NURS 6053 Week 3 Assignment: Developing Organizational Policies and Practices

Competing needs arise within any organization as healthcare workers strive to meet their goals and hospital leaders strive to meet hospital objectives. Setting priorities and allocating resources are required for either targets or goals. A policy addressing adequate nurse staffing, for example, is critical to meeting patient and workforce needs while minimizing hospital costs. Using more nursing staff, on the other hand, may result in economic inefficiencies as well as misallocated resources.

Because there are fewer resources to offer, staff shortages have negative consequences, such as lower quality and quantity of care. Work overload leads to burnout among current nurses, jeopardizing patient safety. Nursing shortage policies, which vary by country, are consistently supported by current literature. However, there is an ongoing effort to improve the working conditions for nurses by changing certain aspects such as pay agreements, emergency hiring plans, and RN residency programs (Park & Yu, 2019). Nurses should also express their opinions on how to reconcile competing needs; the culture of silence promotes acceptance while suppressing nursing professional knowledge (Kelly & Porr, 2018).

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The aging population, with baby boomers entering the age of increased need for health services, is one competing need that may impact nursing shortage. This would necessitate more students enrolling in nursing programs today, as well as the hiring of more educators to provide students with proper training. Another factor is nurse burnout; statistics show that national turnover rates range from 8.8% to 37%. (Lisa et al., 2020). Nurses are experiencing burnout on a daily basis and are leaving the profession in search of better opportunities or advancement. Maintain optimal nurse-to-patient ratios in order to improve nurse staffing and the quality of care provided. Finally, hospitals have been forced to reduce staffing and implement mandatory overtime policies in order to ensure nurses are available to work when the number of patients admitted unexpectedly increases. Additionally, increase the workload to reduce health-care costs.

A policy might address these competing needs by ensuring an optimal nurse to patient ratio which can improve care outcomes for patients and ensure patient safety. Healthcare policymakers’ involvement in developing a staffing policy in every organization to improve working conditions (such as working hours, violence in workplace, managing workload) for the nurses staff to improve competencies and better job satisfaction. Ensure adequate government funding to allocate resources for training and clinical skills without causing strains on the government and organization budget. Also, devote resources toward increasing nurses wages; a token of appreciation for their dedicated and hard work.

Healthcare Policies and Practices for Clinical Change

Healthcare policies and procedures help provide standardization and clarity in addressing as well as activities that are crucial for health and safety, legal liabilities, and regulatory needs within every day clinical practice. Two competing needs that affect organizational nursing shortage are workforce satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Healthcare institutions are mostly fixated on patient satisfaction and at times fail to acknowledge the set workforce that provides care to the clients. When the workforce feels unmotivated through aspects such as lack of recognition by the management, then this reflects the probability of provision of low-quality healthcare that leads to patients’ dissatisfaction (Anand & Dwivedi, 2019). When patients are not satisfied, the management may opt to relieve some workers of their duties, others may also leave due to dissatisfaction, and this increases nursing shortage within the organization. The purpose of this paper is to examine relevant policies that may be used in addressing the two competing needs that are related to the issue of nursing shortage as a stressor- NURS 6053 Week 3 Assignment: Developing Organizational Policies and Practices.

Relevant Organizational Policy or Practice Impacting Nursing Shortage

            Healthcare organizations are required to be innovative in attaining the needs of the workforce, while at the same time ensuring the provision of safe and quality care to the patients. An effective practice to address the issue of nursing shortage as adopted by my organization is the use of the Magnet Certification for assessing the effectiveness and quality of nursing within it (Haddad & Toney-Butler, 2020). My organization can use the policy to remove issues related to competition between the needs of

the nurses and patients’ satisfaction (Rodriguez-Garcia et al., 2020). This is because the policy encompasses involvement of nurses in decision-making processes for effective clinical outcomes as well as effective grievance resolution measures. This in turn ensures nurses’ job satisfaction with low rates of turnovers as well as their delivery of top patient outcomes

            The Magnet Recognition Program for adoption by the organization has sound ethical considerations, and no noteworthy ethical concerns or challenges. The strength of the policy in promoting ethics is founded on the rigorous approach that involves several months of evaluations for evidence of excellence in terms of nurse satisfaction, patient satisfaction, and care outcomes within the given institution (Haller et al.). The documentation strategy for the Magnet Certification Strategy involves transformational leadership, structural empowerment, exemplary professional practice, and new knowledge, innovation as well as enhancements. This is done for purposes of compliance of certification together with ethical considerations

Magnet Program certification necessitates the need for describing the healthcare institution, practice settings for the nurses, and undertakings for upholding patient-centered care, sound ethical considerations,, and the Chief Nursing Officer’s (CNO) work description as well as their resume. In NURS 6053 Week 3 Assignment: Developing Organizational Policies and Practices, the aspect of ethics is incorporated within various courses in the program that necessitates addressing social conducts via continued educational research on core cultural behaviors. Every year, mandatory, updated computer-tests are carried out on social conduct alongside ethical content and education is given by leaders to the clinical staff who fail to attain competent scores (Van Bogaert et al., 2018). The program’s robustness in engagement and commitment of the clinical staff in inspiring excellent patient outcomes within every day interdisciplinary practice is overseen through clear frameworks, methodologies as well as resources upheld by governance and policy contexts that attains visible and accountable outcomes.

Recommendation of Policy or Practice Changes for Addressing Competing Needs of Resources, Workers, and Patients

            A practice change may be fixated on a change of governance for transparency, accountability, and putting in place effective mechanisms for tackling the challenges. These may include the need for the conflicts arising from the competing needs to be encompassed as a key item within the agendas of relevant committees. This is then followed by making reports on the set needs for attaining the desired outcomes (Harris et al., 2017; NURS 6053 Week 3 Assignment: Developing Organizational Policies and Practices). There should also be the aspect of quality improvement initiatives within decision-making structures for ensuring a process of review for pinpointing where the issues lie and coming up with effective strategies for addressing them.

Ethical shortcomings that can be tackled within the present policies include autonomy that necessitates for patients to be involved in the decision-making process of healthcare that they receive. Another ethical concern is nonmaleficence that aids in the evaluation of probable harms within the existing clinical systems. The principle of beneficence can also be addressed to ensure the attainment of the objectives of offering as well as inspiring positivity in the realization of the best healthcare outcomes and satisfaction (Ramsom & Olsson, 2017). The ethical consideration of justice can be fulfilled by ensuring a full analysis of the limits of the available healthcare resources within the set healthcare organization.

NURS 6053 Week 3 Assignment: Developing Organizational Policies and Practices Conclusion

Policies within healthcare are crucial as they help devise the overall plans of action utilized in leading required results, and are also key for helping in decision-making. They help create clear communication to the workforce the intended outcomes within the institution. The healthcare personnel is in turn able to comprehend their set roles combined with responsibilities within the settings. They help set the foundation for the provision of safe, and cost-effective care to patients.

References

Anand, S., & Dwivedi, R. (2019). Interrelating employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction in the healthcare Industry. UNNAYAN: International Bulletin of Management and Economics.  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331312483_Interrelating_employee_satisfaction_and_customer_satisfaction_in_the_healthcare_Industry

Haddad, L. M., & Toney-Butler, T. J. (2020). Nursing Shortage. Treasure Island, FL: Statepearls Publishing.

Haller, K., Berends, W., & Skillin, P. (2018). Organizational culture and nursing practice: the magnet recognition program® as a framework for positive change. Revista Médica Clínica Las Condes, 29(3), 328-335. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmclc.2018.03.005

Harris, C., Allen, K., Waller, C., & Brooke, V. (2017). Sustainability in health care by allocating resources effectively (SHARE) 3: Examining how resource allocation decisions are made, implemented and evaluated in a local healthcare setting. BMC Health Services Research. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-017-2207-2

Ramsom, H., & Olsson, J. M. (2017). Allocation of health care resources: Principles for decision-making. Pediatrics in Review, 38(7), 320–329. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1542/pir.2016-0012

Rodriguez-Garcia, Carmen, M., Marquez-Hernandez, Veronica, V., Belmonte-Garcia, Teresa, … Genoveva. (2020). Original research: How magnet hospital status affects nurses, patients, and organizations: a systematic review. American Journal of Nursing, 120(7), 28–38. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NAJ.0000681648.48249.16

Van Bogaert, P., Van heusden, D., Slootsman, S., Roosen, I., Van Aken, P., Hans, G. H., & Franck, E. (2018). Staff empowerment and engagement in a magnet® recognized and joint commission international accredited academic centre in Belgium: a cross-sectional survey. BMC Health Services Research. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-018-3562-3

Assignment: Developing Organizational Policies and Practices SAMPLE 2

Competing Needs in the Management of COVID-19

September, 17, 2022
Competing Needs in the Management of COVID-19
At the close of 2019, COVID-19 emerged as a highly infectious viral illness that
paralyzed the world almost bringing world economies to their knees. The viral illness made
hospital organizations stretch beyond their usual capacities and a consequent acute shortage in
the number of health workers. Even amid such distress, there was still a need to offer safe and
quality care to the populace. At the moment, hospitals have had a significant reprieve following
the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines. Many health workers got infected with some mortalities.
The competing needs for this healthcare stressor include the need for safety among the healthcare
workers and the need to also keep other public health threats like tuberculosis in check in the
wake of struggling economies with constricted budgets while still offering treatment and
installing measures to curb the spread of COVID-19. According to the WHO, (2020), there was a
major disruption in the management of non-communicable diseases (NCD) as staff were
reassigned to help in the Covid cases. These needs are just as essential and neglecting them
impoverishes the quality of health care.
Addressing COVID-19
Tackling the issues of care for other NCD patients and the safety of the health personnel
is equally critical. Delivery of safe and quality care to a patient is anchored on the protection and
support offered to health workers (Ahmad & Osei, 2021). To maintain safe and quality care, the
organization adopted the WHO policy on protection where all health workers put on personal
protective equipment such as face masks and eye shields when handling anyone. Other policies
adopted included environmental controls such as disinfection of surfaces, maintenance of social
distancing, and handwashing with soap or disinfectant. COVID-19 is transmitted through
respiratory droplets (World Health Organization, 2020). These policies on personal protection
had a positive impact on ensuring the safety of healthcare providers. The COVID-19 pandemic
acted as a great hindrance to health seeking in NCD patients (Pati et al., 2021). On the downside,
the PPEs caused headaches, sweating, and difficulty breathing among a portion of health workers
(Dhandapani et al., 2021). The hospital organization adopted home-based care for NCD patients
where health personnel would physically visit. Although home-based care provides patient care
at their convenience, in the pandemic, it is marred with challenges as the few health care workers
are unable to serve the facilities full of patients and effectively follow the home-based care
patients.
Many ethical challenges surround the COVID-19 pandemic ranging from allocation of
too many resources on protective gear, giving much priority to curbing COVID, physical
distancing which was an avenue for stigmatization, and disregard for healthcare workers’ rights
as they had to work long shifts, with burnouts, and in some cases without the required standard
personal protective gear (World Health Organization, n.d.). Even with these challenges, the
policy of ensuring the safety of health personnel using PPEs is still valid. Improvements can
always be made to suit individual health care workers and minimize body harm from the
protective gear.
Recommended Policy Changes
The field of digital health tools in the follow-up of NCD patients is less traversed but it
offers an ideal solution in the wake of COVID-19 and the post-COVID era (Monaco et al.,
2020). This strategy also allows the patients to practice social distancing as a prevention
mechanism. Though marred with overregulation and privacy concerns, it is worthwhile to try.
This policy compared to the others does not demand an exorbitant capital input and cuts the cost
required for the PPEs. An example is a diabetic patient using telehealth. The patient will be able
to record his or her blood sugar measurements from home and the practitioner can access them at
any time. There is an aspect of social distancing, both are safe from transmission, and costs of
travel and PPEs are cut.
References
Ahmad, I. A., & Osei, E. (2021). Occupational health and safety measures in healthcare settings
during COVID-19: Strategies for protecting staff, patients and visitors. Disaster Medicine
and Public Health Preparedness, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2021.294
Jose, S., Cyriac, M. C., & Dhandapani, M. (2021). Health problems and Skin Damages Caused
by Personal Protective Equipment: Experience of Frontline Nurses Caring for Critical
COVID-19 Patients in Intensive Care Units. Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine:
Peer-Reviewed, Official Publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine, 25(2),
134–139. https://doi.org/10.5005/jp-journals-10071-23713
Monaco, A., Palmer, K., Holm Ravn Faber, N., Kohler, I., Silva, M., Vatland, A., van Griensven,
J., Votta, M., Walsh, D., Clay, V., Yazicioglu, M. C., Ducinskiene, D., & Donde, S.
(2021). Digital health tools for managing noncommunicable diseases during and after the
COVID-19 pandemic: Perspectives of patients and caregivers. Journal of Medical
Internet Research, 23(1), e25652. https://doi.org/10.2196/25652
Pati, S., Sahoo, K., Kanungo, S., & Mahapatra, P. (2021). Non-communicable diseases care
during COVID-19 pandemic: A mixed-method study in Khurda district of Odisha,
India. The Indian Journal of Medical Research, 153(5), 649.
https://doi.org/10.4103/ijmr.ijmr_3185_20
WHO. (2020, March 20). Modes of transmission of virus causing COVID-19: implications for
IPC precaution recommendations. Who.int. https://www.who.int/newsroom/
commentaries/detail/modes-of-transmission-of-virus-causing-covid-19-
implications-for-ipc-precaution-recommendations
World Health Organization. (n.d.). Ethics and COVID-19. Who.int. Retrieved September 18,
2022, from https://www.who.int/teams/health-ethics-governance/diseases/covid-19
World Health Organization. (2020, June 1). COVID-19 significantly impacts health services for
noncommunicable diseases. Who.int. https://www.who.int/news/item/01-06-2020-covid-
19-significantly-impacts-health-services-for-noncommunicable-diseases