Reaction to difficulty in Nursing staffing

Nursing staffing issues.

When you encountered a difficult situation with respect to Nursing staffing. How did you react? What could you (nurse) have done differently? Would mandatory nursing staffing ratios have helped? Outline the key points on nursings rights in the workplace Discuss how the work environment may be improved in order to improve patient safety Go to www.ana.org and www.icn.ch and read the sections on Staff Nurses, specifically focusing on the Nurses Bill of Rights Please lightly touch following points, 1 paragraph each points. 1- Nursing shortages contribute to overwork, fatigue, and errors. Discuss how the environment may be better structured to support the health and well-being of nurses 2- What is the role of the staff nurse when she/he knows that the working environment is not safe? Thank you ANSWER Nursing Staffing Issues Introduction: Nursing Staffing is the activity of watching over sick patients confined in the hospitals so as to alert the medical personnel assigned to treat them in the event of an emergency. Its usually done by qualified personnel with appropriate training in the field of medicine and nursing who are able to handle a life threatening experience in case of its occurrence. Its a vital organ in the normal and effective running of a hospital. Nursing staffing, however, is posed by many challenges, which have resulted, to the loss of lives of many patients admitted into various hospitals. This outcome has been caused mainly due to lack of proper nursing staffing services allocation into the hospitals. Also, shortages of qualified nurses in the hospitals have contributed to the event of this negative phenomenon. Hospitals with low numbers of nurses, and staffing levels tend to have higher rates of poor patient outcomes such as pneumonia, shock, cardiac arrest, and urinary tract infections (Stanton, 2011). My problem encounter and reaction: Last winter I took my grandmother to a public hospital in our hometown after she complained persistently that she had breathing problems. She was asthmatic. We tried using the inhaler that had been recommended by a doctor where she used to attend her clinic therapies. Nevertheless, it did not seem to have a great effect on her. When we took her to the hospital, she was very week, and urgent attention was essential to safeguard her life. I rushed frantically into the hospital to seek assistance to carry her from the ambulance so that she could get immediate attention as she seemed very ill. I was shocked to learn that there was no nursing personnel who were available as all of them were tied down by other functions in the hospital complex. Later I learned out that the hospital had only 6 qualified nurses to cater for more than 60 patients, which was the, capacity for the hospital. My grandmother succumbed to her illness while waiting inside the ambulance for nurses from the hospital to assist her. My actions as a nurse in the hospital: as a nurse working in the hospital, I would be aware of the pressure exerted on us in trying to handle the many patients in the hospital. I would have raised my concern and created a notification to the hospital administration advocating for the employment of more staffing personnel to assist in the hospital functions. This would have assisted in curbing unfavorable outcomes in the event of an emergency. During my 2nd week of posting to the hospital am currently working in, the rate of out-patients attendance in the hospital significantly rose to 150 patients per day from 60, which was initially the normal rate of attendance we usually experienced. As a result, I and the few nursing personnel we had in the hospital had to work for almost 18 hours daily in an attempt to service all the patients. Consequently, I did not have adequate time to sleep and stress took a toll on me. I gave two patients a wrong prescription which would have been vital for their health. Fortunately, the intervention of a nursing colleague who luckily noticed my mistake saved the adverse effects the drugs could have done to the patients. Effects of mandatory staffing, ratios: Mandatory staffing could be said to be involuntary time, when the registered nurse (RN) is required to remain for all or part of a subsequent shift or is required to come back and work beyond the agreed-upon time (Moorhead & Cowen 2006). Proposed minimum staff-to-patient ratios such as those enacted in California are intended to address the concern that patients are largely affected by inadequate staffing (John M. Welton, 2011). Mandatory staffing ratio, however, created in positive intent may not be effective in stabilizing or controlling nursing staffing issues. This is because legislation of mandatory staffing issues may be accompanied by patient safety problems. These problems could be; nurses having slower reactions because of being tied, errors in clinical judgment, medication errors, and being less alert to changes in patients conditions (Moorhead & Cowen 2006). Key points of nursing rights in the workplace: Every health worker is entitled various rights in his or her work place. The rights, which should be, designated to the nursing staff in the work place should be aided through the creation of a supportive working environment that benefits both employers and employees in the hospital complex. The rights include; respect, fair treatment, dignity and good faith, health and safety, communication, information, professional development, support, work democracy, and the right to join the union (Organisation, 2011). Improving the work environment to enhance a patients safety: Enhancing the patients safety has become a great challenge amid advancement in technology. Provision of the nursing staffs with efficient and more modern equipments to monitor on the patients performance is necessary to avoid complications that may arise in a time of emergency. Improving effective communication, however, remains a key factor that needs development in a hospital environment. This is because ineffective communication has been implicated as the leading cause in medication errors, delays in treatment, and prenatal deaths and injuries which may result from a wrong-site surgery (Friesen, 2011). Nurses bill of rights: The bill of rights creates a provision for registration of nurses and this makes them feel more secure and respected in their work as a provision. It guides organizations policies when creating employment contracts between nurses and employers. It provides a reference point for the employers in establishing what the nurses need in their work places. It has 7 provisions that safeguard the nurses during their operations. Some of these include the right to conduct in a manner which enables them to meet their obligations. Right to work in an environment supporting their professional standards. Feel free to advocate for themselves, and their patients. Nurses have a right to work in a safe environment, and discuss terms of their employment. Shortages of nurses lead to over utilization of the nurses already available. Overworking consequently leads to fatigue of workers and even at times errors in giving the appropriate medication. The working environment should be structured in a manner that there is efficient communication between nurses, and employees to create a cordial and a safe relationship between them. In the event that nurses dont feel secure in their work environment, they are supported by their bill of rights to negotiate the terms of the contract that suitably favors them. They have a right to voice their concern to the administration involved to eradicate the threatening factor affecting them. References (1). Cowen, P.S. & Moorhead, S. Current Issues in Nursing. Philadelphia: Elsevier Health Sciences, 2006. Print. (2). Friesen, M. &. (2011, 05 02). Communication: Patient Safety and the Nursing Work Environment. Retrieved 05 02, 2011, from Nursing That Works: https://www.snjourney.com/ClinicalInfo/WrAndReport/PtSafWkEnv.pdf (3). John M. Welton, P. R. (2011, 05 02). Mandatory Hospital Nurse to Patient Staffing Ratios: Time to Take a Different Approach. Retrieved 05 02, 2011, from The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing: https://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Volume122007/No3Sept07/MandatoryNursetoPatientRatios.aspx (4). Organisation, T. N. (2011, 05 02). Your rights in the workplace. Retrieved 05 02, 2011, from https://www.nzno.org.nz/services/resources/information/workplace_rights. (5). Stanton, M. W. (2011, 05 02). Hospital Nurse Staffing and Quality of Care. Retrieved 05 02, 2011, from AHRQ Agency for Healthcare and Quality of Care: https://www.ahrq.gov/research/nursestaffing/nursestaff.htm Submitting high quality Essays,Research Papers, Term Papers, is the only way students can score high grades( As). Students ought to hire professional Writing Service providers who can deliver high quality work within the allocated time. Click to ORDER NOW It’s only fair to share