Dicussion reponses module 2

By Day 6 of Week 3

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by providing additional thoughts about competing needs that may impact your colleagues selected issues, or additional ideas for applying policy to address the impacts described.

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Le’na Longo RE: Discussion – Week 3

COLLAPSE

     Jeongyi, I completely agree that an appropriate nurse to patient ratio would help alleviate a large issue we have with nurses wanting to leave the bedside before retirement. One of the most significant factors that contribute to the difficulty in both recruiting and retaining registered nurses is the care environment (Peterson, 2020). I also believe the mental health of nurses should be considered by more facilities. Having a safer patient ratio would give nurses the proper time emotionally with each patient making their care more individualized rather than a checklist of tasks to get completed before the end of shift. Nurse burnout used to be considered an individual issue although now majority of facilities have acknowledged it is a systemic problem that plagues most nurses. When burnout occurs, depression, anxiety, risky substance abuse, physical fatigue, and workplace incivility tend to follow (Melnyk, 2021).

References

Melnyk, B. (2021, January 8). Promoting Nurse Mental Health. American Nurse. https://www.myamericannurse.com/promoting-nurse-mental-health/

Peterson, C. (2020). Nursing Shortage: Not a Simple Problem – No Easy Answers. OJIN, 6(1). https://ojin.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Volume62001/No1Jan01/ShortageProblemAnswers.html

Breanna Maurer 

RE: Discussion – Week 3

COLLAPSE

       Often times choices are needed to be made by nursing leadership between limited resources and competing needs and this can create an ethical dilemma. As nurses we are usually taught about ethical dilemmas but ethical awareness can be lacking (Milliken, 2018). Ethical awareness involves the realization that every action taken as a nurse has the potential to impact the patient (Milliken, 2018). Having ethical awareness when considering the needs of the workforce, the available resources, and the patients can have an impact on policy development. The lack of adequate staff needs to be taken into consideration when creating policy around staffing of the workforce. The availability of resources and how quickly they can be obtained affects policy development as well. Lastly, the acuity of the patients, which is ever-changing, plays a large role when creating policy, especially for staffing purposes. 

 Nurses have the desire to provide the highest quality care but are challenged to do so in an environment where adequate staffing is not provided. Working in this kind of environment creates frustration and a sense of powerlessness for nursing staff (Kelly & Poor, 2018). One major issue that contributes to the staffing shortage is the ongoing decline in faculty to prepare nursing students. During 2014 to 2015 there were 68,936 applicants for nursing programs that were declined entry due to faculty shortages (Marshall & Broome, 2021). Just as acute care hospitals are lacking staff to maintain safe patient assignments, schools are lacking adequately trained staff to prepare more nursing students. An interesting way to address both of these staffing issues could be a change in education policy. If students were able to go straight into their subject of study after high school they could complete school quicker and we could build the workforce of both educators for student nurses as well as the amount of bedside nurses. Now, students spend at least two years in general education courses that do not contribute to their skill set as a nurse educator or a bedside nurse. This lengthens the amount of time to get students through school. Overall, staffing of nurses both in education and at the bedside is an important issue that needs to be further addressed to prevent it from becoming worse. 

References 

Kelly, P., & Poor, C. (2018, January). Ethical nursing care versus cost containment: Considerations to enhance RN Practice. http://ojin.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol-23-2018/No1-Jan-2018/Ethical-Nursing-Cost-Containment.html. 

Marshall, E. S., & Broome, M. (2021). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader. Springer Publishing Company, LLC. 

Milliken, A. (2018, January). Ethical awareness: What it is and why it matters. http://ojin.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol-23-2018/No1-Jan-2018/Ethical-Awareness.html.