Therapeutic Staffing

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?

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.

The purpose of this article is to discuss appropriate nurse staffing and staffing ratios and its impact on patient care. Although the issue is just not about numbers as we discuss staffing we begin to see how complex the issue has become over the years. Many factors can affect appropriate nurse staffing ratios. As we investigate nurse staffing ratios we can see the importance of finding the right mix and number of nurses to provide quality care for patients.

I work at the veterans’ affair hospitals in Houston and in November 2011, Veteran Health Administration (VHA) committed to developing an outpatient mental health staffing model which comprised an interdisciplinary care team to ensure adequate general outpatient mental health care .

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).

Determining nurse-to-patient ratios in nursing facilities remains a challenge for the nursing profession. Two main staffing methods that are currently used in most nursing facilities are staffing by patient acuity using patient classification systems and staffing by mandated nurse-to-patient rations. Each method has an impact on patient outcomes, safety and overall satisfaction determined from different articles and studies done on each staffing method. There are pros and cons to each staffing methods. Nursing facilities look at many of these pros and cons when determining staffing methods that are used, cost, patient outcomes, nursing satisfaction and

Self-care, by definition, is to take care of oneself without professional supervision (Self-care, n.d.). It is imperative for both seasoned as well as upcoming counselors to understand this term and how it should be applied in the field of Clinical Mental Health Counseling. In order for the counselor to benefit from this knowledge he or she must understand several aspects related to self-care strategies. To name a few are as follows; successful adherence to a self-care plan, personal development theory as it relates to supervision or mentoring, and understanding the qualities that lead to a therapeutic self.

It has been brought to the attention of our new Recreational Therapist staff at this facility, that there are not enough programs or accessible information pertaining to leisure resources for our current consumers who are being discharged from the facility. The specific issue we would like to address are solutions for our clients who struggle with PTSD. As an RT our job is to develop a treatment plan/service designed to restore, remediate, recreate, and rehabilitate an individual’s functional abilities and independence. To promote health and wellness as well as reduce or eliminate the barriers to participation in activities and life situations are the major goals as RTs to decrease consumer dependency. As a Recreational Therapist, providing clients with leisure- education is important so patients can be knowledgeable of what resources are available to them (Carter, M., & Van Andel, G. (2011). Without proper local environmental, leisure

The evidence found, was focused on issues with staffing ratios and the adverse effects on patient outcomes. The research data was obtained by observational studies or cohort studies, cross-sectional studies, mixed method studies that

The recommendation is to staff the appropriate number of members according to the standard patient/nursing ratios that are provided for each inpatient service. For the ICU/CCU there needs to be 2,373 members of staff, for the maternity and pediatrics services there needs to be 1,942 members, medical surgical unit one needs 2,802 members, unit two needs 2,817 members, unit three needs 2,170 and the final unit needs 1,987 members.

Human service professionals continue to use soft skills to help interact and effectively work with the family members. The ability to show compassion and empathy is essential as it allows the therapist to understand how the family is feeling even though they may not have had similar experiences and help to change the family dynamics. Working alliance is established though the counselor conveying warmth, interest, and respect to the client (Safron & Muran, 1988 as cited in McCarthy). A therapist must also display non-verbal behaviors that relates to client sensitivities of empathy, such as eye contact, concerned, engaging, acknowledgment of understanding, tone of voice, and not interrupting.

If we know that adequate staffing levels will improve patient outcomes, how do we get there? Are mandated patient-to-nurse ratios the answer? The people of the state of California thought so in 2004, with the passage of Bill

Staffing may be expressed as the number of staff members required for providing care to a particular number of patients, or it can describe the way in which human resources are used in a particular setting (Groher-Murray & Langan, 2011, p 273). Theoretically, when sufficient structural inputs are placed, better outcomes are produced. As the nurse in charge it is important to make sure that there is sufficient and trained staff not only for safety but for legal reasons. The unit I currently work for has a staff to patient ratio of one nurse for every 12 patients, and one patient care technician to every 4 patients. If I were nurse manager I would address this issue for not only safety, but for the nurse so they do not develop work related stress or burnout. As a manager, portraying positive attitude and motivating staff will help with staffing issues. Positive feedbacks and words of encouragement help with the staffing morale.

A manager’s approach to the staffing ratio problem is by using numbers and facts. They use this information to balance and allocate budgets. However, they may not take into account how it may affect others. A manager is usually the one who will follow policies

More noteworthy effect requires more noteworthy activity and will. And additionally moving in the direction of more evenhanded arrangement, general well-being and the therapeutic workforce have basic parts to play in social and political support at all levels, driving more impartial wellbeing, and social and financial, framework and we respect the commitments on facilitating value in this