Nurse Staffing Ration
Nurses play a pivotal role in caring for patients. Nurses take care of many patients, and therefore, nurse to patient ratio is an issue that cannot be ignored. As a nurse leader, the main goal is to ensure that patients get the care they deserve without overburdening the nurses. Nurses need to be comfortable to deliver efficiently. Strategies have to be put in place to ensure that a nurse’s welfare is well taken care of. A nurse leader should work hand in hand with the management to ensure that nurses’ welfare is catered for. A nurse leader should first get the logistics in the hospital and let the management know. Management needs to know the underlying determinants for appropriate staffing (Driscoll et al., 2018). The nurse leader should categorize the nurses according to their level of skills and assign duties according to skills so that patients get the best. A nurse leader should also classify the patients according to acuity and dependency levels. Grouping of patients and nurses not only helps the management know the staffing requirements but also helps the nurses be efficient in their work.
Work environment determines service delivery. Organizational structures with better work environments, a better quality of labor achieve a desirable patient outcome (Bruyneel et al., 2015). Organizational structures that value staffing and getting a skilled workforce will help in reducing the nurse to patient ratio. Adequate and trained staff ensures the smooth running of processes in hospitals. Qualified individuals do not find it difficult working as a team even when they are grouped according to their skill set. Communication between the nurses and the management should be consistent. Organizational structures that accommodate and encourage interaction between the staff and management yields better results in solving work-related problems such as excessive workload. A cordial relationship between nurses and the management produces better outcomes. Patients are taken care of effectively since there is a smooth flow of information.
References
Bruyneel, L., Li, B., Ausserhofer, D., Lesaffre, E., Dumitrescu, I., Smith, H. L., … Sermeus, W. (2015). Organization of hospital nursing, provision of nursing care, and patient experiences with care in Europe. Medical Care Research and Review, 72(6), 643–664.
Driscoll, A., Grant, M. J., Carroll, D., Dalton, S., Deaton, C., Jones, I., … Astin, F. (2018). The effect of nurse-to-patient ratios on nurse-sensitive patient outcomes in acute specialist units: A systematic review and meta-analysis. European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, 17(1), 6–22.