Mandatory Staffing Ratios

Mandatory Staffing Ratios. NURS U497: Nursing Professional issues Yara Barahona Romero June 19, 2022.

Introduction. Appropriate nurse staffing is critical to the delivery of safe, quality care that impacts patient care outcomes. Nursing is an essential component of comprehensive healthcare. Staffing impacts the ability of a nurse to deliver safe, quality care at every practice level and in all practice settings. Because the delivery of nursing care is a multifaceted process, the determination of appropriate nurse staffing is complex. Previous research provides strong evidence that high nursing workloads at the unit level have a negative impact on patient outcomes. Moreover, the issue of mandatory nurse-patient ratios remains widely controversial among many vested stakeholders (Welton, 2022)..

BACKGROUND. Mandatory nurse-patient ratios became law in California in 1999 with the passage of California Assembly Bill 394 (National Nurses United, 2022). In May 2021, the congress introduce a new bill to amend the Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2021 (Congress, 2021). Mandatory hospital nurse staffing ratios are under consideration in a number of states without strong empirical evidence of the optimal ratio. Nurse-to-patient ratios in adult acute medical, surgical and mental health wards, as well as minimum nurse workforce requirements, are mandated under the Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011 and Hospital and Health Boards Regulation 2012 (Welton,2022). Mandated staffing ratios require health care facilities to provide safe nurse-patient ratios (ANA, n.d.)..

Registered Nurses Shortages by State graphic. (USAHS, 2022).

Nursing Understaff impact. Patient safety is compromise and medical errors increase when nurses are understaffed Nurse burnout, job dissatisfaction, and turnover increase Costs associated with turnover and unsuitable staffing have a significant impact on the economy Quality of care and health care organization reputation declines.

HEALTH POLICY AND POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE. In May 2021, the congress introduced a bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to establish direct care registered nurse-to-patient staffing ratio requirements in hospitals, and for other purposes (Congress, 2021). California was the first state to implement minimum nurse-to-patient ratios in acute care hospitals and Massachusetts mandates ICU’s ratio. Fourteen other states have enacted some type of regulation related to nurse staffing levels. Seventeen states has introduced legislation mandating minimum ratios (De Cordova, 2019)..

LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES. A persistent shortage of nursing staff across the United States challenges the belief and values of this profession Many nurses may find it difficult to carry out their ethical obligations to patients due to the insufficiency in staffing Nurses end up in an ethical dilemma, whereby they must choose between caring for their own welfare or the needs of their patients. Nurses emotional distress and job dissatisfaction increases and end up not providing quality care to their patients.

Solution. Greater Access to Education Strategic Workforce planning and Flexibility mandated staffing ratios according acuity and level of care..

(National Nurses United, 2022). Nurses Called to Stand Up for Mandated Nurse-to-Patient Ratios - Nurseslabs.

Mandated staffing ratios Innovation impact. Reduces patient mortality and adverse patient events Enables nurses to deliver high quality of care Increases job satisfaction, while substantially promotes retention of experienced RNs. Significantly lower nurse burnout (Griffiths, 2019). Decrease in medical errors Increases patient’s satisfaction.

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REFERENCES. American Nurses Association. (n.d.). Nurse Staffing: Health Care Advocacy: American Nurses Association . ANA. Retrieved June 20, 2022, from https:// www.nursingworld.org /practice-policy/nurse-staffing/nurse-staffing-advocacy/ Congress. (2021). S.1567 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2021. Congress, https:// www.congress.gov /bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/1567 De Cordova, P. B., Pogorzelska-Maziarz , M., Eckenhoff , M. E., & McHugh, M. D. (2019, October). Public reporting of nurse staffing in the United States . Journal of nursing regulation. https:// www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov / pmc /articles/PMC6996505/ Griffiths, P., Saville, C., Ball, J., Jones, J., Pattison, N., & Monks, T. (2019, November 29). Nursing workload, Nurse Staffing methodologies and tools: A systematic scoping review and discussion . International Journal of Nursing Studies. Retrieved June 20, 2022, from https:// www.sciencedirect.com /science/article/ pii /S0020748919302949 National Nurses United. (2022, June 2). Safe RN-to-patient staffing ratios . National Nurses United https:// www.nationalnursesunited.org /ratios University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences (USAHS). (2022, February 11). Registered Nurse Shortages by State (Projected) . University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences https:// www.usa.edu /blog/nursing-shortage/ Welton, J. M. (2022). Mandatory Hospital Nurse to Patient Staffing Ratios: Time to Take a Different Approach . American Nurses Association. http:// ojin.nursingworld.org / mainmenucategories / anamarketplace / anaperiodicals / ojin / tableofcontents /volume122007/no3sept07/ mandatorynursetopatientratios.htmlsep.