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Healthcare Issues: Safety and Efficiency Amidst Staff Deficiency

Introductory Statements

The shortage of healthcare services is a fatal occurrence that is compromising efficiency and safety. In this regard, safety is viewed from the perspective of the healthcare professionals and the patients. This has happened because the number of patients is increasing rapidly whereas the training programs are not producing enough personnel to handle the job. As such, the pressure exerted on the professionals exposes the patients and personnel to risks of inefficiency as well as unsafe medical practices.

Statement and Summary of the Problem

In essence, the number of healthcare professionals, especially the nurses has reduced drastically since the scholars are tending to avoid the profession. Understandably, the society is warming towards entrepreneurship and business-oriented fields of specialization (Graban, 2012). As a result, the number of personnel produced by the training programs has reduced drastically. In addition, the training programs are forced to grant certificates of qualification to most of the students who avail themselves for training after the specified period of those courses. Understandably, when the number of the trainees is low and the field is incapacitated due to lack of enough professionals, the trainers are forced to offer qualification in order to attain numbers and mitigate the risk. This condition implies that the unpopularity of this field has led to a situation in which the trainers cannot impose stringent regulations and standards during the exercise because they are likely to discourage them.

When the available beds reduce, it implies that the rate of morbidity has increased. In this case, it is evident that the number of available beds has been reducing drastically. As a result, it can be concluded that the number of the admitted patients is increasing with time. From a comparative perspective, the number of patients is increasing as time continues while the capacity of staff is reducing. As such, the number of staff and patients are not proportional. Essentially, there more workload than the available practitioners can handle

Consequence to the World Functioning

The reducing number of healthcare practitioners is a global issue because this condition experienced in almost all the corners of the world. Bearing in mind that the deficiency is causing critical detractions of standards, it cannot be disputed that the tendency is growing and spreading worldwide. In the past, the global training system was very keen on the standards of training as well as quality of healthcare services. Every practitioner was assessed against stringent regulations. With the threat of deficient workforce, the training system cannot maintain the same standard because the undertaking might frustrate the scholars and impede the attainment of numbers (Alameddine, 2006). As a result, the system will embrace the production of quacks and spread throughout the globe. In fact, this tendency might spread to other areas of specialization, such as education, engineering, and finance among others. Indeed, it is an occurrence that might change the manner in which the world functions.

Due to the reduction in the number of staff, the employment policies will change drastically. In this regard, the employees have been employing enough staff for the available workload. However, since the programs cannot provide enough staff any longer, the available personnel will be allocated more workload. Essentially, it will increase the number of working hours. This condition implies that the employer might require the employees to work late in the night as a result of the reduced staff. Probably, this will lead to disharmony between the employees and employers owing to poor working conditions (Linsley, 2006). In fact, the nurses have been holding strikes in developing countries due to this condition. Concurrently, the increased work allocation will lead to the demand of additional pay per unit. As a result, the entire profession will change substantially in terms of salary, standards, and efficiency. The ethical dilemma that faces the entire profession is balancing between safety, efficiency, and the number of staff employed in the respective hospitals as well as healthcare institutions.

Main Principle and Theories

Quality assurance is the fundamental principle that relates to the ethical issues which have been raised in this essay. The principle of quality assurance focuses on defining standards which should be followed by all practitioners and trainers. These standards relate to the methods of measurements, the capability to make health-related decisions, and maintain proficiency when handling patients. In addition, quality assurance is conjoined to the ideologies of professionalism because the healthcare profession cannot operate without professional stipulations to show how the employees should behave when handling the patients (Blair, 2009). Importantly, the quality assurance involves the control of service delivery to patients. In this regard, the healthcare profession updates its quality assurance framework continuously to incorporate emerging issues in this field. For example, the quality assurance framework of the nursing profession was updated and changed in 2013.

The framework sought to change various aspects in an attempt to improve those areas that needed transformation. First, it sought to increase the number of lay reviewers who are not nurses in order to get different intellect from various sectors. Second, the framework considered the implementation of proactive management in order to manage risks. This undertaking was accomplished by allowing academic institutions to install suitable guards in the entire profession. Third, the framework sought to reduce the stringency of the rules imposed on the well-performing academic institutions and enable the authorities to focus on the poor ones. This was adopted as a strategy of attaining equity across the training institutions and standardizing the skills. Lastly, the developers of this new framework focused on ensuring that quality assurance concentrated in the results of the academic training rather than stipulating the standard of supervision in the work stations. In essence, it was argued that this change could help the practitioners to acquire skills and embrace integrity which is instrumental when it comes to working.

The Principle of Workload Distribution

The principle of equal workload distribution among employees of the same level is another fundamental aspect that relate to the issues of healthcare staffing. There are various crucial aspects that should be noticed when it comes to allocation of work.

The workload for each staff must be regulated in such a manner that ensures rationality, equitability and reason.

The process of allocating jobs to the staffs must consider the compatibility of the work to professional skills

The entire process of conducting the allocations must be decisive, clear, and transparent to reduce controversies and acts of corruption.

The allocation of work should be set to leave some time which can be used to research about emerging issues. This is a methodology of allowing discoveries and innovation in the healthcare facilities.

Professionalism and participation on the side of managers should be adopted in order to enhance cooperation and efficient planning.

Information about any future changes should be availed to the staff in order to ensure consistency in the execution of roles and responsibilities.

Personnel Supporting the Outcome of the Case

Currently, nurses and other medical employees are the most concerned personnel when it comes to the issue of safety and number of staff. The employed staffs are completely supporting this venture because they wish to enhance a better working experience than the present one. Importantly, the nurses are being overworked by the employers due to the mentioned deficiency. This overworking has reduced the efficiency of the employees since they have to work late in the night when they are tired and worn out. In addition, the nurses have little time to spend with their families at home. This condition affects their personal life such that the employment does not meet its fundamental purpose in the life of the employee. Understandably, an employee’s job is meant to improve life and make it better. Indeed, it is not meant to bring difficulties that can affect the social, economic, and spiritual growth of the worker. However, the nursing profession has become tricky since the employees are forced to work for more hours than the stipulated amount of time. As such, they are behind the propositions that have been provided in this essay.

Policies that Support the Resolutions

One of the most fundamental policies that support the resolutions proposed in this essay is related to human rights for the employees. In essence, the employers are mandated to provide good working conditions for the employees. In this case, they are expected to ensure that all employees have equal and compatible job description. In addition, it supports the fair payment of employees according to the amount of work that has been done. This being the case, there is a reason to solve the entire ethical issue in relation to human rights of the employees. Additionally, the policies that govern proficiency and standards of employees’ academic skills are pertinent to the resolutions which have been proposed. In this case, it is evident that the reduction of staffs has led to negligence of standards. As a result, this negligence has faulted the policy of maintaining academic standards especially when dealing with issues of health. If the nation has to create a materially satisfied health care system, the stakeholders must embark on serious improvement of academic standards regardless of the scholars’ number.

Understandably, the question is not whether the training programs produce enough professionals or not. Instead, the primary concern is whether the available personnel can handle the work in the right way. This sentiment is based on the fact that population health is more dependent on the proficiency of the professionals rather than their numbers. Even if there were countless heads of nurses who have poor skills, the healthcare system could not achieve its objective. However, if there were few and skillful professionals, the system would achieve its objectives substantially although some difficulties can be incurred.

Three-Step Process to Change Population Health Positively

Since the ethical issue bedeviling the healthcare system is conjoined to the number of professionals available for the work, the first step is finding for temporary solution before the holistic approach. In most cases, the retired professionals do not leave their work when they go home. This is informed by the fact that, in healthcare profession, skills improve with increase in age. As a result, the retired professionals are not incapacitated by age when they go back home for retirement. The government and private hospitals can take this opportunity to increase the number of employees temporarily.

Campaign for Healthcare Scholarly

It has been noted that students who leave high school are not willing to take healthcare-related when making their career choices. This is the menace that has incapacitated the entire profession because the training programs have very few graduates. As a result, the healthcare stakeholders and the government must embark on a campaign program whose aim is mobilizing student to embrace these courses. Unless this motivational campaign is conducted, the profession is going to incur more fatal blows in the near and distant future (Marquis, 2006).

It was stated that the problem of the current healthcare system, which is affected by poor standards, is compromising the original proficiency. After conducting the above campaign, the students will be aware of the challenge they are taking. As a result, it will be easy to maintain the original standards because students will not retreat because of stringent rules. This will ensure that all the practitioners who are trained in the respective training schools have the acumen and capability to serve proficiently. Consequently, the required academic prowess will restore safety and the original efficiency in healthcare system.

Conclusion

The healthcare system is confronted by ethical issues of safety and efficiency. Students are running away from the healthcare courses and taking the less involving ones. Accordingly, the profession has few specialists as compared to the rising number of patients. In order to eliminate these ethical issues, the stakeholders should reemploy the retired professionals because their original skills have not disappeared to ensure a temporal service provision in the hospitals and prevent the recurrent problems of safety and inefficiency. A campaign should be conducted to mobilize students towards the healthcare-related courses. Lastly, his original standards of training must be restored in order to ensure that the professionals have the capability to handle the patients without compromising their welfare.

References

Alameddine, M. (2006). Where do nurses work?: employment patterns of Ontario nurses by sub-sector, 1993–2003. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.

Blair, J. (2009). Advances in health care management. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Coulston, A. (2013). Nutrition in the prevention and treatment of disease. Amsterdam: Boston.

Graban, M. (2012). Healthcare kaizen: engaging front-line staff in sustainable continuous improvements. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

Harris, D. (2008). Contemporary issues in healthcare law and ethics. Chicago: Health Administration Press.

Linsley, P. (2006). Violence and aggression in the workplace: a practical guide for all healthcare staff. Oxford: Radcliffe Pub

Marquis, B. L. (2006). Leadership roles and management functions in nursing: theory and application (5th ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Showalter, S. (2008). The law of healthcare administration (5th ed.). Chicago: Health Administration Press.

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StudyKraken. (2022, July 5). Healthcare Issues: Safety and Efficiency Amidst Staff Deficiency. Retrieved from https://studykraken.com/healthcare-issues-safety-and-efficiency-amidst-staff-deficiency/

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