Developing Organizational Policies and Practices.

Developing Organizational Policies and Practices Competing needs arise within any organization as employees seek to meet their targets and leaders seek to meet company goals. As a leader, successful management of these goals requires establishing priorities and allocating resources accordingly. Within a healthcare setting, the needs of the workforce, resources, and patients are often in conflict.Developing Organizational Policies and Practices.

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Mandatory overtime, implementation of staffing ratios, use of unlicensed assisting personnel, and employer reductions of education benefits are examples of practices that might lead to conflicting needs in practice. Leaders can contribute to both the problem and the solution through policies, action, and inaction. In this Assignment, you will further develop the white paper you began work on in Module 1 by addressing competing needs within your organization. Developing Organizational Policies and Practices. To Prepare: Review the national healthcare issue/stressor you examined in your Assignment for Module 1, and review the analysis of the healthcare issue/stressor you selected. Identify and review two evidence-based scholarly resources that focus on proposed policies/practices to apply to your selected healthcare issue/stressor. Reflect on the feedback you received from your colleagues on your Discussion post regarding competing needs. The Assignment (4-5 pages): Developing Organizational Policies and Practices Add a section to the paper you submitted in Module 1. The new section should address the following: Identify and describe at least two competing needs impacting your selected healthcare issue/stressor. Describe a relevant policy or practice in your organization that may influence your selected healthcare issue/stressor. Developing Organizational Policies and Practices.Critique the policy for ethical considerations, and explain the policy’s strengths and challenges in promoting ethics. Recommend one or more policy or practice changes designed to balance the competing needs of resources, workers, and patients, while addressing any ethical shortcomings of the existing policies. Be specific and provide examples. Cite evidence that informs the healthcare issue/stressor and/or the policies, and provide two scholarly resources in support of your policy or practice recommendations.Developing Organizational Policies and Practices.

Developing Organizational Policies and Practices

Competing Needs Impacting Nurse Shortage

The two competing needs impacting nurse shortage in a healthcare organization are recruitment of new nurses and retention of current ones. The healthcare organization will incur some costs in recruiting and training new nurses for various care units. According to Peterson (2016), the cost of hiring and training new nurses to work in the surgical unit is almost equal to the 100 percent amount that is paid to a nurse annually. The organization has limited financial resources to fund the process of hiring and training of new nurses. The lack of new nurse practitioners will hinder the organization from addressing the nurse shortage.Developing Organizational Policies and Practices.

Additionally, the healthcare organization will incur the cost of retaining the current nurses. Nurses are primarily motivated to pursue their careers by the passion to provide quality and safe patient care. However, the interest to remain in the healthcare organization for a long period is determined by some factors, including fair compensation, a conducive working environment, and learning opportunities (Drake, 2017). Developing Organizational Policies and Practices.The organization requires money to give fair compensation to all nurses in terms of salaries and bonuses. Also, funds are required to provide a conducive working environment for the nurses such as supply them with PPE and insurance covers. More so, the organization requires funds to facilitate further learning of nurse practitioners. Nurses are motivated to continue working in an organization where they are provided with an opportunity to improve their knowledge and skills (Drake, 2017). The healthcare organization does not have funds to facilitate the retention of the current nurses. Failure to retain the current nurses will hinder the organization from solving the issue of nurse shortage. Therefore, the organization has competing needs to hire new nurses or retain current practitioners.Developing Organizational Policies and Practices.

Practice to Influence the Nurse Shortage

Nurse shortage can be influenced by the practice or policy to strictly adhere to the nurse staffing ratio recommended by nursing associations and other national bodies. First, the policy will require the healthcare organization to adhere to nurse staffing guidelines provided by the American Nurses Association (ANA). ANA developed a legislative model that should guide organizations to create staffing plans that suit each care unit. The nurse staffing ratio should vary depending on departments. Developing Organizational Policies and Practices.For instance, the nurse staffing ratio in the intensive/critical care unit is 1:2 while that of the operating room is 1:1(Kluwer, 2016). A ratio of 1:2 also applies to neo-natal intensive care. This ratio implies that one nurse should be assigned to 2 patients. On the other hand, the nurse staffing ratio for antepartum, postpartum couplets, pediatrics, emergency room among other specialty care is 1:4 (Kluwer, 2016). One nurse is assigned to 4 patients in these care units. More patients are assigned to a single nurse in some care units, including postpartum women only, medical, and psychiatric where the ratio is 1: 6 (Kluwer, 2016).Developing Organizational Policies and Practices. Additionally, the legislative model developed by ANA allows healthcare organizations to establish staffing levels, which are highly flexible to cater for changes that might occur in the medical facility such as a high number of admissions and the intensity of patients’ needs. Therefore, complying with the set guidelines will enable the healthcare organization to have an appropriate nurse staffing ratio in each care unit. Also, the healthcare organization will be able to cope with any changes that might occur, thus addressing the issue of nurse shortage.Developing Organizational Policies and Practices.

Secondly, the policy will require the healthcare organization to adhere to nurse staffing guidelines set by the National Campaign for Safe RN-to-Patient Staffing Ratios, which is a nationwide effort guides nurse staffing practices in healthcare organizations (Kluwer, 2016). Developing Organizational Policies and Practices.The national campaign claims that an appropriate nurse-staffing promotes safe and quality patient care across the country. Thus, adhering to the guidelines provided by the National Campaign for Safe RN-to-Patient Staffing Ratios will enable the healthcare organization has an appropriate nurse staffing ratio, thus overcoming the challenge of nurse shortage in the healthcare organization.Developing Organizational Policies and Practices.

Policy Critique: Ethical Considerations and Strengths and Challenges of the Policy in Promoting Ethics

Ethical Considerations

The policy involves adhering to the nurse staffing ratio recommended by nursing associations and other national bodies. The policy supports an increase in the number of nurse practitioners in the healthcare organization through an appropriate nurse staffing ratio. Developing Organizational Policies and Practices.Healthcare workers are required to adhere to the ethical guidelines and professional standards in all their activities and clinical practices. Therefore, nurse staffing to resolve the nurse shortage in the healthcare organization involves some ethical considerations. Nurses have an ethical obligation to protect their patients from any harm during care delivery (Kadivar et al., 2017). Nonetheless, it is challenging for the nurses to meet this ethical requirement due to the nurse shortage in the healthcare organization. Under this situation, nurses are assigned more patients than they can competently handle. Consequently, nurses fail to address the health needs of individual patients adequately. Developing Organizational Policies and Practices.

Strengths and Challenges of the Policy in Promoting Ethics

The policy can promote ethics among nurses since it advocates for strict adherence to staffing guidelines that have been set by ANA and the National Campaign for Safe RN-to-Patient Staffing Ratios. Adhering to these guidelines will ensure that nurse practitioners are allocated an appropriate number of patients depending on the care unit. Consequently, nurses will be able to provide quality and safe care to individual patients, thus protecting them from any form of harm. According to Griffiths et al. (2020), the nurse staffing ratio has an impact on the quality and safety of patient care. However, the policy might fail to promote ethics due to the high cost of hiring new nurses or retaining current practitioners. Protecting patients from any harm requires the healthcare organization to have more nurses, which is costly.Developing Organizational Policies and Practices.

The Recommended Policy that addresses any Ethical Shortcomings of the Existing Policies while Balancing the Organization’s Competing Needs of Resources, Workers, and Patients

The proposed policy involves the upskilling of the healthcare workforce. Equipping nurses with more skills will enhance their flexibility in a healthcare organization. For instance, nurses working in the pediatric unit should be trained on how to handle patients in the intensive care unit. Such nurses can work in one of the two units depending on the number of patients admitted in each unit and the intensity of patients’ needs. Developing Organizational Policies and Practices.Consequently, the healthcare organization will balance the competing needs of resources, workers, and patients since funds are not required to facilitate the process of hiring and training of new nurses or retention of the current ones. This policy will address the ethical shortcoming of the existing policies, including the need for more finances to support the process of hiring and training of new nurses or retention of the current ones. Developing Organizational Policies and Practices.