Hiring Agency Nurses: A Case Study

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Cost Implications
In an economic perspective, cost is not only about the occurrence of money. Economists also evaluate the possible opportunity costs, which are the losses of potential gain from other alternatives in decision making (Warburton, 2009). When an option has been chosen, the potential profits from the other opportunities have been forgone. There is an opportunity cost in hiring agency nurses. Some agency nurses are qualified to deliver adequate nursing care; however, they do not receive the same educational training and in-services regarding transplant nursing care. They are also not fully knowledgeable with the hospital’s policies and procedures since they do not go through hospital orientation. The opportunity cost of this situation
According to Weil (2015), a hospital system had fifty seven patients who suffered a fall with injury, where unforeseen costs of adverse events ranged from $5,808 to $29,450. Furthermore, this hospital system was not eligible to receive any reimbursement per Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services guidelines if any of these patients were Medicare recipients. The projected revenue that this nursing unit could potentially gain is the prevention of financial burdens associated with negative patient outcomes. The opportunity cost of these preventable adverse events could be allocated for other resources. Furthermore, other benefits to hiring staff nurses do not have monetary value. Another advantage with permanent nurses is the growth of nursing unit culture and strengthening of collegial relationships. Moreover, employment of staff nurses results in enhanced continuity of care in their patients, where they are meticulously acquainted with their patients’ needs and assessments. Consequently, they could intervene quickly at any incidents of slight physiological
This is due to lack of available human resources. Hospitals respond to this shortage by hiring agency nurses to fill the permanent vacancies in the interim. Their employment might seem appropriate in the short term; nevertheless, it does not mean it is economical. The use of CEA contributes the crucial information to guide in decision making (Finkler & McHugh, 2008). The use of this tactic provides information on which alternative is more economically effective. In this CEA, the information gathered assures that hiring more staff nurses is beneficial since they are financially cheaper than hiring agency nurses, while still delivering quality nursing services. Data analysis illustrates the negative outcomes associated with high reliance with contracted nurses. The practice of utilization with agency nurses could initially be efficient in controlling staffing costs and providing the manpower as demand requires it. Nonetheless, dependence on their human labor support has hidden high administrative costs and unforeseen costs of potential adverse patient

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