Enhancing Quality and Safety
NURS FPX 4020 Assessment 1
The shortage of nurses is considered to be one of the most pressing issues that adversely impacts the healthcare systems globally, thereby; leading to compromised patient care and/or safety. In this regard, this assessment aims to explore the issue pertaining to nursing shortage within the case study of “National Health Service (NHS),” which is deemed as one of the most prominent healthcare agency in the United Kingdom (UK). NHS currently experience staffing shortage, which results in affecting its aptitude to offer high-quality patient-care service as reflected in the reports published by Royal College of Nursing (2024). Hence, this specified assessment seeks to identify/classify the evidence-based solutions for address the issues while suggesting ways to enhance the quality of services offered by the NHS.
Assessment of Factors Leading to a Specific Patient-Safety Risk in a Health Care Setting
NURS FPX 4020 Assessment 1
Notably, the issue pertaining to the shortage of nursing has resulted in affecting the overall eminence/quality of the healthcare settings offered by NHS. In this way, this section of the report will mainly provide an assessment of factors that lead to the specific patient-safety risks at NHS.
Recruitment Challenges
NURS FPX 4020 Assessment 1
The nursing workforce in the NHS faces huge challenges in retaining and recruiting staff with some of the reasons such as ire to the low pay and limited career development prospects are the main reasons specifically mentioned by the Royal College of Nursing (Royal College of Nursing, 2024). It results in staffing issues that may lead to unsafe patient-centered care, like extended periods of awaiting for attention because of disproportion between patients and staff.
Retention Issues
NURS FPX 4020 Assessment 1
With the increased percentage of nurses leaving every year, the staff shortages in the NHS (Shembavnekar & Kelly, 2023) are further worsening. Nurses’ resignations are often due to a breakdown in the working environment, which can leave a hole in healthcare delivery, posing risks to patients such as delay in treatment or lack of consistency in patient care.
Workload Pressures
NURS FPX 4020 Assessment 1
Severe nursing shortages make the remaining staff work more than they should, causing in turn fatigue and burnout (Royal College of Nursing, 2024). The risk of medication errors and missed assessments may increase when the staff gets overwhelmed.
Burnout and Mental Health Strain
NURS FPX 4020 Assessment 1
Working in unstaffed conditions for days puts nurse under stress which is the reason they are involved in burnout and mental health issues (Shembavnekar & Kelly, 2023). Moreover, the patient-related risks, which arise out of this particular factor, are lowered level of attention by staff to the needs of the patients and amplified probability of the communication breakdowns between the personnel and patients that can affect patient safety.Top of Form
Evidence-Based and Best Practice Solutions to Improve Patient Safety and Reduce Costs
NURS FPX 4020 Assessment 1
The evidence-based practices, which are deemed the best practices/solutions for improving patient safety while reducing cost are based on initially implementing the flexible staffing models where it is deemed essential to adjust the roles of nurse-patient ratio by considering patient’s acuity and workload helps and alleviates staffing shortage (Hegarty et al., 2022).
NURS FPX 4020 Assessment 1 Enhancing Quality and Safety
Another strategy to address the concern is to ensure investment in training and education programme where nurses must be trained to improve their attributes/expertise to offer high-quality patientcare services (Cutler et al., 2020). Other than this, it is deemed substantial to strengthen the recruitment strategies for bolstering the recruitment process through targeted marketing and simplified protocol coupled with appealing benefits to retain nurses at NHS. Lastly, engaging with the work-life balance through flexible scheduling, sufficient relaxation intervals, and assistance to childcare to improve the psychological position, reduce burnout and ensure the safety of patient care.
FPX-4020 Enhancing Quality and Safety
Based on the above analysis, it has been considered the most appropriate solutions proposed are along with the evidence-based practices for addressing staff shortages while enhancing patient safety within the NHS. The strategies suggests the use of proactive measures, to improve recruitment, retention, and support work-life balance for fostering the sustainable as well as effective healthcare workforce.
Role of Nurses in Helping Coordinate Care to Increase Patient Safety and Reduce Costs
NURS FPX 4020 Assessment 1
Nurses are commonly recognised as the catalyst for the patient safety as they provide linkage and/or coordination between services to ensure a safe and cost-effective delivery of healthcare in the UK. Evidence proves that a sufficient nurse staffing level is a key factor for delivering quality and yet cost-effective care (Hegarty et al., 2022). Nurses co-ordinate with healthcare team members in order to ensure immediate actions and patient’s needs advocacy (Morgan, 2022). The activities of these organisations help them realise care coordination, continuity of care, no medical mistakes, better patient outcomes, and overall health system improvement (Cutler et al., 2020).
FPX-4020 Enhancing Quality and Safety
Additionally, nurses control cost containment through the efficient use of resources, preventing patient re-admission to the hospitals and by promoting the utilisation of evidence-based practices (Griffiths et al., 2021). With a clinical understanding and by linking up health disciplines, nurses are the primary actors in optimising care delivery processes, which consequently benefit patient safety and incur acost savings within the NHS.
Identification of Stakeholders with Whom Nurses would Coordinate to drive Safety Enhancements
NURS FPX 4020 Assessment 1
It has been professed in the study of Griffiths et al. (2021) that nurses are indebted to coordinate with the stakeholders as presented in table 2 for driving safety enhancements while addressing issues interlinked with staffing shortages, safety protocols adherence, and/or resource allocation within NHS as well. The first stakeholders who are considered to be highly essential in this healthcare settings include healthcare providers who work with nurses to carry out direct patient care, medical safety protocols, and communication needs.
NURS FPX 4020 Assessment 1 Enhancing Quality and Safety
Another stakeholders entail hospital administrators who are indebted to deliver resources and back-up to fortify patient’s safety initiatives, tackle individual shortage, and address the fiscal issues as well (Cutler et al., 2020). The external stakeholders, such as governmental authorities and professional associates are also considered to be essential in the healthcare settings as they implement policies to offer better training and fiscal opportunities to nurses to keep them retained at NHS.
Conclusion
NURS FPX 4020 Assessment 1
Based on the above analysis, it has been found that the first step towards the NHS reform is to address the nursing shortage, which ensures the top-level of patient scrutiny and security. Hence, it is considered that NHS should utilise the professed evidence-based solutions to prioritise strategies such as implementing flexible staffing structures, recognising the investment in nurse training and education, strengthening recruitment efforts and supporting work-life balance to NHS. These recommendations once implemented will help NHS to translate into effectiveness and cost-effectiveness in the delivery of health care services and managing the resistance posed by nursing shortages.
References
NURS FPX 4020 Assessment 1
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NURS FPX 4020 Assessment 1 Capella University
Cutler, L., Berry, A., & Horsfield, C. (2020). A workforce survey of critical care nurses in the National Health Service. Nursing in Critical Care, 26(6).
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Morgan, B. (2022). NHS staffing shortages Why do politicians struggle to give the NHS the staff it needs?
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NURS FPX 4020 Assessment 1 Capella University
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Saville, C., Monks, T., Griffiths, P., & Ball, J. E. (2020). Costs and consequences of using average demand to plan baseline nurse staffing levels: a computer simulation study. BMJ Quality & Safety, 30(1), bmjqs-2019-010569.
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Shembavnekar, N., & Kelly, E. (2023, April 3). Retaining NHS nurses: what do trends in staff turnover tell us? – The Health Foundation. Www.health.org.uk.
https://www.health.org.uk/news-and-comment/charts-and-infographics/retaining-nhs-nurses-what-do-trends-in-staff-turnover-tell-us