Change in Practice Assignment

Change in Practice Assignment
Student’s Full Name
Walden University
Course Number, Section, and Title
Month, Day, Year
Overview of the Assignment
An appropriate nurse staffing is a critical element in health facilities that ensures the safety and well-being of the patients and caregivers. A health facility that has an inadequate staffing level experiences staffing malpractices such as medication errors, falls, respiratory infections, and an increase in heart attacks among other things.
It is therefore upon this central theme that it of significance to point out and acknowledge the fact that this challenge has been challenged by many health institutions. It is imperative to realize that when an institution of health staffs its nurses according to numbers, it would mean that all their patients require the same care methods regardless of the complexities and illnesses they have. However in the event that staffing is done on the basis of numbers, nurses are likely to experience depletions in morale, burnouts a factor that leads to higher levels of staff absenteeism. This also clearly shows the intensity of this problem and, therefore, indicates that a change should be enacted through the introduction of a nursing structure through acuity in order to decrease instances of burnout and increase the satisfaction of patients.
The purpose of this assignment is to pursue approaches of bridging the gaps in health organizations, through the formulation of conceptual frameworks that ensures the staffing levels are done effectively in order to improve patient outcomes, job satisfaction and retention also considering the liabilities that come with this problem (Bogaert, Clarke, Willems, & Mondelaers, 2013).
Problem Statement
Registered nurses remain the single largest group of health care professionals in many countries. However, nurse-to-patient ratios have posed a challenge for many hospitals for quite a period of time. Many hospitals have gone to the point of advocating for the number of nurses required for certain levels of care, a factor that has not been well received in health care industry. It is imperative to realize that when an institution of health staffs its nurses according to numbers, it would mean that all their patients require the same care methods regardless of the complexities and illnesses they have.
Out of this, many hospitals have taken steps in restructuring their systems with the intention of decreasing the costs associated with the large and huge staffing with the aim of increasing productivity (Bogaert, et.al). These initiatives have highly affected the effectiveness of clinical care and patient outcomes, job satisfaction and patient retention. In order to increase the productivity levels of a health institution, it is important that the appropriate staffing approaches are employed. It is through the effective staffing strategies that a health organization achieves its goals. In the event an organization staffs its nurses poorly. The same results are likely to yield, a factor that affects many functions within a health institution.
Many institutions have considerable taken the approaches of staffing their facilities on the basis of numbers. Such institutions that apply the ap...