Nursing Tutorial

Nursing Shortage Can Contribute To Patient's Death.

Read what statistics show about negligence and patient's death rate in hospitals.

Journal Report and Statistics: Throughout history, the United States has experienced a series of nursing surpluses and shortages. However the shortage was characterized as being unlike those experienced in the past. Every day we experienced short staff due to nurses leaving the profession and low enrollment in the colleges, therefore, new nurses pay the consequences with lack of experience poor mentorship, and work overload.

Today the nursing shortage has reached an epidemic causing concerns about the impact of the nurse staffing on patient care. Many recent studies point to the connections between adequate levels of registered nurse staffing and safe patient care. The survey reported in the New England Journal of Medicine found that 53% of physicians and 65% of the public cited the shortage of nurses as a leading cause of medical errors in the course of receiving medical care. Overall, 42% of the public and more than a third of the U.S. doctors reported that they or their family members have experienced medical errors in the course of receiving medical care. The survey was conducted by the Harvard School of public Health and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

According to a study published in the October 23. 2002 issue of the Journal of American Medical Association, more nurses at the bedside could save thousands of patients who have common surgeries in the hospital with high nurse-to-patient ratios have up to 31% increase chance of dying.

In Health Care at the Crossroads: Strategies for Addressing the Evolving Nursing Crisis, a report released in August 2002 by Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organization (JCAHO), the authors found that a shortage of nurses in America's hospitals is putting patient lives in danger. JCAHO examined 1609 hospitals reports of patient deaths and injuries since 1996 and found that low nursing staff levels were a contributing factor in 24% of the cases.

Finally, for the first time the U.S. Department of Labor has identified Registered Nursing as the top occupation in the terms of job growth through the year 2012. According to the latest projections from the U.S. Bureau of labor published in February, 2004 Monthly Labor Review. More than one million new and replaced nurses will be needed by 2012. These statistics are frightening when you learn that the leading causes of medical errors are due to the shortage. Due to the statistics a student coming out of nursing school without refreshers course and skills training, chance of being in the statistics has risen tremendously. Nurses must be knowledgeable about the skills they perform to prevent negligence.

A complete physical assessment on a patient forms the foundation of nursing care, and nurses who are able to perform these skills effectively will be less likely to arrive at the wrong nursing diagnosis.

Copyright (c) 2008 Eileen OReggio

Article Source: http://www.classesandcareers.net/education

Nurses who are working short staffed will have more responsibilities, and if you are not competent in carrying out your nursing skills you will be more likely to make mistakes and become a statistic. Nursing Tutorial is at your fingertips to reinforce your nursing skills.

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