Running Head: NURSE STAFFING RATIO 1

Nurse Staffing Ratio

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Describe Nursing staffing ratio. Discuss how it impacts quality of care and

patient safety in the setting in which it occurs.

Nurse staffing ratio refers to the proportion of nurses to patients in a healthcare

facility. Nursing staffing is very important in ensuring that quality care is given to every

patient. If nurses are overworked or overscheduled, the capabilities of nurses will decline

over time. They will lose their drive towards achieving the set objectives and therefore,

patients will suffer in the process (Hill & Dewitt, 2018). Appropriate nurse staffing ratio will

impact quality of healthcare in hospitals and increase patients’ health safety. Appropriate

nurse staffing is good for nursing profession in addition to the general medical care

framework. Nursing staffing ratio enhances quality healthcare services through creating an

enabling environment for medical practitioners.

This better working environment is created by determining the appropriate number of

patients that every nurse should handle per day and creating a better business culture for

nurses. The most demotivating factor among all nurses is being overworked. Serving more

than average number of patients affects the decision making pattern of nurses besides their

general health (Hill & Dewitt, 2018). When better healthcare services are achieved in the

healthcare settings, patients are guaranteed that their health is in safe hands. Client safety also

comes in when patients are confident they can share their private information with the nurses.

Discuss how professional standards of practice should be demonstrated in

nursing staffing to help rectify the issue or maintain professional conduct.

Expertise principles of practice are very essential in delivering professional medical

care services that affects clinical care results. Even though nursing staffing is a complex issue

in medical care, it can be effectively solved through embracing staffing solutions. Staffing

solutions are composed of professional codes of conduct in nursing. Expertise principles of

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practice include: collaboration skills, key performance indicators, efficient reimbursement

framework, cost effectiveness and comprehensive nursing decisions (Nock). Collaborations

skills are needed to pass information from nurses to other stakeholders in the medical care

profession. Discussing the underlying issues with other experts enable nurses to gather

possible solutions to their challenges. This influences the outcomes of nursing practice. Key

performance indicators are elements that show nursing progress.

These nursing key performance indicators include intensity of medical cure, extent of

disease stability and the number of patients coming for treatment services. Medical structure

is also critical in maintaining professional conduct in medical facilities. A good

reimbursement configuration shouldn’t stimulate the quality of health services or nurse

staffing ratios in any hospital settings (Nock). Cost effectiveness is also an essential factor in

ensuring safe and quality medical care services. Lastly, nurses should also take part in

decision making to ensure that their interests and input are also considered. This

comprehensive decision making structure creates an enabling working environment.

Explain the differing roles of nursing leaders and nursing managers in nursing

staffing and discuss the different approaches they take to address the selected

issue and promote patient safety and quality care. Support your rationale by

using the theories, principles, skills, and roles of the leader versus manager

described in your readings.

Generally, nursing practice is a call to medical care leadership. Both nursing

managers and leaders play important roles in promoting patient safety and better medical

care. The basic concept of nursing is to train nurses to lead multiple ancillary groups within

their area of operation. While nursing managers are tasked with the duties of managing a

particular division, nursing leaders represent nursing institutions in various conventions.

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Nursing leaders are also the primary decision makers in healthcare enterprises

(PatientEngagementHIT, 2019). Nursing managers ensure that the primary functions of a

healthcare department are well done. It is their responsibility to organize patient care

procedures, constant quality improvement as well as budgeting framework.

Generally, managers see to it that all assignments are done within the set time frames

and that all obligations are done. On the other hand, nursing leaders are the primary policy

setters in an organization. Their tasks are less hands-on and primarily focused on

spearheading organizational changes, facility mission and setting long term strategic patterns

(PatientEngagementHIT, 2019). Nursing leaders and nursing managers drive patient care and

safety in any hospital. On one hand, the managers ensure that all the hands-on tasks are

primarily done while on the other hand, the nursing leaders set the objectives of the medical

institution.

Discuss what additional aspects mangers and leaders would need to initiate in

order to ensure professionalism throughout diverse health care settings while

addressing nursing staffing ratio.

To ensure that professionalism and diversity is achieved in medical care institutions,

nursing managers and leaders must take additional approaches. Some of these approaches

include creating an official staffing framework, minimizing nursing turnover, establishing a

staffing team and better consultancy plan. An official staffing framework is established to

ensure that every patient is served by the most qualified medical practitioner (Williamson et

al., 2018). A staffing framework is an element as well as a shift-specific development

approach which embraces medical care calibration in every division. With an effective

nursing framework, the nursing decisions reached address most nursing considerations like
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expertise and patient acuity. Minimizing nursing turnover is done by addressing the underling

nursing challenges.

If a nursing organization keeps on losing staffs in the short term, the firm will

experience staffing shortage in the near future. If the firm will not rectify the issue, they will

suffer shortage of nurses. To decrease the rate of nursing turnover, the management must

limit compulsory overtime, delegating paperwork to other qualified personnel and adopting

emerging technologies in healthcare (Williamson et al., 2018). The other step is to establish a

staffing team which will initiate a collaborative approach to nursing staffing. A good

committee will ensure that better decisions are reached and all nursing requirements are met.

Finally, consulting other staffs is also essential in nurse staffing decision making.

Describe a leadership style that would best address nursing staffing. Explain why

this style could be successful in this setting.

To effectively address nursing staffing ratio, transformational leadership approach is

essential. Transformational leadership entails focusing om the bigger picture in nursing. The

leaders are basically focused on improved medical care, better operational and informational

systems and the means of achieving divisional and organizational goals. To effectively

achieve the goals, the leaders discuss the objectives with their team who in turn give their

advice to the events (Yoder-Wise, 2019). This swarm intelligence is very essential in

ensuring that the goals of every nurse is effectively met. The nurses also involved in decision

making and thus their issues are also considered. Transformational leadership style will

efficiently impact the day to day decisions in healthcare. In addition to creating an enabling

environment for nurses, it will also create collaboration of efforts within and outside medical

facilities (Yoder-Wise, 2019). Using a comprehensive approach will address nursing staffing

ratio in a more sophisticated manner.

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References

Hill, M., & Dewitt, J. (2018). Staffing Is More Than a Number. Journal of Neuroscience

Nursing, 50(5), 268–272. https://doi.org/10.1097/jnn.0000000000000387

Nock, B. Ensuring Safe Nurse-to-Patient Ratios: What You Can Do.

https://www.gebauer.com/blog/nurse-to-patient-ratios.

PatientEngagementHIT. (2019, June 28). How Nurse Staffing Ratios Impact Patient Safety,

Access to Care. https://patientengagementhit.com/news/how-nurse-staffing-ratios-

impact-patient-safety-access-to-care.

Williamson, A. the A. E., Williamson, E., 4, H. P. J., 5, S. L. J., 9, F. R. J., 14, D. K. J., …

28, T. E. A. (2018, August 24). Nurse manager vs. nurse leader: What's the difference?

Nurse.com Blog. https://www.nurse.com/blog/2017/05/23/nurse-manager-vs-nurse-

leader-whats-the-difference/.

Yoder-Wise, P. S. (2019). Leading and Managing in Nursing (7th ed.). St. Louis , MO:

Elsevier. Edited by Lexie Kramber on Feb 19 at 5:30pmCalifornia's Nurse-To-Patient

Ratio Law and Occupational Injury.pdf