NURS 6053 ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES AND PRACTICES TO SUPPORT HEALTHCARE ISSUES
Walden University NURS 6053 ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES AND PRACTICES TO SUPPORT HEALTHCARE ISSUES – Step-By-Step Guide
This guide will demonstrate how to complete the Walden University NURS 6053 ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES AND PRACTICES TO SUPPORT HEALTHCARE ISSUES assignment based on general principles of academic writing. Here, we will show you the A, B, Cs of completing an academic paper, irrespective of the instructions. After guiding you through what to do, the guide will leave one or two sample essays at the end to highlight the various sections discussed below.
How to Research and Prepare for NURS 6053 ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES AND PRACTICES TO SUPPORT HEALTHCARE ISSUES
Whether one passes or fails an academic assignment such as the Walden University NURS 6053 ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES AND PRACTICES TO SUPPORT HEALTHCARE ISSUES depends on the preparation done beforehand. The first thing to do once you receive an assignment is to quickly skim through the requirements. Once that is done, start going through the instructions one by one to clearly understand what the instructor wants. The most important thing here is to understand the required format—whether it is APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.
After understanding the requirements of the paper, the next phase is to gather relevant materials. The first place to start the research process is the weekly resources. Go through the resources provided in the instructions to determine which ones fit the assignment. After reviewing the provided resources, use the university library to search for additional resources. After gathering sufficient and necessary resources, you are now ready to start drafting your paper.
How to Write the Introduction for NURS 6053 ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES AND PRACTICES TO SUPPORT HEALTHCARE ISSUES
The introduction for the Walden University NURS 6053 ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES AND PRACTICES TO SUPPORT HEALTHCARE ISSUES is where you tell the instructor what your paper will encompass. In three to four statements, highlight the important points that will form the basis of your paper. Here, you can include statistics to show the importance of the topic you will be discussing. At the end of the introduction, write a clear purpose statement outlining what exactly will be contained in the paper. This statement will start with “The purpose of this paper…” and then proceed to outline the various sections of the instructions.
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How to Write the Body for NURS 6053 ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES AND PRACTICES TO SUPPORT HEALTHCARE ISSUES
After the introduction, move into the main part of the NURS 6053 ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES AND PRACTICES TO SUPPORT HEALTHCARE ISSUES assignment, which is the body. Given that the paper you will be writing is not experimental, the way you organize the headings and subheadings of your paper is critically important. In some cases, you might have to use more subheadings to properly organize the assignment. The organization will depend on the rubric provided. Carefully examine the rubric, as it will contain all the detailed requirements of the assignment. Sometimes, the rubric will have information that the normal instructions lack.
Another important factor to consider at this point is how to do citations. In-text citations are fundamental as they support the arguments and points you make in the paper. At this point, the resources gathered at the beginning will come in handy. Integrating the ideas of the authors with your own will ensure that you produce a comprehensive paper. Also, follow the given citation format. In most cases, APA 7 is the preferred format for nursing assignments.
How to Write the Conclusion for NURS 6053 ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES AND PRACTICES TO SUPPORT HEALTHCARE ISSUES
After completing the main sections, write the conclusion of your paper. The conclusion is a summary of the main points you made in your paper. However, you need to rewrite the points and not simply copy and paste them. By restating the points from each subheading, you will provide a nuanced overview of the assignment to the reader.
How to Format the References List for NURS 6053 ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES AND PRACTICES TO SUPPORT HEALTHCARE ISSUES
The very last part of your paper involves listing the sources used in your paper. These sources should be listed in alphabetical order and double-spaced. Additionally, use a hanging indent for each source that appears in this list. Lastly, only the sources cited within the body of the paper should appear here.
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Sample Answer for NURS 6053 ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES AND PRACTICES TO SUPPORT HEALTHCARE ISSUES
While it is important to find balance between safe patient care and the needs of an organization, it can be a challenge. Competing needs, such as the needs of patients, workforce, and resources may impact the development of a policy because the competing needs should coincide and be in agreement with what the policy is advocating for. There may be conflicting aspects, for example, what is best for the patient may not be best for resources or costs, and what may be best for resources and costs, may not be what’s best for the workforce and healthcare staff. When a new policy is being considered, it’s satisfactory to find a “happy medium” of what will benefit all parties. This takes a lot of time, planning, and input from different stakeholders including patients, healthcare workers, management, the financial and planning department, etc.
It’s vital for nursing staff to reach out and not only advocate for patients, but also themselves, when pushing for an agenda and/or creation of new policy. Many nurses voice frustration due to a sense of powerlessness of inability to change their current situation and work encouragement. Working in a restructured healthcare system often leads to nurses’ professional knowledge being undermined, leading to internal conflict and tension. Nurses staying silent about their current circumstances may lead to pent-up frustration, which is harmful for themselves, and also the nursing professional as a whole, as this can further lead to outbursts of displaced aggression (Kelly & Porr, 2018). Ways that nurses can get involved with policy include participating in state and national nursing association, such as the American Nurses Association, attending legislative sessions, participating on national boards, building relationships with state lawmakers, collaborating with lobbyists, subscribing to legislative notifications, contributing to evidence-based data, running for office, educating the general public about policies and processes, and lastly, supporting a local candidate whose views best align with the needs of the healthcare system (Morris, 2023).
The healthcare issue I have chosen to discuss throughout this course is lack of mental health resources. Two competing needs for this topic include safe nurse to patient ratios and nurses’ mental health and well-being. As mentioned, there is a shortage of mental health resources, which means that there are patients that are not getting the care they need for their mental health issues. Patients are even turned away for admission to inpatient mental health units due to the unit being understaffed. An individual that doesn’t work in healthcare, may think, “Why don’t we just admit patients that need mental health to the inpatient mental health unit, and the nurse will just have a busy day and have to take on more patients than usual”. Some facilities have done this, and nursing staff will have nine to ten patients to take care of on their own. One may initially see this as a beneficial idea, as more patients are getting access to care which may address the lack of mental health resources, but this is incorrect. The safe nurse to patient ratio for psychiatric care is one nurse for four patients (National Nurses United, 2023). Overloading one nurse with too many patients, also referred to as unsafe staffing ratios, is so dangerous, as it leads to an increase in medication errors, changes in patient condition are more likely to be missed, and safety checks can be delayed, resulting in increased risk of patient suicide on the unit (Phillips et al., 2021). The Code of Ethics for Nurses, code 3.4, discusses that nurses have a responsibility in promoting a culture of safety, and nurses should use the chain of authority when an issue has grown beyond their control, such as unsafe nurse-to-patient ratios (American Nurses Association, 2015)
In hopes of combating the issue of lack of mental health resources, nurses are often required to work long shifts, which include overtime. Patients struggling with mental health issues can also be verbally and physically abusive to healthcare staff. The combination of working in stressful conditions along with extended hours can result in an increase in anxiety and depression in nursing staff. In 2021, 22% of healthcare workers reported experienced moderate depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder in a collective analysis of 65 studies, 69% of physicians reported experiencing depression and 13% had thoughts of suicide, and nurses and frontline workers reported more severe psychological symptoms than other health workers (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022).
The impacts of these competing needs would ultimately result in an even further lack of mental health resources due to mass exodus of nursing staff leaving the field. 32% of nurses reported that they planned on leaving the nursing profession in the next year due to the emotional toll and challenging work conditions they were facing (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). Policy might address these competing needs by setting safe nurse-to-patient ratios into law, which would allow nursing staff to provide safe and effective care to patients while not feeling overwhelmed and prematurely becoming facing burn-out. This will allow for nursing staff to stay in the nursing profession which helps to combat the shortage of nursing. Also, policy could mandate for organizations to provide healthcare workers with no-cost mental health resources for themselves to take action against the increased mental illness symptoms in healthcare workers.
References
American Nurses Association. (2015). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements. https://www.nursingworld.org/coe-view-onlyLinks to an external site.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Health worker mental health. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/newsroom/feature/health-worker-mental-health.htmlLinks to an external site.
Kelly, P., & Porr, C. (2018). Ethical nursing care versus cost containment: Considerations to exchange RN practice. OJIN: Online Journal of Nursing, 23(1), Manuscript 6. doi:10.3912/OJIN.Vol23No01Man06.
Morris, G. (2023). 10 ways nurses can get involved with policy. https://nursejournal.org/articles/ways-nurses-can-get-involved-in-policy/#:~:text=Nurses%20can%20help%20interpret%20research,politicians%20can%20confirm%20your%20informationLinks to an external site..
National Nurses United. (2023). National safe RN-to-patient staffing ratios. https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/ratiosLinks to an external site.
Phillips, J., Malliaris, A., & Bakerjian, D. (2021). Nursing and patient safety. Agency for Healthcare and Research Quality. https://psnet.ahrq.gov/primer/nursing-and-patient-safetyLinks to an external site.
Sample Answer 2 for NURS 6053 ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES AND PRACTICES TO SUPPORT HEALTHCARE ISSUES
Competing needs occur within an organization when employees strive to meet their targets derived from the organization’s goals. Managers are required to establish priorities and allocate resources accordingly to manage the competing needs. Nonetheless, various ethical issues arise in healthcare resource allocation. For example, how limited resources should be allocated and the values that should guide resource allocation (Kelly & Porr, 2018). This paper seeks to discuss how competing needs may impact policy development and how any specific competing needs may impact physician and nursing shortage.
How Competing Needs May Impact the Development of Policy
Competing needs in healthcare include the needs of human resources, financial resources, and patients. Healthcare resources, financial and workforce, are often scarce while goals are large, and managers need to plan to meet the priority needs (Holecki et al., 2018). Competing needs such as workforce and financial resources may influence the development of policies that avail more resources for healthcare systems to increase accessibility to healthcare (Holecki et al., 2018). Policies are often developed to help meet healthcare needs and promote better health outcomes for a community. They are also formulated to guide healthcare organizations on how to balance competing needs with healthcare priorities.
Competing needs impact the development of policy in an organization to guide the allocation of healthcare resources. Policies are required to dictate how financial resources will be allocated, which is a key part of managing competing needs (Holecki et al., 2018). For instance, a policy can be formulated that requires the allocation of unlimited resources where they are most needed and then allocation to reusable resources. The management of competing needs influences the development of an organizational policy that dictates which needs are satisfied first.
Specific Competing Needs That May Impact Physicians and Nursing Shortage
The workforce needs may impact the national healthcare issue on physicians and nurses’ shortage. The workforce accounts for the greatest percentage of recurrent health expenditure in healthcare settings (Nancarrow, 2015). Gradually, shortages in the healthcare workforce correspond with the increasing demands on the healthcare system and continuing growth in healthcare expenditure. Physicians and nurses’ shortage not only limit healthcare accessibility but are crucial factors in patient care quality and safety (Marć et al., 2019). Accessible health services require sufficient numbers of physicians and nurses to meet population needs. However, there are various reasons that the physicians and nurses do not meet population needs, which are primarily from workforce shortages.
Physicians’ and nurses’ shortage is distinguished in four concepts: professional standards, projected future, static economic, and dynamic economic shortages. The common cause of the shortage is attributed to the professional standards shortages (Marć et al., 2019). This concept evaluates the level by which actual nurse staffing falls short of the desired level as per the profession’s preexisting standards.
Impacts and How Policy Address These Competing Needs
Health policy on a flexible workforce may address the competing human resource needs. A flexible workforce can enhance healthcare accessibility by guaranteeing timely responses to physicians and nursing shortages (Nancarrow, 2015). It can help solve workforce shortages and enhance patient-centered care. For instance, a policy can be formulated, eliminating the lengthy and expensive training regimes used to train most health professionals. Most health practitioner courses require students to undergo several hundred hours of supervised clinical training, which are often expensive for students, training institutions, and supervisors (Nancarrow, 2015). A policy can be enacted that entails a change from the time-based achievement of qualifications to the incremental achievement of specific competencies.
Flexible training models can be introduced, such as step-on, step-off programs, which allow for the incremental credentialing of practitioners by offering several exit points throughout the professional training course (Nancarrow, 2015). This will mean that employees have a marketable skill that can respond to the context in which they work. It can also ensure that more individuals enroll in nursing and medical programs and facilitate faster graduation of physicians and nurses, which will increase the workforce in the long run.
Increasing healthcare costs signify that hiring and training more healthcare professionals of the same kind is not a sustainable solution to staff shortage. Therefore, innovative solutions are required to utilize the existing human resources more efficiently (Nancarrow, 2015). A policy can address shortages by removing barriers to service delivery. For example, the acute physician and nursing shortage in rural areas can be addressed by policies that eliminate legal and professional barriers to practice to support flexible service delivery.
Health policy can be formulated to allow practitioners to work to their full scope of practice and delegate tasks where required. For instance, the physicians’ and nurses’ shortage can be addressed in the US by states allowing NPs to work to their full scope of practice (Nancarrow, 2015). NPs are trained and equipped with skills to take health history, perform physical exams, interpret diagnostic tests, diagnose, and prescribe treatment. However, only a few states have a full practice for NPs despite their academic qualifications. The policy can thus address physicians’ shortage by allowing NPs to practice to their full scope leaving physicians to attend to complex medical cases beyond NPs’ scope of practice.
Also Read:
DEVELOPING ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES AND PRACTICES
LEADERSHIP THEORIES IN PRACTICE
PERSONAL LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHIES
WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT
Module 4: Workplace Environment Assessment
CHANGE IMPLEMENTATION AND MANAGEMENT PLAN
References
Holecki, T., Romaniuk, P., Woźniak-Holecka, J., Szromek, A. R., & Syrkiewicz-Świtała, M. (2018). Mapping health needs to support health system Management in Poland. Frontiers in public health, 6, 82. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2018.00082
Kelly, P., & Porr, C. (2018). Ethical Nursing Care versus Cost Containment: Considerations to Enhance RN Practice. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 23(1). https://doi.org/10.3912/OJIN.Vol23No01Man06
Marć, M., Bartosiewicz, A., Burzyńska, J., Chmiel, Z., & Januszewicz, P. (2019). A nursing shortage–a prospect of global and local policies. International nursing review, 66(1), 9-16. https://doi.org/10.1111/inr.12473
Nancarrow S. A. (2015). Six principles to enhance health workforce flexibility. Human resources for health, 13, 9. https://doi.org/10.1186/1478-4491-13-9
Sample Answer 3 for NURS 6053 ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES AND PRACTICES TO SUPPORT HEALTHCARE ISSUES
Competing needs arise within any organization as healthcare workers seek to meet their targets and leaders seek to meet hospital goals. Either targets or goals require establishing priorities and allocating resources. For example, a policy addressing adequate nurse staffing is essential to meet the patient and workforce needs while minimizing hospital cost. However, utilizing in more nursing staff might result in economic inefficiencies along with misallocated resources.
The shortage of staff is connected with negative impacts; including lower quality and quantity of care because there are few resources to offer. Work overload to the existing nurses lead to burnout, and eventually compromising patient safety. Nursing shortage policies are constantly supported by current literature and they vary from country to country. However, there is continuous effort to modify certain aspect such as pay agreements, emergency hiring plans and RN residency programs to improve working environment for nurses (Park & Yu, 2019). Nurses should also voice their opinion on ways to resolve competing needs; the culture of silence creates a culture of acceptance and continues to suppress nursing professional knowledge (Kelly & Porr, 2018).
Competing needs that may impact nursing shortage is aging population in which baby boomer entering the age of increased need for health services. Which would require more students to enroll into the nursing program today and hire more educators to provide students with proper training. Another contributing factor is nurse burnout, statistics shows a national turnover rates is 8.8% to 37% (Lisa et al., 2020). Nurses are experiencing burnout daily and leaving the profession for better opportunities or advancing in their career. Ensure an optimal nurse to patient ratios to improve nurse staffing and improve quality of care delivered. Lastly, workload and work environment has forced hospitals to reduce staffing and implement mandatory overtime polices to ensure nurses would be available to work when the number of patients admitted increased unexpectedly. Furthermore, increase the workload to decrease on health care costs.
A policy might address these competing needs by ensuring an optimal nurse to patient ratio which can improve care outcomes for patients and ensure patient safety. Healthcare policymakers’ involvement in developing a staffing policy in every organization to improve working conditions (such as working hours, violence in workplace, managing workload) for the nurses staff to improve competencies and better job satisfaction. Ensure adequate government funding to allocate resources for training and clinical skills without causing strains on the government and organization budget. Also, devote resources toward increasing nurses wages; a token of appreciation for their dedicated and hard work.
References
Haddad, L.M., Annamaraju, P., & Toney-Butler, T.J. (2020). Nursing Shortage. Retrieved June 15, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493175/
Kelly, P., & Porr, C. (2018). Ethical nursing care versus cost containment: Considerations to enhance RN practice. OJIN: Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 23(1), Manuscript 6. doi: 10.3912/OJIN. Vol23No01Man06. Retrieved from http://ojin.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol-23-2018/No1-Jan-2018/Ethical-Nursing-Cost-Containment.html
Park, H., & Yu, S. (2019). Effective policies for eliminating nursing workforce shortages: A systematic review. In Health Policy and Technology, 8(3), 296-303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hlpt.2019.08.003
Sample Answer 4 for NURS 6053 ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES AND PRACTICES TO SUPPORT HEALTHCARE ISSUES
This is insightful Youland. In every organization, there are always competing ought to be addressed to ensure efficiency in the operational processes. Specifically, in healthcare institutions that involve the development and implementation of different policies, there are always competing needs be fully addressed by the management or policymakers. Competing needs arise within any organization as healthcare workers seek to meet their targets and leaders seek to meet hospital goals (Minvielle, 2018). In every healthcare organization, leaders and workers often have their specific goals. The differences in their objectives or goals may lead to competing needs. As leaders and workers set their targets, there are always priorities; besides, there is always the need to consider the available resources that may facilitate processes and procedures towards meeting these goals. A policy addressing adequate nurse staffing is essential to meet the patient and workforce needs while minimizing hospital costs. However, utilization of more nursing staff might result in economic inefficiencies along with misallocated resources (Wicks & St Clair, 2017).
Before embarking on allocating resources, there is always the need for healthcare management to consider their priorities to address the competing needs. In most cases, healthcare institutions consider their priorities before distributing resources to different processes. To effectively formulate policies that would ensure incorporation of the best practices as well as the efficiency in the general operational processes, the management needs to involve nurses and other healthcare professional teams (Park & Yu, 2019). In other words, making a decision on where to allocate resources should involve the entire workforce. A policy might address these competing needs by ensuring an optimal nurse-to-patient ratio, improving care outcomes for patients, and ensuring patient safety. Besides, a policy may be formulated and enough resources allocated to ensure a significant reduction in the number of healthcare-acquired infections and the improvement in patient outcomes.
References
Minvielle, E. (2018). Toward Customized Care: Comment on”(Re) Making the Procrustean Bed? Standardization and Customization as Competing Logics in Healthcare”. International journal of health policy and management, 7(3), 272. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5890073/
Park, H., & Yu, S. (2019). Effective policies for eliminating nursing workforce shortages: A systematic review. In Health Policy and Technology, 8(3), 296-303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hlpt.2019.08.003
Wicks, A. M., & St Clair, L. (2017). Competing values in healthcare: balancing the (un) balanced scorecard. Journal of Healthcare Management, 52(5). https://web.a.ebscohost.com/abstract?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=10969012&AN=27028943&h=xt8qw%2fV9vHxEXGym8bL66d4PtA2v%2f%2bjudnSM4Nhe6H
Sample Answer 5 for NURS 6053 ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES AND PRACTICES TO SUPPORT HEALTHCARE ISSUES
I researched information about a similar healthcare issue for my discussion post. I agree that there are competing needs between nurses and their ability to provide high-quality care while dealing with a nursing shortage. For nurses to give and patients to receive high-quality and safe healthcare, nurse-to-patient ratios must be low (Bartmess et al., 2021). According to Bartmess et al. (2021), “patients benefit from lower ratios and can be harmed by higher ratios, experiencing increased fall incidence, hospital-acquired infections, hospital-acquired pressure injuries and length of stay” (para. 9). Healthcare leaders need to proactively put effort towards hiring and retaining new nurses so they can avoid the financial burden of adverse events due to high-nurse-to-patient ratios.
Nurse retention is difficult in times of a severe nursing shortage and high demands brought on by organizations. Fitzpatrick et al. (2019) have helpful information on actions to be taken by nurses and healthcare organizations to create better work environments, a happier nurse workforce, and safer patients. One of the topics discussed is nurse governance and its impact on nurses and the organization. Participation in nurse governance is essential for nurses to voice their concerns, assist in policy change, and understand the rationale behind organizational decisions (Fitzpatrick et al., 2019).
References
Bartmess, M., Myers, C. R., & Thomas, S. P. (2021). Nurse staffing legislation: Empirical evidence and policy analysis. Nursing Forum, 56(3), 660–675.
https://doi.org/10.1111/nuf.12594Links to an external site.
Fitzpatrick, B., Bloore, K., & Blake, N. (2019). Joy in work and reducing nurse burnout: From
triple aim to quadruple aim. AACN Advanced Critical Care, 30(2), 185–188.
https://doi.org/10.4037/aacnacc2019833Links to an external site.
Competing needs, such as those of the workforce, the resources at hand, and patients, heavily impact the creation of healthcare policy to meet national healthcare concerns. Examining the specific mix of a nursing shortage, Emergency Department (ED) boarders, and nurse travelers in the ED reveals how these competing requirements drive policy creation and how policies might meet them.
Competing needs, especially those of healthcare professionals, significantly impact healthcare policy. The nursing shortage is a critical concern that directly affects policy development. The existing nursing staff is strained when there are not enough nurses to satisfy the increasing patient care demands (Drennan & Ross, 2019). Nurses frequently face burnout, weariness, and increasing workload, which can decrease the standard of care. Policymakers must examine steps towards achieving these competing objectives to ensure enough staffing levels, promote a positive working atmosphere, and address nurse workforce challenges.
Additionally, regulations should prioritize increasing nurse-to-patient ratios to alleviate the nursing shortage, making room for more manageable workloads and improving patient safety (Drennan & Ross, 2019). Increased financing for nursing education and training applications and creating incentives to attract and retain nurses can help achieve this goal. Policies that encourage tuition reimbursement, loan forgiveness, and opportunities for professional growth can assist in easing the nursing shortage while improving nurse work satisfaction (Yang & Mason,2022). By putting nurses’ well-being first, these policies can enhance patient results while contributing to an overall enhancement in the level of care administered.
Another competing need that substantially impacts policy formulation is limited resources. In the setting of ED borders, where patients are detained in the emergency department as a result of a shortage of readily accessible inpatient beds, resource constraints become apparent. ED borders put pressure on resources and accessible space in the ED, leading to service delays and increased patient discontent (Pearce et al.,2023). Effective policies must address these restrictions and streamline resource allocation to provide effective and prompt patient care.
In addition, policies to reduce ED wait times should prioritize increased hospital capacity and expediting the admission procedure. It could include infrastructure improvements, such as the construction of new institutions or the expansion of existing ones, to meet the increased number of patients (Yang & Mason,2022). Furthermore, regulations should emphasize the necessity of excellent collaboration between the ED and inpatient facilities to ensure that patients move smoothly. Policies that optimize resource allocation and boost capacity can minimize ED boarding times, increase the flow of patients, and enhance the general standard of care.
Furthermore, Patient requirements are an essential component in creating healthcare policies. Access to care, quality services, and positive results are critical to effectively addressing patient needs. Policies in the ED for nurse travelers must find a balance between fulfilling patient demands and protecting staff stability (Pearce et al.,2023). While nurse travelers can help fill staffing gaps temporarily, protocols should promote continuity of care and minimize disruptions. Regulating nurse traveler programs to ensure proper training and orientation is critical. Policies can sustain the quality of patient care by properly integrating nurse travelers into the existing healthcare team. In addition, policy should consider systems for monitoring and evaluating the effect of nurse travelers on patient outcomes, and staffing tactics should be adjusted accordingly.
In a nutshell, competing needs impact the formation of healthcare policies. When tackling the national healthcare issue of nursing shortages, ED borders, and nurse travelers in the ED, the policy must strike a delicate balance between workforce needs, resource limits, and patient needs. Policymakers can effectively handle these competing needs by establishing particular regulations, like as improving nurse-to-patient ratios, expanding hospital capacity, and controlling nurse traveler programs. The goal is to build a healthcare system with enough staff, efficiently allocates resources, and prioritize patient-centered treatment. Policymakers may work toward an effective and financially viable healthcare system that serves the requirements of all stakeholders by taking these competing needs into account and implementing appropriate regulations.
References
Drennan, V. M., & Ross, F. (2019). Global nurse shortages: the facts, the impact and action for change. British medical bulletin, 130(1), 25-37.
Pearce, S., Marchand, T., Shannon, T., Ganshorn, H., & Lang, E. (2023). Emergency department crowding: an overview of reviews describing measures causes, and harms. Internal and Emergency Medicine, 1-22.
Yang, Y. T., & Mason, D. J. (2022). COVID-19 impacts nursing shortages, the rise of travel nurses, and price gouging. Health Affairs Forefront.
NURS 6053 Discussion Organizational Policies and Practices to Support Healthcare Issues
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed many critical issues in the national healthcare system in the United States. The nursing shortage is among the top priorities because the whole system relies on nursing practitioners as the backbone. The statistics emphasize the urgent measures taken at each level of the government. As of March 2022, almost every state had taken executive actions to address the shortage, such as issuing temporary licenses to put nursing students to work (Zhavoronkova et al., 2022). The problem is significant enough to disregard the impact of competing needs in healthcare delivery.
Nursing shortage results from the impact of various external forces on the healthcare system. These include but are not limited to the aging population, aging workforce, nurse burnout, and population growth (Haddad et al., 2022). Therefore, the demand for registered nurses will be the highest among all professions. The reported growth will be at a faster rate (9%) than all other occupations, with more than 275,000 additional nurses being needed until 2030 (Haddad et al., 2022). The government actively invests in the development of nursing education and encourages more people to enter the profession and address the shortage. Nevertheless, the impact of competing needs in healthcare delivery persists. The available nurse workforce does not have sufficient resources to address all primary care needs. Alternative approaches such as preventative and chronic disease interventions and outpatient care models help close the gap, but they do not suffice (Korownyk et al., 2017). The nursing shortage is inextricably linked to diversity, aging, and education accessibility. For instance, the number of nurses has not kept up with the aging US population (Zhavoronkova et al., 2022). It implies that the new policies need to be comprehensive, addressing the factors and aspects of the healthcare issue.
In conclusion, the nursing shortage remains a central healthcare problem in the United States. It has many aspects and is related to other issues. Ignoring those related problems may not result in effective outcomes and a considerable increase in the nursing workforce. A more comprehensive approach is necessary for the government to ensure a long-term solution.
References:
Haddad, L. M., Annamaraju, P., & Toney-Butler, T. J. (2022). Nursing shortage. In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing.
Korownyk, C., McCormack, J., Kolber, M. R., Garrison, S., & Allan, G. M. (2017). Competing demands and opportunities in primary care. Canadian Family Physician, 63(9), 664-668.
Zhavoronkova, M., Custer, B. D., Neal, A., & Schweitzer, J. (2022, May 23). How To Ease the Nursing Shortage in America. Center for American Progress. Retrieved September 13, 2022, from https://www.americanprogress.org/article/how-to-ease-the-nursing-shortage-in-america/