Developing Organizational Policies and Practices

Developing Organizational Policies and Practices

Your Name

Walden University

NURS 6053

Date

Dr. E. Townsley

Running head: DEVELOPING ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES AND PRACTICES 1

Developing Organizational Policies and Practices

In America, the issue of population growth has also been a major challenge, especially in the healthcare sector as the more people the country or the region has the more the demand for healthcare services will be. It is a fact that national healthcare in America is unable to handle the demand for healthcare services from its growing population due to a shortage of healthcare practitioners. In America, the standardized and legal staffing requirements insist that the nurse-to-patient ratio is one nurse is to five patients at most. But in reality, these ratios have not been met fully due to the shortage of healthcare professionals to serve the high numbers of patients requiring healthcare services. In the United States alone it was estimated that 250,000 healthcare professionals were needed by 2020 to meet the demand for healthcare services. The demand for healthcare services in the United States has risen to a point of causing a 20% vacancy rate in the national healthcare sector which indicates a huge shortage of workforce in the healthcare sector (Edge, 2020). The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) estimated that if the issue of healthcare professionals is not dealt with effectively early enough, by 2030 the physicians in the national healthcare sector would reduce by about 105,000. It also estimates that there will be a shortage of non-primary care professionals to about 33,500 to 61,000 and 7,300 to 43,000 shortages of primary care physicians by 2030. Studies have shown that the correct staffing level of nurses in the healthcare facilities can decrease patient mortality rates from abnormal aorta up to 60% and mortality caused by medication errors and heart related conditions up to 18%.

Sufficient nursing staffing in facilities that bring the ration of the nurse to patient fewer than 4.95 improves the health outcomes of the patients as nurses are not overworked, they have time to educate their patients equipping them with proper skills and knowledge to prevent the recurrence of diseases and managing their conditions (Shin et al., 2018). The shortage of healthcare practitioners in healthcare facilities or the sector is an issue that is affecting the quality of healthcare services that patients receive which results in poor health outcome sand it should be dealt with effectively to prevent poor quality services that are being rendered to the patients deteriorating their health instead of improving it.

National Healthcare Issue/Stressor

The shortage of human resources in the healthcare sector in America has caused the straining of the available workforce in the sector which has been termed as a national healthcare stressor. The reason why a shortage of workforce in the healthcare sector is because the available human resource is strained by the unmanageable workload that reduces their job satisfaction, causes fatigue, mental stress, and leads to them offering poor quality services to the patients they cater for in the facility. The rendering of poor services results in deteriorated health outcomes which leads to high mortality rates in the facilities caused by medication errors, human errors, and recurrence of medical conditions due to lack of sufficient patient education. The shortage of healthcare professionals in a facility prevents the nurses from having quality time to care for their patients due to the huge workload they have to handle.

The recommended nurse to patient ratio is one nurse to five patients is most which ensure that they give full attention to their patients improving their health. For example, in an organization where one nurse serves more than five patients, it means that they will not be able to give sufficient care and attention to the patients as it is expected leading to poor quality services rendered. Also, the shortage of workforce in the healthcare sector has led to mental issues in nurses due to work-related stress and burnout. For example, in a health organization where the intensive care unit nurse-patient ratio is 4 to 6 the mortality rate is highly reduced to about 7 per 100 patients which Is much higher in staffing shortage which is also reflected in other departments.

Informational Summary

According to Shin et al. (2018), the shortage of healthcare professionals in America’s healthcare sector has adverse impacts on the available practitioners, patients, the facility, and the sector as a whole. The huge workloads that the available workforce handles affect their physical and mental wellbeing which causes them to offer poor quality services to the patients causing high mortality rates in the facilities. The World Health Organization. (2016) recommend for proper staffing of healthcare facilities to improve the healthcare services offered to the patients enhancing both the patient’s and the practitioner’s wellbeing. Also, Denman & Ross (2019) mention that the shortage of healthcare practitioners is a global health issue that needs to be dealt with because of the adverse impacts that it has on the healthcare professionals, the population, and the nations. This article calls for healthcare sector leaders to come up with strategies and policies that will deal with the issue of shortage of health care professionals and the competing issues that it results in. it is important to ensure that that the staffing requirements in healthcare facilities is followed and implemented to prevent the adverse impacts caused by the shortage of healthcare workers.

Strategies

As a strategy of curbing this national healthcare issue of having workforce shortage in the country and the healthcare organizations, the national healthcare sector and facilities leadership needs to form partnerships with foundations and philanthropists. The partnership of the healthcare sector and governmental and non-governmental foundations or philanthropists who share the view of improving the quality of healthcare. If the national healthcare sector decided to work alone it can only achieve little as compared to when the sector is in a partnership. The partnership means that the sector will have extra resources and extra help that will enable the sector to effectively deal with the healthcare workforce shortage issue (OECD netFWD, 2019). Having a healthy partnership with foundations and philanthropists such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who have shared an interest in making healthcare high-quality, affordable, and accessible, will provide funding to support health-related issues. These foundations and philanthropists also fund scholarships and support medical students to ensure there are enough practitioners in the sector with qualifications, enough knowledge, and skills to offer quality services to the people, hence reducing healthcare practitioners' shortage.

The other strategy is to get the government involved in the national healthcare sector where it acts as a gatekeeper and regulator of the healthcare sector. Involving the government in regulating the healthcare sector will push the healthcare organization's leadership to implement and uphold the legal and correct staffing levels in the healthcare facilities hence dealing with the healthcare stressor effectively (Anderson, 2019). For example, the involvement of the government in the healthcare sector will ensure that the proper staffing law is made mandatory and all healthcare facilities abide by it hence effectively dealing with the issue of workforce shortage. The involvement of the government in regulating the healthcare sector will ensure that the leadership of the facilities will put more focus on giving the best quality services to the patients rather than focusing on making profits.

Developing Policies and procedures

The first competing need that impacts the shortage of healthcare practitioners in America, which results in a national healthcare stressor, is the population growth and high demand for healthcare services in America (World Health Organization, 2016). The patients seeking healthcare services from organizations are the main stakeholders in these organizations, and they require nothing less than quality services from healthcare organizations. Due to the population growth, the demand for medical services is rising to a level where the healthcare sector's current workforce cannot handle it. The growing population and demand for healthcare services are some of the factors contributing to the shortage of healthcare practitioners in organizations. The increase of patients in the organizations has strained the workforce that the healthcare organizations have, leading to burnout of the practitioners, increased workload, and fatigue leading to errors and mistakes that cause more harm than good.

The second competing need impacting the healthcare organizations need to cut the cost of operations to increase its income and improve the quality of services they offer to its patients. It is a fact that to have adequate resources, one has to pay for them, which applies to human resources. The more practitioners an organization need, the more it should be willing to spend on them. As mentioned earlier, healthcare organizations are private entities that aim to make as much profit as possible, which means they have to minimize operations costs (Drennan & Ross, 2019). Because employing more healthcare practitioners implies that the organization has to spend more on salaries and other employees' needs, they prefer not hiring as many practitioners, which results in a shortage of healthcare workers in the organization.

The shortage of healthcare practitioners is a real problem affecting my organization. The management has tried the put in place strategies to curb the adverse effects of this national healthcare issue. There is a policy that provides setting aside some funds to hire extra nurses and other healthcare practitioners to help reduce the organization's staff shortage in my organization's five-year strategic plan. the policy also has a condition of allowing unlicensed medical practitioners or medical students to work in the hospital as a measure of reinforcing the workforce in the organization, ensuring that there are enough human resources to handle the high demand that the organization is facing from the growing number patients flocking the facility on a daily basis. (Drennan & Ross, 2019) This policy ensures that the ratio of healthcare practitioners and the patient is convenient and that the workload that the practitioners handle daily is manageable and encourages mindfulness in the workplace. Having a manageable workload reduces the burnout and fatigue among the healthcare practitioners hence improving the quality of services they offer to their patients resulting in desirable health outcomes.

Policy Critique

It is vital for any organization that is aiming at ensuring that it serves its patients the best way possible to have a strategic plan with policies that are manageable, sustainable, and applicable. The policy that my organization has put in place in its strategic plan to ensure that it solves the problem of having a shortage of human resources is effective but it also has a downside. This policy's downside is that the organization allows unlicensed practitioners to serve patients performing the same duties as the qualified health practitioner may affect the patients' health outcomes. When the organization does not make as much money as expected in its annual budget, it affects how it hires the extra workforce to supplement its workforce. An unlicensed workforce might come in handy as a supplementary human resource. Due to a lack of professionalism and experience, it might cause harm to the patients by offering substandard services or care.

Although the policy has some downside, it has some strength and confers many benefits for the healthcare organization, its employees, and the patients. The employees' benefits are that they enjoy a manageable workload that reduces burnout due to the extra hands that the additional hires offer the team (Enoch, 2017). The organization also benefits as with adequate human resources; they can create manageable shifts for their practitioners, enhance job satisfaction, and reduce errors caused by fatigued workers who work long hours' shifts without breaks or off days. On the other hand, the patients enjoy adequate care and attention from the healthcare practitioners improving their recovery rate and health outcomes.

The policy also has some challenges that affect its effectiveness and how it is implemented, with the main challenge being the availability of funds. As mentioned earlier, the policy's success and the program are advocates for all depends on the number of profits that the organization can raise annually, which determines the amount of money it puts aside to support this program (Aithal & Aithal, 2017). Therefore, without enough financial resources, this policy can't be effectively implemented. The policy also has some ethical challenges, such as allowing unlicensed practitioners to operate and serve patients on the same level as licensed and qualified healthcare practitioners. The ethical difficulties might cause problems that can lead to legal issues with patients receiving substandard healthcare services suing the organization.

Conclusion

Proper legal standards for sufficient staffing in the healthcare sector and facilities in America and worldwide is integral as human resource shortage in the healthcare sector has adverse effects on the wellbeing of the population and the available healthcare practitioners. It is upon the leadership of the healthcare sector and the facilities to make proper staffing levels a priority and not so much on making profits. The healthcare sector cannot manage to effectively deal with the issue of workforce shortage on its own but with partnerships, it is possible to solve this issue. Quality healthcare services are a right of every citizen and the government should get involved in the healthcare sector to regulate it and ensure that its citizens receive the best quality services. The policies formulated to deal with the issue of staff shortage in the healthcare sector should be ethical, applicable, and manageable. The shortage of health care practitioners will continue to get worse if not dealt with as early as possible.

DEVELOPING ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES AND PRACTICES 2

Reference

Aithal, A., & Aithal, P. S. (2017). Task-Shifting–An Alternative Survival Strategy for Healthcare Organizations. International Journal of Scientific Research and Modern Education (IJSRME), 2(2), 34-48.

Anderson, B. A. (2019). Facing the nursing workforce shortage: policies and initiatives to promote a resilient healthcare system. Caring for the Vulnerable, 363.

Drennan, V. M., & Ross, F. (2019). Global nurse shortages—the facts, the impact, and action for change. British medical bulletin, 130(1), 25-37.

Enoch, J. (2017). Healthcare leaders recognize 11 providers for developing frontline workers. National Fund for Workforce Solutions. Retrieved 8 March 2020 from https://nationalfund.org/news_post/healthcare-leaders-recognize-11-providers-for-developing-frontline-workers/

OECD netFWD (2019). Health and philanthropy, harnessing novel approaches for improved access to quality healthcare. OECD Development Centre, Paris. Retrieved 8 March 2020 from http://www.oecd.org/development/networks/2019_Health_policy_note.pdf

Shin, J. H., Koh, J. E., Kim, H. E., Lee, H. J., & Song, S. (2018). Current status of nursing law in the United States and implications. Health Systems and Policy Research, 5(1), 1-7.

World Health Organization. (2016). Global strategy on human resources for health: workforce 2030.