Response to Lilbania Hernandez DQ2

Response to Lilbania Hernandez DQ2

******* please respond to the discussion below add citations and references 🙂 ********

A current problem in nursing is the shortage of nurses available to fill open positions needed to care for patients. The nursing shortage is a problem in Florida as there are not enough nurses to completely staff healthcare facilities, which then creates issues with covering open shifts with the available nursing staff as the nursing staff is already working longer hours and short staffed regularly, and can result in patient care not being as effective or efficient. Any time a nurse calls off, the charge nurse will call around to find another nurse who is willing to work on their day off. The benefits of a research study on the nursing shortage could help find ways to possibly increase people’s interests in a nursing career, and ways to help retain nurses at facilities and provide better care for patients at the facilities.

A study conducted by Cambridge University on healthcare staffing showed having decreased numbers of nurses had the potential to cause harm. It increased the risk for patients and increased cost to the facilities from the infection data gathered. The cost to the facilities for healthcare acquired infections was higher than the cost to hire more healthcare staff, which would reduce the healthcare acquired infections (Sapatkin, 2012). Although the issue of “inappropriate staffing” has been a topic of discussion for many facilities that employ nurses, it continues to be an issue that creates a negative impact on patient care and predisposes the nurse to making medical errors (ANA, 2016). Another problem nurses encounter with overworked, understaffed nurses due to feeling rushed are back injuries from not using appropriate body mechanics and ergonomics, needle pokes, and getting sick.

Urinary Tract Infections have occurred from nurses holding in their urine for long periods of time. Nurses are drawn away from bedside nursing due to the stress of being understaffed. Due to this continued problem, this issue, although studied many times already, should continue to be evaluated and studied. The study shows that having the appropriate amount of staff at healthcare facilities is beneficial to not only to the patient, but the facility also. To build upon this and complete other similar research could improve healthcare staffing in facilities in areas, such as Florida, where there are not enough nurses available to fill open positions.

Reference

Sapatkin, D. (2012). Penn study examines link between nurse burnout care Retrieved from http://articles.philly.com/2012-07-31/news/32943021_1_infection-data-

Infection-control-center-for-health-outcomes

ANA. (2016). Top Issues for Staff Nurses. Retrieved from American Nurses Association: http://www.nursingworld.org/EspeciallyForYou/Staff-Nurses/staffnurses