NR 500 Week 5 System Theory and Practice Issues
Sample Answer for NR 500 Week 5 System Theory and Practice Issues Included After Question
NR 500 Week 5 System Theory and Practice Issues
Systems Theory and Practice Issues
Health organizations function in highly challenging environments. As a result, they have grown to be complex and adaptive in nature. The complexity arises from the unpredictability of the healthcare environment, which demand responsive and adaptive interventions (Chesnay & Anderson, 2019). Several issues are likely to affect my practice as a nurse practitioner in the future. One of them explored in this paper is nursing shortage. Therefore, the paper examines the issue of nursing shortage, addressing it, impact on other system levels, and use of interprofessional collaboration to solve it.
A Sample Answer For the Assignment: NR 500 Week 5 System Theory and Practice Issues
Title: NR 500 Week 5 System Theory and Practice Issues
Issue or Concern
The selected issue that will affect my future practice is nursing shortage. Statistics shows that America will experience an acute shortage of nurses by 2030. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) notes that about 1 million nurses will be retiring by 2030, creating a sharp demand for nurses in the county. The county will require an average of 175900 nurses yearly to meet its demand for nurses by 2030 (Graystone, 2018). The implications of the shortage to my practice are the increased workload for nurses. There will also be an increased risk of poor quality of life for nurses because of work-related challenges such as burnout and low job dissatisfaction. The impacts of nurses’ shortage on the quality, safety, and efficiency of care are evident.
For example, nursing shortage has been associated with errors in the care process, missed or delays in service provision (Alexander & Johnson, 2021). Therefore, the issue should be addressed to promote the health and wellbeing of the nurses in the future as well as the quality, safety, and efficiency of patient care. The issue of nursing shortage is a meso-system problem. It arises from factors that are beyond the healthcare system. Retirement is an external factor that that the hospitals cannot influence.
Addressing the Issue
Some interventions can be adopted to address the anticipated nursing shortage. One of them is advocating for an increased enrollment of nurses into the bachelor’s program. The number of students joining nursing education has been low as compared to the anticipated population of retiring nurses. Advocating for increased training of nurses would offset the anticipated nursing shortage (Chesnay & Anderson, 2019). The other solution is advocating for government support for nursing training institutions.
Often, nursing institutions turn away students interested in training to become nurses because of the lack of adequate resources to train a high number of learners. As a result, it is essential for the government to increase financing for nursing training institutions, as an approach to addressing the issue of nursing shortage (Rosseter, 2019). The last strategy is ensuring organizations strive to retain their existing nursing staff. Strategies such as promoting their continuous professional development, rewarding performance, and offering safe working conditions minimize the risk of poor retention in healthcare organizations (Feyereisen et al., 2021).
Impact on other Levels of the System
The proposed solutions will affect the other system levels. For example, it will lower the workload that other healthcare providers experience in their respective workplaces. The solution will also affect meso-system by enhancing care coordination and interprofessional collaboration among care teams. It will also enhance the care given in healthcare organization, hence, effective community-health organization interactions at the macrosystem level (Kennedy, 2019).
Interprofessional collaboration could be used to address the issue of nursing shortage. Accordingly, nurses and other healthcare providers could collaborate in identifying effective strategies that can be adopted to enhance employee retention in their organizations. They can also advocate the adoption of policies that address the factors that contribute to nursing shortage (Feyereisen et al., 2021).
Conclusion
In summary, nursing shortage will affect my future nursing practice. Strategies such as organizations striving to maintain their existing workforce and governments supporting nursing training institutions can address the issue of nursing shortage. Interprofessional collaboration also helps organization embrace best practices for employee retention. Therefore, I would explore these strategies to mitigate the effects of nursing shortage on my future practice.
References
Alexander, G. R., & Johnson, J. H. J. (2021). Disruptive Demographics: Their Effects on Nursing Demand, Supply and Academic Preparation. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 45(1), 58–64. https://doi.org/10.1097/NAQ.0000000000000449
Chesnay, M. de, & Anderson, B. (2019). Caring for the Vulnerable. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Feyereisen, S. L., Puro, N., & McConnell, W. (2021). Addressing Provider Shortages in Rural America: The Role of State Opt-Out Policy Adoptions in Promoting Hospital Anesthesia Provision. The Journal of Rural Health, 37(4), 684–691. https://doi.org/10.1111/jrh.12487
Graystone, R. (2018). How Magnet® Designation Helps Hospitals Tackle the Nursing Shortage. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 48(9), 415–416. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000000640
Kennedy, A. (2019). Nurse Preceptors and Preceptor Education: Implications for Preceptor Programs, Retention Strategies, and Managerial Support. Medsurg Nursing, 28(2).
Rosseter, R. (2019). Fact sheet: Nursing faculty shortage. Washington, DC: American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
Oct 2, 2023Oct 2 at 8:40am
Initial Faculty Post
Hello everyone:
Welcome to the Week Five Discussion! This week’s discussion asks the following questions:
“Many of you have experience in complex adaptive systems whether you realize it or not. Thinking about your current or future practice area, identify an issue or concern. In your initial response, please describe the concern. Does the concern primarily occur at the micro, meso, or macro level? How would you address this issue? What impact might your solution have on the other levels of the system? In what ways could interprofessional collaboration be used to resolve the issue?”
I am looking forward to our interactions this week. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks so much!
Take care,
Dr. M
Oct 2, 2023Oct 2 at 11:09am
Hi Everyone,
In my current or future practice area, one of the concerns I’ve identified is the fragmented communication and coordination between various healthcare providers involved in patient care. This issue primarily occurs at the meso level, involving healthcare organizations and their departments (Tadros et al., 2023). Often, different departments within a hospital or clinic work in silos, leading to inefficiencies, delayed care, and sometimes even errors in patient management.
To address this concern, I would propose the implementation of an integrated electronic health record (EHR) system that connects all departments within the healthcare organization (Dornan et al., 2019). This EHR system would allow seamless sharing of patient information, test results, and treatment plans among different healthcare professionals. It would also facilitate real-time communication and collaboration.
The impact of this solution would extend across all levels of the healthcare system. At the micro level, individual healthcare providers would have access to comprehensive patient data, enabling them to make well-informed decisions. At the meso level, the organization would benefit from improved efficiency, reduced duplication of tests, and enhanced patient satisfaction (Dornan et al., 2019). At the macro level, this system could contribute to better population health outcomes and cost savings within the healthcare system.
Interprofessional collaboration would play a crucial role in implementing this solution. It would involve IT specialists to set up the EHR system, clinicians to provide input on its design and functionality, and administrators to ensure organizational buy-in and resource allocation (Tadros et al., 2023). Additionally, ongoing collaboration among healthcare professionals from different disciplines would be essential for adapting to the new system and continuously improving patient care processes.
References
Tadros, E., Barbini, M., & Kaur, L. (2023). Collaborative healthcare in incarcerated settings. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 67(9), 910-929. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X211058952
Dornan, L., Pinyopornpanish, K., Jiraporncharoen, W., Hashmi, A., Dejkriengkraikul, N., & Angkurawaranon, C. (2019). Utilisation of electronic health records for public health in Asia: a review of success factors and potential challenges. BioMed research international, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/7341841
Oct 4, 2023Oct 4 at 12:04am
Dr. M,
A change at the meso level in healthcare, such as the implementation of a new care coordination system within a hospital department, can have cascading effects on both the micro and macro levels. At the micro level, individual patient care experiences may be influenced as better coordination can lead to smoother transitions between care providers, improved communication, and ultimately enhanced patient outcomes. At the macro level, when replicated across various departments or facilities, these meso-level changes can contribute to broader healthcare system improvements. They may result in cost savings, increased efficiency, and higher quality of care, ultimately impacting the overall healthcare landscape. Therefore, meso-level changes can have a significant and positive ripple effect throughout the healthcare continuum.
Oct 2, 2023Oct 2 at 7:16pm
I currently work in the emergency department of a level two trauma center as a registered nurse. This is a very complex system. This hospital is complex in many ways, including the number of units, job titles, different treatments and diagnoses, the number of people we see in the emergency department, and so on. One primary concern and frustration I have working in the emergency department is the overcrowding of patients, specifically the overflow into the hallways. These are considered “hallway patients” and are labeled “hallway 11” and frequently turn into “hallway 11-a, b, c, and d”. This concerns patient safety, as most patients are not on a cardiac monitor, nor do they have a call light system to reach us in times of need. Another concern for safety is the lack of time we have as ED nurses to care for all these patients. This is a concern for a HIPAA violation as none of these patients have any privacy. The number of hallway patients continues to grow and grow as we lack the ability to transfer these patients to a unit.
To break down the levels in this scenario, we can see patients and their ED nurses at the micro level, the emergency department as a whole on the meso level, and the hospital as a whole on the macro level. I wish it were as easy as hiring more nurses to staff the beds upstairs in the units, building more ER rooms, or sending patients somewhere else that is not there for emergency treatment. Still, these are problems on the macro level and things this hospital cannot finance. Therefore, we can look at this scenario from a meso level (emergency department as a whole). One study looked at overcrowding, specifically in the emergency department, and ways to reduce this (Valipoor et al., 2020). One solution that was developed included establishing an EMS triage area (Valipoor et al., 2020). The idea was to use all ED exam rooms for ED patients only, provide care and treatment, and once the patient was decided to need boarding in the hospital, they would be moved to the hallway (Valipoor et al., 2020). Ultimately, this would lead to a decreased level of care in hallways, less equipment use and clutter, and the full utilization of exam rooms for improvement in the flow rates of the ER (Valipoor et al., 2020). Interprofessional collaboration can be used in this plan by first bringing the idea to the ED director. Interprofessional collaboration is defined as the communication and interactions between the healthcare team as a whole, using each of their advanced knowledge base to facilitate a process (DeNisco & Barker, 2015). The ED director can help facilitate the model in the department; next would include the ED charge nurse who would direct the EMS into the exam rooms; next would be the ED nurse taking reports and settling each rescue. Finally, this would include prompt exams and treatment plans from the provider to allow quick turnover between patients in each exam room.
References
DeNisco, S.M. & Barker, A. M. (2015). Advanced practice nursing: Essential knowledge for the profession (3rd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Valipoor, S., Hatami, M., Hakimjavadi, H., Akçalı, E., Swan, W. A., & De Portu, G. (2020). Data-driven design strategies to address crowding and boarding in an emergency department: A discrete-event simulation study. HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal, 14(2), 161–177. doi: 10.1177/1937586720969933