Changing Environment of the Health Care Sector - Essay Example

Current Issues Introduction The health care sector in in United s is faced with numerous issues pertaining to nursing practices. One of the mostimportant issues faced by the health care sector is related with the nursing staff crisis. The crisis of the nursing staff is intensifying in the health care department due to the increase in the health care costs. The healthcare sector is becoming a medium of business wherein the quality of the nurses and care is becoming less important in comparison to the profitability. The rate at which the skilled nurses are moving out is further worsening the issue of nursing staff crisis and appropriate care in the US health care sector (Wong, 2012). This issue is identified as important as the nurses are the integral part of the health care sector. It cannot be denied that the nurses and other staff are the most important requirement of the health care sector. They are the one who are responsible for the care after the diagnosis of the sickness by doctors. The staff crisis is vital and has a direct impact on the health treatment of the patient. The work load on the nurses has increased and the risk of error, injury and occupational exposure might increase tremendously. The staffing crisis is affecting the health care industry and the patient’s life at large. The health care policies are framed with the objective of promoting the health of people in the society for ensuring healthy future. However, the nursing staff crisis can be seen to act as a hurdle towards achieving the goal of health care policy (Wong, 2012). Discussion Several American hospitals are facing the issue of staff crisis affecting the patient care needs and the nursing practices. Due to the increase in the staff crisis nurses are not being able to deliver quality service to the patients. According to Royal College of Nursing (2010), the nurses are being forced by the authority to work for more hours and serve every patient even if they are not competent. The crisis is creating an immense situation wherein the safety of the patients are at stake, increasing the chances of errors and accidents. Due to the crisis nurses are assigned with the responsibility of meeting the care needs of many patients than their ability to handle safely. This implies that the nursing practices might be affected leading to incorrect medication, patients accidents along with delay in providing care. This issue is indeed creating a negative impact on the patients as well as on the existing nursing staff in the form of increased work pressure (Needleman et al., 2002). The decrease in the staffing in the health care sector is attributed to the financial pressure faced by the hospitals due to Medicare care and other facilities. This issue is affecting the health care as they are unable to meet the requirement of the patients accordingly. The ratios of the nurses to clients are being affected as every one nurse is assigned with many patients hampering the effectiveness of the nurses. The shortage of staff is perceived to result in higher mortality and failure to rescue rates (Needleman et al., 2002). Moreover, the rate of recovery of the patients is decreasing significantly and the patients are even being refused by the hospitals due to the staff shortage. The increasing patients-nurses communication gap is likely to evolve further reducing the quality of care. It is also believed that that the crisis will reduce the response rate of nurses during the emergency situation leading to more mortality rate of patients (Aiken et al., 2002). The shortage of nurses is also perceived to influence ethical way of providing care to patients. . The issue of nursing staff crisis is expected to have many implications in the future. . The decrease in the number of nurses might affect ethical nursing practices. Due to the increase work pressure of the nurses the health of the nurses might be affected leading to the increase in the absenteeism rate. The issue of staff crisis is vital and effecting the health care service providers and the clients to the utmost. The government of US has projected a significant decrease in the numbers of nurses in the years to come due to the lack of effective policies (Aiken et al., 2009). Subsequently the decrease in the nurses will increase the demand for the registered nurses and their services for better working and healthcare support (Rosseter, 2014). Moreover, the survey observed that most of the nurses registered are above the age of 50 and hence the employment opportunity is immense in the nursing sector. In order to resolve the issue and improve the situation, American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) has incorporated the education policy for the registered nurses. The policy is aimed at increasing the enrolment in the nursing schools and colleges with proper faculty. Moreover, the policy provides a pathway for the nurses in becoming registered nurses so that they can benefit the facilities. The education policy makes the nurses follow and believe in their objective of helping the patients and working ethicality (Aiken et al., 2009). Conclusion The crisis in the hospital staff is increasing due to the changing environment of the health care sector and cost cutting measures. This is affecting the ratio and the rate of mortality and recovery. The pressure is increasing in the existing nurses and thus their services are decreasing to a considerable extent. The decreasing trend of nursing staff is projected to continue in the future years as well. The implication of this is perceived to have drastic impact especially on the patients. Besides, it is also perceived to have negative impact on the mental and physical health of the existing nurses. American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) has introduced the educational policy for better effectiveness and increase in the nurses as a measure to deal with the challenges of nursing staff crisis in the US health care sector. It is believed that such policy will motivate individuals to develop their career in the field of nursing. References Aiken, L.H., Clarke, S.P., Sloane, D.M., Sochalski, J., &Sibler, J.H. (2002). Hospital nurses staffing and patient mortality, nurse burnouts, and job dissatisfaction. JAMA, 288 (16), 1987-1993. Aiken, L.H., Cheung, R.B., Olds, D.M. (2009). Education policy initiatives to address the nurse shortage in the United States. Health Aff, 28(4), 646–656. Needleman, J., Buerhaus, P., Mattke, S., Stewart, M., & Zelevinsky, K. (2002). Nurse-staffing levels and the quality of care in hospitals. The New England Journal of Medicine, 346(22), 1715-1722. Royal College of Nursing. (2010). Guidance on safe nurse staffing levels in the UK. Staffing Levels, 4-49. Rosseter, R.J. (2014). Nursing shortage fact sheet. American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 1-7. Wong, M. (2012). 3 big problems facing nursing today. Retrieved from http://www.healthecareers.com/article/3-big-problems-facing-nursing-today/170629 Read More