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NURSE AND PATIENT RATIO: ARTICLE SUMMARY
Running head: NURSE AND PATIENT RATIO: ARTICLE SUMMARY
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Nurse And Patient Ratio: Article Summary
Tabitha Hernandez
Community College of Philadelphia
The wake of the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the problem of registered nurse (RN) staffing across hospitals and the entire U.S. health care system. The article examines the situation of chronic hospital registered nurse staffing across various hospitals in New York and Illinois to determine the impact on nursing practice efficiency. The article notes that, despite extensive studies and research supporting the value of adequate nurse staff, only one of the U.S. States (California) met the standards for patient-to-nurse staffing. This shows a failure and gap in legislation to enhance the capacity of RN staffing for adequate preparation to handle diverse healthcare needs. The article elucidates that RN staffing varies across hospitals with profound impacts on patient outcomes. The capacity to elevate patient satisfaction, RN functional efficiency and quality of care and safety is integral to nurse staffing legislation.
Research Objective
The research is an observational study intended to determine the relationship between RN staffing and effective legislation. Legislation is integral to creating effective policies that impact nursing staffing which is critical to the quality of care and patient outcomes. This follows constant failure to pass legislations characterized by a lack of evidence to inform policy choices and lack of timely mechanisms. This can impact directly to the public’s health.
Significance
The significance of the study is to resolve five key aspects, including nurse outcomes, patient satisfaction, patient-to-nurse staffing, quality of care and safety, and risk-adjustment variables. The variation across hospitals sets the trend where improvements can be made to induce positive impacts through RN staffing. The increase in RN staffing is vital to enhancing efficient health care delivery. This will transform the five aspects undermined by the lack of timely legislation to improve the RN staffing problem.
Methods
The study conducted a survey on patients and nurses from 254 hospitals in Illinois and New York. The study was conducted between December 2019 to February 2020. The documentation on experiences focused on the impacts of nurse staffing on patient experiences, quality of care, and nurse burnout.
Findings
From the study, a mean of 3.3 to 9.7 patients per nurse staffing varied across hospitals. New York City illustrated the work mean staffing – an illustration of the deplorable state of the health care system.
Impact on Nursing Practice
The article provides critical insight into matching RN staffing to patients’ needs, numbers, and diversity. The RN staffing legislation is fundamental to minimize emotional draining, stress, nurse burnout, among others that result from overworking a few nurses in a healthcare facility. The article emphasizes the value of increasing RN staffing to enhance nursing practice efficiency, patient-outcome, patient-to-nurse ratio, and overall improvement in the quality of care and safety.
References
Lasater, K. B., Aiken, L. H., Sloane, D. M., French, R., Martin, B., Reneau, K., … & McHugh, M. D. (2021). Chronic hospital nurse understaffing meets COVID-19: an observational study. BMJ Quality & Safety, 30(8), 639-647. https://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/30/8/639.abstract
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