In your new job as a leader in a nursing department, you want to prepare yourself for any situation that may occur. You take time to review your relevant experiences and some of the laws that will affect your actions.
Staffing levels vary from work environment to work environment and depend on the type of nursing—from intensive care to long-term care. Discuss the following:
Describe a situation when you were short-staffed.
How did you handle the situation?
What was the outcome?
Reflecting on the outcome, how would you have handled this situation differently?
Some states mandate staffing levels; others do not. Discuss the following:
What type of legislation exists in your state regarding nurse-to-patient staffing ratios?
How does the legislation, or lack thereof, affect patient care?
(for reference I am an operating room nurse)
Unit 2 Discussion Board
Nurse leaders play a crucial role in addressing the situations that their organizations and departments undergo. When addressing different situations, nurse leaders must adhere to relevant laws and policies. For example, nurse leaders must adhere to the staffing levels mandated by their states and facilities when faced with staff shortages (Schlak et al., 2022). Therefore, it is imperative for nurse leaders to understand the legislation that exist in their states regarding nurse-to-patient nursing ratios.
The healthcare organization occasionally faces some challenges including staff shortages that require the intervention of the nurse leader. A situation when the surgical department was short-staffed was during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the early stages of the pandemic, there was a high turnover rate among operating room nurses due to fear of contracting the disease. The organization had not secured adequate personal protective equipment (PPEs) at this time. The nurse leader of the surgical department worked with the organization to purchase enough PPEs and hire additional operating room nurses. According to Lotfi et al. (2022), creating a safe environment reduced turnover intention among perioperative room nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Purchasing adequate PPEs and hiring additional operating room nurses reduced turnover and enhanced retention among operating room nurses. Based on this outcome, the nurse leader would have handled the situation differently by providing PPEs early enough before the nurses left the organization. The reason is that retaining current nurses is always cost-effective and more advantageous than hiring new ones.
My state has enacted laws that govern nurse-to-patient staffing ratios. As outlined in state laws, the nurse-to-patient staffing ratios are as follows; 1:2 in critical care units, 1:4 in emergency rooms, and 1:5 in general medical-surgical units (Sharma & Rani, 2020). The legislation has improved patient care in the surgical department by ensuring that every patient receives quality and safe care (Schlak et al., 2022). Nurse leaders within the state must adhere to these laws when determining the most appropriate staffing levels in their departments.
References
Lotfi, M., Akhuleh, O. Z., Judi, A., & Khodayari, M. (2022). Turnover intention among operating room nurses during the COVID-19 outbreak and its association with perceived safety climate. Perioperative Care and Operating Room Management, 26, 100233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcorm.2021.100233
Schlak, A. E., Rosa, W. E., Rushton, C. H., Poghosyan, L., Root, M. C., & McHugh, M. D. (2022). An expanded institutional- and national-level blueprint to address nurse burnout and moral suffering amid the evolving pandemic. Nursing Management, 53(1), 16–27. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NUMA.0000805032.15402.b3
Sharma, S. K., & Rani, R. (2020). Nurse-to-patient ratio and nurse staffing norms for hospitals in India: A critical analysis of national benchmarks. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 9(6), 2631–2637. https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_248_20