Adequate Number Of Nurses Research Articles

Incentivizing Full-time Employment for New Graduate Nurses in Ontario: Impact of Policy on Care

There is consensus that a professional full-time nursing workforce leads to better patient outcomes and a safer health care environment. In 2007, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care introduced the Nursing Graduate Guarantee (NGG), a policy mechanism designed to strengthen the nursing workforce by increasing full-time (FT) employment for newly graduated nurses. Several factors have affected the supply and employment status of nurses in the province over the past two decades, including the introduction of unregulated health care workers and crises such as SARS and COVID-19. A secondary analysis of the College of Nurses of Ontario registration database was conducted to identify and evaluate trends in the supply and employment of nurses in Ontario prior to and following introduction of the NGG. The results demonstrate that full-time employment of new registered nurses and new registered practical nurses initially increased but has since fallen to below pre-policy levels. Part-time work among newly graduated nurses is increasing across all sectors, signaling a diminishing effect of the NGG investments over time. Investments in health human resources have a stabilizing effect on the nursing workforce. Ensuring an adequate number of nurses is necessary for crisis preparation, management and recovery, particularly in sectors with low surge capacity such as long-term care. However, sustained financial, political, public, and professional support is required.

Patient safety time for federally mandated registered nurse to patient ratios.

COVID-19 highlighted the role registered nurses (RNs) have in our healthcare system. The shortage of equipment plus an overwhelming demand for nursing care placed significant stress on nurses. The physical and emotional toll of caring for COVID patients and not having an adequate number of nurses in many cases placed many nurses in harm's way. Despite some healthcare systems reporting significant profits during COVID, few nurses benefited financially. ICU nurses found themselves assigned to three or more patients. Having a defined RN to patient ratio is an urgent need. Pass efforts to mandate via Federal legislation ratios have failed largely due to hospitals' opposition. California has had mandated RN to patient ratios since 2011. Their experience has proven that patient outcomes improve as well as nurse retention. Hospitals' decrease has largely offset the impacts of hospitals' net revenue by decreasing acquired infections, reducing the 30-readmission rate, and improving patient satisfaction scores. As documented in recent Harris polls, the consumer appears ready to support nurses, with nurses enjoying significant public support. The political climate for such change is favorable compared to the past. The Yoder-Wise Planned Policy Change illustrates how Federal legislation mandates RN to patient ratios is achievable.

A STUDY ON QUALITY OF SERVICES IN THE OUTPATIENT DEPARTMENT OF A MULTISPECIALTY TEACHING HOSPITAL

Quality of patient care in Outpatient Department (OPD) is as important as other clinical health measures and is a means of measuring the effectiveness of health care delivery system. A study was conducted to evaluate the facilities, infrastructure, services and stafng in the Outpatient Department in multispecialty teaching hospital. The study type is descriptive. Sample sizes of 120 patients were selected using convenience sampling technique. Questionnaire method was used to collect data from patients. The ndings showed that majority of the patients agreed that there were adequate facilities, infrastructure and services in the Outpatient Department. They also said that there were adequate number of nurses, doctors and supportive staff available to manage patients in OPD. The majority of patients were satised with the quality of services provided by the staff in OPD. The study ndings revealed some of the areas which can be improved such as cleanliness, communication skills of staff and pharmacy services to improve the overall quality of service provided.

Improving Trust Between Learners and Teachers in Medicine.

Improving Trust Between Learners and Teachers in Medicine.

Social support received by the family of older patients in emergency department: A cross-sectional study

Poor social support provided within health care settings may reduce patients’ ability to manage disease. The presence of family members in emergency department (ED) may reduce the patient’s need for health care and social services utilization. The aim of the study was to describe the social support received by family in the ED. A cross-sectional empirical study design was used. Convenience sample of 111 family members of home discharged older patients and of 93 nurses were recruited. The study was conducted at four Estonian hospitals. Data were collected by using social support scale of the Family Functioning, Health and Social Support (FAFHES). Family members and nurses both considered the social support available in EDs to be moderate. Nurses believed they provided higher levels of social support than the family members stated the family received. The differences were statistically significant. The older a nurse was, the less reinforcement, feedback, and affecting others for finding solutions was offered. A greater number of nurses working in the ED resulted in less social support. This study found differences of views between family members of older patients and nurses regarding the level of social support of the family. Nursing care provided in ED should be developed to be more supportive. To ensure more family-centred approach when providing nursing care, the administrative staff needs to consider whether an adequate number of nurses are working in the ED. The social support scale used was found to be applicable in ED environments.

Enforcement of Hospital Nurse Staffing Regulations Across the United States: Progress or Stalemate?

Enactment of hospital nurse staffing regulations was brought about by changes in the U.S. health care system that resulted in large-scale reductions in nurse staffing. These reductions came at a time when studies were highlighting inadequacies in care that caused negative patient outcomes and raised questions about the safety of hospitalized patients. Nurse staffing regulations were enacted to ensure that adequate numbers of nurses were available to provide high-quality and safe care. Although these regulations represent progress toward addressing staffing inadequacies, enforcement language is absent or weak and compliance data are either not collected or difficult to access. Explicit and funded enforcement measures need to be included in staffing regulations. Additionally, compliance monitoring and reporting are necessary to evaluate these types of staffing regulations and to determine if they actually achieve the goal of appropriate nurse staffing.

The 2013 National Nursing Workforce Survey of Registered Nurses

The 2013 National Nursing Workforce Survey of Registered Nurses

The supply of qualified nurses: a classical model of labour supply

The need to ensure adequate numbers of nurses is a key requirement of the current modernization of the UK NHS. However, it is unclear how effective wages are as an instrument to maintain or increase the nursing workforce, both in terms of absolute numbers and in the number of whole time equivalents. This study sets out to estimate a classical model of labour supply for British qualified married or cohabiting nurses and midwives, looking at both the participation decision and the hours of work supplied. Data are from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey over the years 1999–2000. Participation and hours of work are found to be inelastic with respect to own wage. These results suggest that increasing the wage would only have a moderate effect on labour supply. Interestingly, there is no significant statistical difference between having a child of nursery age (3–4) and having a child of school age (5–15) on participation and hours supplied. This suggests that recent policy initiatives to increase female labour force participation, through the provision of free nursery places, has been successful. Preliminary analysis of a split private and public sector sample suggests that hours supplied are completely inelastic with respect to wages in the public sector.

Staffing in acute hospital wards: part 2. Relationships between grade mix, staff stability and features of ward organizational environment.

This paper explores relationships between grade mix, staff stability, care organization and nursing practice. The data were collected in the mid-1990s from a nationally representative sample of 100 acute hospital wards and 825 nurses. Analyses provides important insights for managers seeking to achieve the strategic aims set out in consecutive National Health Service (NHS) human resource management policies. Hypotheses about ward clinical grade mix were not well supported. Where there was rich grade mix, nurses reported better collaborative working with other disciplines and greater influence. However, it was expected that wards practising 'devolved' nursing would have a richer grade mix and that the latter would lead to more innovative practice and nurses experiencing greater job satisfaction. No evidence to support any of these hypotheses was found although the opposite scenario - a link between poor grade mix, unprogressive practice and perceived lower standards of care - was supported. Wards practising the 'devolved' system rely on adequate numbers of nurses rather than a rich grade mix, and do not necessarily provide a more stable, retentive work environment for nurses. By contrast, findings about staff stability were largely as expected. A strong link between staff stability and standards of professional nursing practice was found, indicating that staff stability is more important than a rich grade mix for achieving innovative, research-based practice. However, staff instability undermined cohesion with nurse colleagues, collaborative working with doctors, and nurses' ability to cope with the workload. Overall, both the papers demonstrate that staffing resources and prevailing ethos of care are more important predictors of care processes and job satisfaction than organizational systems. They identify the detrimental effects on nurses and their work of having few staff and a weak grade mix, and the importance of staff stability. Higher standards of nursing practice are achieved where stability is high, independently of staffing characteristics.