Medical & Health // Advocacy and Nurse-Patient Ratios
Introduction
This advocacy seeks to persuade the legislative official regarding the supposed lowering of nurse-patient ratios. The purpose of this advocacy is to further improve the quality of care applied by the nurse to the patient while attending to their needs in lesser nurse-patient ratios. Patient advocacy is the main terminology that seeks to promote a higher quality of health care program that will ensure the welfare of the patient while they are currently recovering from the health care institution. In preparation, more educative management will be applied because this is to promote awareness regarding the application of the proposed policies with regards to the lowering of nurse-patient ratios for every station in the health care facility such as hospitals. If the legislator will understand the purpose of lowering the nurse-patient ration, the level of understanding and appreciation towards the efforts of nurses will be more appreciated by approving the proposed legislation.
Involving other nurses can be made possible for those who are regularly employed in the hospital. These are the appropriate health care personnel who are always experiencing the burden of working 12 hours a day while undergoing a nurse-patient ratio between 1:10 and 1:30. Nurses who are attending their night duty are mentally, physically, and emotionally challenged because working during night hours challenges their biological rhythm. Nurses who are working in the hospital field understands how critical a nurse to patient ratio affects health care services towards the rehabilitation and treatment plan for the patient’s recovery. The attention of nurses working in hospital institutions may have to divide themselves into ten and goes as many as 30 in every shift. It is an individual attention wherein the nurse must have to attend the needs of the patient one by one while they are currently attending their duties and responsibilities.
Legislator information sheet
- Existing Nurse-Patient ratio affects the quality of health care for patients due to the divided attention of nurses that risks immediate medical needs of the patients.
- Patient could be at risk for injuries due to the fact that the nurse is busy attending to the immediate needs of other patients that generates disagreements according to Barnett (2017).
- There is a psychological impact wherein it lowers the self-esteem for the patient to recover when they see that their nurse is busy attending other patients instead of them that could cause a strained nurse-patient partnership inside the hospital as mentioned by Moody (2015).
- Limited health care service is given to patients, in which time has not been maximized because the current legislative rule for maximizing the ration of nurse-patient that is 1:10 or even up to 30, which questions the quality of care according to McCrimmon (2010).
As an implication with the proposed legislative act for having a decreased ratio for nurse-patient relationship, there are beneficial outcomes to the patient while being treated in the hospital
- Boost the confidence of the patient so that they can further cooperate with the progression of their prognosis while being confined inside the health care institution.
- The level of trust is high because patient believes that they will have more time being attended by the nurses on duty in order to improve their health while being confined under the care of nurses who will be the only assigned staff on duty to provide needed care.
- Patients will not be at risk for injury, which are the basis for the relatives and other patients filing for either ethical or legal complaints against the attending nurse or the hospital.
- Privacy will be maximized because lesser ratios between the nurse and patients prevents patients from being exploited to other patients inside the hospital facility.
References
Barnett, Tim (2017). Management Thought. Accessed: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Log-Mar/Management-Thought.html.
McCrimmon, Mitch (2010). A role for management in today’s post-industrial organization. Accessed: http://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/a-new-role-for-management-in-todays-post-industrial-organization/.
Moody, Nichole Hagen (2015). Benefits of Partnership Between Rural Health Care Entities. Accessed: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B21AIusT6y2-bHR4MEhOUkNOS1k/view.
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