Healthcare shortages make it difficult for healthcare administrators
to meet and implement federal rulings for several reasons. It is
projected that there is going to be worsening shortages of
physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals (IOM US, 2009). I
think that the biggest factor that comes up with the healthcare
shortages is that the staff is overworked and overtired making them
more prone to commit errors or cut corners so that they can manage
their workload. Nurses are well known for working 12-16 hour shifts
in which the nurse to patient ratio is low; this has been linked to
poorer outcomes and quality of care (Hasmiller & Cozine, 2006). This
perpetuates a cycle of unhappy employees with high turnover which
then results in a worsened shortage that makes hiring new
employees more difficult.
Recruiting and training new employees is expensive for hospitals and
as they allocate money toward hiring and training new employees,
there is less funding to allocate to ensuring that federal rulings such
as HIPAA or HITECH are being met (Hasmiller & Cozine, 2006). Not
only that, but healthcare professionals have a duty to put patient
care first but they are being burdened by paperwork. Although these
professionals are aware of what rules and regulations they need to
follow, in order for them to complete their work they are less likely
to do so. In order for healthcare administrators to implement and
meet the requirements set forth by the government, they first must
address staffing issues.
References
Hassmiller, S. B., & Cozine, M. (2006). Addressing the nurse shortage
to improve the quality of patient care. Health Affairs, 25(1), 268–274.
https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.25.1.268
Institute of Medicine (US) National Cancer Policy Forum. (2009).
Supply and Demand in the Health Care Workforce. In Ensuring
Quality Cancer Care through the oncology workforce: Sustaining care in
the 21st Century: Workshop Summary. essay, National Academies
Press. Retrieved February 21, 2022, from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK215247/.
