Introduction
Having enough nurses on staff in the ICU (I), in comparison to not having enough nurses on staff (C), decreases medical errors and infections among patients and stress and disorders among nurses. The primary reason is that when there are more nurses, you will have a better chance of catching errors before they lead to a problem. When there are no nurses on call or without essential skills, they may become stressed out because they do not know what their responsibilities are or how to perform them. Nurses on staff in ICUs (I), should be constantly monitored and can even have to stay overnight when needed. Having enough nurses on staff in the ICU (I) matters because healthy patients perform better and require less monitoring time than those who are in worse conditions. A balance between nurses and patients is very important for sick patients.
This paperās purpose is to study the relationship between the nurse-to-patient ratio, medical errors and infections among patients, stress, and disorders among nurses, and nurses’ complaints against management. The impact of having enough nurses on staff in ICUs in comparison to not having enough nurses (C) (O) is analyzed for three types of settings: one-on-one personal relationships (O), public/state hospitals (O), and private hospitals (C).
The Research Question
The PICOT question for this topic is: Does having enough nurses on staff in the ICU (I) in comparison to not having enough nurses on staff (C) (O) decrease medical errors and infections among patients and stress and disorders among nurses (O) within a year (T)? Medical errors, stress, and disorders are common issues that result in increased use of healthcare resources and time loss for nurses.
Background of the Study
Widespread access to ICU care requires a well-planned and staffed nursing workforce. This study investigated the effects of the number of nurses working in the ICU on patient outcomes and stress among nurses. Findings suggest that staffing variations, as reflected by post-ICU flow rates, have a significant impact on patient outcomes, nurse burnout, and job satisfaction. In addition, investigations into potential sources of stress among ICNUs may also lead to improved patient care outcomes through interventions aimed at reducing psychosocial stress among healthcare professionals.
Many studies have evaluated the effect of nurse staffing levels on patient safety and outcomes, but only some have examined these nurses’ emotional well-being within a given year. Studies also vary in their definition of nursing stress and burnout, so it is important to examine if nurses with high stress levels are more likely to experience burnout or if higher levels of cumulative stressors characterize them. A recent study suggests that nurses who endure more significant levels of emotional strain may be less likely to identify burnout as a problem, further complicating efforts at identifying any relationship between nurse stress and mental health symptoms.
Method of Studies
The article by Tawfik et al., 2017, āDevelopment and Use of Adjusted Nurse Staffing Metric in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unitā, is more focused on the nursing care hours used around the world. It highlights that there is not enough time in a day to provide optimal care to patients and offer extra care to those who need it. It also shows the importance of having an experienced nurse to aid in their diagnosis and treatment.
The article by Nogueira et al, āThe Effect of Nursing Care Hours on the Outcomes of Intensive Assistanceā, on the other hand, focuses more on patient outcomes that may or may not be related to insufficient staffing levels at all times while they are being cared for in intensive care units. The authors investigated factors affecting the mortality rate following intensive care unit admission. Then they used their findings to determine whether adjustments can be made in staffing levels based on demographic data collected at admission.
The two articles are similar in that they both discuss and analyze the importance of nurse staffing on the outcomes of ICU care. Because both articles attempt to explain how nursing staff affects ICU patients, they are similar and different simultaneously. The two articles are alike because both examine how the number of staff hours determines patient outcomes. They also examine how each resource affects various patient groups and how the impact may differ. The main difference between these two articles is that one is an empirical study, and the other is a secondary research article. (Pazokian, & Borhani, 2017)) The empirical study looks at actual data while this secondary piece looks at statistics provided by more than one publication/study on earlier literature published/published before.
Findings
The two studies focused on the effects of nursing care hours on the outcomes of intensive care, with the article Development and use of adjusted nurse staffing metric in the neonatal intensive care unit analyzing the association between an increased number of hours per shift and increased mortality rates (Tawfik et al., 2017). Nurse staffing was found to significantly affect patient mortality rates (OR = 1.63; 95% CI: 1.33-2.03) along with all other variables (p<0.001). In contrast, the article Effects of Nursing Care Hours on the Outcomes of Intensive Care found no significant association between increasing work hours and reduced mortality rates among patients with sepsis or septic shock (OR = 0.85; 95% CI: 0.56-1.35). Both studies suggest that increasing nurse staffing may increase medical error rates and stress among nurses within hospitals to provide higher-quality care for patients requiring extended lengths of stay in their hospital ICUs.
Ethical Consideration
Ethics are a set of moral and social norms that guide the conduct of scientific inquiry, a field in which doctors may be involved, such as conducting clinical research. It also applies to non-clinical situations, but generally not so directly. Ethical considerations are important in research because the results can profoundly affect study participants’ lives. The article describes ethical concerns with medical nursing research, particularly when it comes to the use of human subjects (Nogueira et al., 2017). Similarly, this study examines ethical concerns among nurses in their field and provides strategies researchers can use to minimize nurses’ issues with ICU patients.
Conclusion
The main point of this piece is that having more nurses on staff in the ICU (I) in comparison to not enough nurses on staff (C), decreases medical errors and infections among patients and stress and disorders among nurses (O) within a year (T). This is because there will be less stress, more professionalism, lower burnout rates, etc. The hypothesis that is tested is that a higher nurse-to-patient ratio reduces errors, burns out nurses, and lowers hospital costs.
References
Nogueira. T. D. A., Menegueti, M. G., PerdonĆ”, G. D. S. C., Auxiliadora-Martins, M., Fugulin, F. M. T., & Laus, A. M. (2017). Effect of nursing care hours on the outcomes of Intensive Care assistance. PloS one, 12(11). Web.
Pazokian, M., & Borhani, F. (2017). Nurses’ perspectives on factors affecting patient safety: A qualitative study. Evidence-Based Care, 7(3). Web.
Tawfik, D. S., Profit, J., Lake, E. T., Liu, J. B., Sanders, L. M., & Phibbs, C. S. (2020). Development and use of an adjusted nurse staffing metric in the neonatal intensive care unit. Health Services Research, 55(2), 190-200. Web.