Is cross-training the answer?
The topic selected for the final project assignment is titled: Is cross-training the answer? Cross-training is popular among industries such as businesses, armed forces, manufacturing institutions and other organizations who employ individuals with specialized skills. Cross-training allow individuals to acquire skills in other departments or units. Additionally, cross-training offers flexibility in the development of work schedules as employees who are proficient in other departments can easily cover sick days, vacations, maternity time off and emergency absences. Cross-training also serves as morale booster for employees as they gain additional skills and confidence in their abilities. Employee may feel prosperous, successful and valued. Although cross-training may initially create an expense by paying additional time for staff development and training, this strategy will be cost effective in a long term as it helps reduce overtime wages and reduce the additional expenses caused by contracting external staffing agencies.
Like these institutions, health care organizations can also benefit from cross-training the professional nursing staff. Research suggests that cross-training breaks
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As the baby boomer’s generation retires, the need for highly skilled nursing professional will increase. There will be a critical shortage of nurses that will affect the increasing demand of nursing services in the next decade (Snavely, 2016). To act on this foreknown nursing shortage crisis, it is essential to design and implement strategic solutions in order to alleviate the increasing need of nurses in a variety of specialty areas. Cross-training of nursing in multiple units and departments helps with nursing staffing and will ameliorate the struggles that nursing shortage will
The training and development of employees in William Hill is imperative for the performance or the company as they are in a competitive market. William Hill has to inform workers to be aware of surroundings in the area that they work. Training and Development Training Training is essential for both employees and employer if they want to be effective within the organisation and also for a company like William Hill to stay competitive within their market. The reason why training is important to employees is to enable them to achieve their maximum potential in their current position, it is needed also to develop them to create further opportunities within the organisation because employees are likely to be better educated and become multi-skilled. Training should be ongoing within William Hill in developing the employee’s skills within the business.
Article Analysis: The Nursing Shortage Nursing shortages have occurred in health care throughout history, and especially since World War II. Just as the legion of baby boomers is about to swell the need for quality health care, America's nursing population is aging and more nurses are moving into primary care settings and into other disciplines. As a result, America's hospitals and other institutions need more nurses, especially those who deliver specialized care. As a healthcare provider and businessman this topic is of a special interest to me because nursing shortage have caused my business to loose million of dollars in the past five years. This paper examines the nursing shortage in the health care industry, the use of collaborative team approach in care delivery using a study that aims specifically to this problem and offer recommendations for employee retention.
There is a shortage of all health care professions throughout the United States. One shortage in particular that society should be very concerned about is the shortage of Registered Nurses. Registered Nurses make up the single largest healthcare profession in the United States. A registered nurse is a vital healthcare professional that has earned a two or four year degree and has the upper-most responsibility in providing direct patient care and staff management in a hospital or other treatment facilities (Registered Nurse (RN) Degree and Career Overview., 2009). This shortage issue is imperative because RN's affect everyone sometime in their lifetime. Nurses serve groups, families and individuals to foster health and prevent disease.
The shortage of registered nurses (RNs) in the United States has been a cyclical topic dating back to the 1960s. Only recently have employers in certain regions of the nation stated a decline in the demand for RNs. Consequently, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2014) report on 2012-2013 Enrollment and Graduations in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing, American nursing schools denied admission to 79,659 qualified applicants from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs in 2012. The reported decrease in job availability and rejected admissions has left many individuals to question if the nursing shortage still exists. On the other hand, some experts project that the United States will be short more than one million RNs by 2020 (Dolan, 2011). Although some parts of the country are in less of a demand than others, it is undeniable that there is a national shortage of RNs.
Recent literature reports that there is a nursing shortage and it is continually increasing. Data released by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2011) projects that the shortage, would increase to 260,000 by the year 2025. AACN (2011) also reported that 13% of newly registered nurses changed jobs and 37% were ready to change within a year. A study conducted reports that there is a correlation between higher nursing workloads and nurse burnout, retention rates, job dissatisfaction and adverse patient outcomes (Vahey & Aiken, 2004). Among the nurses surveyed in the study, over 40% stated that they were suffering from burnout while 1 in 5 nurses intended
The 2010 Institute of Medicine (IOM) Report- The Future of Nursing described the role that nurses have in the current and future US health care environment (IOM, 2011). This report was completed at a time when the Affordable Care Act had been passed and a new emphasis was being put on interdisciplinary healthcare teams, care coordination, value-based payment systems, and preventative care (IOM, 2011). Nursing is the largest profession in health care and with an aging baby boomer populace, the expanded role of nurses will be critical in meeting the growing healthcare burdens (Sisko et al., 2014).
Something has to be done now to prevent health care institutions from feeling the burden of losing the baby boomer nurses. Not enough has been done and the solutions presented have only been short-term. The health care system will not just be losing nurses, but clinical and institutional knowledge, as well experience (). Younger nurses will lack this knowledge and experience. They need mentoring from the baby boomer nurses and that needs to start now. With the mentoring the young nurses will feel confident (). When the baby boomer nurses retire, young nurses aren’t the only ones who will feel their loss, but the patients as
Current literature continues to reiterate the indicators of a major shortage of registered nurses (RNs) in the United States. The total RN population has been increasing since 1980, which means that we have more RNs in this country than ever before (Nursing Shortage). Even though the RN population is increasing, it is growing at a much slower rate then when compared to the rate of growth of the U.S. population (Nursing Shortage). We are seeing less skilled nurses “at a time of an increasingly aging population with complex care needs and an increasingly complex technological care environment” (Mion). According to recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Department of Health and Human Services, it is estimated that “more than a million new and replacement nurses will be needed over the next decade” (Diagnosis: Critical).
Looking back at the evolution of our profession, one cannot help but wonder about its future. Our health system has become a key political issue, and an even higher rate of change is only to be expected. Nurses will be at the front line of that tidal wave, where challenge and opportunity go hand in hand.
In 1965, the American Nurses Association shared its vision for the future of nursing education. A primary goal in its message was that a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) becomes the minimum requirement for entry into nursing practice (Nelson, 2002). Fifty years later, debates on this issue continue. In its report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change and Advancing Healthcare, the Institute of Medicine shared its recommendation that 80% of nurses possess a bachelor’s degree by the year 2020. A significant number of health care facilities have adopted the practice of hiring nurses with BSN over those with two year Associate’s Degree of Nursing (ADN) or a three-year hospital based diploma program. Stakeholders in the Registered Nurse (RN)
The prolonged shortage of skilled nursing personnel has been a serious concern to the healthcare industry, and this shortage has impacted the quality of care delivery. In addition, nursing turnover has also exacerbated the problem of nursing shortage. Nursing shortage has been blamed on many nurses retiring and less younger nurses joining the occupation. There is also an increase in life expectancy (baby boomers) leading an increase in both physical and mental ailment with subsequent demand in nursing care. Nurses are also leaving nursing profession because of inadequate staffing, tense work environment, negative press about the profession, and inflexible work schedules. Even though nursing is a promising career and offers job security, the
“In 2010, the US Department of Labor Statistics (DLS) projected a 22 percent increase in the demand for RNs or 581,500 new jobs by 2018, to total a projected 1,039,000 jobs needed to be filled by 2018” (Cottingham, DiBartolo, Battistoni, and Brown, 2011, p. 250). It is imperative that strategies be implemented to improve the recruitment of nurses to meet the needs. Without improvements in the recruiting of new grads or seasoned nurses, organizations will need to rely on expensive agencies and traveling nurses; therefore, causing a financial burden on organizations (Cottingham et al., 2011).
Nurses have always been an undervalued asset to the health care industry; however, there is always a great need for them. With more uninsured Americans requiring safe, affordable medical care, the pressing issue of nursing education is not a priority (Aiken, 2011). Recently, there have been modifications taken place toward the current nursing shortage, the decrease of nursing graduates, a workforce that is becoming older, and other factors that influence nurse educator shortage (Baker, Fitzpatrick, & Griffin, 2011). Nurse educators are required to advise students, complete research, and perform committee work all while teaching (Baker, Fitzpatrick, & Griffin, 2011). They also have multiple jobs outside of practicing nursing and teaching. Nurse educators have stressful roles that hold many expectations, yet there is no independence in making their own decisions concerning things. Aiken (2011) suggests that the best way to begin combatting this shortage should include increasing the number of nurses who hold a bachelor’s degree in nursing from 50% to 80% by 2020 (p. 196). Forty-eight percent of nurse instructors are expected to be aged 55 and older and are predicted to retire by this time. (Baker, Fitzpatrick, & Griffin, 2011).
Training and development is essential to employee’s retention, loyalty and overall satisfaction. When employees feel there is opportunity within a company and diversity leading the way employees pride and productivity is enhanced.
The Future of Nursing Being a registered nurse affords one the option of working in many diverse healthcare settings. In any practice setting, the climate of health care change is evident. There are diverse entities involved in the implementation and recommendation of these practice changes. These are led by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the Institute of Medicine (IOM), nursing campaign for action initiatives, as well as individual state-based action coalitions. Nurses need to be prepared and cognizant of the transformations occurring in health care settings, as well as the plans that put them at the forefront of the future.