Please answer the following Discussion Questions. Please be certain to answer the three questions on this week DQ and to provide a well-developed and complete answer to receive credit. Your post must have 3 references for full credit. Also, please ensure to have read the assigned chapters for the current week.

Case Study, Chapter 10, Mandatory Minimum Staffing Ratios

A nurse manager is attending a national convention and is attending a concurrent session on staffing ratios. Minimum staffing ratios are being discussed in the nurse manager’s own state. The nurse manager has a number of questions about staffing ratios that the session is covering. The nurse manager knows that evidence exists that increasing the number of RNs in the staffing mix leads to safer workplaces for nurses and higher quality of care for patients.

1. What are the three general approaches recommended by the American Nurses Association (2017) to maintain sufficient staffing?

2. Should LPNs be counted to meet minimum mandatory staffing ratios?

3. Analyze what proponents and critics say about whether mandatory minimum staffing ratios are needed.

Answer preview

Staff shortage has been an immense challenge in the United States for quite some time due to staff shortage brought about by cutting costs, increased patients’ needs and complexity, aging population, and outdated workplaces, affecting overall patient care outcomes. The American Nurse Association (ANA) believes that a nurse’s years of experience, education, knowledge, skills, accuracy, and intensity must account for all provided resources. However, it mandates nurses to form hospital committees that give direct patient care to reduce the stay time of patients in the hospital (Coyne, Mulvenon, & Paice, 2018). It also mandates nurse-patient ratios for all hospitals, which will help provide efficient and quality care for patients, reduce hospital readmission costs, decrease nurse turnovers, and decrease advanced health events. Public reporting of nurse staff levels by hospitals aims to ensure comparison data is available for nurses and consumers.

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