Appropriate Nurse Staffing
Great post Carissa, I agree with you that the topic of safe and patient staffing is still a relevant and important topic. Inadequate nurse staffing puts patients at risk for longer hospital stays, increased infections, medical errors, injuries and even death (Duffin, 2014). Nurses who are overloaded are more prone to burnout, exhaustion and stress, and have less time to educate, comfort and coordinate care. Safety is the main concern of every hospitals. Appropriate nurse staffing protects patients by reducing medical errors, length of hospital stays and costly readmissions. The fact is that so many RNs have to take care for 6 or 7 patients during day shift, and 7 to 8 patients during night shift when the hospital experiencing short of staff.