8 - Staffing and Workload
Nursing is often a very physically challenging job.
Changes in reimbursement mean that most patients who are hospitalized are quite sick – people who need a lower level of care go home sooner or are treated in outpatient centers.
The high acuity means people need extra care, while lower reimbursement means it’s hard to pay for that care.
Hospitals handle this issue by staffing for the minimum in many cases.
If a nurse calls in sick, there may be no replacement.
The other issue is staff mix – how many RNs/LPNs/CNAs are assigned to a unit to care for a given number of patients.
If there are too few RNs, it means those RNs who are working have extra responsibility in supervising licensed staff and have the additional workload of tasks only an RN can perform.
When units are chronically understaffed or the staff mix has too few RNs, nurses may vote with their feet by leaving the hospital.
 |  |
Inscription à :
Articles
(
Atom
)
