Improve Nurse-Patient Ratios for High Acuity Units
This advocacy project focuses on improving nurse-patient ratios for the nursing staff on the Orthopedic Trauma Unit at our hospital facility. Our organization is a Level II trauma center and has received certification stating that we have the necessary personnel and equipment to handle all types of traumatic injuries at any time. As many of the trauma patients admitted to the Orthopedic Trauma unit have many polytraumatic injuries, there is the inherent risk of intensive care, complications, and prolonged inpatient stays that increase patient acuity for this unit.
Despite being the sole unit for admission of these higher acuity of patients, the nurse-patient ratio for the Orthopedic Trauma Unit remains the same as ratios assigned to General Medical or Surgical Units. The project was designed to advocate for nurse-patient ratios which would improve the quality of care for individuals and populations. Focus was placed on advocating to the department leadership and hospital leadership to revisit the current nurse-patient ratio for this unit as they are responsible to care for patients of higher acuity.
A thorough review of the assigned acuity of patients for the past three months was conducted as supportive evidence of the occurrences of high acuity admissions to this unit. This also led to a review of how many nurses were allowed to staff the unit for that month, as well as the approved nurse to patient ratio for that time.
Conducting the nurse-patient assignment to support the advocacy project review assisted in obtaining the following DNP program objectives and goals. First, lead interdisciplinary health care initiatives at the organizational and systems level to improve health outcomes for individuals and populations by promoting safe nurse to patient ratios. As a participant of the Orthopedic Unit’s Shared Governance committee, my role was to lead the development of a presentation and plan to advocate for improving nurse-patient ratios on the unit. Second, integrate principles of ethics and cultural diversity into clinical decision making for individuals and populations experiencing complex health issues. This was important in plan development as these patients come from many different ethical and cultural backgrounds which required attention to different types of coping mechanisms. Along with these patients having traumatic injuries, they are admitted with significant psych diagnoses that add on to their already high acuity. Third, influence public policy designed to ensure the safety and quality of healthcare for individuals and populations. This advocacy project remains in the beginning phases of seeing benefits as it was presented and initiated on a local level to the hospital’s combined Shared Governance committee. The expected outcome for this advocacy assignment is an increase in staffing for all shifts on the Orthopedic Trauma unit that will lead to lower nurse to patient ratios and will ultimately be used as a care model that can be implemented at other healthcare organizations in the community.
The advocacy project helps meet the objective of translating relevant research findings from nursing and related disciplines to advanced nursing practice to improve health outcomes for individuals and populations as the planning team used relevant data from literature review to support the need to improve the nurse-to-patient rations on this particular unit. Data showed how staffing shortages and increased nurse-patient ratios have been directly related to higher patient mortality, increased medical errors, and decreased job satisfaction in nursing.
Despite being the sole unit for admission of these higher acuity of patients, the nurse-patient ratio for the Orthopedic Trauma Unit remains the same as ratios assigned to General Medical or Surgical Units. The project was designed to advocate for nurse-patient ratios which would improve the quality of care for individuals and populations. Focus was placed on advocating to the department leadership and hospital leadership to revisit the current nurse-patient ratio for this unit as they are responsible to care for patients of higher acuity.
A thorough review of the assigned acuity of patients for the past three months was conducted as supportive evidence of the occurrences of high acuity admissions to this unit. This also led to a review of how many nurses were allowed to staff the unit for that month, as well as the approved nurse to patient ratio for that time.
Conducting the nurse-patient assignment to support the advocacy project review assisted in obtaining the following DNP program objectives and goals. First, lead interdisciplinary health care initiatives at the organizational and systems level to improve health outcomes for individuals and populations by promoting safe nurse to patient ratios. As a participant of the Orthopedic Unit’s Shared Governance committee, my role was to lead the development of a presentation and plan to advocate for improving nurse-patient ratios on the unit. Second, integrate principles of ethics and cultural diversity into clinical decision making for individuals and populations experiencing complex health issues. This was important in plan development as these patients come from many different ethical and cultural backgrounds which required attention to different types of coping mechanisms. Along with these patients having traumatic injuries, they are admitted with significant psych diagnoses that add on to their already high acuity. Third, influence public policy designed to ensure the safety and quality of healthcare for individuals and populations. This advocacy project remains in the beginning phases of seeing benefits as it was presented and initiated on a local level to the hospital’s combined Shared Governance committee. The expected outcome for this advocacy assignment is an increase in staffing for all shifts on the Orthopedic Trauma unit that will lead to lower nurse to patient ratios and will ultimately be used as a care model that can be implemented at other healthcare organizations in the community.
The advocacy project helps meet the objective of translating relevant research findings from nursing and related disciplines to advanced nursing practice to improve health outcomes for individuals and populations as the planning team used relevant data from literature review to support the need to improve the nurse-to-patient rations on this particular unit. Data showed how staffing shortages and increased nurse-patient ratios have been directly related to higher patient mortality, increased medical errors, and decreased job satisfaction in nursing.
Comments