Introduction
In recent years, one of the most acute problems on a global scale, as well as in the United States, has become a shortage of medical personnel. The mid-level medical staff, such as nurses, usually have direct contact with the patients for a long time, therefore, they experience most of the positive and negative effects of the patient-nurse communication. One of the main nurse’s tasks is to create a comfortable atmosphere that would help the patient to heal better by establishing a trustworthy and respectful relationship with them. The nurse acts both independently and in collaboration with other healthcare professionals to meet the health needs of the community and individual patients. The purpose of this practice improvement presentation is to discuss the issue of unsafe staffing ratios in the ICU at Kendall Regional Hospital. It will analyze the growing need for ICU medical personnel, identify existing problems, and formulate recommendations for their elimination. Currently, the nurse-patient ratios at Kendall Regional Hospital’s ICU present a significant problem as the shortage of nurses affects the quality of care and patient outcomes. A practice improvement is necessary to bring the staffing ratios to national standards and ensure employee retention in the hospital.
Problem Evidence
Healthcare institutions such as hospitals are annually replenished with young specialists. The influx of young professionals from among university graduates to the state healthcare institutions provides the majority of working staff in the industry. However, the amount of new nurses and doctors coming into the healthcare industry does not cover the loss of specialists. There remains a high demand for medical personnel, and the imbalance between the number of patients and amount of nurses is acute. The health care workers who have to endure years of emotionally intense work show high levels of anxiety, as well as a tendency to depression. These conditions are often accompanied by the use of various sedatives, drugs, and alcohol abuse, which only contributes to the further destabilization of the patient-nurse relationship due to the nurse’s improper mental state. The current lack of personnel in the healthcare sector is caused by a low influx of young professionals into the industry, low wages, and a rather demanding working environment. Kendall Regional Hospital experienced this issue especially acute at the ICU unit, as the shortage of nurses prompted unsafe staffing ratios.
Proposed Practice Improvement
To solve the problem of personnel shortage of medical workers, a set of specific measures was developed for the Kendall Regional Hospital. The improvement aims at reducing the workload of the nurses through the rearrangement of the working schedule and provision of mental health support. Moreover, local colleges and universities that offer nursing education can provide additional personnel by allowing future nurses to train at Kendall Regional Hospital. Finally, the list of procedures and visits must be revised to ensure that nurses are not burdened with non-essential and time-consuming work.
Results
The results show that the practice improvement has served its purposes: the patient outcomes were improved, and the staffing ratios were brought to a level closer to the national standard. Moreover, the introduction of nurses in training provides opportunities for sharing experiences and engaging in educational activities for employed nurses. Creating a more comfortable and open environment facilitates work contentment and employee retention.
Conclusion
First of all, it is recommended to revise the existing training programs for young specialists in accordance with the latest educational standards, offering online training modules and interprofessional education opportunities. Interprofessional education refers to the practice where healthcare workers from different fields can engage in each other’s education. Shinners (2019) explains that “during formal continuing education, conventional patterns remained – physicians would educate physicians, and nurses educated nurses” (p. 191). However, in that case, it can be suggested that doctors and nurses exchange their experiences too – it could lead to a greater amount of useful insights for both parties. Another partnering educational practice that could be useful is shared faculty – a setting, in which a nurse operates both as a clinical assistant and an academic educator. Shinners (2019) states that “it helps to introduce clinical nurses to the role of adjunct faculty who can maintain clinical competence while teaching others, and provides a closer connection between clinical practice and academia” (p. 191). A national standard of staffing must be enforced in the hospital’s ICU unit, meaning that the staffing ratios must adhere to the 1 nurse per 2 patients condition. As part of this improvement, the hospital should expand its human resources, attracting new and young specialists to work here. Increasing nursing salaries and providing social support is recommended for the hospital to develop its attractiveness for future healthcare workers.
References
Shinners, J. (2019). Continuing Education and Professional Development: Making the Connection. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 50(5), 191–192. Web.