Feb 23, 2024 NURS 6053 Discussion Review of Current Healthcare Issues
NURS 6053 Discussion Review of Current Healthcare Issues
NURS 6053 Discussion Review of Current Healthcare Issues
Staffing Shortages as a National Health are Issue/Stressor
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 are millions of registered and licensed practical nurses in the United States. Most of these n). Nurses overworked and understaffed on the front lines. There urses, 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.
Struggling to Meet Your Deadline?
Get your assignment on NURS 6053 Discussion Review of Current Healthcare Issues done on time by medical experts. Don’t wait – ORDER NOW!
Meet my deadline
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.
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.
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.
Staffing Shortages as a National Health are Issue/Stressor
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.
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.
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
To access your rubric:
Week 1 Discussion Rubric
Click here to ORDER an A++ paper from our Verified MASTERS and DOCTORATE WRITERS: NURS 6053 Discussion Review of Current Healthcare Issues
Post by Day 3 and Respond by Day 6 of Week 1
To participate in this Discussion:
Week 1 Discussion
Module 1: Healthcare Environment (Weeks 1-2)
Laureate Education (Producer). (2018). The Healthcare Environment [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
Analyze current national healthcare issues/stressors
Analyze the impact of national healthcare issues/stressors on healthcare organizations
Analyze strategies for addressing national healthcare issues/stressors
Due By
Assignment
Week 1, Days 1–2
Read the Learning Resources.
Compose your initial Discussion post.
Week 1, Day 3
Post your initial Discussion post.
Begin to compose your Assignment.
Week 1, Days 4-5
Review peer Discussion posts.
Compose your peer Discussion responses.
Continue to compose your Assignment.
Week 1, Day 6
Post two peer Discussion responses.
Week 2, Days 1–6
Continue to compose your Assignment.
Week 2, Day 7
Deadline to submit your Assignment.
Learning Resources
Required Readings
Broome, M., & Marshall, E. S. (2021). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Springer.
Chapter 2, “Transformational Leadership: Complexity, Change, and Strategic Planning” (pp. 34–62)
Chapter 3, “Current Challenges in Complex Health Care Organizations and the Quadruple Aim” (pp. 66–97)
Read any TWO of the following (plus TWO additional readings on your selected issue):
Auerbach, D. I., Staiger, D. O., & Buerhaus, P. I. (2018). Growing ranks of advanced practice clinicians—Implications for the physician workforce. New England Journal of Medicine, 378(25), 2358–2360.
Gerardi, T., Farmer, P., & Hoffman, B. (2018). Moving closer to the 2020 BSN-prepared workforce goal. American Journal of Nursing, 118(2), 43–45.
Jacobs, B., McGovern, J., Heinmiller, J., & Drenkard, K. (2018). Engaging employees in well-being: Moving from the Triple Aim to the Quadruple Aim. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 42(3), 231–245.
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 Medicine, 16(3), 250–256.
Palumbo, M., Rambur, B., & Hart, V. (2017). Is health care payment reform impacting nurses’ work settings, roles, and education preparation? Journal of Professional Nursing, 33(6), 400–404.
Park, B., Gold, S. B., Bazemore, A., & Liaw, W. (2018). How evolving United States payment models influence primary care and its impact on the Quadruple Aim. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 31(4), 588–604.
Pittman, P., & Scully-Russ, E. (2016). Workforce planning and development in times of delivery system transformation. Human Resources for Health, 14(56), 1–15. doi:10.1186/s12960-016-0154-3. Retrieved from
https://human-resources-health.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s12960-016-0154-3
Poghosyan, L., Norful, A., & Laugesen, M. (2018). Removing restrictions on nurse practitioners’ scope of practice in New York state: Physicians’ and nurse practitioners’ perspectives. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 30(6), 354–360.
Ricketts, T., & Fraher, E. (2013). Reconfiguring health workforce policy so that education, training, and actual delivery of care are closely connected. Health Affairs, 32(11), 1874–1880.
Required Media
Laureate Education (Producer). (2015). Leading in Healthcare Organizations of the Future [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
The national healthcare issue that I want to bring to attention is nursing shortages. Nursing shortages have been around for a long time, but they have now reached critical levels in many countries including the US. Nursing shortages have been affecting the whole country, there are currently 7.3 million nurse shortages globally. The 2020 State of the World’s Nursing report by the World Health Organization evidenced that, by 2030, there will be a critical global shortage of 5.7 million nurses. To help all countries deal with nursing shortages by 2030, the WHO estimates that 8% more nurses need to graduate annually and be supported to be employed and retained in the profession (Marc, 2021). Many nurses are burnt out and exhausted by their work, and the threat of greater attrition is real because of the pandemic.
Nursing shortages lead to errors, higher morbidity, and mortality rates. In hospitals with high patient-to-nurse ratios, nurses experience burnout, and dissatisfaction and the patients experienced higher mortality and failure-to-rescue rates than in facilities with lower patient-to-nurse ratios (Heinz, 2018). shortage of nurses leads to an increase in the workload of the existing workforce, which results in a predictable increase in medication errors. Close to half of all nurses employed have admitted to committing a medication error in the past year.
Errors may range from infusing medicines at the wrong rate (most common) to giving the wrong medicine or mixing up medicines between patients, which easily can result in fatal consequences (Ghafoor et al., 2021). I work in a behavioral health facility, and we are faced with staff shortages daily leaving the whole team with an extra workload, leaving the house supervisor to multitask pretty much doing two people’s work. This causes a delay in medication administration, delays in sending patients to lunch on time, delays in activity, and group which affects all the units in the hospital.
Our hospital changed the shift schedule, we used to have 12 hours shift now the facility is offering eight hours and 12 hours shifts making it durable for nurses and aims to reduce burnout. The organization is also offering bonuses to those individuals who sign on to become nurses and to pick up shifts in case of shortages. Major investment in nursing by governments needs to occur to enable millions more nurses to graduate and to ensure positions for them are established and sustained. Nurses around the world need to collaborate and work closely across borders and regions to gather evidence about the profession to inform policy and investment decisions. Nursing leaders and educators have key roles to play to help overcome nursing shortages. Many nursing organizations, scholars, and leaders have recognized the ongoing and deleterious effects of nursing shortages on positive patient outcomes and health service provision, as well as the potential to further exacerbate shortfalls in the profession (Bourgault, 2022). Quite simply, if nurses must work in situations of nursing shortages, they are more likely to be overworked, exhausted and leave nursing.
References
Bourgault, A. M. (2022). The Nursing Shortage and Work Expectations Are in Critical Condition: Is Anyone Listening? Critical Care Nurse, 42(2), 8–11. https://doi.org/10.4037/ccn2022909
Ghafoor, Y., Yaqoob, M. A., Bilal, M. A., & Ghafoor, M. S. (2021). Impact of nurse shortage on patient care. Saudi J Nurs Heal Care, 4(4), 114-9. https:// 10.36348/sjnhc.2021.v04i04.003114-9. https:// 10.36348/sjnhc.2021.v04i04.003
Heinz, D. (2018). Hospital nurse staffing and patient outcomes: a review of current literature. Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing, 23(1), 44-50. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rzh&AN=106723823&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Marc, M., Bartosiewicz, A., Burzynska, J., Chmiel, Z., & Januszewicz, P. (2021). A nursing shortage – a prospect of global and local policies. International Nursing Review, 66(1), 9 16. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/http://dx.doi.org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1111/inr.12473
Nurses work in different settings with varying work demands, support mechanisms, and approaches to work. Regardless of these differences, healthcare stressors are part of everyday work. These stressors are usually workplace challenges widespread in the United States that hamper nurses’ ability to deliver timely and effective care (Rose et al., 2021). The nursing shortage is a prevalent national stressor with far-reaching effects on patient care. It is characterized by higher demand for nurses than the current supply.
The effects of the nursing shortage witnessed in other organizations may be experienced in my work setting. As Shah et al. (2021) explained, the nursing shortage is a leading cause of burnout among nurses. It increases the nurse-patient ratio implying that nurses are overworked and may lack time for self-care and other activities that enhance commitment to work. Shah et al. (2021) further observed that nurses experiencing burnout are more likely to commit medical errors than nurses working within the standard nurse-patient ratios. Errors risk patient safety and damage patients’ trust in healthcare providers. Burnout triggers turnover and increases an organization’s management costs since replacing nurses is costly.
To avert the damaging effects of the nursing shortage, healthcare organizations should implement robust strategies, both staff-centered and organization-wide. My healthcare setting has responded to the nursing shortage through continuous supervision of staff, motivation programs, and formulating policies that prevent work overload. As Lee and Lee (2022) noted, nurse motivation is critical to creating a positive work atmosphere and retaining nurses. The same perspective guides the management when developing and implementing motivation programs. Regarding the changes that may have been implemented, nurses need mental strength to cope with the increasing workload. As a result, the management should invest more in coping programs and organize appropriate training initiatives to improve nurses’ resilience.
References
Lee, J. Y., & Lee, M. H. (2022). Structural model of retention intention of nurses in small-and medium-sized hospitals: Based on Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene theory. Healthcare, 10(3), 502. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10030502
Rose, S., Hartnett, J., & Pillai, S. (2021). Healthcare worker’s emotions, perceived stressors and coping mechanisms during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS One, 16(7), e0254252. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254252
Shah, M. K., Gandrakota, N., Cimiotti, J. P., Ghose, N., Moore, M., & Ali, M. K. (2021). Prevalence of and factors associated with nurse burnout in the US. JAMA Network Open, 4(2), e2036469-e2036469. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.36469
Response 1
It is a fact that the cost of healthcare at both the organizational and national levels is astonishing. The US has an advanced healthcare system and is the largest spender in healthcare. This is a financial burden to the citizens, and even the average household, who bear the brunt of sharing the cost as organizations and pharmaceutical companies make the profits. Furthermore, with the focus on disease prevention and health promotion, there is added expense of implementing new healthcare technologies (Epistein et al., 2014).
The Accountable Care Organization (ACO) intended to shift the provision of health services from an emphasis on volume to a focus on value, initiating the rising cost (Hofler & Ortiz 2016). Healthcare services are also provided to people who cannot afford healthcare costs, draining hospital resources. The Affordable Care Act created new pathways to health coverage by expanding Medicaid. Yet, nearly 4 million people can’t get covered because they live in states that refuse to expand Medicaid. Hence there is no doubt that the alarming number of Americans facing anxiety over the cost of insurance and healthcare bills leads to another problem.
Epstein, A. M., Jha, A. K., Orav, E. J., Liebman, D. L., Audet, A.-M. J., Zezza, M. A., & Guterman, S. (2014). Analysis Of Early Accountable Care Organizations Defines Patient, Structural, Cost, And Quality-Of-Care Characteristics. Health Affairs, 33(1), 95–102. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2013.1063
Links to an external site.
Hofler, R. A., & Ortiz, J. (2016). Costs of accountable care organization participation for primary care providers: early-stage results. BMC Health Services Research, 16https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-016-1556-6
Links to an external site.
United States : FACT SHEET: Biden-?Harris Administration Lowers Health Care Costs. (2021, August 11). Mena Report.
Rising healthcare costs and the increasing number of Americans that cannot afford health insurance are national healthcare issues affecting our profession and the healthcare system. Not only does this issue affect those uninsured but also those insured as Montero et al. (2022) mention that “about one-third of insured adults worry about affording their monthly health insurance premium, and 44% worry about affording their deductible before health insurance kicks in” (para. 6). The alarming number of Americans facing anxiety over the cost of insurance and healthcare bills leads to another problem: not seeking care until the illness or disease is so severe it requires an emergency room visit or hospitalization.
While working in the inpatient department of a hospital makes it challenging to address uninsured patients before they are admitted for severe problems, we can make an effort to help them going forward. Social workers are a huge benefit to the healthcare system, as their communication with patients and community connections can drastically change patient outcomes during and after hospitalization. Nurses and social workers must work collaboratively to ensure the best options are offered to meet the patient’s home, medical, and financial needs. Social workers often must have difficult conversations with patients to better the patient’s health and lifestyle (GBMC Healthcare, 2022).
At my facility, the patient population is no different. We aim to ensure a social worker is assigned to assess every patient in the hospital. The social worker makes recommendations based on the patients’ needs and educates the patient on the importance of acquiring insurance, ensuring a safe home environment, and offering assist
Order a similar assignment, and have writers from our team of experts write it for you, guaranteeing you an A
