Nurse-to-Patient Ratio legislation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Nurse-to-Patient Ratio legislation - Essay Example The problem of nurse staffing has been a consistent problem since the year 1996. However, it needs to be addressed since patients nowadays know their rights as they are better informed that earlier about their health. Other issues have also contributed into finding a solution for this problem. This includes high levels of acuity, the amounts allocated by the national budget to this sector and finally the retirement age of employees in this profession (Buerhaus, 2009). Understaffing in government institutions has brought about so many problems that affect the well being of both patients and nurses who are meant to take care of them. These problems mostly arise when these nurses work for long hours. This can lead to patients’ mortality as nurses have a significant number of patients to attend to. In such a case, it is difficult for a nurse to detect any change in the health of the patient and consult a doctor. Secondly, it has led to increasing in the number of infections that are acquired in the hospitals by nurses in the course of their duty (Clark, 2005). This is mostly associated with poor working conditions and lack of the required equipments to perform their duties. This has been a consistent problem in most hospitals hence it should be addressed with immediate effect. Understaffing also causes shock among nurses and as well as bloodstream infections. This is because they receive and admit patients with different illnesses. Due to their limited number, a nurse might be overwhelmed by the complicated and challenging tasks. Hence, this policy if enacted will be of great help to both nurses and patients of this country. Finally, it has also caused psychological problems among nurses. This is because these nurses work for long hours, and they have limited time to take care of themselves. A large number of them in the country spend most of their time taking care of patients in hospitals. Hence, sometimes they may be depressed when they see the