Healthcare Issues

Discussion: Review of Current Healthcare Issues
If you were to ask 10 people what they believe to be the most significant issue facing healthcare today, you might get 10 different answers. Escalating costs? Regulation? Technology disruption?

These and many other topics are worthy of discussion. Not surprisingly, much has been said in the research, within the profession, and in the news about these topics. Whether they are issues of finance, quality, workload, or outcomes, there is no shortage of changes to be addressed.

In this Discussion, you examine a national healthcare issue and consider how that issue may impact your work setting. You also analyze how your organization has responded to this issue.

To Prepare:

Review the Resources and select one current national healthcare issue/stressor to focus on.
Reflect on the current national healthcare issue/stressor you selected and think about how this issue/stressor may be addressed in your work setting.

Post a description of the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected for analysis, and explain how the healthcare issue/stressor may impact your work setting. Then, describe how your health system work setting has responded to the healthcare issue/stressor, including a description of what changes may have been implemented. Be specific and provide examples.

SOLUTION

Healthcare Issues

Paramedics, nurses, and midwives are exposed to huge workloads and a high degree of work demands. This scenario affects both their performance and job satisfaction (Dalri, Silva, Mendes & Robazzi, 2014). At times, healthcare facilities deal with a large number of patients during emergencies after an accident has occurred. This situational workload requires the collaboration of the nurses and all the other healthcare professionals so that they can save the lives which are in danger.

That means that the nurses may not get enough time to give the patient comprehensive and adequate care. The heavy workload also affects nurse-patient communication, thus reducing the patient outcomes. The nursing workload is associated with deterioration in motivation among the nurses, which can lead to job turnover and high attrition rates.

In most cases, heavy nursing workloads lead to physical stress and burnout (Rice, Glass, Ogle & Parsian, 2014). The health professional is unable to perform effectively and efficiently as the physical and cognitive abilities get reduced. The situation always compromises the safety of the patients due to the possibility of medical errors.

My health system work setting also experiences such challenges, but it has developed some mechanisms of dealing with the issue. For instance, when the hospital experiences emergency cases, the nurse leaders organize the team of nurses and other medical staff so that they can work together for increased patient outcomes (Welp, Meier & Manser, 2015).

Effective communication is also very vital in such a situation as the team members can know what they are expected to do. Furthermore, collaboration is necessary among the nurses so that they can work together to provide an improved quality of care to the patients amid heavy workload crisis.

References

Dalri, R., Silva, L., Mendes, A., & Robazzi, M. (2014). Nurses’ workload and its relation to physiological stress reactions. Revista Latino-Americana De Enfermagem, 22(6), 959-965. DOI: 10.1590/0104-1169.3292.2503

Rice, V., Glass, N., Ogle, R., & Parsian, N. (2014). Exploring physical health perceptions, fatigue, and stress among health care professionals. Journal Of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, 155. DOI: 10.2147/jmdh.s59462

Welp, A., Meier, L. L., & Manser, T. (2015). Emotional exhaustion and workload predict clinician-rated and objective patient safety. Frontiers in psychology, 5, 1573.

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