NUR4455 Nursing Assignment
Question:
This paper is discussing a continuing project. I will be attaching all previous papers pertaining to this project so that you know what it is about. You do not need to rewrite any of the project. You need only respond to the following instructions that were given:
In this 2 page paper identify a minimum of three steps you would take to implement your Capstone Project. Include in the paper challenges to this implementation and ways you would overcome those challenges.
Answer:
Introduction:
Nurse staffing is significant to patient care and safety as it determines the amount of time and care that will be given to a patient for their overall health care. Some of the steps I would take to implement nurse staffing are
Three Steps to Implement Capstone Project
- Creating staffing plans:
The managers in hospitals need to work with their nurses to develop effective staffing plans. The staffing plans should have strategies that address the nurse shortages in the various units in the hospital as well as address the needs of the patients in the organization as they change (Aiken et al., 2014). These plans will give both the nurses and the hospital management the direction to take when there are staff shortages and the challenges that arise (Aiken et al., 2014).
- Improving the quality of education:
Nurses that are highly educated are more likely to give quality care that ensures the safety of the patient as compared to one that is not ((He, Staggs, Bergquist-Beringer & Dunton, 2016).). Therefore nurses that have a quality education can work productively and conquer the challenges of staffing in a hospital.
- Increasing the number of registered nurses in a healthcare facility
Research that was conducted found out that there was a decrease in the death rates of patients in facilities that had a higher number of nurses (Cho et al., 2015). This is because the nurse-to-patient ratios are increased thus the patient care is also improved.
- Maintain the workforce flexibility
A lot of hospitals have a shortage of nurses, and therefore they tend to work more extended hours which causes them not to work effectively. The hospitals need to create shifts and shorter hours that allow the nurses to be effective.
Challenges and Solutions to Implementation
Challenge #1: Creating staffing plans can be tiresome especially regularly since the needs of the patient are changing as the patients are changing. Therefore it can be challenging to come up with strategies that can cater to each patient in the hospital.
Solution #1: To overcome this challenge, the hospital managers and nurses can create staffing plans that are specific to each unit in the hospital. This way it will be easier to address the issues in each unit as one unit has the same characteristics (Griffiths et al., 2016).
Challenge #2: High-quality education can be expensive especially out of pocket. Therefore most nurses will get an education in schools that they can easily afford.
Solution #2: To overcome this challenge the government needs to make nursing education more affordable especially the high-quality education or they can create more sponsorship programmes for the students.
Challenge #3: There is lack of full-time jobs in the healthcare facilities which is what many nurses are looking for. This is a challenge as many healthcare facilities only provide part-time jobs and therefore cannot increase the number of registered nurses. This prompts many nurses to look for jobs out of the country.
Solution #3: To overcome these healthcare facilities need to provide full-time jobs to nurses
Challenge #4: There is a shortage of nurses in hospitals; therefore, they work more extended hours.
Solution #4: To overcome this, the hospital needs to higher more nurses by providing full-time jobs as mentioned earlier.
References
Aiken, L. H., Sloane, D. M., Bruyneel, L., Van den Heede, K., Griffiths, P., Busse, R., … & McHugh, M. D. (2014). Nurse staffing and education and hospital mortality in nine European countries: a retrospective observational study. The Lancet, 383(9931), 1824-1830.
Cho, E., Sloane, D. M., Kim, E. Y., Kim, S., Choi, M., Yoo, I. Y., … & Aiken, L. H. (2015). Effects of nurse staffing, work environments, and education on patient mortality: an observational study. International journal of nursing studies, 52(2), 535-542.
Griffiths, P., Ball, J., Drennan, J., Dall’Ora, C., Jones, J., Maruotti, A., … & Simon, M. (2016). Nurse staffing and patient outcomes: strengths and limitations of the evidence to inform policy and practice. A review and discussion paper based on evidence reviewed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Safe Staffing guideline development. International journal of nursing studies, 63, 213-225.
He, J., Staggs, V. S., Bergquist-Beringer, S., & Dunton, N. (2016). Nurse staffing and patient outcomes: a longitudinal study on trend and seasonality. BMC Nursing, 15(1), 60.
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