses. “To achieve goals in patient safety and quality, thereby improve healthcare, nurses must assume the leadership role. Nurses need to ensure that they and other healthcare providers center healthcare on patients and their families. Even though the quality and safety of healthcare is heavily influenced by the complex nature

One of the greatest challenges in healthcare, as well as the biggest threat to patient safety, is staffing and the nurse to patient ratio on hospital floors. Studies have shown that low staffing levels lead to increased mortality rates in patients, as well as multiple other adverse effects including falls and pressure ulcers. These adverse effects are all preventable, but policies on staffing must be in place to ensure safety for staff and patients.

Nursing workload is an ongoing concern, one that influences the safety of both the patient and the nurse. Thus, attention is now focused more than ever on establishing a minimum nurse-to-patient ratio and acuity tools that evaluate nursing care requirements. S.B. 228 and H.B. 4311 will greatly impact the present and future of nursing in the United States if enacted. I believe it will help address many of the problems I see affecting nursing workload and the nursing shortage today. This legislation has a comprehensive plan that will mandate unit specific staffing-minimums, unit specific acuity tools, and will take into account situation-level workload. This legislation not only creates more reasonable workloads, it also reduces stress levels resulting in more nurses remaining in the profession and new individuals being attracted to nursing.

One of the many goals of the nursing profession is to provide high-quality, safe patient care. There are many responsibilities that come with a nursing career and when the nurse to patient ratio increases, there is a possibility that it may hinder the safe care that patients deserve, and this may result in negative patient outcomes and level of satisfaction. Staffing is one of the many issues that healthcare facilities face. In many facilities, there never seems to be enough nurses per shift to provide high quality, thorough patient care which often leads to burnt out staff, and frustrated patients and families. This review discusses the findings of quantitative studies and one systematic review that involves patient outcomes in relation to nurse staffing.