Analysis of a Pertinent Healthcare Issue – Nurse Staffing Essay Analysis of Pertinent Healthcare Issues

With a rising number of people insured by government-sponsored health insurance schemes, concern has emerged regarding how to meet the nation’s healthcare demands. Although financial investments have increased, human resources have not kept pace with the growing number of patients who require healthcare services (Carthon et al., 2019). This is especially true given the growing elderly population eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. This problem has spread to healthcare facilities, including where I work. Nurse staffing is essential to patient outcomes, especially the quality of care provided to patients. Several studies have been conducted to investigate the impact of nurse staffing on patient outcomes, with the majority claiming that decreased nurse staff numbers resulted in missed care, an upsurge in nursing errors, and poor patient outcomes (Carthon et al., 2019) Analysis of a Pertinent Healthcare Issue – Nurse Staffing Essay. Similarly, inadequate nurse staffing levels lead to relatively low satisfaction and higher burnout among nurses. ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE ESSAY HERE The rising number of patients in the organization where I work has steadily put pressure on the nurses, with an increase in the frequency of floating in even more than one unit. However, handling an expanded range of patients employing short-term approaches such as floating will not be appropriate in the long run, necessitating the development of a more definite solution. Data collected in the previous year at the facility where I work revealed an increase in the instances of missed nursing care. Although some cases did not result in tragic consequences, they did represent a risk to the patient’s general well-being. The next part uses two chosen articles to illustrate the scope of the problem and show how other healthcare institutions have addressed the shortage of nurses amid the rising patient population. Summary of Studies On the Healthcare Issue The first article chosen was a study by Griffiths et al. (2018) that found an apparent connection between low nurse staffing and poor patient outcomes, such as mortality in inpatient institutions. The researcher continued by arguing that using missing care could be a more accurate way to determine if nurse staffing levels are acceptable or that it could be a valuable way to determine the causal relationship between nurse staffing levels and their effects. Low staffing numbers resulted in a high rate of missed care, which, according to the study, caused poor patient outcomes. According to the study’s findings, missing care was thought to be a reliable measure for determining nurse staffing levels in a healthcare facility. The second research was carried out by Cho et al. (2016). The article’s main goal was to establish a link between nurse staffing, the workplace, and patient outcomes. The observed elements that affected the level of job satisfaction among the nursing staff were primarily connected to the independent variables identified. According to the report, there are more instances of incorrect medicine administration, missing care, and impaired patient safety due to insufficient nurse staffing and a poor working environment Analysis of a Pertinent Healthcare Issue – Nurse Staffing Essay. Other organizations tackle nurse staffing concerns in various ways, including ensuring that there is as little employee turnover as possible within the health institution. Nurses are in high demand because of the increasing number of patients requiring their services (Boamah et al., 2018). As a result, most are eager to work for firms that will provide improved working conditions. This is when organizational leadership plays a role. Working circumstances for healthcare staff will be excellent with good leadership, resulting in high work satisfaction and minimal nurse turnover. This indicates that the number of employees will remain the same. Another strategy for dealing with nurse staffing difficulties is developing a formal staffing plan with nursing personnel. A rigid staffing structure is not appropriate in an ever-changing environment, and a more flexible employment plan will assist the hospital in dealing with unequal nurse-to-patient ratios. Strategies Used to Address the Healthcare Issue Several recommendations were made based on the research chosen to address the issue of inadequate nurse staffing ratios. One suggested method is to develop successful techniques for increasing nurse staffing and improving working conditions, which will also address the issue of nurse turnover (Cho et al., 2016). Implementing this method will benefit the business by allowing nurses to work more effectively and with less burnout, resulting in better patient outcomes. The negative effect is that the organization will most likely need to increase its labor spending, which may need more resources. Another technique was to utilize missing care as an indicator to determine changes in pol