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Assignment: Developing Organizational Policies And Practices on Nursing Shortage
Assignment: Developing Organizational Policies And Practices on Nursing Shortage

As nurses we’re faced with ethical dilemmas daily. We must not confuse ethics and the actual laws surrounding this profession. Although ethics and the law are very similar and paths overlap, they are not the same. Ethical dilemmas occur quite frequently in the healthcare field, which makes healthcare professionals more aware of how to respond to such events. Ethical issues put all healthcare professionals in the mindset of doing what is best for the patient. A national healthcare issue that is currently on a higher trend seems to be the nursing shortage in the work field. Overwhelming patient assignments ultimately lead to disgruntled staff affecting the overall working environment. The shortage in nursing many organizations are facing seem to have multiple effects on quality improvement or indicators such as customer service scores, increased amount of workloads and a decrease in the quality of care rendered (Buerhaus, Skinner, Auerbach, & Staiger, 2017). As safety is the number one goal inpatient care, polices over time have been revamped to ensure safer working environments for the shortage of nurses ultimately reducing medication errors as well as nurse burnout. Moreover, whereas patient needs dictate that hospitals shpuld hire more nurses, the financial performances of these hospitals is also a factor. Thus, nurisng shorateg is being affected by the need to provide quality healtt care services vis-à-vis the need to maintain heallty financial performances by health care facilities. Evidence suggests that hospitals have chosen the latter need hence the existence of nursing shortage.

Policies and Practices to Adress Nursing Shortage

At a leadership level, leaders must find the common balance to retain nurses by any means necessary while also understanding the demands placed on staff with unbearable patient acuities. Finding such balances demand strict policies to be put in place even if they are state-regulated. Within my organizations, we have strict policies for the different levels of care to determine the patient/nurse ratio (Abhicharttibutra et al., 2017). With the higher demands of needs for the care the patient may require they are put on different units, which also sets the bar for the nurse-patient ratio. A patient at a medical-surgical level of care does not and may not require the same care as a patient at an intensive care unit. For each level, there are guidelines our hospital follows, which will tell providers, managers, and patient flow coordinators the needs of the patient and the appropriate floors. This is done to ensure the acuity levels are not too intense for that unit, especially for the nurse-patient ratio on that unit. Along with setting limits regarding the units and patient level of care, there are also patient acuity tools utilized. Patient acuity tools have been proven useful with the formulation of proper nurse to patient ratios as well dispersing workloads. The purposes for nursing tools as such “increase nurse satisfaction with their patient assignment.”

Composing policies is done at many organizations and is forever changing. With established policies, the healthcare field is able to have standards in place to protect staff. Furrther, by enforcing these policies, nurses are protected from things such as assuming care of patients in what may be unsafe working environments. The American Nurses Association (ANA) is the safeguard for nurses and guides the policymakers within organizations for safe conditions. According to the ANA, federal regulations have been in placed to support nursing staff for safer working environments implying that facilities have an adequate amount of staff for patient care. The goal of policies and laws as such are necessary for the ensuring safety of the patient as well as safe workloads (Ferrer et al., 2014). Currently, there are a few states with staffing laws which is remarkable because by law that nurse is protected. The main strengths of staffing laws are that they help in enhancing the number of nurses employed annually in the healthcare sector, hence reducing patient-nurse ration in addition to protecting the rights of nurses for better healthcare (Yang, Hung, & Chen, 2015). However, the main obstacle towards this policy is that some states have failed to implement staffing laws, which makes it very hard to track down the hiring frequency and the total number of nurses in that state. As a result, the quality of healthcare tends to be affected negatively. Within such states, items such as patient acuity tools are used to help with facilitating fair-shared assignments amongst staff.

Ethical Considerations

One ethical issue when dealing with policies aimed at solving nursing shortage the laws on aging nurses and retirement. Healthcare facilities are faced with the hard decision of how to reduce the nursing shortage when the majority of nurses will be retiring in a few years. Many healthcare organizations have come up with strategies to work with nursing schools in the country where students will get absorbed after studying. It is however difficult for health institutions as they want to retain experienced nurses (Ferrer et al., 2014). Some of the policies that should address the nursing shortage should look at how the nurses are hired and the intervals of hiring to prevent the massive exit of nurses due to retirement such as the staffing laws. Aging nurses have the experience and expertise to provide quality health services. Experience in nursing will help in observing the principle of doing no harm. Experienced nurses will do little or no harm to patients. It is therefore important to consider the nursing principle of nonmaleficence when addressing the issue of nursing shortage in the country. Additionally, offering subsidized funds for students and nursing faculties will also help in solving the nursing shortage (Abhicharttibutra et al., 2017). This will help in increasing the enrollment of more students into nursing. Loan programs with no interest will also be initiated in nursing schools for registered nurses who want to enroll in advanced nursing courses. Consequently, increasing using wages will also attract more students to nursing school, which will, in turn, increase the number of nurses in the entire state

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Given the community gap in understanding the nursing profession, improving the image of nursing in the country, by encouraging nurses to frequently communicate with the press on positive nursing aspects will help to attract more students to take up nursing courses hence curbing the nursing shortage. Consequently, nurses should be encouraged to mentor students and lure the younger

Assignment Developing Organizational Policies And Practices on Nursing Shortage
Assignment Developing Organizational Policies And Practices on Nursing Shortage

generation into taking up nurses courses. It is also necessary to launch nursing professionals’ advertising campaigns through social media platform, which will support the profession. It is also important for the supervisors in health care facilities to be encouraged to offer physical and psychological support to the workers. The supervisors should also be trained frequently to improve their supervisory skills. The knowledge imparted to them during the training will include treatment of the staff favorably, being friendly to the staff and encouraging team building (Nantsupawat et al., 2017). Positive impacts of nurses will be acknowledged through recognition. A chance for the nurses to voice their view and take part in policy-making activity will be in cooperated in all healthcare facilities. As such, the nursing working environment will be friendly hence retaining most nurses in their jobs and attracting young students towards joining the profession in future. A good example is a work that has been accomplished by the America Nursing Association in protecting the rights of nurses and enhancing ethical observation in the nursing profession which has greatly led to an increase in the number of nurses in the country (Abhicharttibutra et al., 2017). The organization has also initiated several training programs and scholarships which has attracted more young generation to study nursing which will completely abolish the issue of nursing shortage in future.

Competing needs arise within any organization as employees seek to meet their targets and leaders seek to meet company goals. As a leader, successful management of these goals requires establishing priorities and allocating resources accordingly.

Within a healthcare setting, the needs of the workforce, resources, and patients are often in conflict. Mandatory overtime, implementation of staffing ratios, use of unlicensed assisting personnel, and employer reductions of education benefits are examples of practices that might lead to conflicting needs in practice.

Leaders can contribute to both the problem and the solution through policies, action, and inaction. In this Assignment, you will further develop the white paper you began work on in Module 1 by addressing competing needs within your organization.

To Prepare:

Review the national healthcare issue/stressor you examined in your Assignment for Module 1, and review the analysis of the healthcare issue/stressor you selected.
Identify and review two evidence-based scholarly resources that focus on proposed policies/practices to apply to your selected healthcare issue/stressor.
Reflect on the feedback you received from your colleagues on your Discussion post regarding competing needs.
The Assignment (4-5 pages):

Developing Organizational Policies and Practices

Add a section to the paper you submitted in Module 1. The new section should address the following:

Identify and describe at least two competing needs impacting your selected healthcare issue/stressor.
Describe a relevant policy or practice in your organization that may influence your selected healthcare issue/stressor.
Critique the policy for ethical considerations, and explain the policy’s strengths and challenges in promoting ethics.
Recommend one or more policy or practice changes designed to balance the competing needs of resources, workers, and patients, while addressing any ethical shortcomings of the existing policies. Be specific and provide examples.
Cite evidence that informs the healthcare issue/stressor and/or the policies, and provide two scholarly resources in support of your policy or practice recommendations.

Rubric Detail

A rubric lists grading criteria that instructors use to evaluate student work. Your instructor linked a rubric to this item and made it available to you. Select Grid View or List View to change the rubric\’s layout.

Content
Name: NURS_6053_Module02_Week03_Assignment_Rubric
Grid View
List View
Excellent Good Fair Poor
Add a section to the paper you submitted in Module 1. In 4–5 pages, address the following:

· Identify and describe at least two competing needs impacting your selected healthcare issue/stressor.
Points Range:23 (23.00%) – 25 (25.00%)
The response accurately and clearly identifies at least two competing needs impacting the healthcare issue/stressor selected.
Points Range:20 (20.00%) – 22 (22.00%)
The response identifies at least two competing needs impacting the healthcare issue/stressor selected.
Points Range:18 (18.00%) – 19 (19.00%)
The response identifies at least two competing needs impacting the healthcare issue/stressor selected that is vague or inaccurate.
Points Range:0 (0.00%) – 17 (17.00%)
The response describes at least two competing needs impacting the healthcare issue/stressor selected that is vague and inaccurate, or is missing.
· Describe a relevant policy or practice in your organization that may influence your selected healthcare issue/stressor.

· Critique the policy for ethical considerations and explain the policy\’s strengths and challenges in promoting ethics.
Points Range:27 (27.00%) – 30 (30.00%)
The response accurately and thoroughly describes in detail a relevant policy or practice in an organization that may influence the healthcare issue/stressor selected.

The response accurately and thoroughly critiques in detail the policy for ethical considerations and explains in detail the policy\’s strengths and challenges in promoting ethics.
Points Range:24 (24.00%) – 26 (26.00%)
The response accurately describes a relevant policy or practice in an organization that may influence the healthcare issue/stressor selected.

The response accurately critiques the policy for ethical considerations and explains the policy\’s strengths and challenges in promoting ethics.
Points Range:21 (21.00%) – 23 (23.00%)
The response describes a relevant policy or practice in an organization that may influence the healthcare issue/stressor selected that is vague or inaccurate.

The response critiques the policy for ethical considerations and explains the policy\’s strengths and challenges in promoting ethics that is vague or inaccurate.
Points Range:0 (0.00%) – 20 (20.00%)
The response describes a relevant policy or practice in an organization that may influence the healthcare issue/stressor selected that is vague and inaccurate, or is missing.

The response critiques the policy for ethical considerations and explains the policy\’s strengths and challenges in promoting ethics that is vague and inaccurate, or is missing.
· Recommend one or more policy or practice changes designed to balance the competing needs of resources, workers, and patients while addressing any ethical shortcomings of the existing policies. Be specific and provide examples.

· Cite evidence that informs the healthcare issue/stressor and/or the policies and provide two scholarly resources in support of your policy or practice recommendations.
Points Range:27 (27.00%) – 30 (30.00%)
The response provide one or more accurate, clear, and thorough recommendations for policy or practice changes designed to balance the competing needs of resources, workers, and patients while addressing any ethical shortcomings of the existing policies.

Specific and accurate examples are provided.

Accurate and detailed evidence is cited that informs the healthcare issue/stressor selected and a specific synthesis of at least two outside scholarly resources in full support of the policy or practice recommendations is provided. The response integrates at least 2 outside resources and 2 or 3 course-specific resources that fully support the healthcare issue/stressor selected.
Points Range:24 (24.00%) – 26 (26.00%)
The response provides one or more recommendations for policy or practice changes designed to balance the competing needs of resources, workers, and patients while addressing any ethical shortcomings of the existing policies.

Specific examples may be provided.

Evidence is cited that informs the healthcare issue/stressor selected and a synthesis of at least one outside scholarly resource that may support the policy or practice recommendations is provided. The response integrates at least 1 outside resource and 2 or 3 course-specific resources that may support the healthcare issue/stressor selected.
Points Range:21 (21.00%) – 23 (23.00%)
The response provides one or more recommendations for policy or practice changes designed to balance the competing needs of resources, workers, and patients while addressing any ethical shortcomings of the existing policies that is vague or inaccurate.

Examples may be provided.

Vague or inaccurate evidence is cited from 2 or 3 resources that informs the healthcare issue/stressor selected and may support the policy or practice recommendations provided.
Points Range:0 (0.00%) – 20 (20.00%)
The response provides one or more recommendations for policy or practice changes designed to balance the competing needs of resources, workers, and patients while addressing any ethical shortcomings of the existing policies that is vague and inaccurate, or is missing.

Examples are missing.

Vague and inaccurate evidence is cited that informs the healthcare issue/stressor and may include at least 1 scholarly resource that vaguely and inaccurately supports the policy practice recommendations is provided, or is missing.
Written Expression and Formatting – Paragraph Development and Organization:

Paragraphs make clear points that support well-developed ideas, flow logically, and demonstrate continuity of ideas. Sentences are carefully focused—neither long and rambling nor short and lacking substance. A clear and comprehensive purpose statement and introduction is provided which delineates all required criteria.
Points Range:5 (5.00%) – 5 (5.00%)
Paragraphs and sentences follow writing standards for flow, continuity, and clarity.

A clear and comprehensive purpose statement, introduction, and conclusion is provided which delineates all required criteria.
Points Range:4 (4.00%) – 4 (4.00%)
Paragraphs and sentences follow writing standards for flow, continuity, and clarity 80% of the time.

Purpose, introduction, and conclusion of the assignment is stated, yet is brief and not descriptive.
Points Range:3.5 (3.50%) – 3.5 (3.50%)
Paragraphs and sentences follow writing standards for flow, continuity, and clarity 60%–79% of the time.

Purpose, introduction, and conclusion of the assignment is vague or off topic.
Points Range:0 (0.00%) – 3 (3.00%)
Paragraphs and sentences follow writing standards for flow, continuity, and clarity < 60% of the time. No purpose statement, introduction, or conclusion was provided. Written Expression and Formatting – English writing standards: Correct grammar, mechanics, and proper punctuation Points Range:5 (5.00%) – 5 (5.00%) Uses correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation with no errors. Points Range:4 (4.00%) – 4 (4.00%) Contains a few (1 or 2) grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. Points Range:3.5 (3.50%) – 3.5 (3.50%) Contains several (3 or 4) grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. Points Range:0 (0.00%) – 3 (3.00%) Contains many (≥ 5) grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors that interfere with the reader’s understanding. Written Expression and Formatting – The paper follows correct APA format for title page, headings, font, spacing, margins, indentations, page numbers, parenthetical/in-text citations, and reference list. Points Range:5 (5.00%) – 5 (5.00%)