Need for Advocacy Through Legislation for Nursing Shortage

Advocacy Through Legislation Identify a problem or concern in your state, community, or organization that can be advocated through legislation. Research the issue and complete the sections below. For each topic that requires listing criteria, a minimum of two criteria should be identified and discussed. Add more rows as appropriate for the topic/proposal. Problem
In no more than 250 words, describe the problem, who is affected, and the current ramifications. Explain the consequences if the issue continues. Virginia is currently facing an urgent nursing shortage similar to many other states across the United States. According to Sablik (2022), this problem worsened during the covid-19 pandemic when the policymakers focused on increasing the hospital beds without ensuring that the increasing hospital capacity was proportional to the number of healthcare providers. The researcher indicates that healthcare facilities employ 105,000 fewer individuals at the national level compared to early 2020, illustrating a 2% loss (Sablik, 2022). The concerning aspect is that by November 2021, over 600,000 health professionals were quitting their jobs, further worsening the staffing issue (Sablik, 2022). As a result, this shortage requires serious advocacy through legislation for fast and sustainable solutions. An insufficient number of healthcare professionals, including nurses, affects diverse stakeholders with far-reaching ramifications. For instance, Sablik (2022) illustrates that nursing staffing directly correlates with the patient’s health outcomes. Serving too many patients at once negatively affects the quality of care, increasing morbidity and mortality rates. These outcomes arise due to a lack of proper service, medical and medication-related errors, and delayed diagnosis. Nurses also suffer burnout-related stress that worsens and increases the likelihood of more mistakes. Such aspects explain the high healthcare turnover in facilities. Thus, everyone becomes affected by this issue if it continues, including the nurses and other professionals, the reputation of the hospitals in Virginia, and the patients. Failure to address it will hamper healthcare delivery. The idea for Addressing Solution
In no more than 250 words, outline your idea for addressing the issue and explain why legislation is the best course for advocacy. The current healthcare professional shortage, especially nursing, exists due to the absence of a defined nurse-patient ratio within a facility or department. Setting a standard nurse recruitment balance for Virginia will be fundamental for ensuring that all healthcare facilities expand their workforce to be consistent with the number of patients served by these healthcare experts. For instance, a facility within an urban area serving a significantly higher population should have a comparatively higher number of nurses in the different departments to sufficiently care for the patients. Implementing this strategy would ensure that no healthcare facilities become understaffed or overstaffed, making them productive and ensuring maximum utilization of the available professional resources. As a result, this approach will boost healthcare outcomes, the facilities’ reputation, and the care providers’ morale. For several reasons, legislation emerges as the best advocacy course for this issue. The first one is that a law governing the recruitment threshold will establish a norm and guideline for directing healthcare facilities in the right direction. It will also confirm that nursing shortage is not an issue they can afford to underestimate because it receives significantly greater attention, including at the legislative level, making appropriate staffing a priority in all institutions. Lastly, the presence of law would push facilities to re-strategize and assign nurses duties in the different departments without overburdening them due to the concern of raising conflicts that could stir litigations for violating an established regulation. Research the Issue  Perform research and compile information for your idea. Present substantive evidence-based findings that support your idea for addressing the problem (studies, research, and reports). Include any similar legislation introduced or passed in other states. Evidence 1 Nursing staffing is a sensitive issue in all healthcare departments. Griffiths et al. (2019) confirm that low nurse versus patients in a facility increases the likelihood of nurses omitting essential care. Experts identify this practice as the primary aspect that causes adverse outcomes in patients. Sometimes, even the minimum mandatory staff numbers cannot meet some patient needs, underscoring the importance of urgently addressing this issue for desirable patient outcomes.
Evidence 2 Griffiths et al. (2019) demonstrate that overburdened nurses in healthcare institutions tend to suffer from declining professional judgment. The experts reveal that the stress from work-related burnout emerges as a patient safety concern because it can trigger random medication errors leading to poor health outcomes. It also becomes challenging for an understaffed nursing environment to have healthy interdisciplinary teams critical for quality outcomes. As a result, addressing this issue in Virginia solves different interlinked problems. Legislations in other states
Georgia has set an example as one of the several states with legislation regulating nurse-patient ratios. The state’s HB 801 became effective on 1st July 2020, establishing a maximum number of patients a healthcare facility can assign a nurse at a time (Morley, 2020). The bill illustrates the state’s recognition of the work-related pressures nurses endure and seeks to remedy it by providing a precise workload balance based on various departments. Stakeholder Support
Discuss the stakeholders supporting the proposed idea and explain why they would be in support. Stakeholder(s) Supporting 1 Since this proposed idea directly affects nurses, they stand as the first stakeholders that would support it. Nurses have faced diverse work overload and burnout ramifications for decades. The situation became even more complex during the covid-19 era. They recognize that the understaffing issues adversely affect their reputation within the healthcare sector. As a result, they readily support progressive and well-though ideas for addressing their staffing issues to eradicate burnout and increase their capacity to provide quality health services to their patients without worries of neglecting others in the process. Such an aspect would revolutionize their work approach in Virginia. Stakeholder(s) Supporting 2 Public health specialists would also second this idea. Their primary role is to avert disease burdens in communities. In this context, they work with other healthcare providers to promote preventative approaches, including preventing relapses among patients. As a result, they would welcome the proposition of having sufficient nurses to ensure patients receive desirable care leading to recovery...