NURS 6053 Discussion Review of Current Healthcare Issues Essay

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NURS 6053 Discussion Review of Current Healthcare Issues Essay

NURS 6053 Discussion Review of Current Healthcare Issues Essay

If you were to ask 10 people what they believe to be the most significant issue facing healthcare today, you might get 10 different answers. Escalating costs? Regulation? Technology disruption?

These and many other topics are worthy of discussion. Not surprisingly, much has been said in the research, within the profession, and in the news about these topics. Whether they are issues of finance, quality, workload, or outcomes, there is no shortage of changes to be addressed.

In this Discussion, you examine a national healthcare issue and consider how that issue may impact your work setting. You also analyze how your organization has responded to this issue.

To Prepare:

  • Review the Resources and select one current national healthcare issue/stressor to focus on.
  • Reflect on the current national healthcare issue/stressor you selected and think about how this issue/stressor may be addressed in your work setting.

By Day 3 of Week 1

Post a description of the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected for analysis, and explain how the healthcare issue/stressor

NURS 6053 Discussion Review of Current Healthcare Issues Essay

NURS 6053 Discussion Review of Current Healthcare Issues Essay

may impact your work setting. Then, describe how your health system work setting has responded to the healthcare issue/stressor, including a description of what changes may have been implemented. Be specific and provide examples.

By Day 6 of Week 1

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days who chose a different national healthcare issue/stressor than you selected. Explain how their chosen national healthcare issue/stressor may also impact your work setting and what (if anything) is being done to address the national healthcare issue/stressor.

 

Staffing Shortages as a National Health are Issue/Stressor

Staffing shortages in the health care industry has become a significant issue and stressor all over the nation. Nurses work extremely hard and that is not a secret. With imminent staffing shortages in the health care profession and an increase in the volume of patients seeking care services, patient loads are increasing rapidly, thus making it difficult for nurses already short staff to manage all patient care needs effectively and efficiently (Bakhamis et al.,2019). The United States has a massive nursing shortage, and the problem is only set to grow. Due to an influx of patients into our health system, the retirement of baby boomers, and educational bottlenecks, nursing positions are not being filled fast enough to keep up with demand (Xue et al., 2016). Nurses overworked and understaffed on the front lines. There are millions of registered and licensed practical nurses in the United States. Most of these nurses, however, are not happy and comfortable in their work, they are stress, overworked, underappreciated, and underutilized leading to significant impact on the delivery of care.

                                            Impact on Work Setting

     Staffing shortages can have a significant impact on the quality of work, on productivity, creativity, competitiveness, nursing care outcomes, and on ensuring patients’ safety (Norful et al., 2018). At my health care organization due to staffing shortage, nurses sometimes work long hours because other nurses calling in sick, running one to four hours late from working under very stressful conditions resulting in burnout, injury, fatigue, and job dissatisfaction. Nurses suffering in my health care facility delay treatments and make other mistakes due to the relationship of the nurse-to-patient ratio (Xue et al., 2016). An unfortunate outcome is that patient quality of care suffers, resulting in a variety of complications including emergency room overcrowding and delay of treatment.

Organizational Response and Changes Implemented

    A range of solutions has been offered as a way to solve the nursing shortage in my health care organization from subsidized funding, hiring new nurses, wage increases, and contracting with nursing agencies for nurses to fill in periodically. My health care organization provides tuition for nurses seeking to advance their degree. In addition, resources have been allocated towards increasing wages which has affected recruitment as well as retention of Registered Nurses already in the facility.

Another important strategy to further address the nursing shortage is that, nurses are allowed scheduling flexibility and coverage. This has help nurses to juggle their busy work schedule with home life and educational opportunities, and also allows room for decompressing between stressful, emotionally demanding shifts and days of work.

Health care of the nation, and patients, in particular will benefit the most from adequate staffing and a healthy and well rested nurse because efficiency and productivity will increase, the number of work-related mistakes at the same time will reduce, sick leaves are going to be rare, shorter, and burnout will not occur often (Norful et al., 2018). By introducing said strategies, we would not only increase staffing in health care but equally, reduce the stress-related illness rate among nurses and would also significantly raise the quality of healthcare and patient outcomes.

Bottom of Form

Submission and Grading Information

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:

Week 1 Discussion Rubric

 

Post by Day 3 and Respond by Day 6 of Week 1

To participate in this Discussion: 

Week 1 Discussion

 

RE: Discussion – Week 1

Response #1

            Alexis,

            Thank you for your informative post. I agree with you that the rising cost of care continues to force many patients not to seek or receive the care they need, resulting in further complications of their health issues and even death. Although many adults are healthy and have health insurance, in my work setting, we have noticed that many of our patients delay or do not get care due to high costs. Because of this critical issue, about one in every ten adults (10.5%) stated that they delayed or did not get medical care due to the high cost in 2019. The worst of it is that the population that needs medical care the most, such as those with comorbidities, are twice as likely to delay or go without care still due to cost (Amin et al., 2021). Many of our patients do not comply with their treatment plan because they cannot afford their prescription drugs, causing further health issues. Plus, the rising cost of care forces many of our patients to seek care in emergency rooms or urgent care since they are not established with a usual primary care physician.

            Additionally, the rising cost of care has a significant impact on us employees. Wages have been stagnant for most workers due to more expensive co-pays and deductibles, forcing employers to take a more substantial cut of their employees’ pay to cover insurance premiums. On average, employees of large companies contribute about one-third of the total cost of health spending. As health costs continue to increase, health spending by families with large employer health plans has increased two times faster than workers’ wages over the last ten years    (Rodriguez, 2019).

            My organization has a few strategies in place to address the rising cost of care for our patients. First, patients can apply for financial assistance, an income-based process that allows patients to have some or all of their hospital bills waived. For example, I had my first son at the hospital I work while in my last year of nursing school. Since my husband was also in school and not working much then, we applied, and the hospital covered over 75% of our bill. Also, the organization continues to educate the staff and remind them to avoid ordering extra supplies or duplicating other orders for patients to avoid additional fees that they do not need, especially when they are uninsured. For example, a patient gets an extra commode ordered because the staff only looked for it in the room except in the bathroom. Another example is when a patient on a hydrocortisone cream gets a new tube pulled when the old one is still half full in her bedside table drawer. As nurses, we must ensure that our patients do not get charged more than they need to with the cost of care already so high and with many of the patients without health coverage. Finally, my organization has formed a partnership with other pharmaceutical organizations to provide prescription assistance to patients. The Partnership for Prescription Assistance helps uninsured or underinsured patients access the medicines they need through the right program for them and free or nearly free of charge. For example, my hospital educates patients and staff about using the Medicine Assistance Tool (MAT). The MAT is a search engine designed to help patients, caregivers, and health care providers learn more about the resources available through the various biopharmaceutical industry assistance programs (Medicine Assistance Tool.org, n.d.).

                                                                                                                                    References

Amin, K., Claxton, G., Ramirez, G., & Cox, C. (2021, January 5). How does cost affect access to care? Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker.

Medicine Assistance Tool.org. (n.d.). Worried about affording your medicine? MAT is here to help. mat.org.

Rodriguez, A. (2019, August 26). Healthcare costs increased twice as fast as worker wages over last decade. AJMC.

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