Applying Research Skills
Name
Capella University NHS4000: Developing a Health Care Perspective
Instructor
Date
Applying Research Skills
The healthcare industry has an ongoing issue of staffing shortages, when institutions have difficulties in recruiting and retaining a suitable number of proficient healthcare personnel. This problem results in heightened workloads for current personnel, which might jeopardize the quality of patient treatment and contribute to the exhaustion and disillusionment of healthcare professionals. It is crucial to address this issue in order to provide the best possible results for patients and to uphold the well-being of the healthcare personnel. The issue of understaffing is of utmost importance to administrators, policymakers, and practitioners. It requires the implementation of methods for recruiting, retaining, and effectively managing staff in order to minimize the negative impact on both the quality of patient care and the job satisfaction of healthcare workers.
Accessing Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
I used Capella’s search database to locate the peer-reviewed publications. I narrowed down my search to specifically target the issue of staffing shortages in the healthcare sector. I first searched for the term “staff shortages” to narrow down my options, and then selected the required publication type. For this instance, I chose scientific papers that have undergone rigorous evaluation by experts in the field. In addition to selecting nursing as my specific area of focus, I limited my timeframe to include only papers that were published during the last five years. The repute of my sources will also benefit from the increased specificity of my search. I secure access to the most recently updated sources by restricting my search to the last five years.
Capella Nursing Writing Service
Annotated bibliography
Griffiths, P., Saville, C., Ball, J. E., Jones, J., Monks, T., & Safer Nursing Care Tool study team. (2021). Beyond ratios-flexible and resilient nurse staffing options to deliver cost-effective hospital care and address staff shortages: A simulation and economic modelling study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 117, 103901. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2021.103901
Griffiths et al.’s study delves into nurse staffing strategies’ cost-effectiveness to address staffing shortages in hospitals. The purpose of this article is to simulate and model various nurse staffing plans, evaluating their economic implications and impact on patient outcomes. Through agent-based simulation, the study compares different staffing plans based on patient demand fluctuations, staffing shortfalls, and the utilization of temporary staff. Findings reveal that higher baseline staffing, despite increased costs, significantly improves patient outcomes, reducing adverse effects of low staffing scenarios. The article underscores the inefficiency of plans relying heavily on flexible deployment due to the uncertainty of temporary staff availability. Including this article is crucial for understanding the economic and patient outcome implications associated with various nurse staffing strategies amidst shortages. It provides valuable insights into the importance of baseline staffing sufficiency in healthcare settings and the cost-effectiveness of different approaches to address staffing challenges. This empirical study offers actionable insights for healthcare policymakers and administrators.
Xu, H., Intrator, O., & Bowblis, J. R. (2020). Shortages of staff in nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic: what are the driving factors?. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 21(10), 1371-1377. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2020.08.002
Xu et al.’s study investigates staff shortages in US nursing homes (NHs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective was to understand the prevalence and determinants of shortages of various types of NH staff, considering factors such as COVID-19 exposure among residents and staff, availability of personal protective equipment (PPE), NH characteristics, and state Medicaid reimbursement. The authors utilized self-reported data from a survey conducted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in May 2020, encompassing 11,920 free-standing NHs. Findings revealed significant shortages across different staff categories, notably in licensed nurse staff and nurse aides. States like Georgia and Minnesota reported higher rates of shortages. Logistic regressions highlighted that NHs with COVID-19 affected residents or staff were more prone to experience shortages, while having adequate PPE supply was associated with a lower likelihood of shortages. The study emphasizes the critical impact of COVID-19 on exacerbating staff shortages in NHs, potentially compromising infection control protocols and overall quality of care. This article is pertinent for understanding the complex interplay between pandemic-related factors and staff shortages in nursing homes, providing valuable insights for mitigating these challenges and ensuring adequate staffing for quality care delivery.
Winter, V., Schreyögg, J., & Thiel, A. (2020). Hospital staff shortages: Environmental and organizational determinants and implications for patient satisfaction. Health Policy, 124(4), 380-388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2020.01.001
Winter et al.’s research investigates the complexities surrounding healthcare personnel shortages in German hospitals and their impact on patient satisfaction. The study aims to elucidate how environmental and organizational factors contribute to variations in staff shortages, the relationship between staff shortage measures and staffing ratios, and the implications of staff shortages on patient satisfaction. Utilizing regression analyses based on survey data from 104 German hospitals spanning 2015-2016, along with labor market and patient satisfaction data, the research identifies significant associations between environmental/organizational factors and staff shortages, as reported by the hospitals themselves and observed through vacancies and turnover rates. Notably, the research shows that indicators of staff shortage for doctors and nurses do not correspond and are not directly linked to nursing ratios, which suggests that these ideas are different. The study also found a strong link among medical facilities with shortage of staff and patients being pleased with the care they received from their doctor and nurse. There are many things that can cause hospital staffing gaps. This article talks about some of them. It also talks about how such shortages affect patients’ happiness and the confusing link between staffing measures and ratios. That enables us acquire knowledge more about the difficult things that lead to hiring gaps in healthcare as well as how they affect care that is centered on the patient.
Fagefors, C., Lantz, B., & Rosén, P. (2020). Creating short-term volume flexibility in healthcare capacity management. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(22), 8514. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17228514
The research by Fagefors et al. (2020) examines importance of healthcare management in adapting to changes in supply and demand that cannot be planned for across medical facilities. The primary objective of the study is to describe how healthcare systems deal with quick changes in demand. Some of these are getting casual extra workers, utilizing internal staffing groups, setting up lines, and hiring people from other countries. Questionnaire were sent out to managers of healthcare in the Region Vastra Gotaland healthcare system as part of the study to seek out how often these tools are used to make short-term capacity more flexible. When the data were looked at with multiple regression, some interesting trends came out. For instance, critical units used extra staff and internal hiring agencies compared to planned units, but they waited for patients longer and hired outside doctors less often compared to planned units. The study shows that managers across various facets of the healthcare system need to do very different things to make sure that the system can handle its full potential. This means that these disparities require to be addressed and set particularly if it pertains to the ability pools, in order to healthcare systems can better handle how many people they have. These results show that these differences need to be fixed, especially when it comes to capacity pools, so that healthcare systems can handle their capacity better.
Learning from the Research
Putting together an annotated book on healthcare staffing gaps has helped me understand the many problems and solutions that are involved in this issue better. The study showed the different methods used to handle short-term hiring gaps, how COVID-19 made shortages worse, and how environmental and organizational variables play a big part in determining shortages in healthcare settings. These sources also pointed out the direct link between hiring levels and patient happiness, which shows how important it is to keep enough healthcare workers on hand for the best patient care. Overall, this study gave us more complicated information about hiring gaps in healthcare, highlighting the need for flexible, customized plans to lessen the effects on the quality of care for patients and the health and happiness of healthcare workers.
References
Fagefors, C., Lantz, B., & Rosén, P. (2020). Creating short-term volume flexibility in healthcare capacity management. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(22), 8514. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17228514
Griffiths, P., Saville, C., Ball, J. E., Jones, J., Monks, T., & Safer Nursing Care Tool study team. (2021). Beyond ratios-flexible and resilient nurse staffing options to deliver cost-effective hospital care and address staff shortages: A simulation and economic modelling study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 117, 103901. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2021.103901
Winter, V., Schreyögg, J., & Thiel, A. (2020). Hospital staff shortages: Environmental and organizational determinants and implications for patient satisfaction. Health Policy, 124(4), 380-388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2020.01.001
Xu, H., Intrator, O., & Bowblis, J. R. (2020). Shortages of staff in nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic: what are the driving factors?. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 21(10), 1371-1377. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2020.08.002
