Analysis of a Pertinent Healthcare Issue Essay

Analysis of a Pertinent Healthcare Issue Essay

Analysis of a Pertinent Healthcare Issue Essay

The value of nursing care has a direct relationship with quality and safety outcomes. The nursing shortage is a persistent national health issue affecting the ability of nurses to provide effective nursing care to patients; thus, undermining the safety and quality of care. The effects of the nursing shortage in healthcare are multifaceted impacting nurses, patients, and healthcare organizations. Nursing shortage leads to work overload, resulting in burnout and stress for nurses. According to studies, burnout and stress has multiple negative outcomes, including medication errors, adverse events, high rates of infections, patient safety issues, poor nurse performance, high turnover rates, increased length of hospital stay, and negative patient experience(Dall’Ora et al., 2020). These factors have quality and safety implications as hospitals struggle to enhance the patient experience, reduce infection, adverse events, length of hospital stay, and other quality indicators and improve overall population health. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of the nursing shortage at my organization and identify possible strategies for remedying the healthcare stressor from scholarly sources.

National Healthcare Issue/Stressor and Its Impact on the Organization

A recent quality assessment and audit at my organization revealed several issues negatively impacting quality and safety outcomes. First, the review noted a higher rate of hospital-acquired infections (HAI) than the value of last year’s review. Secondly, the assessment also pointed out that some patients had a longer hospital stay (LOS) than necessary. Thirdly, the review revealed significant cases of medication errors and adverse events such as avoidable patient falls. A separate assessment investigating the experience of nurses and patients with work and care, respectively, also showed that nurses are stressed because of the high workload. A significant portion of the patient population surveyed reported a low level of satisfaction with the services and care experience. Equally, nurses reported high workload, stress, and low job satisfaction.

Summary of Two Articles

The article, A nursing shortage – a prospect of global and local policies, examines the factors driving nursing shortage around the world, primarily, the rising population of senior citizens. According to the article, the nursing shortage has no single cause but multiple interrelated factors. Some of the contributors tothe nursing shortage include ineffective planning and utilization of nursing resources, demographic changes, and poor recruitment practices (Marć et al., 2018). The authors provide strategies for addressing the nursing shortage from policies point of view. Similarly, the article, Discuss Reasons for Acute and Chronic Problems with The Crisis of Nursing, acknowledges that recruitment and retention of nurses remains a crisis in countries worldwide. The author argues that one of the causes of the perennial nursing shortage is the nursing education structure, which dwells on theory and allocates less time for practical experience (Wada, 2020). As such, nurses enter the profession with less practical experience, giving them anxiety and a high tendency to quit. Additionally, the article notes that time constraints and high workloads limit the nurses’ ability to deliver ideal care(Wada, 2020).

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Recognizing the negative implications of the nursing shortage, organizations have come up with strategies attempting to address the issue and enhance patient outcomes. One of the strategies implemented in other organizations is an onboarding program to reduce new nurses’ turnover rates. A recent RN Staffing report reveals that the turnover rate for novice nurses is 18.7%, a 2.8% increase from the 2020 survey (NSI Nursing Solutions, 2021). Novice nurses are likely to resign because of poor organizational culture, bullying, challenging clinical environment, and feelings of isolation. Onboarding programs help new nurses feel welcomed, supported, and part of the community. The second strategy used in other organizations is long-term training and development of nurses. Studies link training and development to motivation, staff engagement, better performance, and staff satisfaction, reducing turnover rates (Zahoor & Mustafa, 2020).

Summary of Strategies Used To Address the Organizational Impact of Nursing Shortage

The articles selected provide various strategies for addressing nurse shortages. According to Wada (2020),higher wages attract and retain nurses leading to a low turnover rate. Additionally, improving the relationship between nurses and physicians and other healthcare workers is essential as nurses want recognition and respect, enhancing motivation. An additional strategy is to identify and address the negative factors affecting the work environment, such as hard shifts and heavy workload. Similarly, managerial support and the adoption of information technology to eliminate manual work are also strategies for improving nurse retention rates (Wada, 2020). Strategies reported by Marć et al. (2018) include salary regulation to ensure fair compensation, creating a positive work environment, implementing information technology, and introducing lifelong learning for professional development. My organization can benefit from these strategies to improve staff retention. For example, introducing an onboarding program for novice nurses is a good idea, as most face challenges acclimatizing with the organizational culture, work environment, and challenging shifts, causing them frustrations that lead to turnover. Nevertheless, the organization will face challenges implementing some of these strategies; for example, salary increase and training and development require resources, yet, the organization’s financial resources are already strained.

Conclusion

Nurse shortage is a profound health stressor that undermines quality and safe care services to patients and populations. Scholarly articles provide several strategies to address the problem, promote nurse retention, and improve the quality and safety of care. One strategy is increasing wages to ensure fair compensation for the challenging nursing work and enhance motivation. The second strategy is introducing training and development to help nurses learn new skills and knowledge and attain professional development. Other techniques are creating a positive work environment, implementing an onboarding program for new nurses, effective management, and implementing information technology to reduce workload.

References

Dall’Ora, C., Ball, J., Reinius, M., & Griffiths, P. (2020). Burnout in nursing: a theoretical review. Hum Resour Health, 18, 41. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-020-00469-9.

Marć, M., Bartosiewicz, R., Burzyńska, J., Chmiel, Z., & Januszewicz, P. (2018). A nursing shortage – a prospect of global and local policies. International Nursing Review, 9-16. https://doi.org/10.1111/inr.12473.

NSI Nursing Solutions. (2021). 2021 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report. NSI Nursing Solutions, Inc.

Wada, Y. (2020). Discuss reasons for acute and chronic problems with the crisis of nursing shortage in relation to nursing education and review The Strategies and. Nursing & Primary Care, 4(4), 1-4. https://www.scivisionpub.com/pdfs/discuss-reasons-for-acute-and-chronic-problems-with-the-crisis-of-nursing-shortage-in-relation-to-nursing-education-and-review-the-1337.pdf.

Zahoor, H., & Mustafa, N. (2020). Training and development and health workers’ motivation and performance. Intraders.

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The Quadruple Aim provides broad categories of goals to pursue to maintain and improve healthcare. Within each goal are many issues that, if addressed successfully, may have a positive impact on outcomes. For example, healthcare leaders are being tasked to shift from an emphasis on disease management often provided in an acute care setting to health promotion and disease prevention delivered in primary care settings. Efforts in this area can have significant positive impacts by reducing the need for primary healthcare and by reducing the stress on the healthcare system.
Changes in the industry only serve to stress what has always been true; namely, that the healthcare field has always faced significant challenges, and that goals to improve healthcare will always involve multiple stakeholders. This should not seem surprising given the circumstances. Indeed, when a growing population needs care, there are factors involved such as the demands of providing that care and the rising costs associated with healthcare. Generally, it is not surprising that the field of healthcare is an industry facing multifaceted issues that evolve over time.
In this module’s Discussion, you reviewed some healthcare issues/stressors and selected one for further review. For this Assignment, you will consider in more detail the healthcare issue/stressor you selected. You will also review research that addresses the issue/stressor and write a white paper to your organization’s leadership that addresses the issue/stressor you selected.
To Prepare:
• Review the national healthcare issues/stressors presented in the Resources and reflect on the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected for study.
• Reflect on the feedback you received from your colleagues on your Discussion post for the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected.
• Identify and review two additional scholarly resources (not included in the Resources for this module) that focus on change strategies implemented by healthcare organizations to address your selected national healthcare issue/stressor.
The Assignment (3-4 Pages):
Analysis of a Pertinent Healthcare Issue
Develop a 3- to 4-page paper, written to your organization’s leadership team, addressing your selected national healthcare issue/stressor and how it is impacting your work setting. Be sure to address the following:
• Describe the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected and its impact on your organization. Use organizational data to quantify the impact (if necessary, seek assistance from leadership or appropriate stakeholders in your organization).
• Provide a brief summary of the two articles you reviewed from outside resources on the national healthcare issue/stressor. Explain how the healthcare issue/stressor is being addressed in other organizations.
• Summarize the strategies used to address the organizational impact of national healthcare issues/stressors presented in the scholarly resources you selected. Explain how they may impact your organization both positively and negatively. Be specific and provide examples.
Looking Ahead
The paper you develop in Module 1 will be revisited and revised in Module 2. Review the Assignment instructions for Module 2 to prepare for your revised paper.