Nurses’ burnouts and staffing issues are one of the primary concerns affecting hospitals. It primarily reflects the situation where there are fewer workers who get overworked to meet the set target in the organization. The quality of healthcare services offered in the most hospital is affected by the nursing practices and performance. The high rate of turnover in health institutions has led to declining nursing services that are of help to the patients ( Carlson, 2015) . The low number of employees in the nursing sector leads to the burnout of nurses which limits their ability to deliver quality services by the nursing principles.
Background and Significance of the Study
Different scholars have conducted numerous researches regarding the effect of staffing in the healthcare sector. However, a solution is yet to be discovered on how the staffing ratio can be adjusted to increase efficiency. The board in charge of employing and deploying nurses fight along with different challenges like financial instability and unqualified employees leading to unequal staffing ratios as well as high turnover. Over the past few years, approximately 7 million patients admitted to hospitals suffer from the health related infections while still under treatment. Such conditions have raised the alarm in medical institution grading the care provided by nurses as insufficient to be termed as quality. Therefore, the primary purpose of the study is to determine the effect of nursing staffing and burnout on the quality of services offered to hospitalized patients.
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Statement of the Problem
The nursing shortage has been a prevailing problem in most hospitals forming a continuous threat of poor nursing services. Research done by Cherry and Jacob (2016) proves that the nursing sector in the United States of America shall experience the staff shortage of about 400,000 come 2020. That is as a result of the turnover which primarily leads to exhaustive working experienced by existing nurses. The staffing problem has also spoilt the working environment in hospitals hence influencing job satisfaction.
Research Question
The research question acting as a guide to this study is; what are the effects associated with staffing and burnout nursing problems in the hospital? It will also answer the how it is related to job satisfaction as well as the safety of patients. Though there are limited secondary information resources that explore the nursing practices, the research paper will be a qualitative study on the existing problem.
Literature Review
Though there is a high staffing problem of nurses, the American Nursing Association (ANA) terms increment of employees as a difficult task. That is due to the challenges associated with the financing and quality of skills gained by the applicants. Few hospitals can boost of providing satisfactory services to patients all the time. However, nurses try their best to work according to their principles for them to provide good care and safety of the patients. Statistically, approximately one-third of the patients admitted to hospitals are not subject to the required nursing care ( Cherry and Jacob, 2016) . In most cases, they end up losing dying or having high levels of infections that become a problem to treat. However, there are those who choose to transfer from one hospital to the other looking for a place get quality medical care.
According to Zhang et al. (2013), the rate at which students study nursing course is almost equivalent to the demand of skilled labor in their field of profession. A significant number is employed in the public sector while some secure a job with private firms in the country. However, they are all guided by the nursing practices as registered under the nursing act in the constitution. Low level of salaries and to the high turnover making the staffing ratios small. In every organization, when employees are less than the task to be managed, there is always a tendency of being overworked. The same case applies to the nursing department where complaints have become too much regarding heavy workloads leading to burnouts. Despite the fact that policies exist which regulates the working time for nurses, increased number of patients curbs them from enjoying the privilege.
Research Hypothesis and Variables
The study will be testing the relationship between the nursing staffing and the factors leading to the problem including different levels of education, low salaries, as well as heavy workloads. The alternative hypothesis will test how nursing policies may resolve the issue of staffing in the department while the null hypothesis will test how other factors indirectly affecting staffing contribute towards the problem.
The research has both dependent and independent variables to look into. Staffing in nurses is the dependent variable as it depends primarily on other things. On the other hand, nursing principles, educational levels, less number of nurses and heavy workloads are the independent variables.
Methodology
The selected hospitals during the study must be subject to a similar. The institutions must be of the same size and hold an equivalent number of employees. Additionally, they must show consistency in services provided over an extended period. The geographical location must also be considered to avoid biasedness on the rural as well as urban facilities. Data is to be collected through online surveys assigned to the nursing staffs. Afterward, the qualitative method will be used to compare and contrast descriptive information from different sources. Analyzed results shall be presented in tables and charts.
Limitations of the Study
Being an online survey, the study may experience a low level of participation by nurses. That will also be accompanied by the difference in education levels, increasing the diversity of information collected during the interview. Personal biases may occur where there the institution may lack enough participants due to inadequate time and availability.
Conclusion
Having highlighted the topic of study and outlined the research questions, it will be possible to carry out a comprehensive research on the staffing and burnout problem. Secondary resources like peer reviewed journals and books will be used to support the results. Primary data from online surveys will also be necessary to test the hypothesis and come up with a conclusion on how the staffing and burnout in nursing have affected the quality of services and safety of patients in hospitals.
References
Carlson, J. S. (2015). Factors Influencing Retention among Part ‐ Time Clinical Nursing Faculty. Nursing Education Perspectives , 36 (1), 42-45.
Cherry, B., & Jacob, S. R. (2016). Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, & management . Elsevier Health Sciences.
Zhang, N. J., Unruh, L., & Wan, T. T. (2013). Gaps in nurse staffing and nursing home resident needs. Nursing Economics , 31 (6), 289.
