Ethical Issues in Nursing Practice

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of them were being discharged to home. A nurse called requesting sick leave, which left the unit staffed with only three nurses. Even though the acuity of the patients was low, the nurses perceived the situation to be unsafe because the assignment for one nurse included three patients.

Summary of Articles

Healthcare has experienced tremendous growth and change. These changes include an increase in the technology nurses use at the bedside and an increase in patient acuity. The increased patient acuity requires more nursing staff availability to provide safe patient care. Several research studies have been conducted addressing whether or not mandatory staffing levels are a good idea.

Article Number One

DeVandry and Cooper (2009) published an article addressing mandatory staffing for hospitals. One point mentioned in the article was that federal legislation was contemplating developing nursing ratios based on “acuity, nurse experience, and available technology” ...

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mandating staff levels might require an additional nurse for that unit, even though the patient acuity showed no indication. Nurses could be better utilized on a unit with a higher acuity.

Article Number Two

Upenieks, Kotlerman, Akhavan, Esser, and Ngo (2007) discussed how staffing ratios affect the workload of nursing staff. The article concluded that more information revolving around workload variability, the use of ancillary staff, and patient acuity would be needed before accurately determining safe staffing levels. The authors questioned how the nurses were spending their time if only a minimal part of their day was involved in direct patient care. I support this question ...

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