Introduction
One of the healthcare issues that can be described is the decrease in efficiency resulting from personnel downsizing. Its implication for national healthcare is the reduced quality of care provided to the population.
Literature Review
According to Pereira and Bowers (2021), various challenges arise in healthcare teams due to a shortage of skilled personnel. They claim gaps are forming in the distribution of necessary skills and responsibilities. They also believe a staff shortage allows advanced practice nurses to express their leadership skills. Lamb et al. (2018) define these nurses as informal leaders compared to formal administration heads. These nurses can communicate with different team members to compensate for the formed gaps.
Personal Opinion
I believe a similar approach is also relevant to my personal experience. If there is a downsizing of nurses in the team, other team members will face an increased workload and gaps in patient care. Advanced practice nurses (APNs) can apply their research and analytical skills to develop new models of care. For example, patients and healthcare staff are often confused over the roles of primary care providers (Auerbach et al., 2018).
When it comes to downsizing, patients can be confused about whom to rely on for healthcare, and advanced nurses are often the first specialists to help and explain their roles. It is also vital for local public health since nurses’ work directly affects patient treatment efficiency and the rate of non-adherence. Introducing new models can reduce costs, increase efficiency, and overall develop the productivity level of a team.
Conclusion
Overall, it can be seen that one solution to downsizing personnel and decreasing efficiency is providing sufficient opportunities for advanced practice nurses. Pereira and Bowers (2021) argue that there is insufficient support provided to advanced practice nurses, hindering their ability to serve as transformational leaders when necessary. For example, they state that medical assistants can also be assigned to advanced practice nurses. At the same time, Goldsberry suggests that nursing leadership should be collaborative rather than individual. This aligns with the responsibility of effective communication and patient guidance.
References
Auerbach, D. I., Staiger, D. O., & Buerhaus, P. I. (2018). Growing ranks of advanced practice clinicians — implications for the physician workforce. New England Journal of Medicine, 378(25), 2358–2360.
Goldsberry, J. W. (2018). Advanced practice nurses leading the way: Interprofessional collaboration. Nurse Education Today, 65, 1-3.
Lamb, A., Martin‐Misener, R., Bryant‐Lukosius, D., & Latimer, M. (2018). Describing the leadership capabilities of advanced practice nurses using a qualitative descriptive study. Nursing Open, 5(3), 400-413.
Pereira, K.C. & Bowers, M.T. (2021). Current challenges in complex healthcare organizations and the quadruple aim. In E.S. Marshall & M. Broome (Eds.), Transformational leadership in nursing from expert clinician to influential leader (67-99). Springer Publishing Company.