Understaffing of Nurses: Literature Evaluation of Eight Articles

📄 Words:	951
📝 Subject:	Nursing
📑 Pages:	5
✍️ Type:	Essay

Understaffing of nurses is a common problem in the United States, which increases the burden on the healthcare workers and endangers the patients. The result of understaffing is an increased workload for the nurses, which endangers patients with nosocomial infections.

Criteria	Article 1	Article 2	Article 3	Article 4
Author, Journal (Peer-Reviewed), and Permalink or Working Link to Access Article	Afaya, A., Bam, V., Azongo, T., Afaya, R., Yakong, V., & Kpodo, G. PLOS ONE, Web.	Dall’Ora, C., Ball, J., Redfern, O., Recio-Saucedo, A., Maruotti, A., Meredith, P., & Griffiths, P. Journal of Nursing Management, Web.	Driscoll, A., Grant, M., Carroll, D., Dalton, S., Deaton, C., Jones, I., Lehwaldt, G., McKee, T., Munyombwe, F. A. European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, Web.	Kim, H., & Yeom, H. Intensive And Critical Care Nursing, Web.
Article Title and Year Published	“We are left with nothing to work with”; Challenges of nurses working in the emergency unit at a secondary referral hospital: A descriptive qualitative study. 2021	Are long nursing shifts on hospital wards associated with sickness absence? A longitudinal retrospective observational study. 2018	The effect of nurse-to-patient ratios on nurse-sensitive patient outcomes in acute specialist units: A systematic review and meta-analysis.	The association between spiritual wellbeing and burnout in intensive care unit nurses: A descriptive study.
Research Questions (Qualitative)/Hypothesis (Quantitative)	Nurses in emergency departments face issues with resources lack, including lack of human resources	12-hour shifts result in nurses being sick or absent more often	There is a correction between nurse-sensitive patient outcomes and staffing	Nurses’ who experienced burnout due to work conditions have reduced spiritual wellbeing
Purposes/Aim of Study	Determine what issues impact the work of nurses in EDs	Prove the link between long shifts and the adverse effect of this schedule on nurses	Determine if inadequate staffing ratio affects patients	Examine how burnout impacts the spiritual wellbeing of nurses who work in high-pressure settings
Design (Type of Quantitative, or Type of Qualitative)	Qualitative descriptive study	Longitudinal observational study	Meta-analysis	Descriptive study
Setting/Sample	11 nurses from ED	601,282 shifts from 32 hospitals in England	3429 articles	318 nurses from intensive care units
Methods: Intervention/Instruments	Interview	Statistical analysis of shifts and sickness absences	Statistical analysis	Questionnaires and surveys
Analysis	Inductive content analysis	Descriptive analysis; correlation	Correlation	Descriptive statistics and regression analysis
Key Findings	Nurses often had to work on shifts alone or with students	Nurses who are assigned to 12hrs shifts are on sick leave or are absent more frequently than others	Higher nurse to patient ratios are linked with reduced mortality and a lesser number of infections and other complications	Burnout is associated with work conditions and work experience, and it reduces the spiritual and psychological wellbeing of nurses
Recommendations	Managerial support and adequate stuffing should be priorities for EDs	12hour shifts should be used with caution	Staffing ratios are essential for hospitals because they influence the patient’s health.	Younger nurses and those working in challenging conditions, such as with understaffing, receive support from the management since they are at a high risk of burnout and other negative psychological consequences
Explanation of How the Article Supports EBP/Capstone Project	Supports the conclusion that understaffing impacts nurses’ work negatively	Longer shifts are a direct result of understaffing	Investigates the optimal nurse to patient ratio and defines understaffing	Burnout is one of the common consequences of understaffing since nurses in such settings have to work more

Criteria	Article 5	Article 6	Article 7	Article 8
Author, Journal (Peer-Reviewed), and Permalink or Working Link to Access Article	Musy, S., Endrich, O., Leichtle, A., Griffiths, P., Nakas, C., & Simon, M. Journal of Medical Internet Research, Web.	Pradas-Hernández, L., Ariza, T., Gómez-Urquiza, J., Albendín-García, L., De la Fuente, E., & Cañadas-De la Fuente, G. PLOS ONE, Web.	Rochefort, C., Beauchamp, M., Audet, L., Abrahamowicz, M., & Bourgault, P. Medical Care, Web.	Woo, T., Ho, R., Tang, A., & Tam, W., Journal of Psychiatric Research, Web.
Article Title and Year Published	Longitudinal study of the variation in patient turnover and patient-to-nurse ratio: Descriptive analysis of a Swiss University Hospital.	Prevalence of burnout in paediatric nurses: A systematic review and meta-analysis.	Associations of 4 nurse staffing practices with hospital mortality.	Global prevalence of burnout symptoms among nurses: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Research Questions (Qualitative)/Hypothesis (Quantitative)	Fluctuations in the number of patients are the main challenge for combatting understaffing.	Evaluate the issue of nurse burnout	Staffing, among other factors, impacts mortality rates.	Burnout is prevalent among nurse and affects their psychological wellbeing
Purposes/Aim of Study	Develop guidelines to balance the costs and optimal patient-nurse ratio considering changes in the number of patients	Examine the prevalence and cause of burnout	Determine the variables that impact patient mortality	Find the causes of burnout
Design (Type of Quantitative, or Type of Qualitative)	Longitudinal study	Meta analysis	Cross-sectional	Meta analysis
Setting/Sample	58 million data points from a hospital	113 studies	146,349 patients	37 studies
Methods: Intervention/Instruments	Retrospective analysis of data points	Synthesize findings from the literature	Data analysis	Meta analysis of studies
Analysis	Correlation	Meta analysis	Correlation	Meta analysis
Key Findings	Shifts with extreme staffing fluctuation range from 3% to 30% of the overall count. The lowest patient turnover occurs at night.	Nurses globally have high prevalence of burnout, with pediatric nurses being the most affected	High understaffing increases patient mortality	Nurses in these settings experience emotional exhaustion and depersonalization
Recommendations	Consistent monitoring of the patient count and adjustment of the nursing ratio is necessary	Healthcare practices should be adjusted to support nurses	Hospitals should reduce the number of understaffed nursing shits	Developing interventions that provide psychological support to nurses is needed
Explanation of How the Article Supports EBP/Capstone	Studies the association of patient turnover and understaffing	Burnout rates correlate with understaffing	Understaffing increases mortality	Lack of nurses results in higher rates of burnout

References

Afaya, A., Bam, V., Azongo, T., Afaya, R., Yakong, V., & Kpodo, G. (2021). “We are left with nothing to work with”; Challenges of nurses working in the emergency unit at a secondary referral hospital: A descriptive qualitative study. PLOS ONE, 16(2), e0247062. Web.

Dall’Ora, C., Ball, J., Redfern, O., Recio-Saucedo, A., Maruotti, A., Meredith, P., & Griffiths, P. (2018). Are long nursing shifts on hospital wards associated with sickness absence? A longitudinal retrospective observational study. Journal of Nursing Management, 27(1), 19-26. Web.

Driscoll, A., Grant, M., Carroll, D., Dalton, S., Deaton, C., Jones, I., Lehwaldt, G., McKee, T., Munyombwe, F. A. (2017). The effect of nurse-to-patient ratios on nurse-sensitive patient outcomes in acute specialist units: A systematic review and meta-analysis. European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, 17(1), 6-22. Web.

Kim, H., & Yeom, H. (2018). The association between spiritual well-being and burnout in intensive care unit nurses: A descriptive study. Intensive And Critical Care Nursing, 46, 92-97. Web.

Musy, S., Endrich, O., Leichtle, A., Griffiths, P., Nakas, C., & Simon, M. (2020). Longitudinal study of the variation in patient turnover and patient-to-nurse ratio: Descriptive analysis of a Swiss University Hospital. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(4), e15554. Web.

Pradas-Hernández, L., Ariza, T., Gómez-Urquiza, J., Albendín-García, L., De la Fuente, E., & Cañadas-De la Fuente, G. (2018). Prevalence of burnout in paediatric nurses: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE, 13(4), e0195039. Web.

Rochefort, C., Beauchamp, M., Audet, L., Abrahamowicz, M., & Bourgault, P. (2020). Associations of 4 nurse staffing practices with hospital mortality. Medical Care, 58(10), 912-918. Web.

Woo, T., Ho, R., Tang, A., & Tam, W. (2020). Global prevalence of burnout symptoms among nurses: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 123, 9-20. Web.

References

Cite this paper