Introduction
The problem of nurse understaffing is a serious financial issue in the U.S. healthcare. Nurses working in understaffing conditions often experience stress and fatigue, and may suffer from burnout. Nurse understaffing increases the turnover rates and forces hospitals to spend more resources on nurse hiring and training. Nurse understaffing is associated with worse patient outcomes.
Problem Analysis
- Nurse understaffing may significantly lower the quality of care, cause the hospital to lose its patients, and lead to problems related to the nursing personnel (e.g., high nurse turnover rates).
- Nurses who are forced to work in understaffing conditions are often unable to provide patients with the care of the highest quality, which may lead to client dissatisfaction and cause further financial problems for the hospital.
- The unavailability of finances explains why new policy ideas and initiatives are needed.
- Local and state governments should use appropriate policies to support the financial needs of different hospitals.
- New measures can also be undertaken in order to increase the number of nurses without compromising the financial integrity of healthcare facilities.
Problem Solution
To address this problem, it is recommended to:
- hire the adequate number of nurse aids and volunteers;
- current nursing staff should participate in the process of decision-making when it comes to hiring new nurses;
- hire the adequate number of nurses on the permanent basis since it is cheaper than hiring temporary nursing staff.
Voluntary Workers Mentoring
- A coordinator will be identified to ensure every new nurse aid and volunteer is guided.
- The administration and other employees will also support the needs of these new healthcare workers.
- The coordinator will monitor and address the challenges facing different units in the facility.
- Departmental managers in the organization will also be expected to guide and empower these new caregivers.
IT Integration Into Problem Resolution
A new IT component will be introduced in the hospital EHR system to provide theoretic and practical guidance to the new members of staff.
Budgetary Principles Implicating to the Problem Solution
- Actual experience analysis compared to the planned costs to ensure the problem resolution progress
- Constant monitoring of the improvements of the hospital cost-efficiency
- Costs control to achieve cost-effectiveness
References
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Kiekkas, P. (2013). Nurse understaffing and infection risk: Current evidence, future research and health policy. Nursing in critical care, 18(2), 61-62. Web.
Martin, C. J. (2015). The effects of nurse staffing on quality of care. MedSurg Nursing, 24(2), 4-6.
Meyer, R. M., & Clarke, S. P. (2011). Shifts with nurse understaffing and high patient churn linked to heightened inpatient mortality risk in a single site study. Evidence Based Nursing, 14(4), 122-123. Web.
Shang, J., Stone, P., & Larson, E. (2015). Studies on nurse staffing and health care–associated infection: Methodologic challenges and potential solutions. American journal of infection control, 43(6), 581-588.