The COVID-19 pandemic had significant importance for the development of healthcare systems because it pointed to the existing shortcomings and weaknesses of the current healthcare organizations’ work. One of the primary issues that negatively influenced the quality of health services during the pandemic was the nurse shortage and increased patient-to-nurse ratio, which presented a significant threat to patients’ safety. While the threat of an event similar to the COVID-19 pandemic is relatively low, and most of the healthcare system flaws were fixed during the pandemic, nurse shortage still poses a considerable threat. Firstly, nurse shortage and increased patient-to-nurse ratio can negatively influence the quality of services and patients’ safety (Muabbar & Alsharqi, 2021). Furthermore, nurse shortage contributes to the creation of poor working conditions for the existing nurses through increased workload and higher chances of burnout, resulting in the transition of nurses to other jobs.
Therefore, the research attempts to establish the connection between the nurse-to-patient ratio and its influence on nurse retention and patient satisfaction. PICOT questions are commonly used in clinical research to form the purpose of the research paper in one statement. Thus, the PICOT question, in this case, will define how nurses (population) will be influenced by the implementation of the nurse-to-patient ratio (intervention) compared to nurses during the pandemic (comparison). Lastly, the PICOT statement will define the outcomes, such as nurse retention and patient satisfaction, and specify the timeframe of eight weeks.
PICOT Question: Will nurses (P) be influenced by the implementation of patient-to-nurse ratio (I) compared to nurses working in the pandemic conditions (C) in the aspect of nurse retention and patient satisfaction (O) during an 8-week timeframe (T)?
Reference
Muabbar, H., & Alsharqi, O. (2021). Short-term solutions to nursing shortage impact the nursing outcome, nurse perceived quality of care and patient safety. American Journal of Nursing Research, 9(2), 35-44. Web.