Problems with Nurse Staffing and Quality of Care

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Problems with nurse staffing and quality of care

Problems with nurse staffing and quality of care
Introduction
A study by nursing researchers found that 11 to 14% less patients would have expired in PA and NJ if only they had patient to nurse ratios as they do in California. The Health Services Research study "Implications of the California Nurse Staffing Mandate for Other States" also found that California nurses felt 15-20% less suffering from exhaustion symptoms compared to NJ and PA nurses respectively. In August 2002 the Joint Commission put out a rather expansive account on the nursing insufficiency focusing on the severity of the current and potential future nursing shortage and its damaging effect on quality of care. The report shows data that indicates short staffing was a reason in 25% of all deaths or life changing events for patients. JCAHO's explanation states that when nurse staffing is approriate then fewer complications, fewer adverse events, shorter lengths of stay, and lower mortality are the end result (Aiken et al., 2010).
Change plan
The problem identified is patients have poor outcomes and higher mortality rates when nursing staff is short. To facilitate change nursing staff on hospital units must increase to promote positive outcomes, less burnout and low mortality to patients. Concerns about poor care top the list of complaints to the Patients Association’s helplines. The association says there are four types of poor care that patients and relatives continually report. First, nurses do not communicate effectively. For example, patient call bells often go unanswered. Second, patients are not assisted to go to the toilet. Third, patients are not given sufficient pain relief, and finally, patients are not given enough encouragement with nutrition.
These four issues form the basis of our Care campaign. The respondents to Nursing

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