Introduction
Nurses are critical in providing proper medical care in different healthcare departments. As such, the safety of the patients dramatically depends on the nurses. Nevertheless, the nurse staffing ratio has been a significant cause for concern due to the shortage of nursing personnel.
Root Causes
Nurse staffing ratios have been majorly affected by hiring freezes, frequent budget cuts, and reduced workforce. In recent years the rate of hiring new personnel has significantly reduced due to the hiring freeze program to reduce expenditure (Bostick et al., 2019). Budgets have been minimized, which has led the sector to lay off nurses, and this has consequently resulted in a staffing ratio problem. The nursing workforce has reduced over time due to a lack of proportional replacement of the outgoing staff (Bostick et al., 2019). More nurses are retiring while only a few are employed, and this causes an imbalanced personnel ratio.
Recommendation
Some of the most appropriate actions that the healthcare sector can take towards solving the staffing problem include lifting the hiring freeze, increasing funds allocation, and departmental collaborations. Lifting the hiring freeze will allow the medical facilities to acquire adequate nurses, thereby maintaining the correct staff ratios. Additionally, the funds allocated for hiring new staff can be increased to secure more personnel, thus achieving appropriate nurse-patient ratios for the diverse departments (Amritzer et al., 2021). Collaborations between departments will help ensure the adequate distribution of nurses (Bakewell-Sachs et al., 2022). This will be facilitated by the variations in staff ratio requirements in various departments.
Conclusion
Nurse staffing ratios have been lacking in the medical sector, influencing patient safety. Factors impacting the nursing ratios include a hiring freeze, staff shortages, and budget cuts. Nonetheless, these challenges can be remedied by lifting the freeze on new hiring, increasing funds allocation, and officiating departmental collaborations to promote nurse circulation within the system to ensure proper staffing ratios.
References
Amritsar, M. A., Mountain, Å. Berg, L. M., & Göransson, K. E. (2021). Nursing staff ratio and skill mix in Swedish emergency departments: A national cross‐sectional benchmark study. Journal of nursing management, 29(8), 2594-2602. Web.
Bakewell-Sachs, S., Trautman, D., & Rossete, R. (2022). Addressing the nurse faculty shortage. American Nurse. Web.
Bostick, J. E., Rantz, M. J., Flesner, M. K., & Riggs, C. J. (2019). A systematic review of studies of staffing and quality in nursing homes. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 7(6), 366–376. Web.