There is a major crisis going on in the nursing world, and unfortunately, if you are not behind the scenes, you may not be aware of what is going on. A lot of hospitals today are highly understaffed and nurses are the ones being affected the most.
According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a study showed that every 1 out of 5 nurses will hand in their resignation just one year after getting their license. A huge factor going into this statistic is that there are not enough nurses in hospitals all across the United States.
Why is understaffing such a huge crisis you might ask? A nurse’s number one job is to administer the highest quality of care to their patients. When nurses are in an environment where there are too many patients per nurse, they cannot successfully provide every patient with the highest quality of care.
When a nurse is the only one on their floor, or there are only a handful of nurses present, the time spent with each patient is decreased in order for them to get everyone on that floor the care and attention that they need. Not only do nurses have to care for patients, but they also have to do charting. Paperwork and documentation take an abundance of their attention and time as well.
The problem is that hospital administrators are not willing to spend the money that it takes to have enough staff on board. Board members might think by not hiring more staff they are saving money, but really short-staffed hospital floors is the most non-cost effective approach.
Unless every hospital gets behind the approach that you cannot run a successful hospital and provide the best care possible without being full-staffed, this issue is not going to change. While there are some hospitals taking a step in the right direction, not all are fully staffed just yet.
At Freedom Home Care, we know just how important providing the best care for you or your loved one is. That is why our staff is fully committed to giving you some of the best Chicago caregivers right to your home.
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