Sample Essay On How To Research On The Nursing Turnover And Implement It

Part 1:

The turnover of Registered Nurses is a result of various reasons. It varies across hospital units and across different hospitals altogether. One of the units that experience the impact of the high turnover is the post anesthesia unit. The Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) serves to provide a recovery place with centralized care for people that have undergone procedures that require anesthesia . That means that the activities of the unit are delicate and they require the appropriate number of well-trained nurses. A hospital that is short-staffed in the PACU experiences complains related to the quality of healthcare. The high demand of medical attention in the PACU also leaves the available nurses overworked . That also raises the possibility of the nurse leaving the unit, thus increasing the nursing turnover.
The article under study reviews causes of the nursing turnover and the effect of the turnover on the patients, the hospital and the remaining staff members. The number of accidents in the hospital increases, the quality of the healthcare deteriorates, patients leave the hospital for other hospitals, and the overall medical staff turnover increases because of the overwhelming work load.
According to the article “Nursing Turnover: Causes, Costs and Solutions” (2009), nursing turnover affects the performance quality and the profitability of the healthcare organization. The deterioration of the quality of healthcare and the loss of patients are experienced because of the importance of the close patient-nurse relationship. The healthcare system requires consistent nurses because of the ongoing follow up cases, familiarity with the organization and familiarity with the patients. The nursing turnover also affects the financial status of the institutions. As a result, the organizations could cut down their expenditure by delaying the recruitment of new nurses. As a result, the few nurses that are left tend to be overworked and underappreciated.
The PACU is one of the departments in the hospital that require quick responses, handling of emergencies and dealing with helpless patients. In most cases, the more elderly staff do not agree to work in the PACU because of the speed at which it operates. The nurses in the PACU are also exposed to verbal and physical violence from the patient’s family, especially when the patient’s condition does not improve quickly.

Part 2:

The nursing turnover should be studied in the context of the PACU whereby the direct impact of the turnover should be researched on. The research should be qualitative. That is because the quantitative studies on the nursing turnover and its impact are already available in various research projects.
The PACU should focus on giving the nurses in the unit a high upward morbidity and other work opportunities in other areas besides the hospital setting. The annual rate turnover for 2002 ranged between 10% and 30% in 2002 .
The PACU is one of the busiest and demanding units in the hospital. However, it is common for new nurses to receive a relatively low salary as compared to their colleagues that have worked at the hospital for a longer time. The problem with this is that the salary increment takes long to materialize and many are the times that the nurses at the PACU work in the unit for a while and leave. They leave to leek for greener pastures and career growth . The qualitative study should include the views of the nurses in regard to the PACU and their willingness to work in the unit for a long time. The PACU exposes both the patients and nurses to various infections because of the nature of the patients. The quality of care can be determined by the number of uninfected patients that successfully leave PACU in the scheduled time. The patients in the PACU cough often and emit both blood and saliva in the process of recovery . As a result, the professionalism and skills of the nurses determines the successful cases that leave PACU.
The proposed strategies of the retention of nurses should be implemented to the latter in one health center and a comparative study done with a different institution that is not in the plan on implementation. The turnover should be tested at the end of one year and interviews conducted on the patient to determine their satisfaction levels.
The PACU requires monitored care and follow up afterward. To achieve that, the consistency of the nursing staff and the provision of high quality care in the PACU determine the successful recovery of the patients . Thus, the hygiene standards of the hospital shall be checked whereby the nurses caring for the patients in the PACU shall be observed closely as they go about their work. The nurse is also supposed to ensure that the patients are not exposed to further infections . The comparative study should study the effects of understaffing, and the impact that the retention of registered nurses has on the state of the PACU. Patients that receive the proper medical care leave the PACU within a short time. The average patient turnover should be recorded to know the impact of the consistency in the number of nurses in the PACU and the difference it makes in the expenditure and patient preference of the hospital.
In conclusion, the “nursing turnover in the PACU” is an area that requires further research in regard to the hygiene and the impact of nursing turnover. The effect of the patient turnover in comparison to the staffing is another area that requires both qualitative and quantitative studies. However, the qualitative results of the issue affecting the PACU are the most important in regard to the nursing turnover, the understaffing of hospitals and the impact they have on the patients and the rest of the hospital staff members.

References

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