Assignment: Differing Approaches of Nursing Leaders to Issues in Practice

Assignment: Differing Approaches of Nursing Leaders to Issues in Practice

A Sample Answer For the Assignment: Assignment: Differing Approaches of Nursing Leaders to Issues in Practice

Title: Assignment: Differing Approaches of Nursing Leaders to Issues in Practice

Assignment Differing Approaches of Nursing Leaders to Issues in Practice

 

The performance of health facilities is measured by assessing the service care delivery that guarantees quality and safety to patients. The need for quality improvement in healthcare has prompted leaders and managers in the nursing fraternity to introduce systematic approaches that aim to prioritize actions on care delivery (Dunham-Taylor & Pinczuk, 2014). Currently, most public and private hospitals grapple with a challenge of staffing which in overall results in increased burnout due to the overwhelming tasks related to the rise in a generation of Baby Boomers. Solving the emerging issue on nurse staff ratio is a critical role of nursing leaders and managers considering that the professionals play significant roles in the provision of high-quality services to patients. Notably, written anecdotes related to high nursing workloads as a result of high nurse-to-patient ratio continue to suffice in the contemporary society. Moreover, the aspect of safe staffing with regard to nurse-patient ratios is a topic that has continued to rally conversations on patient safety and this calls for management practices to address the challenge.

The present article piece is based on personal expectations on the best approaches that nursing leaders and managers can use to address the problem of unsafe nurse staff ratio. Throughout the discussion, I will elaborate on Lewin’s change theory as well as principles and skills that nurse managers may use to tackle the challenge of unsafe nurse staff ratios. I will as well identify approaches that best suits my personal and professional philosophy. Finally, it will also be important for me to identify possible sources of funding to address the issue of unsafe high nurse staff ratios in the selected care facility.

Nurse Staff Ratio

According to Aiken et al. (2014), the overarching issues related to nurse staff ratio is a major challenge of care that continues to compromise the quality of care for patients seeking health services. Medical institutions across the world grapple with the challenge of nurse staff shortage exacerbated by low student enrollment to pursue the profession and high nursing turnover. Nurse staff ratios determine the quality outcomes for patients.

Most health administrators in hospitals recognize the value of safe nurse staffing to guarantee quality outcomes for patients. Conversely, an interplay of different forces related to nurse-patient ratios has resulted in an ineffective solution in responding to the nurse staffing gap. Accordingly, the aspect of patient-centered outcomes in care facilities is compromised by inadequate personnel.

Often, nurses in public, as well as private health institutions, are overwhelmed, which results in a challenge of patient neglect. In care facilities, it is recommended that the nurse-to-patient ratio should be 1:4 (Aiken et al., 2014). However, this may not be the case in many care facilities due to a high number of patients seeking health services. In the present care facility, the ratio is at 1:8 and this calls for an immediate strategy to address patient safety. High nurse-to-patient ratio as evidenced in most care facilities is unsafe for patients. The premise results in missed care due to poor pain management and untimely administration of medication.

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Comparison and Contrast on How to Approach Nurse Staff Ratio

Fitzpatrick, Anen, and Soto (2013) posit that nursing leaders and managers need to identify factors that result in the issue of nurse staff ratio before coming up with the strategies to address the problem. The root cause may arise from an inadequate number of staffs and high turnover for those already employed by a given health facility. However, it is important for nurse leaders and managers to ensure that organizations run smoothly as a remedy to nurse turnover. In other words, the healthcare environment should be conducive to enable nurses to work as per their competencies. Nonetheless, leaders and managers should be competent to identify options to improve nurse staff ratio in a care facility. This entails an assessment of the patient pool in the hospital and ensuring that the population is in line with the number of nursing staffs (Dunham-Taylor & Pinczuk, 2014). Ideally, it will also be vital if care facilities revise salaries and rewarding systems to improve staff retention. On the contrary, continued increase in salaries and allowances can also drain the financial reserves of care facilities especially when a large proportion of nurses are quitting the facility despite an increase in remuneration.

Ideally, addressing the challenge of nurse staff ratios requires a demonstration of resolute leadership as opposed to management. This is guided by the argument that nurses can readily manage themselves but they require leadership to guide them in their course of actions. The nurse leaders and managers should as well take into account effective communication skills to inspire the team towards best practice approaches. The premise also guides on conflict resolution and a response to concerns raised by nurses to retain them within the care facility.

The essential principles that can be used by nurse leaders contrary to managers relate to Kurt Lewin’s change theory. As opposed to managers, nurse leaders can use their position to identify and implement changes that improve nurse staffing in a care facility (Fitzpatrick, Anen, & Soto, 2013). This may include the provision of competitive remuneration packages that attract highly competent nurses. Besides, software systems can be used by nurse leaders to identify staff deficits and this offers an avenue for the employment of nurses that meets the necessary demands.

Approaches That Best Suits My Personal and Professional Philosophy

Notably, since high nursing staff ratio is a major concern to the care facilities, several steps have been established to respond to the deficit. My philosophy of addressing the shortage focuses on an introduction of nursing skill mix to ensure that duties are allocated as per the competencies of the staff. It will also be imperative to take into account the care hours as a remedy to nurse overload since it addresses the working patterns of nurses. Moreover, the number of shift hours, as well as duty allocation for nurses, form part of the essential considerations that nurse leaders should address. Additionally, I have a conviction that communication is an important aspect to take into account as it allows nurses to raise their concern about the nature of the work environment. Communication lays a platform for solving cases related to perceived intimidation, high workload or workplace incivility experienced by nurses. These aspects influences behavior and nurse leaders need to address the same to ensure staff retention.

Possible Sources of Funding To Address Nurse Staff Ratio

Implementation of the program to address unsafe nurse staff ratio will require a collaborative approach with several stakeholders. Nurse leaders are required to seek alternative sources of financial grants to support the initiative of maintaining the recommended number of nursing staff in a care facility. Potential financiers could include the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) (Dunham-Taylor & Pinczuk, 2014). These institutions offer financial support that guarantees the sustainability of the proposed nurse staffing.

 

Sample Answer for Assignment: Differing Approaches of Nursing Leaders to Issues in Practice Included

Assignment: Differing Approaches of Nursing Leaders to Issues in Practice Conclusion

The issue of nurse staffing ratio is vital in addressing patient care in hospitals. However, unsafe high nurse-to-patient ratio is a major concern to quality care which demands effective nurse leadership to respond to the issue. As indicated, communication and implementation of change strategies are essential in improving nurse retention as well as the attraction of highly competent staff. Unless immediate steps to address the issue on nurse staff ratios are undertaken, the health sector may dawn in an era of poor quality care.

In this assignment, you will be writing a 1,000-1,250-word essay describing the differing approaches of nursing leaders and managers to issues in practice. To complete this
assignment, do the following:

(1) Select an issue from the following:
The shortage of nurses and nurse turn over, Nurse staff ratio, unit closures, and restructuring,
Use of contract employees (i.e., registry and travel nurses), Continuous quality improvement and patient satisfaction, and Magnet designation.

(2)Compare and contrast how you would expect nursing leaders and managers to approach your selected issue.

(3)Support your rationale by using the theories, principles, skills, and roles of the leader versus manager described in your readings.

{4} Identify the approach that best fits your personal and professional philosophy of nursing and explains why the plan is suited to your personal leadership style.

(4)Identify a possible funding source that addresses your issue. Consider looking at federal, state, and local organizations. For example, There are many grants available through the CDC, HRSA, etc.

Use at least two references other than your text and those provided in the course.

Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, and must be less than 20% plagiarism.

For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.

Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.

Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?

Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.

Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.

If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.

I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.

As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:

Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.

Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

• Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
• There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
• Include in-text citations in your response
• Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
• Follow APA-7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

• A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
• Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
• Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
• Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
• Follow APA 7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed
• Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
• Here are some helpful links
• Student paper example
• Citing Sources
• The Writing Center is a great resource