A nurse manager is attending a national convention and is attending a concurrent session on staffing ratios. Minimum staffing ratios are being discussed in the nurse manager’s own state. The nurse manager has a number of questions about staffing ratios that the session is covering. The nurse manager knows that evidence exists that increasing the number of RNs in the staffing mix leads to safer workplaces for nurses and higher quality of care for patients.
1. What are the three general approaches recommended by the American Nurses Association to maintain sufficient staffing?
Staff shortages created by the increasing patient population and cost-cutting decisions remain critical challenges in today’s clinical settings. Nurse staffing is essential in medical facilities because it improves patient experiences, medical outcomes, and satisfaction. For this reason, American Nurse Association (ANA) outlines approaches to maintain sufficient nurse staffing. ANA’s first recommendation stipulates that a registered nurse (RN) should always be present in nursing homes (American Nurse Association, n.d.). Their roles entail overseeing resident care and assessment. The second recommendation requires every resident’s hours of direct care nursing to be at least 4.1 hours daily. Again, at least 30% of this time should entail care from licensed nurses (American Nurse Association, n.d.). Again, ANA requires administrative RN roles like the Director of Nursing should not be considered direct care hours for patients. Medical facilities that fulfill the above requirements deliver quality patient care.
2. Should LPNs be counted to meet minimum mandatory staffing ratios?
Mandating specific levels of the direct care nursing workforce is a straightforward approach to improving patients’ and clinicians’ well-being. However, many medical facilities struggle to achieve the ideal nurse-to-patient ratio due to various factors, including limited capital to obtain RNs. Even though licensed practice nurses (LPNs) are critical in medical settings, they should not be counted to meet minimum mandatory staffing ratios. LPNs’ roles entail providing routine care to patients (Phillips et al., 2021). They are responsible for patients’ comfort but lack the skills and knowledge to offer treatments and medication. Thus, LPNs play a minimal part in patient care delivery since they do not participate in treatment processes.
3. Analyze what proponents and critics say about whether mandatory minimum staffing ratios are needed.
