NURS 6053 Review of current Healthcare Issues

NURS 6053 Review of current Healthcare Issues

NURS 6053 Review of current Healthcare Issues

Links to an external site.

 

Montero, A., Kearney, A., Hamel, L., & Brodie, M. (July 14, 2022). Americans’ Challenges with Health Care Costs. Kaiser Family Foundation. https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/americans-challenges-with-health-care-costs/

https://nursingmill.blog/nurs-6053-review-of-current-healthcare-issues/

Staffing shortages in the health care industry has become a significant issue and stressor all over the nation. Nurses work extremely hard and that is not a secret. With imminent staffing shortages in the health care profession and an increase in the volume of patients seeking care services, patient loads are increasing rapidly, thus making it difficult for nurses already short staff to manage all patient care needs effectively and efficiently (Bakhamis et al.,2019).

The United States has a massive nursing shortage, and the problem is only set to grow. Due to an influx of patients into our health system, the retirement of baby boomers, and educational bottlenecks, nursing positions are not being filled fast enough to keep up with demand (Xue et al., 2016). Nurses overworked and understaffed on the front lines. There are millions of registered and licensed practical nurses in the United States. Most of these nurses, however, are not happy and comfortable in their work, they are stress, overworked, underappreciated, and underutilized leading to significant impact on the delivery of care.

Impact on Work Setting

Staffing shortages can have a significant impact on the quality of work, on productivity, creativity, competitiveness, nursing care outcomes, and on ensuring patients’ safety (Norful et al., 2018). At my health care organization due to staffing shortage, nurses sometimes work long hours because other nurses calling in sick, running one to four hours late from working under very stressful conditions resulting in burnout, injury, fatigue, and job dissatisfaction. Nurses suffering in my health care facility delay treatments and make other mistakes due to the relationship of the nurse-to-patient ratio (Xue et al., 2016). An unfortunate outcome is that patient quality of care suffers, resulting in a variety of complications including emergency room overcrowding and delay of treatment.

Organizational Response and Changes Implemented

A range of solutions has been offered as a way to solve the nursing shortage in my health care organization from subsidized funding, hiring new nurses, wage increases, and contracting with nursing agencies for nurses to fill in periodically. My health care organization provides tuition for nurses seeking to advance their degree. In addition, resources have been allocated towards increasing wages which has affected recruitment as well as retention of Registered Nurses already in the facility.

Another important strategy to further address the nursing shortage is that, nurses are allowed scheduling flexibility and coverage. This has help nurses to juggle their busy work schedule with home life and educational opportunities, and also allows room for decompressing between stressful, emotionally demanding shifts and days of work.

Health care of the nation, and patients, in particular will benefit the most from adequate staffing and a healthy and well rested nurse because efficiency and productivity will increase, the number of work-related mistakes at the same time will reduce, sick leaves are going to be rare, shorter, and burnout will not occur often (Norful et al., 2018). By introducing said strategies, we would not only increase staffing in health care but equally, reduce the stress-related illness rate among nurses and would also significantly raise the quality of healthcare and patient outcomes.

Also Check Out: NURS 6053- Week 1 Discussion Review of Current Healthcare Issues

References

Bakhamis, L., Paul, D.P., Smith, H., & Coustasse, A. (2019). Still an Epidemic: The Burnout

Syndrome in Hospital Registered Nurses. Health Care Manag (Frederick); 38(1):3-10
Norful, A. A., de Jacq, K., Carlino, R., & Poghosyan, L. (2018). Nurse practitioner-physician
comanagement: A theoretical model to alleviate primary care strain. Annals of Family
Xue, Y., Ye, Z., Brewer, C., & Spetz, J. (2016). Impact of state nurse practitioner scope-of-
practice regulation on health care delivery: a systematic review. Nurs Outlook;
64(1):71-85.

Discussion: Review of Current Healthcare Issues

If you were to ask 10 people what they believe to be the most significant issue facing healthcare today, you might get 10 different answers. Escalating costs? Regulation? Technology disruption?
These and many other topics are worthy of discussion. Not surprisingly, much has been said in the research, within the profession, and in the news about these topics. Whether they are issues of finance, quality, workload, or outcomes, there is no shortage of changes to be addressed.
In this Discussion, you examine a national healthcare issue and consider how that issue may impact your work setting. You also analyze how your organization has responded to this issue.

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To Prepare:

• Review the Resources and select one current national healthcare issue/stressor to focus on.
• Reflect on the current national healthcare issue/stressor you selected and think about how this issue/stressor may be addressed in your work setting.

By Day 3 of Week 1

Post a description of the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected for analysis, and explain how the healthcare issue/stressor may impact your work setting. Then, describe how your health system work setting has responded to the healthcare issue/stressor, including a description of what changes may have been implemented. Be specific and provide examples.

Hello Ludmila, you have presented a significant healthcare issue of a lack of medical doctors specializing in psychiatric care for people with dual diagnoses. Statistics show that by the time we are in 2024, the psychiatric workforce is projected to be a low of 38,281, which is a shortage of 14,290 and 31,091 psychiatrists based on the population ratio (Satiani et al., 2018). Then, by 2050, the psychiatric shortage will be 17,705 (Satiani et al., 2018). Thus, this issue needs effective intervention to prevent its projections.

The lack of psychiatric care has significant negative impacts on healthcare, which leads to low access to mental health services. As Butyrin et al. (2017) expressed, two-thirds of primary healthcare providers experience difficulties in excess of refereeing patients to mental health services. Also, these primary physicians are sometimes forced to provide these mental health services to psychiatric shortages. As a result, this is associated with poorer treatment and perpetuating stigma regarding mental health issues (Minty et al., 2021). Therefore, there is a significant need to address this issue to improve access to mental health services and increase the quality of mental health services delivered.

An additional social determinant of health that contributes to this issue is age. Satiani et al. (2018) showed that more than half of the current psychiatric medical doctors would retire due to population growth, which will result in a continuance of the contracting workforce. Thus, if there is no intervention in this issue, there will be a significant shortage of psychiatrists in the country.

You have outlined significant solutions to this issue. Another significant solution is holding campaigns. Campaigns are crucial in attracting more candidates and encouraging them to pursue a profession (Wolters Kluwer, 2021. Significant ways of holding these campaigns include the use of social media, emphasizing career development in psychiatry, and creating job opportunities for a psychiatrist.

References

Butryn, T., Bryant, L., Marchionni, C., & Farhad Sholevar. (2017). The shortage of psychiatrists and other mental health providers: Causes, current state, and potential solutions. International Journal of Academic Medicine, 3(1), 5. https://doi.org/10.4103/IJAM.IJAM_49_17

Minty, Y., Moosa, M. Y. H., & Jeenah, F. Y. (2021). Mental illness attitudes and knowledge in non-specialist medical doctors working in state and private sectors. South African Journal of Psychiatry, 27. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajpsychiatry.v27i0.1592

Satiani, A., Niedermier, J., Satiani, B., & Svendsen, D. P. (2018). Projected workforce of psychiatrists in the United States: A population analysis. Psychiatric Services, 69(6), 710–713. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201700344

Wolters Kluwer. (2021, December). Ten recruiting strategies to attract nurses. Wolterskluwer.com. https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/expert-insights/ten-recruiting-strategies-to-attract-nurses#

By Day 6 of Week 1

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days who chose a different national healthcare issue/stressor than you selected. Explain how their chosen national healthcare issue/stressor may also impact your work setting and what (if anything) is being done to address the national healthcare issue/stressor.
Submission and Grading Information

Grading Criteria

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. I agree, the nursing shortage is a an extremely important issue that needs resolution. I had not heard of nursing students being given temporary licenses to work prior to reading your post. According to the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency, an executive order was placed in March of 2020 allowing for out-of-state practitioners, retired healthcare professionals, recent graduates, and graduate pharmacists to practice under temporary licenses (Indiana Professional Licensing Agency, n.d.).

I suppose, desperate times calls for desperate measures and during the pandemic, this was the case. With so many factors effecting the need of nursing professionals, the problem is sure to persist. Many issues continue to influence the need for healthcare providers such as, cost-containment pressures, hospital consolidation, reduction in inpatient hospitalization, increased acuity of hospital patients, and a shift in outpatient care from hospitals to ambulatory and community-based settings (Peterson, 2001). How do you think we as healthcare providers can contribute to promoting the healthcare profession and helping in times of shortage?

References:

Indiana Professional Licensing Agency. (n.d.). COVID-19 Temporary Healthcare Provider Registry. Retrieved September 15, 2022, from https://www.in.gov/pla/covid-19-temporary-healthcare-provider-registry/

Peterson, C. P. (2001). Nursing Shortage: Not a Simple Problem – No Easy Answers. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 6(1). Retrieved from https://ojin.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Volume62001/No1Jan01/ShortageProblemAnswers.html

________________________________________
Leadership Week 1 Peer Response 1
Kinner,

Staffing shortages are unfortunate and a problem across the nation. Research has shown again and again the negative impact of inadequate
staff on patient care. Nursing shortages result in increased serious patient safety events impacting hospital reimbursement (Blouin & Podjasek,
2019). In the intensive care unit I currently work, it is not uncommon to have a 3-1 patient ratio and the charge nurse having to take patients as
well as many nurses working overtime hours to try to alleviate the patient load. However, nurse burnout is imminent when there is not enough
staff leading to high nurse turnovers which can result in a financial loss to the hospital up to 7.86 million annually (Blouin & Podjasek, 2019). The
COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the need for sufficient staff and the dire impact of nursing shortages (Bell & Sheridan, 2020). The
intensive care units are overflowing with high acuity patients without the proper staff to care for them. The pandemic has also decreased the
number of staff available because of having nurses frequently out sick and quarantined with the Covid-19 virus. The organization I work for are
trying to alleviate the problem by utilizing emergency relief nurses funded by the government as well as offering financial incentives for full staff
employees to work extra. Historically, organizations have utilized outside agencies when staff was inadequate within the organization.
Unfortunately, when outside staff is used, critical components and elements of patient care tend to be left out (Blouin & Podjasek, 2019). The
COVID 19 pandemic has also exposed many other ongoing challenges that nurses face long-term including lack of child care and risks to
themselves and their families of contracting illnesses (Bell & Sheridan, 2020). Nurses face many challenges that ultimately lead to high turnover
rates for hospitals. Combatting the nursing shortage will take strategic planning and policy to keep nurses in healthcare and prevent short-term
burnout and high turnover rates for hospitals.

References

Bell, M., & Sheridan, A. (2020). How organizational commitment influences nurses’ intention to stay in nursing throughout their career.
International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances, 2, 100007. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnsa.2020.100007
Blouin, A., & Podjasek, K. (2019). The continuing saga of nurse staffing. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 49(4), 221–227.
https://doi.org/10.1097/nna.0000000000000741

Hi Tiffany,

Many thanks for your informative post, detailing the importance of addressing the staffing concerns and the impact to Nurses in the workplace. Your post analyzes the larger picture of the concern: deficits in both the available supplies for the number of bedside Nurses, and the impact to the communities we serve. Addressing this concern includes demonstrations of appreciation for our staff, who are exhausted by the demands of the role, and the ranks being stretched thin due to the increased work responsibilities in the inpatient setting, especially in light of the current pandemic situation, as many are working a lot of overtime and extra shifts.

As you’ve addressed so well here, this is indeed a very important issue. I appreciate the comments on how this is not a new concern but has certainly be exacerbated by the global pandemic situation which has increased the demands in work environments of care. With this situation in mind, what administrative policies might need to be reviewed to ensure staff retention for long-range planning? Just a thought-looking forward to hearing more ideas on this from others in our class.

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RE: Discussion – Week 1- Main Post
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I enjoyed reading your post. Staffing shortages seems to be an ongoing problem. This is a huge problem when it comes to patient and staff safety. It should be obvious to health care that when there is a nursing shortage, there is an increase in medical errors our negative outcomes. In 2006 California mandated that nurses will have no more than 5 patients on the medical floor. According to Patient Safety Network (PSNET), “The causal relationship between nurse-to-patient ratios and patient outcomes likely is accounted for by both increased workload and increased stress and risk of burnout for nurses” (PSNET, 2019).

On one of the hospital units where I work, we have a floor dedicated to older adults. At times we feel short staffed even though our numbers don’t look high but our acuity is really high. Some weeks we have older adults that are walkie talkies and then the next week we can hall all very high fall risks patients that are using walkers and wheelchairs. These are the days we feel short staffed and wish management would staff us according to acuity and not by a grid. During these stressful high acuity weeks, if a patient falls, we are called into a post fall meeting to meet with the CEO. One questions that is always asked is “what could you have done to prevent this fall”. This question to me is a bit passive aggressive. I have not been to this meeting but this is what my peers have told me. I believe that the question should be “what should we have done to prevent this fall”, talking as a team not as an individual. In the older adult units, these patients usually have a longer length of stay compared to our other behavioral floors. Longer lengths of stay usually can lead to a higher risks of falls especially on older adults that are on anti psychotic medications that may cause drowsiness. According to a study, there was an increased risks of falls for elderly people on anti psychotics, or benzodiazipines, leading to a more unsteady gait and balance instability (Jong, Elst, & Hartholt, 2013).

Jong, M. R., Elst, M. V., & Hartholt, K. A. (2013). Drug-related falls in older patients: Implicated drugs, consequences, and possible prevention strategies. Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety, 4(4), 147-154. doi:10.1177/2042098613486829
Pape, T. (n.d.). Nursing and Patient Safety. Retrieved December 4, 2020, from https://psnet.ahrq.gov/primer/nursing-and-patient-safety
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Response 1

This is a very interesting post you have here. I totally agree with you that hiring new nurses or bringing in travel nurses to relief nurses in the organization will be helpful to decrease nursing burnout and alleviate the stress of the nursing shortage. Nurse educators and leaders should also encourage the development and deployment of nursing personnel with skills appropriate to the health care system, the public, policy makers and the profession must engage in ongoing long-term workforce planning, regardless of the perceived or real pressures related to the short-term demand for nursing services (A.A.C.N, n.d.) When nurses are able to work regular hours with adequate rest and break, their productivity will be optimal and this will positively reflect on patient outcome.

I also believe that organizations can review their policies to utilize medical assistants for some non-technical nursing duties to help reduce the workload on nurses. Additional measures could also include introduction of financial incentive such as increase in wages to help encourage nurses in the face of additional work responsibilities. Other solutions suggested include encouraging efforts aimed at improving the public image of nursing through education and the use of the media to ensure increase in nursing education (Aboshaiqah, A, 2016).
In order to ensure good quality of care and uphold nursing working standards, nurse administrators should ensure that they take all necessary steps to avoid nursing shortages in their respective organizations.

References

(A.A.C. N, n.d.) Strategies to Reverse the New Nursing Shortage. Retrieved from https://www.aacnnursing.org/News-Information/Position-Statements-White-Papers/Reverse-Shortage.
Aboshaiqah, A, (2016). Strategies to address the nursing shortage in Saudi Arabia. International Nursing Review. Volume63, Issue 3. https://doi.org/10.1111/inr.12271

Morenike Olukoya.

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11 months ago
Pamela Frances Yanos
Response to Kinner
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Response #1 The Nursing Shortage

Great post Kinner. I cannot agree more. Nurses form the backbone of the healthcare system and according to recent a study by Rosenberg (2019), lower levels of RN staffing increase the risk of death during a hospital stay and increasing the number of nursing assistants cannot compensate for RN shortages.
We are currently very short-staffed at our facility, and management has tackled this issue by offering time and a half plus $30 to RNs willing to work overtime, bonuses to employees who are able to successfully refer a new hire RN to our hospital, and lastly by bringing in travel and agency RNs. Sadly, I cannot say that it has been fully effective as we still find ourselves struggling with an incomplete amount of staff on some days. With the continued spikes of COVID-19 infections has continued to stress and overwhelm hospitals and health systems nationally, we are at an exceptionally risky period for patient care and safety. The nursing shortage and the future of nursing education is in our hands and nurses should not miss the chance to serve as educators and inspire young people to foster a passion for the nursing profession which may be through shadowing programs or presentations at career fairs (Fisher et al., 2020).

References

Fisher, M., Walter, L., & Slade, J. (2020). A helping hand to promote nursing. Nursing, 50(8), 67–69. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.nurse.0000684248.99237.a4
Rosenberg, K. (2019). Rn shortages negatively impact patient safety. AJN, American Journal of Nursing, 119(3), 51. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.naj.0000554040.98991.23

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11 months ago
AFOLAKE OYINLOLA

RE: Discussion – Week 1- Main Post
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One of the most critical issues that health care is facing today