Nurse Patient Ratio
I am responding to Robin and Sarah. Robin, your research has been a heated topic for many decades. Research continues and provides hospital administers and lawmakers on how nurse patient ratio can affect the patient’s outcome but not much has changed over the years.
Thirty years ago, when I was a new graduate nurse, I remember the exhausting 12-15 hour days I experienced working in a medical center, three days in a row and being responsible for fifteen patients while working with a Licensed Practical Nurse or a Certified Nurses Assistant. During that time I worked on a medical-surgical/telemetry floor where we also had patients on ventilators. Nurses were not able to provide proper care for their patients, and obtained needle sticks due to
being extremely fatigued and overworked. Many of the older nurses called out sick because of back pain and injures, which did not help the staffing situation. The younger nurses depended on the knowledge and areas of expertise the older nurses provided. Although we were not a unionized hospital, nurses were reporting the concerns they had for patient safety, burn out, and the effects the increasing nursing turnover had on the quality of work they were providing (Cox, Willis, & Coustasse, 2014).
Mandating nurse patient ratio prevents nurses from burning out, increases job satisfaction, along with nurses having less intention of leaving the hospital, which would contribute to nurse retention. Nurses who are not overwhelmed by patient load and are able to provide their patients with quality care get a sense of satisfaction, decreasing the hospital’s nurse turnover. This ultimately saves the hospital money and improves patient safety and outcomes. Research has shown that well paid salaries were important to nurses but it did not keep them from leaving a hospital position as a result of a poor work environment related to not having enough staff (McHugh & Ma, 2014).
Robin, you continue to gather important relevant information for the safety and better outcomes for our patients, which will also improve working condition for nurses. I am confident with the course that you are on, your results will not fall upon deaf ears and produce better outcomes for patients.
Thirty years ago, when I was a new graduate nurse, I remember the exhausting 12-15 hour days I experienced working in a medical center, three days in a row and being responsible for fifteen patients while working with a Licensed Practical Nurse or a Certified Nurses Assistant. During that time I worked on a medical-surgical/telemetry floor where we also had patients on ventilators. Nurses were not able to provide proper care for their patients, and obtained needle sticks due to
being extremely fatigued and overworked. Many of the older nurses called out sick because of back pain and injures, which did not help the staffing situation. The younger nurses depended on the knowledge and areas of expertise the older nurses provided. Although we were not a unionized hospital, nurses were reporting the concerns they had for patient safety, burn out, and the effects the increasing nursing turnover had on the quality of work they were providing (Cox, Willis, & Coustasse, 2014).
Mandating nurse patient ratio prevents nurses from burning out, increases job satisfaction, along with nurses having less intention of leaving the hospital, which would contribute to nurse retention. Nurses who are not overwhelmed by patient load and are able to provide their patients with quality care get a sense of satisfaction, decreasing the hospital’s nurse turnover. This ultimately saves the hospital money and improves patient safety and outcomes. Research has shown that well paid salaries were important to nurses but it did not keep them from leaving a hospital position as a result of a poor work environment related to not having enough staff (McHugh & Ma, 2014).
Robin, you continue to gather important relevant information for the safety and better outcomes for our patients, which will also improve working condition for nurses. I am confident with the course that you are on, your results will not fall upon deaf ears and produce better outcomes for patients.