Safe Patient Staffing Ratio

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Institutional Affiliation

Change Model.

In the previous paper, it highlighted the proposed organizational structure change that will include the chief executive officer, a member of hospital management, doctor, nurse manager, and a nurse. Information was to flow from high cadre to the lower cadre. Change cannot just happen; it only occurs in the proper procedure; thus, in the system changes, Lewin’s Change Model will be considered. Kaminski (2011) notes that Lewin proposed three stages that can be used to achieve the desired change. The unfreezing, changing, and refreezing are the three change stages that should be followed to establish the new order. All factors in the three steps should be taken into consideration for change to be effective.

To begin with, unfreezing is necessary for any change to occur. In the hospital setting, just like any other organization, employees and employers have a norm that has become part of their culture. To institute management and information flow change, both the employees and employers should be enlightened on the need for change. In most cases, change is rejected since it threatens the existing order and norms, which is uncomfortable with nurses and hospital management. Therefore, there is a need that the hospital management and the nurses should be informed on the need to change as well as the flaws of the current order. The benefits of the new change should as well be told to them. In this first stage, the proposed changes may have not occurred, but the nurses and the hospital management are aware of impending changes. Thus they psychologically become ready. Change is needed as hospitals are profit-making organizations; therefore, they need to reinvent to keep up with market demands to offer better health care services and safety to the patients. By knowing about change, the nurses and hospital management become aware and feel the need for change.

Secondly, changing is the stage that the new order is to be established. In the transition stage, the new reality dawns on the hospital staff, and they struggle to adapt to the original order. This stage is characterized by a fear of unknown and uncertainty of what the new reality holds upon them. The nurses and hospital management begin to learn new behaviors, mannerisms, and ways of operation. For instance, in the proposed management changes, the dissemination of information will follow a different order that is systematic. Thus the nurse(s) will have to learn new ways of channelling their communications. The hospital management will as well hire enough nurses given they had prepared. This may affect the nurses positively since their workload will be minimized, and in turn, they will offer safety and better health care according to Koren (2010). In order for the change to be realized, the hospital management can organize for proper communication by expertise, education on the move in progress, give ample time that the hospital staff can process change, and support the team to embrace the new order. The hospital staff should be well versed with reasons for change and the benefits once implementation is concluded.

Furthermore, refreezing cement the new order after the change. This stage should be carefully handled so that the hospital staff may not go back to their old order. The unique culture should be supported and maintained by the hospital staff wholesomely. The hospital staff should be reinforced whenever they try to keep the new status quo since a positively reinforced behavior is likely to be repeated. This stage determines the success of the change process due to how it is handled. The nurses will have to be motivated through monetary gifts and humane treatment so that the management can help maintain the new order. The administration should as well recognized for its efforts to increase nurse to patient ratio.

The understaffing in the hospital, especially in the med/ surgical ward, has reduced the efficiency of better and safe healthcare. This issue should be looked into so that hospitals can ensure patients’ needs are well taken care of and nurses to be given a manageable workload. The hospital management should look to employ more nurses and improve the way of communication by centralizing it. Through centralization, the nurses will know the center of the command and the origin of the information. The nursing literatures exposed some of the fatalities the hospital is likely to experience in the event of understaffing—issues such as medical errors, overworking by nurses, and high mortality rate when the hospital is understaffed. Lewin’s change model will be instrumental in instigating changes. For instance, the hospital management should be prepared to allocate funds to hire more nurses and also change the structure of communication in the hospital.

Change is never easily accepted. However, it should occur in order for safer and better health care for patients. The nurse being used to the already existing plan may be adamant to accept the new changes. The hospital management as well may not want to employ more nurses as it may wish to keep the profits as it exploits the existing nursing staff. To sustain the changes, the hospital may reward those who embrace and try to conform to the new changes. The management should educate its staff on the need to change, and this should be done either after two weeks so that the team is constantly reminded. The administration should endeavor to set aside funds each financial year to employ more nurses so that they can meet the recommended nurse-patient ratio.

References.

Kaminski, J. (2011). Theory applied to informatics-Lewin’s change theory. Canadian Journal of Nursing Informatics, 6(1).

Koren, M. J. (2010). Person-centered care for nursing home residents: The culture-change movement. Health Affairs, 29(2), 312-317.