Nursing is a profession like any other that has issues and problems that make the nursing department not to be able to give its maximum in terms of performance. The main problem that this paper is going to look at is related to staffing of the department of nursing. One of the main problems is that most of the hospitals are understaffed. This usually affects the hospitals’ as health care facilities and it also affects the patients themselves. It is important to look into this problem and also come up with solutions to it because it improves patients’ safety. We are going to look into the main reasons of understaffing and their possible solutions.
One of the reasons to understaffing in hospitals is that there is a shortage of nurses in the hospitals a good example is the USA where many people are resorting to outpatient form of health care hence nurses will reduce in registering themselves as nurses, this in the end cause understaffing, in the hospitals. Another reason to understaffing is the financial constraints of some of the hospitals whereby some hospitals operate on a very strict and tight budget such that they are forced to cut off on some of the nurses working in those hospitals, this is made possible by the affected hospital pushing its finances to other issues, this in turn forces them to cut off some of the nurses working in that hospital. This, however, affects the patients in the hospital as the nurses are few it is difficult to concentrate on one patient. With these problems patients are prone to injuries and accidents while at the hospital, and this reduces the safety of the patient while at the hospital. Furthermore, when the hospital is understaffed it is prone to lack of good nursing care, studies have shown that if the workforce of any organization is not proportionate or equal to the labor at hand the organization will fail in its activities, this example can be related to the hospitals and it can be explained in the manner that if the labor at hand is more that the workforce it will be stressing to accomplish the job. Another major problem that faces the nursing department is the lack of the required tools and equipment for nursing. This normally affects the safety of the patient. There is an example of a hospital where there were no enough syringes; there was a diabetic patient and he was running out of time because he had not been injected with the required medicine. That patient died because there was no syringe to inject the person with the medicine. This is a good example to show that nursing tools and equipment are important in the nursing department of a hospital.
Another problem facing the nursing department is lack of teamwork among the staff in that hospital. Teamwork is usually important because it makes sure that decisions reached are sound and good. This is usually the case because many people will be involved in the making of that decision. Teamwork leads to good decisions and this will improve the safety of the patients in the hospitals and it will also boost their comfort in the hospitals. Another major problem is the lack of concentration, this is when a nurse does not concentrate in what he or she is doing this usually leads to accidents and injuries in the hospitals, a good example is of a nurse administering the wrong medicine to a patient, this sometimes even leads to death of patients in the hospitals.
The above mentioned are some of the main problems associated with the nursing department, we are going to at the possible solutions for these problems and also look into the factors that improve this department in the hospitals. One of the solutions to the understaffing is simply for the organization to look for more nurses and employ them as this will increase the workforce in that organization and also improve the quality of treatment in that hospital. Understaffing can also be solved by the hospital altering its budget and allocating more money to the employment of more nurses. The problem of insufficient equipment and tools is by allocating more money into buying enough tools and equipment needed to avoid accidents and injuries in the hospitals
The problem of lack of teamwork can be solved by staff coming together and encouraging the participation of everyone during decision making and also taking contributions of everyone seriously, this will lead to sound decisions that will in turn help the patients. The problem of lack of concentration can be dealt with by ensuring nurses are attentive when they are instructed to do something. In line with the same, lack of concentration can be dealt with by the nurses reading the instructions written in the drugs before administering them to the patients, this will in turn improve the safety of patients. The above mentioned solutions will boost the nursing department and in turn the safety of the patients and in the long run the quality of the hospital.
