Introduction
Modern statistical evidence demonstrates persistent staff shortages in hospitals worldwide. Partially due to the covid-19 outbreak and its consequences, the number of qualified nurses working in emergency conditions has not increased recently (Zhou et al., 2020). The medical staff shortage is particularly evident in remote areas with less state funding (Lloyd et al., 2017). Therefore, modern solutions must be investigated to create optimal conditions for patient care.
The study is focused on the mentioned issue of nursing staff shortage in modern hospitals. As the pandemic continues to impact the condition of US hospitals significantly, a study highlighting effective solutions is necessary.
Significance of the Nursing Practice Problem
The main problem behind staff shortage includes weakening the healthcare system and poor working conditions for the working nurses. Observational studies have shown poor patient-staff member outcomes and decreased productivity in cases of severe employee insufficiency (Lloyd et al., 2017). Therefore, this issue must be investigated to ensure adequate working conditions for nurses and proper patient treatment. The solutions to the problem are relevant for newly graduated nurses and experienced professionals.
Purpose of the Study
The study must provide the necessary evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of innovative technology in solving nursing staff shortages. Accomplishing this goal is critical at this point, considering the burnout, staff contamination, and other challenges that arose with the COVID-19 pandemic (Dykes & Charlene, 2021). Through investigating the role of technological incorporation in the healthcare system, any valuable findings can then be applied for staff readapting to more effective methods.
The hypothesis of the study
The hypothesis suggests a positive correlation between increased technological application and lower rates of nursing staff shortage. In that way, innovative technology such as telemedicine applications, algorithmic programs, and automated tools are suggested to improve the current issue regarding hospital employees significantly.
Research Questions of the Study
The study’s research questions are all directly related to the outlined hypothesis. How will the number of nursing informatics courses taken (measured in hours) affect the nurses’ productivity during one shift (measured by the number of accomplished tasks)? What is the effect of introducing virtual sessions to communicate with patients on the effectiveness of their treatment, measured by the patient’s and staff’s reports? How will IT skills incorporation (measured in-class hours) affect the general staff numbers (measured in numbers of nurses compared to average) in over a year? This research question can be highlighted as the central one, as it includes a direct discussion of the role of innovative technology in reducing nurses’ staff shortage and improving communication with patients.
Literature Review
Several studies have investigated staff shortages and possible solutions for the issue. Dykes & Charlene (2021) noted the valuable implementation of BCMA technology on daily healthcare tasks, including patient assessments and note-taking (Dykes & Charlene, 2021). Despite the described need for further technological improvement, the system significantly decreased the time (hours) allocated to each task in each nurse’s shift. In that way, the available time was given to more patients (Dykes & Charlene, 2021). Another study emphasized the various applications of technological advancements in nursing practices. Incorporating such advancements included electronic medical records, GPS tracking, medication delivery devices, and alarm systems for patient visits (Indra et al., 2019). The technical programs, when used correctly, reduce the risk of unnecessary contact that may lead to contamination. Furthermore, the algorithmic applications can accurately assess a patient’s health state and predict future diagnoses.
A review of eight studies on the nurses’ and patients’ attitudes towards technology use and its effectiveness by Saab et al. (2021) must be discussed. The qualitative data demonstrated a primarily positive impact of the technology on the medical processes. Moreover, the researchers noted an essential idea that nurses and nursing staff were more likely to use the available programs than any other healthcare member.
Variables
The independent variable is measured by the number of hours a group of nurses allocates to informatics master classes and the number of extra technologies the group incorporates into their daily work routine. The dependent variables include the effectiveness of the nurses’ assessments and tasks, measured by the time taken to complete them, their efficacy, and patient reports.
Method
The study subjects are a group of nurses from one health center where medical staff shortage had been presented as an issue. The group consists of 15-20 nurses who have previous experience working in a hospital.
Sampling Method
Considering the specific target population of nurses and the inability to conduct a fully randomized sampling procedure, purposive sampling must be used. The sampling process includes contacting one hospital to recruit 15-20 nurses already working in the institution. Although the generalizability of the findings is limited through this sampling method, it allows for studying the effect of the independent variable in realistic hospital conditions.
Ethical Considerations
Furthermore, the study’s main ethical considerations must be discussed. The relevant considerations for the study are voluntary participation, the anonymity of participants, and objectivity in reporting the results. Voluntary participation must be ensured to confirm the nurses’ consent to take part in the study. This ethical consideration is acknowledged through purposive sampling and formal consent from each hospital employee. As the study involves a form of engaging educational classes and therefore is linked to each participant’s ability to comprehend new knowledge, anonymity is a critical factor to consider. Moreover, objectivity principles must be adhered to regarding possible researcher bias in the topic of the investigation. Whether the results prove or disprove the hypothesis, objective data analysis and conclusion would significantly impact future studies.
Recruitment Procedures
Since the sampling method is based on the purpose of the study, the researcher must select a group of nurses working in a hospital with previous experience with staff shortages and similar issues. This can be achieved through initial research on the particular institution and then contacting the hospital’s administration to request a certain number of nurses (15-20) for the study. In the process, the main aim and procedures will be discussed with the possible participants to avoid any form of deception or inadequate consent. The recruited group may vary in age and experience, as the range will only be beneficial in generalizing the results of the study.
Data Collection Plan
The data collection process involves weekly reports completed by the nurses to track their progress and provide feedback on the usefulness of the technology. The progress is measured by the number of hours allocated to IT classes and the time (hours) dedicated to each patient when using the programs. Additionally, the patients will be surveyed once a month based on their attitudes to the advancements in treatment.
Instruments of the Study
The gathered data must then be analyzed by producing a graph that demonstrates the relationship between time allocated to IT classes (hours) and time taken to complete patient assessments (hours), as well as the number of positive feedback reports from the nurses and the patients. The data gathered about the employment state of the hospital towards the end of the study can be presented as percentages of the short-staff rates in comparison to initial numbers. This will emphasize the impact or lack thereof of the technological advancements implementation on nurses’ insufficiency.
Discussion and Recommendations
The study demonstrated the essential role of implementing IT classes to improve nurses’ working shifts and communication with patients. The purposive sampling contributed to the recruitment of 20 nurses with previous experience of overworking. The sampling method significantly decreased the generalizability of the findings; however, the procedure was set in standard conditions and relied mostly on qualitative data. One improvement to the study’s design would involve a larger sample size and increased incorporation of quantitative data to objectify the results. Furthermore, little evidence can be linked to the decreased number of overworking staff. The study can only demonstrate the effectiveness of using advanced technology in healthcare centers, but further research must be conducted to highlight the link between medical technology and staff-shortage solutions empirically.
References
Dykes, S., & Chu, C. H. (2021). Now more than ever, nurses need to be involved in technology design: lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of clinical nursing, 30(7-8), 25-28. Web.
Indra, V., Urmela, S., Naveen, N. (2019). Recent Information and Communication Technology Advancements in Nursing. International Journal of Nursing Education and Research, 7(1), 119-122.
Lloyd, J., & Ferguson, S. L. (2017). Innovative Information Technology Solutions: Addressing Current and Emerging Nurse Shortages and Staffing Challenges Worldwide. Nursing Economics, 35(4), 211-212. Web.
Saab, M., Landers, M., Egan, S., Murphy, D., Hegarty, J. (2021). Nurses and Nursing Students’ Attitudes and Beliefs Regarding the Use of Technology in Patient Care. CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 39(11), p 704-713.
Zhou, M., Yuan, F., Zhao, X., Xi, F., Wen, X., Zeng, L., Zeng, W., Wu, H., Zeng, H., & Zhao, Z. (2020). Research on the individualized short-term training model of nurses in emergency isolation wards during the outbreak of COVID-19. Nursing open, 7(6), 1902–1908. Web.