Introduction
Adequate staffing in a medical facility is one of the major factors that determine the success or otherwise of the facility in achieving their primary goal of providing adequate health rehabilitation to the patients they admit. Meeting of required staffing level minimums is a matter of policy which ensures that the patients and the staff are not exposed to any risks, either health, or occupational respectively. Therefore, the availability of nurses/ aides in health facilities is a major factor for determination with relation to the patients it can accommodate.
- Potential impact of the driving force on the stakeholders.
The stakeholders in this case are a) The patients, b) The proprietors, c) The staff,
Patients
The primary goal of any health facility is to provide utmost care to the patients under their care. The "safe staffing for quality care act” requires that there are instituted suitable ratios between patients and nurses. The ratio is set to ensure that the patients receive the as utmost care as can be afforded to them. In this respect therefore, the patients in this facility receive a below par attention from their assigned care givers as envisioned in the act. The scenario of many units having one nurse and one aide, running many nights, is not an optimum situation for patients as they are predisposed to insufficient care from the nurses.
Implementation of the requirements of this act would improve nursing work conditions and would permit more time for nurses to provide better patient care (Ward, 2005). While the legislation touches on the staffing aspect of nursing, its implementation translates into better care afforded to the patients.
The proprietors
The management of health facilities takes all responsibility in the staffing and general management issues in the running of their facilities. In this regard, they are in the pole position to increase the number of nursing staff required in the running of the facility. The "safe staffing for quality care act” recommends the institution of civil penalties against any violations of its recommendations. The institution of such an act, therefore would force the management of the facility to comply with the minimum staffing recommendations stipulated in the act.
The staff
This would include all the nursing staff and their aides. Nurses and their aides are empowered by the implementation of such an act as health facilities are required to submit annual staffing plans to the relevant authorities. The submission of such plans renders them incapable of violation of the regulation exposes them to civil suites. The staff therefore would benefit from more friendly working conditions and shift hours, which are tailored to reduce their work load. Additionally, nurses are empowered by the establishment of the private right for nurses discriminated against for refusing illegal work assignments.
Nurse aides on their part are afforded the reprieve from responsibilities that would otherwise be handled by nurses. In this regard therefore, nurse assistants are not considered in the computation of the desired ratios as the act requires that hospitals staff units using nurses with a demonstrated competence in the specified clinical area and have undergone an orientation for that clinical practice. Nursing aides therefore would only be required to handle aspects for which they are competent at, which does not include clinical work.
My position with regards to safe staffing in nursing
The act elaborates the required benchmarks on the safe staffing requirements for health institutions. This helps put on a framework for the minimum staffing levels in health facilities greatly improving the quality of care afforded to the patients. While most institutions would go for the implementation of the bare minimum that makes them legal, it is still a decent level of staffing, and enables them dispense decent care levels. While the act states that the levels proposed do not constitute a ceiling, rather a floor, much needs to be done in ensuring similar legislation is improved upon and implemented across the whole country.
Works cited
Bill S3691-2013 Enacts the "safe staffing for quality care act” retrieved from, http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S3691-2013
Claire Miguel, R N, Bellevue Hospital, ‘What’s in the Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act’ Retrieved from http://www.nysna.org/images/pdfs/union/safeStaffingResources/safe-staffing-bulletin-2.pdf
