Nurse Staffing Shortage

In order to find literature to review pertaining to the issue of staffing shortages for nurse, the SNHU Shapiro Library was used. The databases used for the search included: CINAHL Complete, and MEDLINE and EBSCOhost. The keywords entered were nursing staff shortages. This produced too many articles on nursing staff. To improve the results and the amount of resources found, the keywords understaffing nurses were used, along with the advanced search to search for a boolean/phrase to further limit the articles.The publication dates ranged from 2010 to 2017, and the geographical area limited to the United States. In order for a person to find the best sources, they should read the article titles, looking for some that had to do with shortages of staffing and the effects of it. When a title is found that might provide enough information for the issue, then that person should read the abstract. If the abstract supported the information needed, then they should read the full article. Upon searching for valid information pertaining to the shortage of nurses, a person may need to read many articles, before deciding on the four articles that are the most appropriate. The articles chosen as sources for this paper included the content showing how understaffing can lead to poor care and mistakes, addressed the issue of overtime and has possible solutions. “The Effects of Nurse Staffing on Quality of Care” by Matin (2015) discussed how hospital staff, hospitals and patients and their loved ones are affected by nursing shortages. As the demand for nurses and their workload increases, patient care and job satisfaction decreases. Quality patient care and patient satisfaction are the general goal of any hospital and nurses, however when staff is short handed, unintended adverse outcomes occur. This article also states some strategies for improvement. Increasing the number of nurses can only affect the nation in a positive aspect. This supports the issue of staffing shortage because it provides the many areas in which inadequate staffing is affected. It raises awareness of the effects of nurse shortages on quality of patient care. (Martin, 2015) “Ratios ~ If …show more content…
This article studied why nurses choose to pick up overtime hours and the how the working conditions related to the necessity for overtime can be detrimental. Although there have been recommendations on nurses work hours per week and days off, it has not been effectively monitored. This article supports the topic because due to the staffing shortages, nurses have been either required to or asked to work long arduous hours. Many nurses pick up shifts as to not let their co-workers down or they need the money. As a possible solution to the staffing shortage, this article demonstrates that overtime is may not be the best solution. (Bae, …show more content…
With such a significant shortage of nurses, nurses worry that their patients are not receiving efficient and quality care. Agencies have tried to figure out solutions to the shortage in order to ensure patient safety. Nurses not only deal with staffing shortages, but also are treated with lack of respect and most have lack of sufficient equipment for patient safety. In order to make changes, nurses can begin within their facilities by developing quality improvement programs, making changes to amount of overtime worked and advocate for the safety of their patients. (Erlen,