Increasing Nurse Staffing to Improve Patient Outcomes
In this assignment, you will select a program, quality improvement initiative, or other project from your place of employment. Assume you are presenting this program to the board for approval of funding. Write an executive summary (850-1,000 words) to present to the board, from which they will make their decision to fund your program or project. The summary should include: The purpose of the program or project. The target population or audience. The benefits of the program or project The cost or budget justification. The basis upon which the program or project will be evaluated. Share your written proposal with your manager, supervisor or other colleague in a formal leadership position within a health care organization. Request their feedback using the following questions as prompts: Do you believe the proposal would be approved if formally proposed? What are some strengths and weaknesses of the proposal? Submit the written proposal along with the "Executive Summary Feedback Form." Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required. This assignment uses a grading rubric. Instructors will be using the rubric to grade the assignment; therefore, students should review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the assignment criteria and expectations for successful completion of the assignment. You are required to submit this assignment to Turnitin. Refer to the directions in the Student Success Center. Only Word documents can be submitted to Turnitin.
Increasing Nurse Staffing to Improve Patient Outcomes
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Increasing Nurse Staffing to Improve Patient Outcomes
One of the emerging challenges in the healthcare sector is the increasing rate of nurse shortage with respect to nurse-patient ratio. In the United States where the baby boomer generation is coming into retirement, this challenge is likely to degenerate into a crisis if no prior measures are taken to address increasing patient needs. This is especially the case in long term care where aging patients require sustained care to help them with their daily life activities. In this regard, one area that requires changes is in nurse staffing. There is an urgent need to increase the number of nurses to enable the healthcare sector deal with increasing patient needs. Increasing the number of nurses will also help the healthcare sector to anticipate future challenges related to increasing patient acuity as a result of more aged patients needing healthcare.
Recent and current statistics indicate that over 75 million baby-boomers are on the verge of retirement. In 2012, it was projected that for the next twenty five years, 10, 000 persons within the baby-boomer bracket will be reaching the retirement age of 65 daily (Bernard, 2012). The same statistics show that the population of people aged between 65 to 84 years increased by 3.3 million in 10 years, between 2000 and 2010. A 2008 research study indicated that a large percentage of the American general population is getting older each year, meaning that the number of patients requiring long term and specialized care is set to soar rapidly in coming years (Camphor, 2008). In addition to the aging baby-boomer generation, the healthcare sector will have more patients to treat as a result of increasing cases of weight-related health conditions among the general American population. Thus, failure to increase nurse staffing will jeopardize service delivery as the number of patients in need of care will rise overwhelmingly.
The challenge posed by increasing patient needs is compounded by a nurse attrition trend which has seen the vacancy rate of nurses rise from 5.5% in 2009 to 17% in 2013 (Punke, 2013). At the same time, low levels of nurse satisfaction as a result of work overload and low pay has led to high rates of attrition as more nurses move into other well-paying professions (American Hospital Association, Commission on Workforce for Hospitals and Health Systems, 2002). Similarly, a 2008 Federal Government Study indicated that while the population of qualified nurses is set to grow by 6% by the year 2020, patient needs are projected to increase about seven times more- 40% (Stanton, 2008). In this regard, it is vitally necessary to increase the number of nurses as a means of reducing nurse workload and increase nurse satisfaction.
Target Population
The program to increase the number of nurses should target aged persons and patients requiring long term care. This is because this is the group of patients who will need more nursing care in coming years, and who are at risk of lacking access to nursing services as a result of nurse shortage. In this regard, more nurses should be trained to work in nursing homes, hospices, and other care facilities for older per...