Addressing Nursing Staffing Shortages: A Critical Issue for Patient and Nurse Safety

Abstract

English 122 April 18, 2021 A problem faced by the Nursing Community My community is based on my line of work. I work at a nursing home as a receptionist. My job is to welcome visitors or patients, receive and enlighten on inquiries as well as record ongoing day-to-day activities. Also, I help with discharges for the patients. Nursing origins can be traced from as early as halfway through the 19th Century. Professional nursing then commences with a daughter of two rich British parents, Florence Nightingale) (Stanhope 5). Florence, well educated, goes against all social odds and makes a firm decision of becoming a nurse. In terms of size, nurses are considered, within the social-based health provision, to be the largest group for service (Stanhope 3). A nurse works in a variety of roles to help patients at home in a bid of preventing evitable admission to hospitals and expedite well-timed remittance. The problem in my community is the working conditions to which nurses are exposed to. Chiefly, these conditions are poor and often make work almost unbearable for most nurses. The poorness in the conditions of work in the nursing community is what gives birth to other specified problems that nurses face in their day-to-day work inclusive of violence at the place of work, not enough staffing, overtime that is mandatory, and safety on the job, just to give as examples. Therefore, poor working conditions are the main cause of almost all other problems facing the nursing community, and its rectification can be the potential solution to almost all nursing-related problems. Inadequate recruitment, a problem faced by the nursing community is a result of poor conditions of work. Therefore, one of the characteristics showing that the working conditions of a nurse are poor is when the workplace has inadequately recruited staff. Inadequate recruitment of staff is common in many occupations. When it occurs in these other professions, it is usually a small inconvenience to the workers, which may at times be manageable. However, the issue of inadequate staffing in the nursing profession can result in a big mantle to carry for nurses. “Inappropriate staffing levels can not only threaten patient health and safety, and lead to the greater complexity of care, but also impact on RNs’ health and safety by increasing nurse pressure, fatigue, injury rate, and ability to provide safe care” (ANA 13). The above is a statement from the American Nurses Association (ANA) explaining how important an appropriate level of staffing is to any nursing community. It is in their explanations that consequences such as the harm to the patient’s health as well as the continuous complexity of care are at stake due to inadequate levels of staffing. Also, the association addresses the impact of inadequate recruitment on the health and workability of registered nurses, claiming implications such as the rate of injury, fatigue, pressure as well as the ability to provide safe care. Therefore, if this environment is changed, the nursing community is equally saved. Another predicament gone through by the nursing community is overtime that is compulsory, and is a result of poor workplace conditions. Overtime involves working additional hours, other than the normal designated hours of work, either for additional pay or as staff practice. Chiefly, this is a practice that leaves most of the nurses involved fatigued, yet these are personnel expected to give optimum service to a critical type of people - patients, day in day out. Therefore, that implies the environment set for work in the nursing community is poor, expecting a bigger workload to be completed in reliance on a depleted force. There have been reports across the nation by several nurses concerning the issue of overtime. In addressing the matter, the American Nurses Association states, “This dangerous staffing practice, in part due to a nursing shortage, is harming patient care, fostering medical errors, and driving nurses away from the bedside” (ANA 14). Following the implication of the statement, the association is on the lookout for correcting this matter. The workplace environment should therefore be made suitable for the nursing community as the imposition of overtime hinders collaboration between workers. Safety on the job, similarly another problem faced by the nursing community is as an outcome of poor conditions of the workplace. To create a safe environment for work, several factors have to be combined. In a bid to create an environment that is safe for work, the American Nurses Association came up with initiatives that included handling of patients safely, as well as needles. Exclusively, these two safety measurements were to ensure reduction of back injuries while handling patients as well as needlestick injuries during work by nursing staff. The American Nurses Association states that “While the majority of sharps injuries involve nursing staff, laboratory staff, physicians, housekeepers, and other health care workers can also be at risk and need protection” (ANA 13). The statement...