Leaders and Managers to Issues in Practice: Nurse Staffing Ratios

Leaders and Managers to Issues in Practice: Nurse Staffing Ratios
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Leaders and Managers to Issues in Practice: Nurse Staffing Ratios
Nurse staffing ratios refer to the number of patients one nurse attends to during their shifts. Healthcare provider facilities use the nurse-patient ratio to hire their nurse practitioner. They often estimate the number of patients seeking services in the facility to determine the number of nurses that would handle the patients' healthcare needs. This means that a facility that receives many patients should have a higher nurse-patient ratio (Qureshi et al., 2019). The nurse-patient ratio is a significant determinant of the healthcare services offered in a facility. Though not a legal requirement in most states, the standard health requirements suggest that one nurse should serve five patients. So far, only California has made the 1:5 nurse-patient requirement, although most other states consider this requirement and try to implement it in their facilities.
The nurse-patient ratio is crucial in determining the quality of healthcare services. In most cases, the number of patients overwhelms nurses compromising the quality of their services. An unfair nurse staffing ratio means nurses are likely to work overtime and be recalled during their leave days. It also means that nurses will attend more than one of the standard number of patients in the same shift. Medical errors are likely to happen in such a case because nurses are being stretched beyond their standard abilities (Qureshi et al., 2019). Overworking will also lead to fatigue rendering the nurses unproductive in their work. Medical errors and nurse fatigue compromise a facility's quality of services, leading to negative ratings. They also compromise the safety of patients because a nurse can confuse patients and interchange their prescriptions, further endangering the lives of the patients. A crisis may also occur when the facility faces emergency patients that need to be attended to urgently and all nurses are tired or not available because they are attending to other critical patients. This may lead to deaths that could have been prevented if the facility had had enough nurses.
Professional standards should intervene in the nurse staffing ratio situation to help maintain professional quality services to patients. Professional standards help guide how a profession performs its function to provide high-quality services. In the medical field, professional standards help direct and maintain safe and medically competent nursing practice (ANA, 2015). Despite the perennial shortage of nurses in most facilities, other professional standards should be adhered to. Facility managers should always ensure that they hire qualified nurses, have enough ward beds, and also offer competitive salaries that will motivate their nurses to give their best when attending to patients. Qualified nurses mean that they underwent basic training to be nurses and licensed by the American Nurses Association (ANA). They should also have relevant work experience to work in healthcare facilities. Additionally, the managers of healthcare facilities should conduct regular training of their nurses to enhanc...