Need for Advocacy Through Legislation for Nursing Shortage

Advocacy Through Legislation Identify a problem or concern in your state, community, or organization that can be advocated through legislation. Research the issue and complete the sections below. For each topic that requires listing criteria, a minimum of two criteria should be identified and discussed. Add more rows as appropriate for the topic/proposal. Problem
In no more than 250 words, describe the problem, who is affected, and the current ramifications. Explain the consequences if the issue continues. Virginia is currently facing an urgent nursing shortage similar to many other states across the United States. According to Sablik (2022), this problem worsened during the covid-19 pandemic when the policymakers focused on increasing the hospital beds without ensuring that the increasing hospital capacity was proportional to the number of healthcare providers. The researcher indicates that healthcare facilities employ 105,000 fewer individuals at the national level compared to early 2020, illustrating a 2% loss (Sablik, 2022). The concerning aspect is that by November 2021, over 600,000 health professionals were quitting their jobs, further worsening the staffing issue (Sablik, 2022). As a result, this shortage requires serious advocacy through legislation for fast and sustainable solutions. An insufficient number of healthcare professionals, including nurses, affects diverse stakeholders with far-reaching ramifications. For instance, Sablik (2022) illustrates that nursing staffing directly correlates with the patient’s health outcomes. Serving too many patients at once negatively affects the quality of care, increasing morbidity and mortality rates. These outcomes arise due to a lack of proper service, medical and medication-related errors, and delayed diagnosis. Nurses also suffer burnout-related stress that worsens and increases the likelihood of more mistakes. Such aspects explain the high healthcare turnover in facilities. Thus, everyone becomes affected by this issue if it continues, including the nurses and other professionals, the reputation of the hospitals in Virginia, and the patients. Failure to address it will hamper healthcare delivery. The idea for Addressing Solution
In no more than 250 words, outline your idea for addressing the issue and explain why legislation is the best course for advocacy. The current healthcare professional shortage, especially nursing, exists due to the absence of a defined nurse-patient ratio within a facility or department. Setting a standard nurse recruitment balance for Virginia will be fundamental for ensuring that all healthcare facilities expand their workforce to be consistent with the number of patients served by these healthcare experts. For instance, a facility within an urban area serving a significantly higher population should have a comparatively higher number of nurses in the different departments to sufficiently care for the patients. Implementing this strategy would ensure that no healthcare facilities become understaffed or overstaffed, making them productive and ensuring maximum utilization of the available professional resources. As a result, this approach will boost healthcare outcomes, the facilities’ reputation, and the care providers...