Safe Staffing Ratio

Safe Staffing Ratio

Nurses are tasked with providing ultimate care to patients while respecting their needs and inherent dignity. Providing such care requires that the nurse pays attention to the biological, spiritual, psychological, and emotional aspects of the patient’s healing to enhance the function of the nurse. Spending adequate time around patients also allows the nurse to actively respond to the changing needs of the patient and present a suitable environment for the patient’s healing. Having an adequate patient to staff ratio in any medical unit ensures that patients receive the ultimate quality of care (ANA & Avalere Health, 2015). In the end, this improves the quality of care in the unit and institution, leading to better business.

Providers of medical care, such as hospitals, are set up as businesses. These institutions have to ensure that the care they provide is sustainable. This calls for prudent use of resources, cost-cutting, and other management measures that may enhance the ability of the business to generate more profits. Where human life is involved; however, it is crucial that the proper balance has to be maintained between the need to cut expenditure and the quality of care provided.

In medical-surgical units, staffing can be an issue of life and death. Inadequate staff within a unit can make it difficult to provide the patient with the care they need. Having a safe ratio will ensure that the responsibilities within the unit can be shared properly among staff who are well prepared for their roles. In such a unit, roles poorly shared among staff will lead to disarray where staff will have a difficult time performing the various roles. Medical staff also grows better with time leading to improved quality of care.

Medical errors are also rampant in a poorly staffed environment. While nurses may be well-trained and experienced to handle any challenges in their careers, it is likely that with increasing pressure, there is a higher possibility of errors. Within med-surg units, medical errors can prove to be life-threatening. Medical staff in such units require to be at their best so that they can concentrate on the needs of the patient to ensure that the medical procedures being performed will be successful. When a single nurse is serving a high number of patients, it is often likely that the nurse may be overwhelmed by the workload leading to an increased chance for medical errors. These errors may prove disastrous to the patient’s life as they may lead to mortality. In this case, the medical workers, including nurses, may have to be reviewed on the quality of care they provide. For more serious cases, the nurse may be charged with gross negligence, which may lead to litigation and even loss of the practicing license.  For the institution, medical errors reduce the quality of care, and patients will learn about the poor care provided in the institution (Scott & Podjasek, 2019). This leads to problems attracting and keeping clients, which can cause financial problems.

For the medical providers, staff turnover greatly slows down the growth of the institutions and their various units. This is because the organization has to begin the recruitment process again. The process is time-consuming and also expensive since every new hire has to learn their way around the institution, which requires a certain amount of training. Training is especially necessary for newly registered nurses who are fresh from college. Staff retention is, therefore, crucial to the success of any organization as it helps to cut costs and encourage consistency in the workplace. There is currently a high turnover rate, especially among new nurses in most organizations. Turnover is mostly associated with poor mentorship at the institution as well as staff burnout due to a large workload for the nurses. Reducing staff turnover requires that organizations carefully balance out the work available and hire enough staff to handle the work. In such an institution, nurses will feel that their work is manageable, thus enhancing their resilience and reducing staff turnover.

Safe staffing is also essential in reducing stress among staff. Physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals often work under immense pressure due to the nature of their roles. While this pressure may be part of the job, it is crucial that the pressure is not too much as to cripple the efficiency of the nurse. Like all other professions, nurses also have limits on the number of patients they can handle, for example. Increasing the workload causes stress for a nurse since they cannot perform their functions effectively. Burnout is often a result of this feeling of being constantly overwhelmed by the workload (Paulsen, 2018). The availability of adequate staff enhances work distribution, reducing staff burnout leading to increased job satisfaction, and better staff retention.

Achieving the right ratio is essential to the provision of quality care. The ratio, however, is dependent on various factors that affect the ability of the nurse to handle patients. Thus, while a ratio of 1 nurse to 5 patients is generally accepted in medical/surgical units (Lippincott (2016), the actual ratio depends on the needs of the unit, which differ depending on the institution. The stability of the patient, complexity of infection, and acuity all affect the ability of the nurse to handle other patients in the unit. For patients who are less stable, therefore, it is likely that they will need more staff compared to a unit with more stable patients. The rate of admission, transfer, and admission of patients also affects the concentration of nurses on their given patients. Where patients are constantly admitted and discharged, it is likely that the nurse will also be involved in these processes, reducing the number of patients they can handle at a time. The layout of the unit, physical space, and availability of technical support also determine the number of patients staff can handle (ANA, n.d.). Lastly, it is essential to determine the skill level of the nurse since more experienced nurses can handle more patients in the unit than those who are newly graduated.

In conclusion, it is essential that nurses are involved in making staffing decisions since, in the long-run, they are most affected by these decisions. Seeking the input of the nurses in the unit determines the daily workload and enhances the ability of management to handle the staffing needs of the unit. In situations where a nurse handles too many patients at once, there is a likelihood of medical errors, staff burnout, and poor medical outcomes. Involving bedside nurses in decision-making is likely to reduce the length of stay for patients and decrease the likelihood of adverse effects like hospital-acquired infections, injuries, and falls. The institution is also likely to get high CMS ratings leading to better reimbursement.

References

American Nurses Association & Avalere Health, LLC. (2015). Optimal Nurse Staffing to             Improve Quality of Care and Patient Outcomes. Available at:             https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.anamass.org/resource/resmgr/docs/NurseStaffingWhitePap   er.pdf

American Nurses Association-ANA (n.d.). Safe Staffing. Available at:             https://ana.aristotle.com/SitePages/safestaffing.aspx

Lippincott (2016). The importance of the optimal nurse-to-patient ratio. Lippincott Nursing           Education Blog.

Park, S.H., Blegen, M.A., Spetz, J., Chapman, S.A., & DeGroot, H.A. (2015, January).     Comparison of Nurse Staffing Measurements in Staffing-Outcomes Research. Medical     Care, 53(1), 1-8. DOI: 10.1097/MLR.0b013e318277eb50.

Paulsen R. (2018). Taking nurse staffing research to the unit level. Nurse Manager

49(7): 42–48. DOI: 10.1097/01.NUMA.0000538915.53159.b5. Available at:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6039374/

Scott Blouin, A., Podjasek, K., (2019). The Continuing Saga of Nurse Staffing

Historical and Emerging Challenges. The Journal of Nursing Administration 49(4)

221-227