NUR 4590 – Deliverable 5 – Staffing Justification Email
Staffing Based On Patient Acuity Level
| Shift Assignments | RN 1 | RN 2 | RN 3 | RN 4 | RN 5 | LPN 1 | LPN 2 | CNA 1 | CNA 2 |
| Acuity Level 1 Clients | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 1 | |||
| Acuity Level 2 Clients | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Acuity Level 3 Clients | 4 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 2 | ||||
| Acuity Level 4 Clients | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | |||||
| Total Acuity | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 16 | 14 |
To the Nurse Manager
The acuity assignment sheet that I have attached above involves how the incoming nursing professionals will be assigned various patients based on their acuity levels. The nursing professionals to whom the patients are assigned belong to different categories based on their level of education and training, which include Certified Nurse Assistants (CNAs), Licensed Practice Nurses (LPNs), and Registered Nurses (RNs) (Restrepo et al., 2020). In this case, there are 30 patients with different acuity levels, five RNs, two CNAs, and two LPNs. These nursing professionals are scheduled to work in a 12-hour shift. According to the patients available, six patients are in acuity level one, eight patients belong to acuity level two, nine patients are in acuity level three, and seven are in acuity level four. In this case, patients in acuity level one have stable health conditions, those in acuity level two are at a moderate risk, acuity level three patients have complex health issues, and those in the fourth acuity level are at a high risk.
NUR 4590 – Deliverable 5 – Staffing Justification Email
Rationale for the Staffing
When assigning patients to nursing professionals based on their acuity levels, the education and training level of nurses have to be considered. It is inappropriate to assign some patients to particular nurses since it would be a challenging task for nursing professionals to handle such patients. For example, it is inappropriate for patients in the fourth acuity level to be assigned to the LPNs (Restrepo et al., 2020). Therefore, based on the assignment, I assigned patients in the first and second acuity levels to the LPNs at a ratio of 1:5, whereby each LPN is supposed to serve five patients. The patients assigned to the LPNs are those with stable and moderate risk. Besides, the RNs were assigned patients with complex health issues and those at high risk. These involved the patients in the third and fourth acuity levels. Due to the complexity of the health conditions of these patients, they should be assigned to the RNs in the ratio of 1:3, whereby each RN serves at most five patients. This ratio will also enable the RNs to give support to the LPNs when necessary. Lastly, the CNAs will assist the RNs in handling patients in the third and fourth acuity levels.
Communicating with each level of Care Provider for Best Outcomes Possible
Communication is critical, especially in a nursing setting. Nurses from all nursing levels should adopt good communication skills to ensure a good understanding of their assignments and how to perform them appropriately (Saville et al., 2019). Good communication skills ensure improved outcomes since they prevent misunderstandings from arising and assist in addressing various issues that arise during care service delivery. Based on the number of patients assigned to the nurses based on their acuity levels, it may be challenging for the nurses to deliver high quality services to the patients. However, through appropriate communication, the tasks can be easy, thus enabling the nurses to deliver high quality care services. In this case, I would communicate verbally with all the nurses face-to-face as I illustrated to them how to serve the patients assigned to them. This will promote their understanding of how to serve the patients and will allow them to ask questions, if any, and get instant feedback. Through this kind of communication, the best outcomes possible will be expected (Saville et al., 2019).
Assuring Client Equity in the Delivery of Services
Patients need to be always provided with high quality services regardless of their health conditions, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, or age. They should always be assured of equity whenever being provided with various healthcare services. This is because the aim of a universal care system is to address all the health issues experienced by patients. Equity in healthcare involves providing equal treatment services to patients with similar health issues without discriminating against any of them or giving more attention to some patients than others.
When ensuring equity during care service delivery, some aspects, such as justice and fairness, have to be considered. This implies that through equity in healthcare, all patients should have equal opportunities to access care and receive high-quality services to improve health outcomes and patient satisfaction. However, in a healthcare setting where staffing is an issue, patients should be assigned to the available healthcare providers, and collaboration and support should be encouraged where necessary. Therefore, I would assure equity in service delivery by encouraging fairness, justice, support, and collaboration.
NUR 4590 – Deliverable 5 – Staffing Justification Email
Core Professional Values
When assigning tasks to nursing professionals, it is necessary to consider professional values. In this case, one of the professional values that I considered when developing the staffing assignment is accountability. Nursing professionals need to be accountable for their work to ensure effective outcomes (Smith et al., 2019). I applied accountability so that I would be accountable for the outcomes experienced by the patients. Therefore, I ensured that patients were assigned to the appropriate nurses to prevent adverse outcomes and ensure cost-effective high quality care. The second professional value that I considered involves altruism (Smith et al., 2019). Based on this aspect, I considered it my responsibility to motivate other healthcare professionals and advocate for the patient’s needs without expecting any reward. The last professional value that I considered is honesty. Healthcare professionals should always be honest about the care that they provide to patients. Nursing professionals should display their honesty by adhering to various ethical aspects such as complying with the ethical principles.
Professional Identity aspects that supported my Decisions during Staffing
Professional identity the professional self-concepts of an individual based on various experiences, motives, values, belies, and attributes (Smith et al., 2019). People can acquire and practice professional behaviors through socialization. In this case, the aspects that enabled me to perform the task appropriately were confidence, critical thinking abilities, and positive role models. I usually believe that through these aspects, I can handle any task regardless of its complexity.
References
Restrepo, M. I., Rousseau, L. M., & Vallée, J. (2020). Home healthcare integrated staffing and scheduling. Omega, 95, 102057. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omega.2019.03.015
Saville, C. E., Griffiths, P., Ball, J. E., & Monks, T. (2019). How many nurses do we need? A review and discussion of operational research techniques applied to nurse
staffing. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 97, 7-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2019.04.015
Smith, S., Sim, J., & Halcomb, E. (2019). Nurses’ experiences of working in rural hospitals: an integrative review. Journal of Nursing Management, 27(3), 482-490. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12716
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Question 
NUR 4590 – Deliverable 5 – Staffing Justification Email
Competency
Apply principles of professional identity and professionalism.
Scenario
You are making a staffing assignment knowing that you are short-staffed. You have five registered nurses (RNs), two licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and two nursing assistants. These nine employees need to provide a 12-hour shift to 30 clients with the acuity level listed below for a ratio of nurse to client at 1:3.
NUR 4590 – Deliverable 5 – Staffing Justification Email
Client acuity level
- Six acuity level 1
- Eight acuity level 2
- Nine acuity level 3
- Seven acuity level 4
You will use the acuity-based staffing model to develop the staffing assignment based on the needs of the clients, and a template has been created. Download and complete the template.
NUR4590 Staffing Template
Instructions
As you create this assignment, include the following in an email to your manager to justify your short-staffing plan:
- Complete the staffing assignment based on the acuity level.
- Defend how you would direct the staff to their assigned roles for this shift and provide a rationale for the staffing assignment.
- Describe how you would communicate with each level of care provider to ensure the best outcomes possible.
- Address how you would ensure client equity in the delivery of services.
- Reflect on how you, as a nursing leader, created the staffing assignment based on your core professional values.
- Describe your professional identity characteristics that supported your decision for the staffing assignment.
- Provide stated ideas with professional language and attribution for credible sources with correct APA citation, spelling, and grammar.
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