Analysis of Healthcare Efficiency and Nurse Professional Development

This report analyzes the factors influencing productive efficiency in healthcare, particularly focusing on the impact of nurse training and professional development. The report begins with a summary of a study that hypothesized a positive correlation between a learning environment focused on clinical knowledge improvement for nurses and increased productive efficiency. The research, analyzing data from over 3700 US hospitals between 1996 and 2010, supported this hypothesis. The report then connects these findings to the Australian healthcare system, referencing the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia's code of conduct, which emphasizes continuous professional development for nurses. It highlights government initiatives providing educational training to entry-level registered nurses, primarily through the vocational education and training sector. However, the report also identifies barriers to the comprehensive implementation of these policies, such as poor nurse-to-patient ratios in critical care units, which limit nurses' ability to participate in training due to heavy workloads and double shifts. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for the Australian government to recruit more nurses to balance these ratios and facilitate professional development opportunities.

Running head: HEALTHCARE
Healthcare
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Improving productive efficiency in health services
Paper selected: Ding, D.X., 2014. The effect of experience, ownership and focus on
productive efficiency: A longitudinal study of US hospitals. Journal of Operations
Management, 32(1-2), pp.1-14.
Summary of the paper
The research was initiated with a hypothesis that that if a healthcare organisation
facilitates the formation of a learning environment with the specific focus on the clinical
knowledge improvement of the nursing professionals then the productive efficiency of the
nurses in increased significantly. In order to test their hypothesis, the authors tested the
performance data of more than 3700 U.S hospitals during the tenure of 1996 to 2010. The
analysis of the results supported their proposed hypothesis.
Practice and policy change
According to the Nursing and the Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) (2018) as
per the professional code of conduct, the nursing professionals must strive for the continuous
professional development. Continuous professional development mainly refers to the staying
updated about the current research and the evidence based practice in nursing. The
government of Australia provides special educational straining to the entry level registered
nurse in order to improve their level of clinical knowledge. The training of the enrolled
nurses mainly take place in the form of the vocational education and training sector rather
than in the university sector. The prospective enrolled nurses undertake a Diploma
qualification (Australian Government Department of Health 2013).

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Barriers in change
However, there are certain barriers in the comprehensive implementation of the
policy. The nursing professionals who work in the critical care unit like the emergency unit or
in the palliative care unit or in ICU, are unable to take part in such vocational training in
order to promote their professional development in the domain of the clinical skills. The main
barrier poor nurse: patient ratio. In the critical care unit, the scarcity of the nursing
professionals creates a challenge for the existing nursing professionals to take part in the
vocational training. The extreme work-pressure double shift rosters make it challenging for
the nurses to take part in training and educational program. Thus the Australian government
must come-forward recruit more nurses in order to balance the ratio (Eslamian, Moeini and
Soleimani 2015).

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References
Australian Government Department of Health. 2013. 7.1 Nursing and midwifery education.
Access date: 29th March 2019. Retrieved from:
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/work-review-
australian-government-health-workforce-programs-toc~chapter-7-nursing-midwifery-
workforce%E2%80%93education-retention-sustainability~chapter-7-nursing-midwifery-
education
Ding, D.X., 2014. The effect of experience, ownership and focus on productive efficiency: A
longitudinal study of US hospitals. Journal of Operations Management, 32(1-2), pp.1-14.
Eslamian, J., Moeini, M. and Soleimani, M., 2015. Challenges in nursing continuing
education: A qualitative study. Iranian journal of nursing and midwifery research, 20(3),
p.378.
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA). 2018. Professional Code of conduct for
the Nurses. Access date: 29th March 2019. Retrieved from:
https://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/codes-guidelines-statements/professional-
standards.aspx