Problem
Increasing the burden on nurses directly leads to medical errors since the human body has its functioning limits. More than half of the nurses in New Jersey regularly overwork, and the duration of their shifts exceeds the prescribed time on average (Chervoni-Knapp, 2022). Burnout at work can negatively affect both patients and the nurse himself. The problem associated with the shortage of nurses also affects doctors who are forced to take on nursing duties. This leads to an increase in their workload and risks reducing the quality of medical care.
The current ramifications are that the actual processing of doctors and nurses contradicts the licensing requirements for internal quality control and safety of medical activities. There are risks of incorrect diagnosis, prescribed treatment, and performing medical procedures, which entail the legal responsibility of the physician and the medical organization. It is important to note that a reduced amount of additional medical work is not expected shortly.
The staffing shortage in New Jersey public medicine is only growing, and the new wage system in healthcare remains an unclear and distant prospect. Thus, the state’s doctors remain forced to take on additional work, exacerbating the already developed situation. Therefore, if the issue continues, the number of medical errors will grow, and the number of people willing to work in the private medical field will decrease.
Idea for Addressing Solution
The main thing that could solve the problem of overtime work for doctors is a sufficient number of medical workers in each medical institution. While there is a staff shortage, doctors and nurses must work for themselves and an absent colleague. The only way to attract nurses to hospitals and clinics is to provide them with decent pay. This is a well-known problem in the USA that has been trying to solve at various levels for many years. So far, only employees of private medical institutions or public hospitals in New York, Los Angeles, and other major cities can count on high wages (Aycock, 2022). In New Jersey, the salaries of average health workers are still incommensurable with workloads, which is why there is a shortage of them in hospitals.
The legislation of salary rise is the best course for advocacy since, in the existing system, the exploitation of doctors’ labor is a way to solve the problem of staff shortages at the expense of those already working. This strategy is fixed at the senior management level as instead of trying to make conditions more attractive, the state further strengthens existing enforcement mechanisms, for example, by launching a propaganda campaign using moral arguments or by strengthening control over graduates. However, only recruiting new employees through additional payments will allow the workload to be adequately distributed among nurses to avoid overloading.
Research the Issue
According to statistics, 70% of doctors work more than normal, and their processing time is the longest compared to other professions (Chervoni-Knapp, 2022). In New Jersey, the average overwork is 40% of the norm (Aycock, 2022).
The Labor Code regulates the standard of working time for doctors (Aycock, 2022). For most medical specialties, a 39-hour workweek should be the norm (Aycock, 2022). For certain categories of health workers, similar legislation passed in Texas establishes even shorter working hours per week, which is 36 hours (Li et al., 2022).
Stakeholder Support
Nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals would support the proposed idea because it would improve their working conditions. Medical professionals will be able to maintain their health by resting after shifts and avoid professional burnout. Moreover, they will receive decent pay for their work.
The second stakeholder supporting the proposed idea will be high-income patients. Reducing the number of medical errors will make their treatment safer. As the patient ratio decreases, both doctors and nurses will devote more time to them at the reception. The waiting time will also become shorter, as there will be more specialists who can provide medical services.
Stakeholder Opposition
The first stakeholders who would be in opposition would-be managers. A growth in salary costs would require additional costs. Moreover, increasing the number of specialists under their supervision would make it more difficult for them to establish connections between nurses and coordinate their joint work.
I would prepare to debate or converse about these considerations using ready-made economic calculations. They will prove that increasing wages is more profitable than spending on lawyers after medical errors are committed due to overwork. Moreover, most nurses will be able to guide their patients to the end with an increase in the number of employees. That will facilitate the manager’s work, removing the need to control the transfer of information about the same patient to several nurses.
The second group likely to oppose the proposal is low-income patients, as they will have to pay more for medical services and insurance. I would be ready to discuss or counter these points in a dialogue by providing them with information that this way, diagnoses will become more accurate, and they will not have to overpay in case of incorrectly prescribed treatment.
Financial Incentives/Costs
Added costs will include a noticeable increase in salary payments. To cope with 40% recycling in New Jersey, it will be necessary to hire 1.4 new specialists from the number of current ones (Chervoni-Knapp, 2022). Moreover, a salary raise for existing employees will be required. Therefore, added costs will be about 50% (Li et al., 2022). At the same time, the cost savings in the long term will be significant since previously, due to burnout and fatigue after overwork, nurses made medical mistakes. It was essential to pay compensation to patients with a free re-diagnosis, as well as to pay a lawyer if the error was serious and led to litigation.
Thus, increased revenue will consist of saving money to eliminate nursing errors. The financial impact of the issue is negative in the long run. At the same time, the idea looks more expensive in the short term. It involves a significant increase in the cost of employee salaries. Therefore, to implement this idea, it will first be necessary to carefully redistribute the financial assets of the medical organization. However, there will be a significant positive effect on financial conditions in the future. Regular fixed salary costs will be more beneficial to the organization than the random costs of a lawyer and repeated medical service in case of a medical error.
References
Aycock, R. (2022). Viewpoint: Overworked nurses need relief. Emergency Medicine News, 44(2), 7-8. Web.
Chervoni-Knapp, T. (2022). The staffing shortage pandemic. Journal of Radiology Nursing, 41(2), 74-75. Web.
Li, Y., Hockenberry, J. M., Chen, J., & Cimiotti, J. P. (2022). Registered nurses: Can our supply meet the demand during a disaster? BMC Nursing, 21(7), 307-309. Web.