Introduction
The shortage of nurses in the ICU is a huge challenge for healthcare providers in the US. It has increased the demand for more nurses and nurse turnover rates, affecting patients and their families. It also affects nursing professionals. For example, reports have found that many nurses have considered leaving their job due to stress related to the workload while others have developed mental related issues such as anxiety and burnout. Healthcare organizations continuously to witness this challenge and it occurs due to manys reasons, including high acuity/admission levels. Many studies have been conducted in this area to understand the issue better. This essay evaluates and critques two qualitative studies examining staffing levels and how they affect patient safety, infection control, and nurse and patient stress in the ICU. It will include different elements such as author’s obejectives, reseach methods, research findings and the ethial considerations that the authors of the qualitiative articles employed.
PICOT question
In the ICU departments, do sufficient nurse workers (I) prevent
the occurrence of medical errors, infections, and stress among patients and nurses themselves (O) within one year (T) compared to inadequate nurse workers (C)?
Population (P) – The target population is the patients in the ICU.
Intervention (I) – Sufficient nurse workers
Comparison (C) – Inadequate nurse workers.
Outcome (O) -Prevents infections, stress, and medical errors among the patients and nurses
Time (T) – The duration is one year.
Background of Studies
Banda et al. (2019) investigate how nurses at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital’s ICU in Malawi view the issue of a high workload on patient care. Using a purposive sample technique, the researchers selected research participants based on how long they had previously worked at the hospital. They then provided them with informed consent. The researchers then performed ten in-depth interviews to collect the research data. After collecting data, they evaluated it using Braun & Clarke’s theme analysis method. According to the study, ICU nurses and critically ill patients suffer when nurses are overworked. It jeopardizes patient safety and hinders providing quality care. Additionally, it harms the nurses’ health. It suggests that nurses are worried about the harmful effects that heavy workloads have on patient care. Adding more ICU nurses is necessary to address this problem.
Bridges et al. (2019) examine how patients interact with nursing and staffing regarding quality and quantity. It involves tracking patient outcomes for a year while using various staff ratios. Investigators then performed regression analysis to examine the information gathered on patient care quality. They discovered that compared to nurses who handled fewer patients, those with at least eight patients exhibited poor engagement with them.
How The Two Articles Support the Nursing Practice Problem
Banda et al. (2019) examine nurses’ opinions on the problem of high workloads in the ICU. Thus, the study seeks to determine the idea behind workloads in patient care at the ICU. Similarly, Bridges et al. (2019) studied how patients feel about a situation when patient satisfaction with their care is high or poor. Both studies supported the PICOT question by stating that understaffing is a factor in the serious difficulties encountered in the ICU. They established that it hurts health outcomes. According to Banda et al. (2019), both ICU nurses and critically ill patients suffer when nurses are overworked. It jeopardizes patient safety and hinders providing quality care. In addition, it harms nurses’ health, contributing significantly to the ICU’s healthcare issues. Bridges et al. (2019) found that nurses with at least eight patients had poorer interactions with them than those with fewer.
Method of Studies
Banda et al. (2019) employed purposive sampling to select research participants based on the duration they had worked directly at the hospital. They then provided their informed consent. The researchers then performed ten in-depth interviews to collect the research data. After collecting data, they evaluated it using Braun & Clarke’s theme analysis method. Researchers from Bridges et al. (2019) studied patient outcomes based on various staff ratios for a year. Regression analysis was then utilized to examine the information acquired regarding the standard of patient care. Therefore, the approaches used in these two situations differed since Bridges et al. (20
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