A Persuasive Essay

One of the most important components of every nation’s healthcare system is its nursing workforce. Nearly 24 out of every 100 nurses, according to the results of a poll by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), felt that their hospital did not provide appropriate services and could not be recommended to other people in need of medical care (Hildebrandt, 2013). About 4500 registered nurses from 257 healthcare facilities across Canada participated in the survey. The majority of Canadian hospitals continue to struggle with concerns including understaffing and insufficient medical supplies to meet patient needs. The majority of nurses told CBC that the lack of professionals in their units was causing fatigue. Another key concern was that the healthcare facilities made no efforts to replace the vacancies created due to sick calls (Hildebrandt, 2013).

Description and the Scope of the Issue

Healthcare facilities face numerous challenges due to the complexity of the issues that they deal with. Lack of financial resources restrains medical institutions to a particular budget that might conflict with the norms and values of the healthcare practitioners in the hospital (Shamian et al., 2016). Low staffing levels is a primary result of the financial constraints in healthcare facilities (Hall et al., 2015). Consequently, a low nurse to patient ratio would result in the provision of indigent health care services that cannot meet the needs of the patients (Hall et al., 2015). According to Buchan et al., (2015), the nursing shortage of Registered FTE (Full-time equivalent) registered nurses in Canada was 11000 in 2007. However, the shortage is expected to increase to 60000 by 2020 if no immediate action is taken. The manifest and the continually evolving issue at hand have prompted the formulation of the following thesis statement: Healthcare organizations must focus primarily on maintaining a high level of nursing staff to provide quality health services to patients.

Political Analysis

Healthcare organizations must focus primarily on maintaining a high level of nursing staff to provide quality health services to patients because it is difficult for a small number of nurses to work together to induce reforms in the healthcare sector through political strategies. It is evident that politics help to introduce positive changes in the healthcare. For example, staff nurses have to engage the hospital administration and the government directly to discuss their challenges including poor working conditions (Kwok, Bates & Ng, 2014). The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, under the stewardship of Linda Silas, is the crucial advocate for the improvement of the nurse to patient ratio (MacPhee, 2014). The body advocates for changes in the current staffing levels and acknowledge that the Canadian public would be the critical beneficiaries following the resolution of the current health issue. Hospital revenues are the key sources of funding for Canadian healthcare facilities. However, some monetary support comes from the government and donors. According to the CBC report, 36% of the respondents stated that their workplaces lacked adequate medical equipment, supplies, and materials that would facilitate their daily jobs (Hildebrandt, 2013). Therefore, the political bodies charged with enhancing the safety and welfare of the sick must act with speed to ensure that adequate medical equipment, supplies, and materials are supplied to the healthcare facilities before striving to solve the issue of low staffing levels.

Ethical Analysis

Healthcare organizations must focus primarily on maintaining a high level of nursing staff to provide quality health services to patients since short staffing has numerous adverse ethical implications on the workplace. Nurses are guided by well-defined codes that dictate their behavior and roles in the healthcare setting. Hildebrandt (2013) reports that the healthcare most nurses compromised on the safety of their patients due to the inadequacy in materials and the massive workload. Canada also has a high influx of nursing students graduating every year but lack employment opportunities (Hadjistavropoulos et al., 2016). The primary dilemma faced by hospital administrators is whether to invest in employing nurses or to fund the projects that would enhance the safety and well-being of patients. Consequently, there exists a significant rift between the ethical responsibilities of the nurses and their practice. Another key issue faced by Canadian nurses is high degrees of burnout and uncaring hospital administrations (Mantler et al., 2015). Hildebrandt (2013) reports that most nurses argued that the individuals in administrative positions did not pay any attention to the pleas of the nurses and their concerns regarding patient safety that arise from staff shortage. Therefore, the actions of the administrators conflicted with the values and codes of the registered nurses (Mantler et al., 2015). In summary, short staffing causes intense violations of the codes of ethics outlined by the Canadian Nurses Association.

Social and Cultural Analysis

Healthcare organizations must focus primarily on maintaining a high level of nursing staff to provide quality health services to patients since huge workloads interfere with the work-life balance of the health professionals and affect their culture. The shortage of nursing staff in Canadian hospitals force nurses to work overtime and might cause burnout (Boamah & Laschinger, 2016). Nurses experiencing burnouts tend to have anxiety, stress, depersonalization, low self-esteem and might not provide healthcare services of the required quality to their patients. The patient community also has a negative attitude towards the low staff levels since they spend a lot of time waiting for a single nurse to serve them (Hart & Warren, 2015). Therefore, the high dissatisfaction rate among patients and nurses can be attributed to lack of supplies, equipment, and materials and short staffing.

Conclusion

In summary, healthcare organizations must focus primarily on maintaining a high level of nursing staff to provide quality health services to patients because of short staffing results to lack of proper coordination, interference with the work-life balance of professionals and valuation of the code of ethics. Besides, many nurses can work together to bargain for improved working conditions, which lead to the provision of quality services. In essence, hospitals need a large number of nursing staff to implement policies that seek to improve the safety of patients and promote positive outcomes.

References

Boamah, S. A., & Laschinger, H. (2016). The influence of areas of work life fit and work‐life interference on burnout and turnover intentions among new graduate nurses. Journal of nursing management, 24(2).

Buchan, J., Duffield, C., & Jordan, A. (2015). ‘Solving’ nursing shortages: do we need a New Agenda?. Journal of nursing management, 23(5), 543-545.

Hadjistavropoulos, T., Malloy, D. C., Douaud, P., & Smythe, W. E. (2016). Ethical orientation, functional linguistics, and the codes of ethics of the Canadian Nurses Association and the Canadian Medical Association. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research Archive, 34(2).

Hall, L. M., Gates, M., Peterson, J., Jones, C., & Pink, G. H. (2014). Waiting and watching: Nurse migration trends before a change to the National Council Licensure Examination as entry to practice for Canada’s nurses. Nursing outlook, 62(1), 53-58.

Hart, S. M., & Warren, A. M. (2015). Understanding nurses’ work: Exploring the links between changing work, labour relations, workload, stress, retention and recruitment. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 36(2), 305-329.

Hildebrandt, A. (2013, April 8). Nearly 25% of Canadian nurses wouldn’t recommend their hospital. CBC News. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/nearly-25-ofcanadian-nurses-wouldn-t-recommend-their-hospital-1.1304601

Kwok, C., Bates, K. A., & Ng, E. S. (2016). Managing and sustaining an ageing nursing workforce: identifying opportunities and best practices within collective agreements in Canada. Journal of nursing management, 24(4), 500-511.

MacPhee, M. (2014). Valuing patient safety: Responsible workforce design. Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions.

Mantler, J., Godin, J., Cameron, S. J., & Horsburgh, M. E. (2015). Cynicism in hospital staff nurses: The effect of intention to leave and job change over time. Journal of nursing management, 23(5), 577-587.

Shamian, J., Kerr, M. S., Laschinger, H. K. S., & Thomson, D. (2016). A hospital-level analysis of the work environment and workforce health indicators for registered nurses in Ontario’s acute-care hospitals. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research Archive, 33(4).