Question

What is one thing you would do as an administrator in the long term care industry to ensure you have adequate staff to care for your residents?

Answer 1

Ans) Staffing typically is a day-of-operations function in which designated persons assess and determine the shift-to-shift ratio of nurses to patients to ensure adequate staffing on each shift and unit.

- Nurses are experiencing higher workloads than ever before due to four main reasons:

(1) increased demand for nurses,

(2) inadequate supply of nurses,

(3) reduced staffing and increased overtime,

(4) reduction in patient length of stay.

First, the demand for nurses is increasing as a result of population aging.

- To calculate the direct care hours per resident/day: Add the total number of direct care nursing staff hours for each 24 hour period, using the actual number of hours each person worked. Divide the total hours for each 24 hour period by the total census for each day to calculate the PPD.

- In the face of aggressive cost-cutting, minimum staffing levels are necessary to ensure the safety of patients and nurses. Adequate nurse staffing is key to improving patient care and nurse retention, while poor staffing endangers patients and drives nurses from the profession.

-