Shortage of Nurses in Ashford General Hospital - Essay Example

Shortage of Nurses in Ashford General Hospital Executive Summary Ashford General Hospital just like any other hospital in the United States of America faces a shortage of nurses due to various reasons. Most of nurse have a lot of duties, therefore, they feel that they are being overworked thus leaving their duties. Another reason that contributes to the shortage of nurses is the retirement and low rates of retention. Such shortage thus affects the performance of the nurses in the hospitals in most States in the United State of America. An overworked nurse will not be in a position to deliver his or her best to the patients. This makes almost impossible to deal with the emergency case in these hospitals (Abrams, 2004). It is apparent that shortage of nurses in the hospitals is translated to the satisfaction of the patients. Patients won’t be attended to fully as would be expected. To curb the shortage of the nurses, relevant authorities in such hospital should come together to address this issue amicably. Similarly, there must be a well laid down a plan to deal with the shortage of the nurses since they are the cornerstone of the hospitals. It is imperative that hospitals give the best quality of service to the patients who are only possible if the resource management work hand in hand with the stakeholders of the hospitals (Grazier, 2007). Moreover, Ashford Hospital together with the other affected hospitals can work together with the universities and colleges so that the student under training can help the existing nurses in the hospitals. Besides, in satisfying the shortage of the nurses, these hospitals should properly reward their nurses so as to act as motivation for the students who are willing to join the profession. It is also the duty of the human resource manager maintain age diversity in the hospitals, for instance, staff should be made of people of different ages so that when a certain group is retiring then there is new blood in the system (Nottingham, et al, 2012). Moreover, proper leadership should also be implemented so as to take care of the welfare of the nurses. In this light, cultural diversity is important because patients can feel that they are well represented. Lastly proper record keeping in the hospital is another fundamental idea that can help curb the shortage of the nurses. Record keeping enhances transparency in work, and resource management will be liable responsible for all the activities that are taking place in the hospitals. Introduction Several Hospitals are victims of nurses’ shortage until the issue has become a national concern in the United States of America. The shortage does affect not only the patients, but also the administration, physicians, nurses and many other stakeholders in the system. In this paper, I have dealt with various factors that lead to the shortage of nurses in different hospitals in the United States of America. One of the factors is the high rate of retirement of the nurses and low rate of their retention. Moreover, I have also mentioned the fact that nurses are being overworked in the hospitals so that they cannot give their best to the patients. In this case, there are very many nurses in the hospitals who are not motivated towards work. On the other hand, I have also showed case various hospitals in the country that have the same problem as Ashford General Hospital. In the casing, I have mentioned some of the ways that that these hospitals have done to address the shortage of nurses. Another reason that contributes to the shortage of nurses in the various hospitals in the United States of America is the availability of other courses. The nursing course was mainly meant for women but ever since women have changed career and diversified to other sectors leaving nursing. The chances are that women born earlier had chances of becoming nurses as compared to those who are born later. There are also increased demands for the nurses due to the population increase in the country. To cope up with the increase in population, there is a need for Ashford General Hospital just like any other hospital to employ more nurses in the hospitals. Solution implemented by five other hospitals with the shortage of nurses One of the Hospitals in the United States of America that faces the same problem of shortage of nurses as Ashford is Ashland Health Care Centre. It is located in the rural part of America; however, to a greater extent it has managed to solve the problem. Apart from the shortage of the nurses, it also lacked the qualified personnel like the physicians, and the existing staff was being overworked. One of the ways that it used was to use the available resources to get those professional who were changing their areas of work and their professions. Los Angeles Childrens Hospital is another hospital in the United States of America that faces the shortage of nurses; however they have implemented some of the strategies in handling the deficit that Ashford can also adopt. The first step they did is doing faculty sponsoring. This action helps to solve the fund problem that most of the students face as they go through the training. Funding is imperative because it assist the resource management to plan for the recruitment of the new nurses. Another strategy that Los Angel Childrens Hospital has used to solve the shortage of nurses is by offering faculty educational loan repayment program for the training. Most of the have problem in repaying their loans, this in turn makes the nurses end up with nothing in their pockets thus derailing their moral in work. Furthermore, most of the students cannot afford to get loans that can enable pursue their education; therefore, if such students can get these loan with no restriction on repayment, then more people may be willing to join the profession. Moreover, The Childrens Hospital has also put forward an educational program that work together with the nursing schools so that it enables them to retain some of the nurses who have gone to do their internship. Apart from working with nursing schools, the hospital also works with the nursing faculty of recruitment and retention so that it stands a better position of getting more nurses. Ashford General Hospital should adopt some of the strategies that are used by this hospital so that it can solve the shortage of nurses. Washington Hospital Centre is another hospital that has experienced the shortage of nurses just like Ashford General Hospital. However, there are some of the strategies it has put forward in dealing with the situation. For instance, it has implemented fellowship program for the students. This helps to boost the morale of the nurses and it also acts as a motivation. Fellowship program is imperative in helping the nurses to master the procedures and laws of the hospital. The hospital does this through training the old nurses thus they in turn train the newly recruited nurses in the hospital. Washington Hospital Centre also import nurses from other countries so that they can help in filling the gap for the nurse who have retired and the ones who have deliberately left the profession. Apart from these, they have also implemented a new strategy whereby they give newly recruited nurses bonuses so that they are motivated towards the work. Shortage of nurses in the hospital has a greater impact on the flow of finance to the hospitals. This is contributed by the fact that Ashford General Hospital hires temporary nurses at a higher cost. Again implementation of retention strategy is also costly. In most cases, temporary nurses are expensive so that they contribute to financial constraint to the organization. Furthermore, temporary nurses are unreliable because they are on and off. Temporary nurses are expensive and incompetent for the work so that patients end up receiving poor services. Similarly, shortage of nurses affects the quality of the service that patients receive in the hospitals. This is because very few nurses will be attending too many patients, thus nurses become overworked. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre, which is a teaching and referral hospital for Harvard Medical School, has a proper way of dealing with the shortage of nurses in the hospital. As a way of dealing with the shortage of nurses, it has created education and training program for both the already working nurses and the ones who are still under internship (Catalano, 2015). Training will enhance the performance of the nurses who are already working at the same time motivate those ones who are yearning to join the profession. The management of the hospital also made sure that the cost that covers the nurses is increased (Gering & Conner, 2002). This is to ensure that the safety of the nurses is put at a higher level. As a way of attracting more professional nurses in the hospital, there is a need to enhance teamwork and friendly working environment in the hospitals. One of the factors that Ashford needs to implement in order to help it curb the shortage is remunerating the nurses well. There is a need for the hospital to attract young forces in the hospital. Young nurses have various goals to fulfill in life, and they can only accomplish this when they are well paid lest they shift to other courses. They can also do this by making the salaries and wages that are d given to the nurses so attractive so that they find attraction in the profession. Moreover, there is also a need for the Ashford General Hospital to do a campaign in selling their organization to the potential nurses. In doing this, personnel manager must convince the professional nurses that they are going to give the best to their nurses and that the working environment is going to be conducive for the nurses. There is a need for the hospital management to understand that work is at times tiresome, and nurses need rest. Therefore, they are supposed to be given a considerable number of tasks to do so that their service doesn’t lose meaning due to the poor quality of service. There is an emotional and physical demand of the job such that if they are not meant then the service that the nurses may offer can be meaningless. The administration, therefore, needs to balance between the two so that nurses and the patients can be satisfied. As a way of motivating nurses, Ashford General Hospital should sponsor their nurses for professional certification. This will enable the few existing nurses to be competent in their undertakings at the same time they will be able to train the newly admitted nurses into the system. Moreover team work in a hospital set up has proved to work for most of the successful hospitals in the United States of America. With proper and organized team work, most nurses will enjoy the work because they can coordinate and delegate duties among themselves. For a long time in the United State of America, nursing has been taken as a profession meant for women; therefore very few men take the training for the course. It imperative that the government take an initiative to train men in the same line so as to back up the labor force needed in the hospitals. In doing this, the government should also increase the funding to the nursing sector so as to attract more people in the profession. It is reported that there is no much research in the in the field due to inadequate funding. The government should, therefore, increase the funding that it gives to the organizations so that more research can be done to enhance the performance in the profession. Similarly, Ashford should work hand in hand with the government in placing their request to empower the nurses so that the profession becomes attractive one. Another factor that immensely leads to the shortage of the nurses in Ashford General Hospital and many more hospitals in the region is the aging factor. There is a high rate of retirement of the nurses but the retention rate is very is so low. That is contributed by the complexity of the technology in the region. There are more people leaving the career, and very few people are willing to join the field. For that matter, therefore, the government should work together with the training institutions to lessen the bureaucracy associated with the application for the nursing course to the willing students. It should be made aware of the institutions that there is a serious shortage of nurses in very many hospitals in the country so that they don’t turn down the willing students. Patients in the hospital are also important stakeholders in the health care who can be used to getting the solution of the problems that faces the shortage (Duffield, et al, 2010). Patients need to maintain a friendly environment with the nurses at the same time nurses also need to be friendly with the patients. Most of the patients don’t appreciate the good service that nurses offer them to the extent that some go without paying for the treatments. Furthermore, nurses should have self-drive towards the job they are doing. The reward should not only be the driving force that makes nurses execute their duties as is expected of them. Another body of the stakeholders is the administrator who can play a significant role in the solving the shortage of the nurses in hospital institutions. Administrators should work hand in hand with the institution that employs nurses in Ashford General Hospital. However, employment of the nurses is not enough instead administrators should ensure that the nurses who are already employed are fully supported and serviced. Again the work of the administrators is to ensure that there is diversity the age of the nurses who are operating in the health care centers at any given time (Brown, 1992). For instance, the staff should not be made up of only old people who after retiring cripple the organization. Failure on the part of the managers to address this will affect them immensely. For instance, the backlog will be on the side of the administration if patients cannot be attended to as is expected (Diers, 2004). Lastly shortage of nurses in the hospital affects the accessibility of this service. This happens when the hospitals will limit the number of the patients whom they attend to at any particular time. Ashford General Hospital can address these issues by employing more qualified nurses so as to replace the temporary nurses in the hospital. Conclusion For Ashford General Hospital to solve the issue of nurses shorted, it has to borrow some of the steps that other successful hospitals have used in managing their nurses. For instance, it has to recognize and appreciate the efforts made by the nurses. It can do this motivating its employees by giving rewards to the nurses and also taking care of their professional certification. Ashford General Hospital should put in place a proper business plan that helps min the realization of the aim and the vision of the organization. Furthermore, the stakeholders of the organization need to do SWOT analysis so that the hospital can maximize on its strengths as it also takes care of the weaknesses of the organization. References Abrams, M. (2004). Employee retention strategies: lessons from the best. Healthcare Executive, 19 (4), 18-22. Retrieved from ProQuest. Cottingham, S., DiBartolo, M. C., Battistoni, S., & Brown, T. (2012). A mentoring initiative to enhance nurse retention. Nursing Education Perspectives, 32 (4), 250-255. Duffield, C. M., Roche, M. A., Blay, N., & Stasa, H. (2010). Nursing unit managers, staff retention, and the work environment. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 20 (1), 23-33. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2702.2010.03478.x Erenstein, C. F., & McCaffrey, R. (2007). How healthcare work environments influence nurse retention. 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Issues and strategies for nurse leaders: Meeting hospital challenges today. Oakbrook Terrace, IL: Joint Commission Resources. Read More