A Proposal For Staffing Ratios

A Proposal for Staffing Ratios

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A Proposal for Staffing Ratios

Staffing affects the ability of users to provide safer and higher quality services in every practice level. This means there is a need of nurses having a better understanding of what staffing is all about, various processes associates and their responsibility to the patients. As much as the managers and other leaders of the organization will be accountable for any process being carried out in an organization, nurses will be held responsible for all the impact they might have caused to their patients. Nurse leaders usually achieve appropriate staffing assignments by matching resources to their patients based on different factors. Some of them include unit variables, competencies, needs of the patients, education among other things (Griffiths et al 2016). For this reason, it is important for the nurses to first understand the relationship between staffing, patient, cost and the overall outcomes of the organization. In developing the new staffing matrix, there are four major steps which must be put into consideration. They include forecasting, scheduling, staffing, and improvements.

Scheduling and staffing are important in the creation of the budget plan, while other processes, as well as improvement, ensures that there is a provision of quality services to all patients. There are various things that will be carried out in staffing and scheduling. One of them involves the creation of systems that would translate staffing data, and policies into rules that would guide the creation of the new schedule. Automated systems will also be used in promoting staff satisfaction, which includes all forms of fairness that will be required in the new matrix for effective operation. These systems also enhance effective communication which makes staff members be more active thereby increasing the staff satisfaction. Apart from that, it is through these systems that the managers would be alerted in case of an emergency among the nurses. For this reason, in creating the new matrix, there is a need for considering having automated systems in facilitation all the operations that would be carried out in the organization.

In implementing the new staffing matrix, there will be a daily operation which would be used in carrying out assessment and determining the allocation of nursing resources in order to ensure there is adequate staffing in each department. This will actually happen within four to forty-eight hours of the working shift. In the implementation, there will be the establishment of staffing policies. The policies created will be based on staffing vision and the desired outcomes. Coverage plans will also be considered, in case of any unexpected absence of the nurse in any department. This will be important in ensuring that the patients are attended to fully, due to the strategies that would have been put in place in covering the gap. Policies such as having emergency backups should be well explained to the nurses, so as to prevent confusion in case of anything. This will be important in ensuring the effective running of all processes within the organization, which would probably improve the patients’ outcome.

When it comes to recruitment, various qualification needs to be put in place. The vision of the organization would guide the management on the kind of nurses that would be needed. With the aim of improving the patient outcomes, only nurses with medical certification will be recruited. This is to ensure that only those having the potential of improving the health condition of the patients are employed. Other than that, training facilities need also to be put in place for newly employed nurses. This is also another way of equipping them with the skills they might require in performing their roles. At the same time, they also need to be informed on various policies of the organization and sign to agree to all those policies before being fully employed. All these steps are essential in ensuring that the new employees have adequate skills require to improve the overall outcomes of the patients, and they are also ready to work as per the rules and the regulation of the organization. With this, it becomes easier to work with them in order to achieve a common goal/ objectives set by the firm.

There are also a number of things that would need to be put in place in ensuring that skilled or rather well-performing nurses are detained. One of them is creating a better environment for their working. This involves the kind of leadership provided and how the nurses are managed. Managers should, therefore, be encouraged to treat their nurses well so that they could find it comfortable working for the same institution even for a longer period of time. Apart from that, it is also important to provide adequate resources which would make the working of the nurses more efficient. In this case, it’s all about the facilities that would be used in the treatment of patients with various medical issues, the clothing of the nurses, and food among other things. The amount of salary provided need also to be enough to sustain the nurses. All these are strategies essential in ensuring that nurses are retained, and this would probably contribute to the positive outcomes of the patients. Better working environment enhances better performance.

Leadership is also an important concept that would be considered in new staffing. There will be a need for selecting people having better leadership qualities. This includes the ability to enhance teamwork among members, the ability to collaborate and work together even with leaders from other organizations among different aspects. If at all there will be poor leadership, then it would become even harder to control other lower staff members (Cho et al, 2016). It is essential for an organization to have effective leadership for it to be successful. The leaders should also be in a position to encourage workers to work well even when there is much pressure within the organization. Failure to do this the patients’ outcomes will also fail to meet the objectives of the firm. For this reason, it will be very important not only to consider changing the leaders present but also other strategies might be implemented like reminding them of their roles in order to facilitate effective performance among them. Effective leadership is paramount for the success of any organization.

In considering whether to employ licensed or non-licensed personnel, the management needs to analyze different issues concerning the welfare of the patients. If at all there are enough training facilities, then it is more appropriate to have more unlicensed personnel, so that they can undergo training and assigned different duties. This can also be effective if at all the higher number of patients require the support that does not involve many medical techniques. For instance, if we talk of surgeries then patients under this class would need specialists in order to improve in their outcomes. Generally, there are little patients who are in needs of specialists then it is better for the organization to have more unlicensed personnel. Other factors like the cost of maintaining these workers also need to be considered. The firm should only employ depending on its ability to provide enough salaries. This is also vital when it comes to ensuring that the financial stability of the organization is sustained.

We also have different variables that need to be tracked in the process of implementing the new staffing matrix. One of them is the kind of patients. When it comes to assigning various nurses to different patients, then their health condition will be the ones that would guide the whole process. Definitely, there are those who would be in need of more nurses and even much time. Such variable can be used in allocating different duties to the nurses, depending on how often they will be needed to attend to various patients. Another variable is the availability of resources. Electronic devices that are used in the treatment of various medical issues would also determine the kind of nurses that would be assigned different duties. For instance when it comes to surgical equipment then those with technological understanding will be more appropriate as compared to those who are not well when it comes to the technological field.

In the implementation of this new matrix, there are various positive and negative effects that would be expected. On the positive side, the staffing model would ensure there is a maximum organization in the organization (Alghamdi 2016). This will also be easier for the managers to carry out their roles and easily identify various issues affecting the firm. Better management and organization will also improve the outcomes of the patients since they will be provided with all they need in an attempt to have their health condition improved. This includes attention from the health workers, cool environment among other aspects that are important in improving the outcomes. Some of the negatives anticipated include confusion in the process of adopting the new system. It would actually take some considerable amount of time before each member adjusts. Basically, enhancing the overall performance of the healthcare organization can only be attained by having effective staffing.

References

Alghamdi, M. G. (2016). Nursing workload: a concept analysis. Journal of nursing management, 24(4), 449-457.

Cho, S. H., Lee, J. Y., June, K. J., Hong, K. J., & Kim, Y. (2016). Nurse staffing levels and proportion of hospitals and clinics meeting the legal standard for nurse staffing for 1996~ 2013. Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration, 22(3), 209-219.

Griffiths, P., Ball, J., Drennan, J., Dall’Ora, C., Jones, J., Maruotti, A., ... & Simon, M. (2016). Nurse staffing and patient outcomes: strengths and limitations of the evidence to inform policy and practice. A review and discussion paper based on evidence reviewed for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Safe Staffing guideline development. International journal of nursing studies, 63, 213-225.