Safe Staffing in Nursing - Essay Example

Practicum Evaluation Summary Paper al Affiliation Practicum Evaluation Summary Paper My Practicum was on Safe Staffing. I was at my workplace for my practicum experience for 64hrs under the supervision of my mentor. This practicum is symbolic at my job because we have a Staffing Advisory Council of which I am a member. It is a topic we revisit every time at the council as a group of professional nurses. During the course of my practicum, I gathered few volunteers (nurses) who were prepared to assist me with my project by offering information and answering questions. I learnt many things in the practicum including knowledge, skills and important experiences that will add o my professional career as a nurse. The practicum helped me to achieve a learning experience relating to the MSN program Student Learning outcomes. In the MSN Program Student Learning Outcomes, a student is expected to come out of the practicum as an improved individual both professionally and personally. One is supposed to apply the skills that he or she has learnt from previous courses in the nursing program and also gain new knowledge, skills and experiences that will show that the individual has improved personally and also in professional aspects. In this practicum, I specifically learnt about safe nurse staffing needs, how they affect nurses, patients, nurse work output and the general effect that these needs have on the nursing profession. This was important as a learning experience in line with the MSN Program Student Learning Outcomes because it helped me gain practical knowledge in the profession. One of the MSN Program Student Learning Outcomes is that a student should come out of the course with adequate knowledge of how he or she should function in the job environment. The practicum on safe nurse staffing needs exposed me to a first-hand experience with regard to the working conditions that the nurses are exposed to in the current healthcare system and the work conditions that they should have in their working environment. This was a practical example that taught me several aspects of how the nursing profession works. First, the experience that I got helped me to understand that there is a gap between the safe nurse staffing needs and the nurse staffing needs as they exist in the healthcare sector today (Hughes, Clarke & Donaldson, 2008). For example, I found out that the major cause of unsafe nurse staffing needs in the healthcare sector today is the shortage of nurses. Nurses are exposed to dangers and risks in their work because the healthcare sector is understaffed with nurses. There are any patients who visit the hospitals everyday to seek different kinds of healthcare support and help. All these patients need the attention of the nurses who are in the hospitals. Unfortunately the nurse-patient ratio is not even or near even. This results in a situation where nurses have to work for longer hours and serve many patients per day. This makes them very tired, demotivated and inefficient in their work because of the conditions of work (Lankshear, Sheldon, & Maynard, 2005). An aspect of the MSN Program Student Learning Outcomes that I applied in the practicum is interaction and socialization with colleagues in the hospital setting where I was placed. As stated above, during the course of my practicum, I gathered few volunteers (nurses) who were prepared to assist me with my project by offering information and answering questions. However, before I could do this, I was first required to socialize with them and create a rapport that would ensure we work together in harmony and that they do not feel forced to help me in my studies. This was an important aspect in my professional life as it helped me to understand the importance of interaction and socialization in the work place as an aspect that promotes a harmonious working environment. Another aspect of the MSN Program Student Learning Outcomes that I applied during the practicum was research skills because the MSN Program Student Learning Outcomes prepares students for research both in education and professional life. To understand the issues regarding safe nurse staffing needs, I had to conduct a lot of research including formulating questionnaires, interviewing people, searching for books and journals in libraries and also looking for other sources of information such as newspapers, nurse bulletins and also hospital records. I applied the research skills that I had been taught as one of the MSN Program Student Learning Outcomes to ensure that I came out as a better student and professional. These research skills enabled me to understand my practicum well and also learn to apply the research skills in my future career as a nurse. The practicum experience contributes to the development of your professional nursing career in various ways. First, to function effectively as nurse, I must understand how the working environment of nurses is structured and whether I require certain needs to function effectively as a nurse. Having had the topic of the practicum as safe nurse staffing needs, I was able to effectively investigate the current nurse working conditions as they exist in the healthcare sector and compare the findings to safe nurse staffing needs required by nurses so that they can be comfortable to work in harmony. The findings of my research in the practicum will affect the development of my professional nursing career in different ways. First, I understand that safe nurse staffing needs is directly linked to the effectiveness of the care that a nurse gives a patient. I understand that when nurses work in poor conditions, they are likely to offer ineffective services to patients. For example, I learnt that poor or unsafe nurse staffing needs has a direct link to issues such as medication errors, patient readmission and re-infection, falls and deaths of patients (Needleman, Buerhaus, Stewart, Zelevinsky & Mattke, 2006). Secondly, I learnt the different issues that make it difficult for hospitals to achieve safe nurse staffing needs such as shortage of nurses, poor training, lack of motivation and poor remuneration. Thirdly, I learnt that there exists a large gap between safe nurse staffing needs that should be the ideal in the healthcare sector and the existing conditions in the work environment. Fourth and most important aspect is that I learnt that the nursing profession has many challenges that should be addressed to make the profession effective in its mandate. This taught me an important lesson that as a nurse, I will have to persevere through certain issues because my needs as a nurse may not always be met they way I may want them to. However, with whatever conditions, I have to do my best to provide the best care that patients can get from me. Lastly, I learnt to work with my colleagues and learning from them issues that I have little knowledge about. This is important now and in my future nursing career because as a nurse and may be as a nurse leader in future, I will need the support of my colleagues whether they will be juniors or above me. My practicum was an aspect of evidence-based care because it uses evidence to make assumption, choices or decisions in the healthcare sector. Evidence has shown that evidence based care is the best care and that healthcare institutions emphasize on it to ensure that they achieve better patient and healthcare outcomes (Clarke & Donaldson, 2008). In this regard, the practicum prepared me to work in evidence-based care settings especially because I developed my research skills and gained knowledge on how to use different aspects of research for evidence-based care. Therefore, the practicum enabled me to gain important skills and knowledge to use in my professional life as a nurse. In conclusion, the practicum prepared me for the nursing profession as it put me in a clear direction regarding what I should expect in the work environment as a nurse and what I should fight for to be able to work effectively. I learnt that despite the fact that safe nurse staffing needs have not been achieved, I should offer my support to ensure that they are achieved and that healthcare becomes better than it is. References Clarke, S. P., & Donaldson, N. E. (2008). Nurse staffing and patient care quality and safety. Patient safety and quality: An evidence-based handbook for nurses, 2, 111-136. Hughes, R. G., Clarke, S. P., & Donaldson, N. E. (2008). Nurse Staffing and Patient Care Quality and Safety. Lankshear, A. J., Sheldon, T. A., & Maynard, A. (2005). Nurse staffing and healthcare Outcomes: a systematic review of the international research evidence. Advances in Nursing Science, 28(2), 163-174. Needleman, J., Buerhaus, P. I., Stewart, M., Zelevinsky, K., & Mattke, S. (2006). Nurse staffing in hospitals: Is there a business case for quality? Health Affairs, 25(1), 204-211. Read More