Quality Improvement in Healthcare

Running head: QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IN HEALTHCARE 1
Quality improvement in Healthcare
Name
Institutional Affiliation

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IN HEALTHCARE 2
The Problem
The problem I wish to improve in my healthcare environment is nursing shortage.
Nursing shortage refers to an overarching imbalance in the demand and supply of nursing
wrkforce, which can be attributed to willingness to work, availability, demographics and
qualifications. A nursing shortage occurs when there are an inadequate number of nurses to meet
the demand of the healthcare environment (Mudihanselage & Chamaru, 2015). Nursing shortage
has been a major problem in the United States. The increase in the nursing shortage can be
attributed to the increased turnover resulting from the aging baby-boomers generation (Cox,
Willis, & Coustasse, 2014). Other causes of nursing shortages include high turnover, inadequacy
of potential educators, and unequal distribution of workforce (Haddad & Toney-Butler, 2019).
Additionally, the growth in the aging population has significantly resulted in increased medical
problems and complexity of healthcare needs. This problem has significantly been experienced
at the hospital where I work. In the last one year, the number of registered nurses has continued
to decrease while the patient population increases. This challenge has impacted the quality of
healthcare delivery to the hospital, and warrants urgent action.
Identification of the Problem
The problem of nursing shortage has increasingly been identified through feedback from
nurses and patients and observations in medical units. Most of the nursing staff complains of
increased workloads, burnout, dissatisfaction, failure-to-rescue rates, work-family conflicts and
high patent-nurse rations. Additionally, nurses have been forced to work for longer shifts and
more days to compensate for the shortage. Nurses have also complained that they lack
opportunities for trainings and education, which are essential in advancement of their careers.

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IN HEALTHCARE 3
Due to the increased pressure, the turnover rate and intention at the hospital has increased as
nurses leave the hospital to work in other organizations.
Nursing shortage is also demonstrated by increased reports of missed care by the patients
such as increased neglect of important aspects of care such as informed consent, comforting and
talking to the patients, and missed medications. Additionally, there have been challenges in
addressing the growing number of patients who are forced to wait for long hours or leave the
hospital unattended. The hospital units and understaffed and the available nurses are busy; hence
patients experience challenges interacting with them. The nursing shortage has negatively
affected nurse-patient relationships.
The Goal Outcome
Addressing the nursing shortage is achievable through:
1. Retention of nursing workforce by creating a positive work environment
2. Improving the recruitment strategies to equip nurses with skills on how to handle
challenges in the healthcare environment while adhering to nursing standards, and
recruiting more nursing professionals
Metrics That Will Inform the Goal Has Been Reached
The metrics that will be used to measure the achievement of the goal include:
Reduction of nurses’ turnover: Turnover refers to voluntary or involuntary leaving
employment. According to Kurnat-Thoma, Ganger, Peterson, and Channell (2017) employee
turnover is a critical metric in assessing the operational effectiveness of a healthcare
organization. The factors that determine turnover intention and burnout include work overload,
work-family conflict, frequent night shifts, tensed nurse-patients interactions (Chen et al., 2018).