Health care facilities are continuing to grow and improve. There are many health care facilities, such as nursing homes, rehab centers, therapy facilities, hospitals, walk in clinics and doctor offices. Many people congratulate nurses, CNA’s, doctors, and health care centers on how well they are taking care of residents and meeting their needs. However, these people do not see the issues that occur in these facilities, such as staffing and workplace safety. Staffing in health care facilities is a big concern, especially in nursing homes. “Nurse staffing is an important input in the production of high-quality nursing home care.” (Bowblis and Hyer pg. 1). Nursing homes need the proper amount of staffing to meet high quality …show more content…
Some residents have bleach allergies, meaning they have to have their linen washed separately. Housekeeping makes sure that their linen gets washed properly. If it was not for housekeeping staff, who would wash the clothes and linen for the residents? At times, housekeeping staff is short and the facility runs out of certain linen because they did not have the proper staffing to get it ready on time. Not only does housekeeping wash the linen they are the staff who makes sure the facility is clean. The disinfect everything in the facility from rooms, to bathrooms, to entrance and exit doors. If nursing homes were to cut the staffing of housekeeping then more infection would arise in the facility because there would not be the proper amount of staffing to clean and reduce the risk of infection. Activities staff plays an important role in the nursing home environment. They are the ones who get the residents out of their room and interacting with other residents. They provide activities for the residents everyday. Residents of the nursing home get bored sitting in their room all day, which can lead to depression. Activities staff is important because they help the residents feel better by boosting their moods. They communicate and interact with them. Some residents do not have family members who come visit them, therefore, they do not get much interaction with other
First and foremost, Sunshine Generations has consistently met and exceeded both State and Federal Nursing Home regulations and standards. We have Nursing Home inspections conducted annually which includes the residents’ rooms and appearance, the living spaces, staff qualification and attributes, food and nutrition, and last but definitely not the least, overall safety and care. We specifically employ a “two-in, two-out rule” which means for every 2 nurses required by state and federal law, there are 2 more nurses assigned per day. This is to insure proper medical care and to reduce the chance for medical errors. This gives us the highest standard of care not commonly seen in the industry. A team work approach is also employed where staff physicians, nurses, nurse aids, and family have a say in the treatment and care of our residents. At any point any staff member or family member...
Gordon, S., Buchanan, J., & Bretherton, T. (2008). Safety in Numbers: Nurse-to-Patient Ratios and the Future of Health Care (pp. 1-2). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
The United States offers some of the most established and advanced health care in the world. Practitioners and administers are constantly trying to improve the quality of care received by patients in the US. Data has consistently shown that the presence of a registered nurse contributes directly to positive patient outcomes (Cho et al., 2016). The debate across the country, however, concerns the precise number of staff required to provide safe, high-quality care. The issue of safe staffing is one that is of great importance to all involved in the delivery of health care across the country.
Working in long-term care can be overwhelming. Imagine you are a new graduate nurse putting your new found knowledge and skills to practice for the first time. Your orientation lasted three days which is standard for nurse home orientation compared to hospital orientation that last approximately six to eight weeks for new grads. The shift has just begun and already you have a new admit, new found pressure ulcer to assess, a possible medication reaction, several new orders to take off and eight patients to document on for varying reasons. Feelings of frustration and confusion take over as you are the only nurse on the unit along with a Certified Medication Technician (CMT) and three Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) taking care of 47 patients. Ideal nurse-to-patient ratio continues to be a national issue in both the hospital and long-term care setting (LTC). In the LTC setting there is no official nurse-to-patient ratio; there is a suggested staff-to-patient ratio. This issue not only affects the new licensed nurses but the seasoned nurse as well. Recently, there has been controversial debates as to whether heavy workloads are detrimental to patients. The federal, state, and local government regulates many aspects of healthcare. However, it is the physicians, nurses and other healthcare professional that provide care directly to patients. Consequently, does insufficient staffing, heavy workloads, and unsupportive work environment directly contribute to poor patient satisfaction, nurse burnout, high turnover and job dissatisfaction?
Needleman, J., Buerhaus, P., Pankratz, S., Leibson, C. L., Stevens, S. R., & Harris, M. (2011). Nurse staffing and inpatient hospital mortality. England Journal of Medicine, Retrieved from http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmsa1001025
These articles have many similarities when discussing the issue of staffing shortages. For patients, their loved ones and the general population, they don’t understand the ramifications and strain that staffing shortages have on nurses. People expect and deserve complete, competent and safe care when they are patients. These articles bring to light all the struggles that nurses have to deal with. Nurses are fearful that they will make mistakes, will harm patients, and will harm themselves. (Bae, 2012; Erlen, 2001; Martin, 2015) Overtime can be overwhelming and exhausting, which can lead to errors being made. (Bae, 2012; Erlen, 2001) These articles perceive that it may be beneficial for nurses, patients, and healthcare facilities to decrease the nurse-to-patient ratio, however, this option is not always
Thousands of nurses throughout the nation are exhausted and overwhelmed due to their heavy workload. The administrators do not staff the units properly; therefore, they give each nurse more patients to care for to compensate for the lack of staff. There are several reasons to why
The purpose of this paper is to address the issue of nursing staffing ratios in the healthcare industry. This has always been a primary issue, and it continues to grow as the population rate increases throughout the years. According to Shakelle (2013), in an early study of 232,432 surgical discharges from several Pennsylvania hospitals, 4,535 patients (2%) died within 30 days of hospitalization. Shakelle (2014) also noted that during the study, there was a difference between 4:1 and 8:1 patient to nurse ratios which translates to approximately 1000 deaths for a group of that size. This issue can be significantly affected in a positive manner by increasing the nurse to patient ratio, which would result in more nurses to spread the work load of the nurses more evenly to provide better coverage and in turn result in better care of patients and a decrease in the mortality rates.
Needleman, J., Buerhaus, P., Pankratz, S., Leibson, C.L, Stevens S.R. & Harris M., 2011. Nurse Staffing and Inpatient Hospital Mortality, the New England Journal of Medicine, 364:1037-1045, DOI: 10.1056/NEJMsa1001025
Patient’s safety will be compromised because increase of patient to nurse ratio will lead to mistakes in delivering quality care. In 2007, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) conducted a metanalysis and found that “shortage of registered nurses, in combination with increased workload, poses a potential threat to the quality of care… increases in registered nurse staffing was associated with a reduction in hospital-related mortality and failure to rescue as well as reduced length of stay.” Intense workload, stress, and dissatisfaction in one’s profession can lead to health problems. Researchers found that maintaining and improving a healthy work environment will facilitate safety, quality healthcare and promote a desirable professional avenue.
One of the issues involving health care and the aging population is majority of health profession employees being a percentage of the aging population. With the knowledge of health profession employees being a factor in the aging population puts a strain on doctors and nurses that come into the workforce after ones have retired. The fewer employees there are, the greater the work load will become on one person. It is imperative for each nurse in a unit to have four patients maximum. Giving more responsibility to one employee does not make the situation less of a challenge, it more so puts people’s lives at a greater risk of danger. The new demands placed on the health care system for health services will not only include a need for more workers, but also require changes in the way services are provided.
It is right of a patient to be safe at health care organization. Patient comes to the hospital for the treatment not to get another disease. Patient safety is the most important issue for health care organizations. Patient safety events cost of thousands of deaths and millions of dollars an-nually. Even though the awareness of patient safety is spreading worldwide but still we have to accomplish many things to achieve safe environment for patients in the hospitals. Proper admin-istrative changes are required to keep health care organization safe. We need organizational changes, effective leadership, strong health care policies and effective health care laws to make patients safer.
They have to answer the door and the telephone to visitors and greet them. They have to ask each person what they would like to eat and give them a choice and then serve the food to them and sometimes might need to feed them if they need the help. Some other responsibilities include helping people with medication, making sure every resident is clean and washed regularly, dressed and fed and to clean the premises to a standard that meets the health and safety.
Introduction Canadian health and safety legislation requires companies and organizations to make a commitment towards occupational health and safety. Maintaining a safe workplace environment has numerous benefits. A safe work environment can boost employee morale, increase productivity, and improve job satisfaction. For companies and organizations, these benefits can lead to less turnover and increased employee retention. They can also reduce absenteeism while improving the culture and image of a company or organization.
Safety is a primary concern in the health care environment, but there are still many preventable errors that occur. In fact, a study from ProPublica in 2013 found that between 210,000 and 440,000 patients each year suffer preventable harm in the hospital (Allen, 2013). Safety in the healthcare environment is not only keeping the patient safe, but also the employee. If a nurse does not follow procedure, they could bring harm to themselves, the patient, or both. Although it seems like such a simple topic with a simple solution, there are several components to what safety really entails. Health care professionals must always be cautious to prevent any mishaps to their patients, especially when using machines or lifting objects, as it has a higher