NURS 6053 Week 1 Discussion: Review of Current Healthcare Issues SAMPLE

NURS 6053 Week 1 Discussion: Review of Current Healthcare Issues SAMPLE

NURS 6053 Week 1 Discussion Review of Current Healthcare Issues SAMPLE

NURS 6053 Week 1 Discussion: Review of Current Healthcare Issues SAMPLE

NURS 6053 Week 1 Discussion: Review of Current Healthcare Issues SAMPLE

The perennial nursing shortage is a national healthcare issue of concern. Statistics at national and international levels show that the shortage of healthcare worker (HCWs) is profound and affects effective and quality service delivery. The World Health Organization (WHO) projects that the nursing shortage could hit 12.9 million by 2035 (Marc et al., 2018). Nursing shortage creates unsafe working environment and increases fatigue, high turnover rates, and make nurses susceptible to medication administration errors. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the situation as the demand for healthcare services has increased, leading to more strain and burden on nurses, especially those working in critical care settings and others with elderly patient populations with chronic and terminal conditions.

Nursing shortage has impacted my work setting negatively as we enhance efforts to provide care to a patient diversity coming to the facility. Low staff retention, reduced levels of patient’s satisfaction, and a rise in hospital acquired infections are some of the negative effects of nursing shortage in our facility. When patient workload exceeds the available shift nurses, patients experience low levels of satisfaction. Unsafe staffing ratios contribute to burnout and high turnover rates (Alenezi et al., 2018). Further, increased length of stay happens due to higher nurse-to-patient ratios lead to more complications and a rise of hospital acquired infections.

Many healthcare settings are struggling in responding to nursing shortage because of the few options available (Marshall & Broome, 2017). Our facility is now leveraging technologies like telehealth to enhance access and quality for patients with chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension who require constant monitoring. While studies show that nursing supply may exceed demand in the near future, using technologies and innovative models like increased training and flexibility can help organizations mitigate the adverse effects of nursing shortage.

References

Alenezi, A. M., Aboshaiqah, A., & Baker, O. (2018). Work‐related stress among nursing staff

working in government hospitals and primary health care centers. International Journal of Nursing Practice, 24(5). https://doi.org/10.1111/ijn.12676

Marc, M., Bartosiewicz, A., Burzynska, J., Chmiel, Z., & Januszewicz, P. (2018). A

nursing shortage – a prospect of global and local policies. International Nursing Review, 66(1), 9-16. https://doi.org/10.1111/inr.12473.

Marshall, E. S., & Broome, M. E. (2017). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert

            clinician to influential leader (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer

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Nurses work in different settings with varying work demands, support mechanisms, and approaches to work. Regardless of these differences, healthcare stressors are part of everyday work. These stressors are usually workplace challenges widespread in the United States that hamper nurses’ ability to deliver timely and effective care (Rose et al., 2021). The nursing shortage is a prevalent national stressor with far-reaching effects on patient care. It is characterized by higher demand for nurses than the current supply.

The effects of the nursing shortage witnessed in other organizations may be experienced in my work setting. As Shah et al. (2021) explained, the nursing shortage is a leading cause of burnout among nurses. It increases the nurse-patient ratio implying that nurses are overworked and may lack time for self-care and other activities that enhance commitment to work. Shah et al. (2021) further observed that nurses experiencing burnout are more likely to commit medical errors than nurses working within the standard nurse-patient ratios. Errors risk patient safety and damage patients’ trust in healthcare providers. Burnout triggers turnover and increases an organization’s management costs since replacing nurses is costly.

To avert the damaging effects of the nursing shortage, healthcare organizations should implement robust strategies, both staff-centered and organization-wide. My healthcare setting has responded to the nursing shortage through continuous supervision of staff, motivation programs, and formulating policies that prevent work overload. As Lee and Lee (2022) noted, nurse motivation is critical to creating a positive work atmosphere and retaining nurses. The same perspective guides the management when developing and implementing motivation programs. Regarding the changes that may have been implemented, nurses need mental strength to cope with the increasing workload. As a result, the management should invest more in coping programs and organize appropriate training initiatives to improve nurses’ resilience.

References

Lee, J. Y., & Lee, M. H. (2022). Structural model of retention intention of nurses in small-and medium-sized hospitals: Based on Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene theory. Healthcare, 10(3), 502. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10030502

Rose, S., Hartnett, J., & Pillai, S. (2021). Healthcare worker’s emotions, perceived stressors and coping mechanisms during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS One, 16(7), e0254252. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254252

Shah, M. K., Gandrakota, N., Cimiotti, J. P., Ghose, N., Moore, M., & Ali, M. K. (2021). Prevalence of and factors associated with nurse burnout in the US. JAMA Network Open, 4(2), e2036469-e2036469. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.36469

First response

               Thanks, Tiffany, for this educative post. When I was trying to choose a healthcare stressor for this discussion, the first stressor that came to my mind was the shortage of healthcare providers, as this has been going on since the inception of COVID-19. Since this is a current issue, many other students may want to discuss this topic, so I chose a different stressor. Without any doubt, as you have mentioned, there are many factors influencing and challenging the healthcare industry in today’s world.

                A shortage of healthcare providers is overwhelming the healthcare industry. High demand for healthcare providers’ services has inflicted severe financial pressure on staff shortages, high workloads, and work-related stress (Rodriquez Santana et al., 2020). As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many healthcare providers died, creating a daunting situation for some people thinking of becoming healthcare providers. I know some people that changed their careers from healthcare to information technology just because of the havoc COVID-19 did to healthcare providers,

Impact of Healthcare this healthcare stressor at my workplace

              Healthcare providers play a crucial role in the healthcare industry. Healthcare providers’ strife took much work to ensure their patients received the individualized quality care they deserved. Healthcare providers play a vital role in educating patients, advocating for them, and delivering comprehensive healthcare services and policy guidance ( Canavera et al., 2018). They take up the responsibility for planning and management of care of their patient.

              After the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no doubt that there is a need for an increase in the number of healthcare workers to meet the demand of the future years. Prior to COVID-19, shortages of healthcare providers have been a lingering issue. Because healthcare workers require vast training and special qualification, hence it is not easy to hire new providers off the street.

              Healthcare provider shortages result in high patient caseloads. Healthcare provider shortages placed mental and physical burdens on healthcare workers. Shortages related to burnout and stress made some healthcare providers dump the healthcare field in pursuit of more lucrative jobs, and some healthcare providers exited the field entirely.

Solution Developed by my Workplace

                 A system of creative staffing solutions was developed to combat workforce gaps, and my workplace scrambles by redeploying existing staff to help in areas of high need. Some medical specialists start pitching in to assist HealthCare providers in caring for a patient. My hospital hired more qualified physician assistants and Nurse Practitioners to perform some of the responsibilities of healthcare providers.

                 As a result of shortages of doctors, some health authorities are seeking means to compensate for the shortages without hiring new physicians, and Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants can help to alleviate the burden of healthcare provider shortages ( Owens, 2019).

                 My hospital started to facilitate the promotion of public health and preventative measures by teaching our patients ways to remain healthy. My facility was using nurses to assist in alleviating healthcare provider shortages by rendering primary care to their patient who does not necessarily require physician care.

References

Canavera, K., Johnson, L.-M., & Harman, J. (2018). Beyond parenting: The responsibility of multidisciplinary health care providers in early intervention policy guidance. The American Journal of Bioethics, 18(11), 58–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2018.1523499

Links to an external site.

Owens, B. (2019). Roles of nurse practitioners and physician assistants in medicine still under debate. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 191(7), E203–E204. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.109-5708

Links to an external site.

Rodriguez Santana, I., Anaya Montes, M., Chalkley, M., Jacobs, R., Kowalski, T., & Suter, J. (2020). The impact of extending nurse working hours on staff sickness absence: Evidence from a large mental health hospital in england. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 112, 103611. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2020.103611

Links to an external site.

Global healthcare systems are facing unprecedented times and uncertain future based on the current situation of Covid-19 pandemic. This has prompted quick adoption of technology in healthcare systems from booking of appointments to billing. Therefore, I believe one of the major current healthcare issues is on technology disruption. Much questions have been raised on the big data usage, incorporation of telehealth, synchronization of the national health data systems and on the confidentiality and security of the patient’s health records as cases of cybersecurity have soared with increased adoption of information technology in healthcare (Sittig et al., 2018).

Big data in healthcare systems refers to the accumulation of large sets of digital information about the patients’ biodata, medical history, clinical interventions, current and past medical concerns of the patients. This data is accumulated overtime rather than that which is received in small amounts and not stored for future references (Thew, 2016). This prompts the healthcare nurse informatics to employ the use of data analytics and data mining tools so that they can extract meaningful patterns, study the correlation and develop predictions (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018). Use big data has proved to be essential in healthcare management especially when analyzed and used to inform critical decision-making points and even guide future evidence-based change projects (Byrd et al, 2018).  This information is used by managers and administrators to identify patterns and areas of strength and weakness within the system and help plan in resource allocation.

However, big data faces one of the greatest security challenges especially on the confidentiality of the patient’s information. Cases of cyber insecurity have been rising since most healthcare facilities and organizations adopted use of technology to manage the spread of Covid-19 pandemic. The patient’s confidential data may be easily accessed if the systems security checks are not well enforced. In some of the online platforms like Amazon, for online shopping, the systems put in adequate security checks and user authentication and verification steps. The breech of patient’s confidential medical information could have adverse effects on the healthcare facility or organization hence incur a lot of expenses in terms of compensation and in the end the reputation of the organization will also be severely damaged.

Therefore, it is imperative for healthcare organizations and systems that procure any digital platform for managing healthcare records to invest heavily on ensuring the system is safe and secure from cyber security threats and phishing on patient’s data (Bibhuranjan, 2019). Moreover, there is need to improve the software technology to develop systems that are less susceptible to hacking. It is also essential to ensure that patients are well educated on ways of safely using the digital platforms and there should be readily accessible customer care agent to help patient’s carry out proper verification and maintain safety of their data.

Increased usage of digital platforms and information technology poses another safety threat to the patients as they are likely to seek for medical advice from online blogs and unverified media sources that could be misleading to the patients. This information collected on such blogs has no scientifically proven or evidence-based data to support the claims or the medical advice offered. Moreover, the information could be provided by individuals who have no professional training in the areas that they are providing the medical information. There has been rapid increase in blogs from unregistered dietician and fitness coaches whose methods are not scientifically viable to rely on as professional medical procedures. Many patients have fallen prey to such misleading information that even sometimes discourages the use of conventional medication and clinical intervention measures (Young, 2016).

In conclusion, it is imperative for the federal and state government to come up with strict measures, laws and policies that govern the use of information technology in healthcare. The guidelines should be clear and the regulations must be standardized to enhance security of the patients’ data and also safeguard them from unverified and unethical practices and information availed to them on social media platforms. Any digital platforms or media engaging in medical or clinical information must have passed the licensure criteria that would be guided by strict conformity to the ethical issues in healthcare and meets the set standards.

References

Bibhuranjan. (2019). Big data analytics – How beneficial is it for healthcare? Technofaq. https://technofaq.org/posts/2019/05/big-data-analytics-how-beneficial-is-it-for-healthcare/#:~:text=%20Big%20Data%20Analytics-%20Benefits%20in%20the%20Healthcare,is%20very%20important%20for%20any%20organization…%20More

Byrd, T.A., Kung, L., & Wang, Y. (2018). Big data analytics: Understanding its capabilities and potential benefits for healthcare organizations. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 126(1), 3-13. doi:10. 1016/j.techfore.2015.12.019

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Sittig, D. F., Wright, A., Coiera, E., Magrabi, F., Ratwani, R., Bates, D. W., & Singh, H. (2018). Current challenges in health information technology–related patient safety. Health Informatics Journal, 26(1), 146045821881489. https://doi.org/10.1177/1460458218814893

Thew, J. (2016). Big data means big potential, changes for nurse execs. HealthLeaders. https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/nursing/big-data-means-big-potential-challenges-nurse-execs

Young, A. (2016). The pros and cons of big data in the healthcare industry. HealthCareZone. https://www.healthtechzone.com/topics/healthcare/articles/2016/11/18/427248-pros-cons-big-data-the-healthcare-industry.htm

A national healthcare issue that impacted my work setting is a lack of medical doctors specializing in psychiatric care for people with a dual diagnosis. Within the past few years, psychiatric care started providing a more accessible way for the general population to receive their needed care. Telehealth was a huge help in providing mental health care for people in rural areas or those with a busy schedule, but it’s not a solution for everyone. Psychiatric nurse practitioners were a great resource as well; at my current job, where I work with people with intellectual developmental disabilities (IDD), finding a provider was extremely hard.

     There is an increase in nurse practitioners that do an immense job in protecting the community and helping providers reach more people, but still, it is not enough, even for the general population. According to research done in 2018 by Satiani Et al., “The psychiatrist workforce will contract through 2024 to a projected low of 38,821, which is equal to a shortage of between 14,280 and 31,091 psychiatrists.” Unfortunately, many don’t specialize in care for the mentioned community; therefore, developmentally delayed adults end up without proper care.

     Appropriate interventions can improve immediate and long-term outcomes. Even within the IDD, many mental health practitioners lack the clinical knowledge and training, ending up misdiagnosing or prescribing first-line treatment that might not suit the patient. (Zisman-Ilani, 2022)

     The social determinant that affects this issue is the lack of funds that developmentally delayed adults have. While some people might have better insurance that covers more resources or decide to pay out of pocket for services, most IDD adults are on Medicaid, which pays practitioners from 18$ up to 100$ maximum for a consultation. (TheraThink, 2023) Another cause of the issue is the number of retiring psychiatrists and the lack of new psychiatrists that enter the workforce.

     Unfortunately, there is not much that can be done to provide the necessary support for IDD adults. Therefore, at my job, patients were either referred to a psychiatric hospital where they would get medication changes and refills from primary care providers or go to a nurse practitioner. Due to the low pay, psychiatrists prefer to work with out-of-pocket patients or do not even accept working with the IDD community. To prevent this issue, the government should come up with a solution for Medicaid/Medicare IDD holders where providers are accordingly reimbursed for the services provided. Another solution would be teaching hospitals to introduce their residents to the community and have them work and practice their skills under supervision and specialize in this area.

Satiani, A., Niedermier, J., Satiani, B., & Svendsen, D. P. (2018). Projected workforce of psychiatrists in the United States: A population analysis. Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.), 69(6), 710–713. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201700344

TheraThink (2023) Insurance reimbursement rates for psychiatrists (2023). https://therathink.com/insurance-reimbursement-rates-for-psychiatrists/

Zisman-Ilani, Y., (2022) The mental health crisis of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ps.202200022