The Role And Responsibilities Of The Nurse

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

The institutions began redesigning staffing schedules and care plans for clients to accommodate the decreased need (Institute of Medicine Staff, Davis, Sloan, & Wunderlich, 1996, p. 94). Most institutions restructured trying to reduce operating costs by changing work methods and roles of the staff. Between 1981 and 1993, full-time-equivalent (FTE) nursing staff declined by more than 7 percent nationally after adjusting for client days and case-mix complexity (Aiken, Sochalski, & Anderson, 1996, pp. 88-92). These changes were done without regard to better client outcomes, thus producing the current need for change.

A shortage of nursing staff in a healthcare center is a great burden for all involved. For the nurse, it is overwhelming and even potentially dangerous to take on the grand responsibility of many patients to care for. For the patients, the burden lies in getting the care they deserve. For the hospital it is the burden of staying afloat financially and utilizing resources to the fullest. This tug-of-war between nurse, patient, and administration is key to many legal issues in healthcare. Who is responsible if any part of this relationship goes awry? What are some solutions to help mitigate the burden? Is there a “magic number” in staffing ratios? Understaffing nurses in healthcare is a gray area, with definitions that cannot be defined indefinitely. What laws are involved and the debate if it should be a legal issue at all is up for discussion. This paper will analyze and discuss the topic, elaborating complications and implications this issue has in nursing.

One of the major functions of a nurse manager is managing a budget and allocating resources necessary to manage the unit or facility effectively. “Major steps in the budgeting process include gathering information and planning, developing unit budgets, developing cash budgets, negotiating and revising, and using feedback to control budget results and improve future plans”(Yoder-Wise, 2012, p. 244). The nurse manager must be able to accommodate variances and acclimate the budget in both the projections and up-to-date expenditures. Proficiency in managing a unit level budget is essential for both a favorable variance and optimal patient outcomes. Budgeting entails reviewing revenues and expenses, staffing costs, supplies, and capital equipment costs (Contino, 2001). This case study examines personnel, overtime (OT), supplies, travel, equipment, and staff education and the manner in which management can address these factors.

This assignment will explore and critically evaluate the role of the registered nurse in the development of a plan of care that is patient centred. This will involve examining and critically analysing the chosen nursing model in a holistic assessment of the patient and the use of the nursing framework ASPIRE (Barrett, Wilson and Wollands, 2012).

Preparing our nurses to assist in changing our healthcare system is a crucial step to provide more efficient, affordable and accessible care to all patients. Nursing is one of the fastest growing careers in the healthcare field, by utilizing the opportunities to improve education, undertaking leadership positions, and providing patient centered healthcare the undertaking of changing the healthcare system will be a positive change. Redefining the role and responsibilities of the nurse towards primary patient care in this remodeling process is crucial in implementing an effective and efficient health care system.

The number of patients in the hospital keeps increasing each day, which alert for the need of more hands in the nursing field. The hospital reimbursement is shrinking, making hospitals to impact the nursing services by not recruiting staff and manage the ones available. Kleinman et al, (2010) talks about the health care status in the United States and how to respond to demands of cost containment is affecting the section.. The working nurses are not enough for the job and thus making, delegation of duties a challenge and more

It takes a lot to let go of what is known, familiar and comfortable. Letting go of the LPN role and transitioning into an RN role is difficult for many. Nurses have a vast amount of opportunity for growth and change in the healthcare field. Many LPNs are choosing to expand their careers and obtain their RN license. While the Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) performs a lot of the same skills, the student nurse must improve his or her skills in clinical judgment, collaboration, leadership, and delegation to effectively care for their patients as a professional nurse. There are many comparisons and differences to the role of a Registered Nurse (RN) to an LPN and can vary by their experience. However, there are differences in pay, education,

Nurses play important role in the financial performance of their organizations since they have direct patient contact. The financial cost attributed to an organization for losing a single nurse is estimated to be equivalent to twice the annual salary of the nurse. To put it in monetary terms, the average hospital is estimated to lose about $300,000 per year for each percentage increase in annual nurse turnover (Hunt, 2009). Losing these nurses not only affects the finances of the healthcare organizations, but also the excellence of care provided to patients’. Nursing turnover decreases the patient care quality by increasing the length of stay at hospitals and increased incidence of illnesses acquired at hospitals. In situations like these, some healthcare organizations have reported having to turn away patient to other healthcare facilities due to lack of available staff (Hunt, 2009).

The roles of a Registered Nurse, a Licensed Practical Nurse, and a Certified Nurse’s Assistant are the same in many ways when it comes to patient care, but there are many differences in the type of care they can provide. I will be discussing these differences throughout my paper as I describe each role and their limitations.

The financial cost of losing a single nurse has been calculated as equal to double the annual salary of a single nurse. Various studies reveal that each hospital in America is losing almost $300, 000 per year because of nurse turn-over. Nurse turn-over can negatively impact the health care system in many ways such as poor quality of patient care, increased medication error, hospital acquired infection, prolonged patient stay at hospital, and increased staffing cost. Many factors contribute to nurse turn-over such as workload, absence of career opportunities, poor work recognition, and lack of communication with management about issues (Hunt, 2009).

The delivery of healthcare has evolved and changed over the years and with the advances in science and technology, the ability to provide safe, quality care to all patients has been impacted by the changes. With the rising healthcare costs and decrease in reimbursement for care provided, organizations must look for ways of cost containment to maintain viability for the future. Fabre (2005) noted that administrators are struggling to maintain financial stability and retain competent nurses during these difficult

The role that nurse practitioner (NP) plays within the increasing complex health care system is a constant changing role with the Consensus Model and the introduction of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. The scope of the nurse practitioner (NP) includes the care of the young, the old, the sick and the well. The educational needs of a nurse practitioner vary greatly from that of a Registered Nurse (RN), in the amount of education as well as the focus of the education. NPs provide coordinated primary care with the use of comprehensive health histories and physical examinations, diagnosing and treating acute and chronic illnesses, the management of medications and therapies, ordering and interpreting tests results, and educating and

Nurses are learning to balance cost effectiveness without compromising the quality of care. Shamian and Ellen explains (2016) “nursing is a humanizing factor in a health care system increasingly focused on cost” (p. 100). Nurse leaders are usually more finance conscience than the clinical nurses. The nursing administrator or directors must balance the budget or justify overages. Therefore, it is important that the nurse leaders educate the direct care staff on how considering reimbursement of cost. The collective cost of routine clinical stock items adds up quickly; for example, individually billing medical supplies when used to deliver care to a patient such as a catheter insertion kit.

The healthcare profession is a rewarding though equally challenging career. The challenges often persist due to the absence of universal legislations addressing significant issues in the profession. One of these problems is the understaffing of nursing professionals. Inadequate staffing often leads to increased job loads on the few existing employees, thus perpetuating the likelihood of decreased quality in patient care, possibly resulting in unfavorable patient outcomes. The best approach to solving such a problem is the adaptation of legislations, which would effectively authorize fixed nurse-to-patient ratios to ensure adequate staffing. In addition, private health care institutions must also ensure that they employ enough health practitioners, especially nurses to help address the concerns of understaffing.