Summary of the Articles
The most common problem faced in hospitals today, and that has been occurring for a long time, is the issue of nurse understaffing (Davis, Mehrotra, Holl, & Daskin, 2014). Nurse understaffing is simply the inadequate number of nurses accorded to patients in a hospital. Several factors lead to nursing understaffing the main one being money (Martin, 2015). A wide pool of studies analyzes the effects of understaffing, reasons that lead to understaffing, and what could be done to reduce and eradicate the problem in hospitals to maximize excellent nurse-patient relationships. Hospitals are at a big risk of losing out on patients who are dissatisfied with the care given to them (Garrett, 2008; Upenieks, Akhavan, Kotlerman, Esser, & Ngo, 2007). This happens when a nurse decides to quit his/her job due to overworking and a dislike for the job because of the attributes such as being underpaid and working overtime without pay to mention a few.
This study is based on the analysis and literature review from two articles that explain the reasons that lead to nursing understaffing and why it is widely opted by hospital management. The two articles encompass “Nurse staffing under demand uncertainty to reduce costs and enhance patient safety” by Davis et al. (2014) and “The effects of nurse staffing on quality of care” by Martin (2015). According to the article by Martin (2015), nurse understaffing revolves around limited funds that the hospital is willing to spend on the nursing department. Lack of adequate funds results in nurses doing overtime, the quality care of patients is put at stake, the hospitals’ reputation is at risk, and the nurses tend to dislike their jobs due to being overwhelmed and fatigued. The quality healthcare given to the patients by an understaffed nursing department is questionable considering the nurses are tired and overworked (Kiekkas, 2013). This error can be easily corrected if the hospital administration channels more money to the hiring of permanent registered nurses or temporary nurses, who are more expensive than registered nurses (Twigg, Gelder, & Myers, 2015).
The article by Davis et al. (2014) seeks to show that the authors believe that maintaining a permanent nursing level is best especially if the nurse to patient ratio is achieved in all shifts thus leading to excellent patient care and nurse satisfaction. According to their research, the authors feel that a patient’s care is satisfactory if the registered nurses do not work overtime and if the temporary nurses are used minimally or not hired at all. The methodology used by the authors to further understand the reason for nurse understaffing has enabled them to conclude that if hospitals can hire permanent registered nurses over temporary nurses, not only will the quality of healthcare given to patients improve, but the hospitals can save money, if not much, compared to when hiring temporary nurses.
Similarities and Critical Analysis
The similarities of the articles are in their affirmation that hospitals should hire permanent registered nurses over temporary nurses. The authors also agree that nurses should not be overwhelmed and that the quality of care provided to patients should be excellent. The literature review can be applied to nurse understaffing due to the factor that greatly hinders excellent healthcare provision: money. The review, in the contemporary setting, shows how a nurse relates to her work with the pressures of providing quality healthcare to patients while being overworked, underpaid, and facing challenges related to the job. It is estimated that over 50% of a hospital wage bill caters for the payment of nurses and this could result in the hospital administration creating overtime and understaffing the nursing department.
References
Davis, A., Mehrotra, S., Holl, J., & Daskin, M. S. (2014). Nurse staffing under demand uncertainty to reduce costs and enhance patient safety. Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, 31(01), 1-19.
Garrett, C. (2008). The effect of nurse staffing patterns on medical errors and nurse burnout. AORN journal, 87(6), 1191-1204.
Kiekkas, P. (2013). Nurse understaffing and infection risk: Current evidence, future research and health policy. Nursing in critical care, 18(2), 61-62.
Martin, C. J. (2015). The effects of nurse staffing on quality of care. MedSurg Nursing, 24(2), 4-6.
Twigg, D. E., Gelder, L., & Myers, H. (2015). The impact of understaffed shifts on nurse‐sensitive outcomes. Journal of advanced nursing, 71(7), 1564-1572.
Upenieks, V. V., Akhavan, J., Kotlerman, J., Esser, J., & Ngo, M. J. (2007). Value-added care: A new way of assessing nursing staffing ratios and workload variability. Journal of Nursing Administration, 37(5), 243-252.