Nurses need to be effective with their critical thinking skills and utilize the resources at hand. Using base knowledge to prevent catastrophic events from occurring, such as the potentiation effect of medication. Knowing ,when we as nurses, have met our ability to perform effectively and need assistance is not only important for our well being but the well being of the patient and the organization as a whole. Integrating teamwork in the patient care effort not only builds a solid foundation for the organization but also for the positive outcome of the patient being treated. If for some unfortunate reason an adverse event does occur nurses must remember they “provide valuable insights into care processes when working with patient safety leaders as part of a root cause analysis team. Nurses ' unique knowledge of the care provided is essential for designing the best improvements in care processes” (Hall, Moore, & Barnsteiner, 2008). Probably among the most import ways a nurse can improve quality of care is his/her own self care. This can be done in many ways. Meditation for stress reduction, continuing education for confidence in patient care, are just a few examples. Having a rested, positive, confident attitude when preparing and performing patient care can make difference and help her do no harm and give the utmost quality of care to each patient she/he comes in contact…
Quality, safety, and timeliness are the podium of nursing care, where as behavioral disciplines, theories, concepts, theoretical knowledge, and evidences are the leadership qualities. Proper staffing and a competent nursing team ensure maximum productivity, safety, and satisfaction. Nursing shortage impairs the functioning and quality of patient care delivery lead nurses to work under high pressure and feel overworked and overstressed, which leads to poor care and staff retention. Behaviors such as workplace incivility, negative supervisory relationships, and distrust on institution lead to increased nurse turnover and shortages which, in turn, leads to poor care and work…
other staff. The studies show that nurses with higher patient ratio’s have higher incidence of…
As a nurse you daily experience the impact of inadequate staffing in healthcare facilities, but the impact is far greater than just…
The nursing profession requires an individual to be alert, watchful, and prepared. They must monitor patients closely. Concentration and attentiveness declines when a nurse is overloaded with work. Nurses who become fatigued from the work overload can become a danger to themselves and their patients. Medication errors and pressure ulcers are common results from fatigued nurses. Medication errors happen a lot when a nurse loses the ability to concentrate and focus. Pressure ulcers are a result of poor nursing care which can be caused by fatigue. A nurse may be so fatigued by the end of her shift that she does not properly position a patient. Basic care is sometimes put on the back burner, or is delegated to less qualified staff. As well as providing basic nursing care, a nurse must also give report, check patients orders, medications, and labs, all in one shift! This leaves little time to create or maintain a relationship with a patient. Often times, nurses are assigned five or more patients to take care of in one shift. Nurses become stressed from the pressures of the job, and decide to leave the profession all…
Registered nurses are essential to cost containment, patient safety, and quality of care in the healthcare industry. Currently there are 3.1 million registered nurses in the United States alone. Nurses directly affect every aspect of a patient’s health. Mary Breckinridge once said that nurses are said to be “the backbone of health providers everywhere” – nursingworld.com. And with as many benefits as they bring to the healthcare providers, and based on their impressive statistics on bettering the health industry, they very well could be.…
than others. A shortage in staff results in a heavy workload for nurses. Nurses become fatigued…
There is a diverse range of aspects related to nursing staffing in health care organizations. Staffing levels in hospitals are likely to have a bearing on the assurance in the delivery of safe and reliable care. However, nursing staffing challenges have remained perennial prompting prolonged attention on the allocation of nurse staffing resources to facilitate patient safety (Weston et al., 2012). Nevertheless, focus on staffing levels has particularly increased with the prevailing shortage of nurses (Rochefort, et al., 2015). Furthermore, there have been changes in the manner nursing is approached. Traditionally, it would be assumed that well-trained practitioners were not prone to errors. Such was consistent with the traditional tendency…
Healthcare providers such as nurses are given unique opportunity to touch not only patient’s lives but also their families. For many years, this author collaborated with many nurses and encountered exceptionally competent ones and experienced meeting nurses that are burned out. Multiple issues can arise during a shift that can lead to nurses taking extreme shortcuts and risking the well-being of their patients. Increasing workload, under staffing, and demanding patients can affect a nurse’s performance. One ethical situation that was experienced by this author was the care of an elderly patient who was admitted for diagnosis of failure to thrive, who ended up passing away due to hospital acquired complications. The admitting nursing, as well as, the following nurses who cared for the patient failed to assess the…
The article Nurse-Patient Staffing Ratios in the American Journal of Nursing reported a seven percent increase in mortality for each additional patient added to a hospital nurses workload (Wallis, 2013, p. 21). When caring for a larger number of patients you are more likely to miss important signs and symptoms. It’s difficult to be thorough because there is not enough time to properly assess each patient. When patients aren’t properly assessed it’s easy to fail to notice the early warning signs that a patient may be starting to go downhill. So, instead of noticing a slight change and reacting to it, the nurse caring for a large patient load may not realize there is problem until the patient has already coded or is about to code. Wallis found that “besides the occupational hazards caused by understaffing numerous studies show a correlation between inadequate nurse staffing and poor patient outcomes. High nurse to patient ratios are associated with an increase in medical errors, as well as patient infections, bedsores, pneumonia, MRSA, cardiac arrest, and accidental death” (Wallis, 2013, p. 21). As the charge nurse on my unit I was involved in codes that should have never taken place on the floor. The nurse’s lack of attention to the patient because of high nurse patient ratios resulted in the patient coding on the unit. It was hospital policy that each code that happened on the floor be thoroughly reviewed. In some cases it was determined that the patient should have been moved to Intermediate care or ICU as much as 24 hours earlier. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, “examined the relationship between mortality and day to day, shift to shift variations in unit level staffing. The study found that the risk of death increased two percent each time a patient was exposed to shifts with below target RN staffing (Dorning,…
The nursing profession, and nursing care of patients are a critical part of positive patient outcomes. Nurses are the face of healthcare today and are the link to health and personal care and continued improvement in patient care. The points of this study bring out the need and correlation for quality and sufficient staffing. The need, desire and demand is there to increase patient outcomes and in order to do this we need to start with sufficient staffing on our nursing units. This will then increase nursing satisfaction, decrease the nursing workload and allow for more individual…
What is the one conversation that usually gets heated when talking to nurses? Bring up the subject of staffing levels on their unit. As a nurse assistant, staff nurse, charge nurse or nursing administrator, inadequate staffing creates tension and stress. When staffing is inadequate patient safety, infection rates, patient satisfaction and staff satisfaction are only a few of the areas affected. Many hospital administrators and lawmakers want to make patient care a numbers game. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations requires hospitals to create a staffing plan that defines staffing effectiveness as the skill mix, competence, and effectiveness related to the services needed. (Morgan, 2004) When it comes to staffing, one size does not always fit all. Patients are individuals with individual needs and one patient with a certain diagnosis can take much less attention and time from the nurse than a patient of the same age with the same diagnosis. For good nurses the main goals during their shift is giving exception patient care and providing a safe environment. “The notion of high-quality care in hospitals is essential to public safety isn’t new. In 1751 Benjamin Franklin founded America’s first hospital-Pennsylvania Hospital-and commented that patients ultimately suffer and die without sound nursing care.” (Clarke, 2003) Nursing leaders are under tremendous pressure to lower costs while improving quality. (Carter, 2004) It is often found that…
When patient care is missed, errors in care are made. Nurses are overworked, stressed and not making the most efficient decisions for their patients in understaffed environments. There is an ethical and moral responsibility to provide optimal care for patients in any setting. Patients deserve better care than they are offered from an over worked and over stressed nurse. When increasing patient load and failing to accommodate a safe staffing protocol, hospitals become negligent. Negligent care leads to hospital acquired infections, medication errors, and even death. Dorthea Orem, nursing theorist, based importance on a Self Care Model, that applies to nurses too. A nurse cannot appropriately care for more patients than safely feasible, as well as worrying about carrying for herself. Instances of nurses unable to use the restroom for hours at a time due to patient care needs. It is unintelligent way of thinking to be confident that a nurse, who has not been taking care their self, is able to properly care for their patients to the best of their ability. Florence Nightingale saw an error in the nursing practice and demanded change. Her changes revolutionized nursing and nursing education. She saw that patient care was lacking due to conditions and lack of education. This unsafe practice of increased patient load is causing patient care to…
In the United States, Registered Nurses (R.N.) make up the largest recorded working population of the health care profession, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that 2.7 percent of the workforce comprises of nurses compared to 3.6 percent in the last 6 years (A.A.C.N., 2013). This decrease is attributed to the current shortage and high turnover of nurses. This current trend in the nursing profession has a great effect on the provision of health care because it has reduced the quality of care of patients, increased accidents amongst patients, absenteeism rates and staffing among others.…
For centuries nurses have saved lives and nurtured thousands back to health. Nurses are a vitally important part of the hospital and without them the health care system would be a catastrophe. Gordon also states, “I can't stress enough how unappreciated nurses and their assistants are, they are the foundation on which the hospital rests”. Hospitals wouldn't run as smoothly as they do without them. Nurses are so important although they are often overlooked. The nursing shortage is finally bringing their importance to the light.…