Question

Jonathan Kirkpatrick recently was hired as a nursing manager in an acute care hospital for orthopedics, neurology, and two medical-surgical units for a for-profit corporation. Nurse Kirkpatrick is responsible for the quality, cost, and morale for the units that he manages. As part of his employment package, he is rewarded with a bonus based on the amount of money that he is able to save the hospital.

1) One of the first things Nurse Kirkpatrick is asked to do in his new position is to “cut the fat” out of staff numbers. The corporation that owns the hospital believes there are too many nurses on the payroll. Personally, although he does not say so upfront, Nurse Kirkpatrick disagrees. He believes the nurses currently on staff are all needed for quality of care. As he looks for ways to cut these numbers, what concerns might he raise to make administrative staff aware of the risks? Identify both ethical concerns and potential legal concerns.

Answer 1

RISK OF STAFF SHORTAGE

In a healthcare set up adequate staffing is vital for patient safety and satisfaction.Healthcare workforce is responsible for the total patient care experince during the stay.Special care areas like Orthopedic and Neurology may have enhanced care patient who requires special care (like 1:1 care).Compromising on quality patient care can result in increased  mortality rate and poor patient satisfaction. Insufficient sfaffing can leeds to poor nursing care, medication errors and occurrence of  missed care.

Shortage of adequate staffing prevent nurses to carry out their ethical obligation to patient .They may experience emotional distress and job dissatisfaction and ebd up providing poor quality care.

The public can readily access the data of inadequate staffing in the unit and use it to trigger lawsuite.Matters relating to these lawsuite touch on poor nursing care leading to bedsore, injuries, infections and even death.