Inadequate staffing of nurses is a widely known problem in the contemporary healthcare organizations. The insufficient nurse-to-patient ratio is directly associated with multiple risks for the patients such as infections, falls, flawed medication administration, and other medical errors many of which may result in the death of patients (WSNA, 2016). The nursing shortage is linked to cuts to nursing budgets and the overall social phenomena of skills and human resources shortages in the field of nursing (ANA, 2016). As a result of these impacts, fewer nursing professionals are employed in healthcare organizations nationwide and are forced to take over more working hours and attend to more patients. In turn, this tendency increases the strain on the nurses, thus positioning this profession as an extremely stressful and dangerous one and driving more potential candidates away from the field.
Safe nurse staffing could help organize the workloads of the existing RNs in a smarter manner taking into consideration the dangers of shortage and the challenges faced by the remaining professionals. In particular, safe staffing obliges healthcare organizations to be more attentive to the nurses’ workloads and complaints, search alternative ways to compromise for the shortage without overworking the RNs, and protect the aforementioned practitioners from becoming the victims of a flawed system and circumstances that are beyond their control.
This problem was selected because it is one of the major issues in the modern field of nursing. This problem deserves special attention because it tends to aggravate over time endangering the RNs just as much as their patients. The solutions to nursing staffing challenges can be found, but a thoughtful discussion and research of this issue are needed for an informed decision.
References
ANA. (2016). Safe staffing.
WSNA. (2016). Safe nurse staffing.