Introduction
People must have access to quality health care services because this is a basic need for survival. Modern lifestyles expose people to health risks and thus they have to seek medical assistance frequently. Health care practitioners must do their best to ensure the needs of patients are attended to without delay. The role of registered nurses is to offer services that promote good health, prevent diseases and ensure patients recover quickly (American Nurses Association 2009). However, some nurses fail to do their work properly and this compromises the quality of health care services given to patients. This discussion explores the economic impacts on an acute or chronic care environment when a registered nurse fails to follow best practices, policies and procedures in a healthcare facility.
Definitions
Acute care refers to short term treatments given to patients suffering from severe injuries caused by accidents or viral infections (Higgins 2013). Chronic care refers to the treatment given to patients suffering from a long term or existing illness. A registered nurse is a health specialist that has experience in this field and must be a graduate from a nursing institution that gives members of this profession licenses to offer their services (Brown and Kaplan 2012). Nurses are guided by health regulations that must be followed by all individuals to ensure they offer quality services to patients. In addition, these regulations ensure nurses have favorable working conditions and eliminate issues that may affect their roles in the provision of quality health care services (Tanner 2013). Health care institutions are allocated money that should meet their needs; therefore, nurses should ensure that they do not do anything that will make their facilities or patients to incur unnecessary expenses.
The Economic Impacts of Registered Nurses’ Negligence
Nurses play important roles in ensuring patients stay in health facilities for a short time. It is necessary to explain that they monitor the progress of patients and advise them on what to do to improve their conditions (Adams 2012). Therefore, they must be very careful in their evaluation to ensure they do not make hospitals to incur unnecessary costs. Nurses should not be negligent in their duties because this determines the stay of patients in health facilities. Patients suffering from chronic illnesses should be diagnosed properly to ensure nurses develop appropriate measures of managing their conditions (Tanner 2013). However, if they do not conduct proper diagnosis patients will stay in hospitals longer and this makes health care facilities to incur unnecessary expenses.
The health care sector in America is the second largest in terms of budgetary allocations and this means that this country is spending a lot of money in managing chronic and acute diseases. In addition, they should make follow ups and ensure patients take their drugs according to their prescriptions. However, patients will not recover quickly if nurses fail to monitor their progress regarding diets and drugs. Therefore, patients will be compelled to stay in hospitals for long because nurses fail to monitor their progress. This increases maintenance costs and exerts pressure on health care facilities’ abilities to offer quality services to patients (Higgins 2013).
Secondly, nurses prescribe drugs to patients and ensure they follow prescriptions that will help them to recover (Tanner 2013). Medical equipment and drugs are very expensive and patients must ensure they use them properly. Nurses responsible for making home and ward visits must examine their patients properly and give them correct prescriptions to ensure they do not mistake drugs and their uses. However, if they fail to conduct proper diagnosis patients will get wrong drugs and this will not help them (American Nurses Association 2009). They will be forced to make regular visits to health care facilities and when proper diagnoses are conducted they will be compelled to restart their treatment. Patients will waste a lot of drugs before they are diagnosed properly. Therefore, nurses must be very careful and thorough in their work to avoid exposing patients to unnecessary diagnoses. Drugs are very expensive and nurses must make sure they conduct proper diagnoses to reduce chances of offering wrong prescriptions (Higgins 2013). Most nations spend a lot of money to buy drugs and other medical equipment and if nurses are not responsible they will waste the resources of their countries. It is necessary to explain that nurses monitor how patients respond to drugs and thus they take necessary actions if they realize that there is no development in the recovery process. They should take responsibility for misuse of drugs if they do not prescribe other medical interventions that can improve patients’ recovery (Brown and Kaplan 2012). Therefore, they have a major role to play in ensuring that drugs are used according to their intended purpose and duration.
Thirdly, poor medical interventions portray shortage of staff and forces nations to allocate additional funds on the ministry of health and finance to cater for the needs of these facilities (Brown and Kaplan 2012). Nurses offer quality services to patients and improve the health conditions of their societies if they do their work according to their regulations. However, if they fail to do this there will be a perceived shortage of staff and this will compel relevant authorities to recruit additional workers to fill the gaps. This increases governments’ expenses and makes health care facilities to a lot of idle workers (American Nurses Association 2009). The cost of maintaining nurses on payroll increases and this lowers the abilities of nations to finance other projects. Patients may be forced to incur additional costs to increase the revenues of their country.
Lastly, patients and their families believe that nurses are professionals in health care provision. They follow nurses’ requests to ensure patients recover quickly even if this involves spending money to buy drugs or medical equipment (Higgins 2013). Nurses should not cheat or mislead patients or their families to buy what they do not need. They should ensure they do not compel patients to incur unnecessary expenses in purchasing medical equipment or drugs that are not required. The accuracy and validity of medical procedures determine the amount of money patients will spend to treat chronic and acute illnesses (Adams 2012). Therefore, there is the need for nurses to exercise professional conduct in ensuring that patients recover without incurring huge costs or making health facilities waste drugs, bed space and time when treating them.
Conclusion
Patients should stay in hospitals when it is necessary for them to do so. In addition, they should be given proper diagnoses to ensure they do not incur huge expenses on drugs or other medical equipment. Nurses should play their roles properly to ensure they do not create artificial shortages of workers because this forces nations to spend unnecessary money in recruiting employees. Therefore, nurses should follow best practices, policies and procedures to regulate the economic costs of an acute or chronic care environment.
References
Adams, D. N. (2012). Beyond the Bedside, Alternate Careers for the Registered Nurse. New York: DNA Publishing House.
American Nurses Association. (2009). Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice (Ana, Nursing Administration: Scope and Standards of Practice). New York: American Nurses Association Press.
Brown, M. A. and Kaplan, L. (2012). The Advanced Practice Registered Nurse as a Prescriber. Boston: Wiley-Blackwell.
Higgins, R. J. (2013). Behind Locked Doors: Human Warehouse: 1950 Insane Asylum and Memoir of a Man’s Registered Nurse Training. New York: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
Tanner, D. (2013). Exam Facts RN-BC Registered Cardiac Vascular Nurse Exam Study Guide: ANCC RN-BC Study Guide. New York: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.