Nurse understaffing is a significant bother for healthcare managers, as the shortage of frontline employees can be associated with a decrease in the quality of care. According to Metcalf et al. (2018), a high level of understaffing in healthcare settings is linked to the number of missed treatments in hospital settings. In other words, insufficient staffing of nurses leads to an increased number of scheduled procedures being overlooked. Additionally, understaffing is associated with an increased turnover rate of nurses, which can be related to a raised cost of care due to the need to replace employees (Wendsche et al., 2017). Therefore, nurse understaffing is an urgent issue that needs to be addressed to improve the quality of care.
The proposed quality measure for the problem is a nurse-to-patient ratio. According to National Nurses United (n.d.), the adequate ratio of nurses to patients in specialty care units is 1 to 4. Currently, the nurse-to-patient level in our facility is below the required level. Thus, it is crucial to improve the matter at your earliest convenience.
The issue of nurse understaffing can be addressed using the PDSA model. It is an interactive, four-stage problem-solving model used for improving a process or carrying out change. The model has confirmed its effectiveness in promoting change in the healthcare industry in the United States (Christoff, 2018). The model is the most suitable for the identified problem, as it is based on planning the change, implementing the plan, studying the results, and adjusting the actions according to the acquired knowledge. The application of the model can help to solve the problem of nurse understaffing, and having enough frontline personnel will help any accreditation initiative.
References
Christoff, P. (2018). Running PDSA cycles. Current problems in pediatric and adolescent health care, 48(8), 198-201.
National Nurses United. (n.d.). National Campaign for Safe RN-to-Patient Staffing Ratios. Web.
Metcalf, A., Wang, Y., & Habermann, M. (2018). Hospital unit understaffing and missed treatments: Primary evidence. Management Decision, 56(10), 2273-2286.
Wendsche, J., Hacker, W., & Wegge, J. (2017). Understaffing and registered nurses’ turnover: The moderating role of regular rest breaks. German Journal of Human Resource Management, 31(3), 238-259.