Limitations of the study include that of in the discussion the author has mentioned briefly how nurse burnout has been researched by other studies and that this current study does echo other study and mentions that there has been a mention of nurse burnout but ultimately goes on to say this study is the first to their knowledge to identify negative effects on nurse burnout (Beck 2009). Although this is said the study was based on previous studies concluding in nurse burnout ending in negative effects.
The author has not made clear to the reader what this statement is ultimately supposed to say and has exaggerated the findings to work in favour of the current study. There were also limitations in the limitation section as the mentioned limitations were obvious to the reader and the author did not go in to detail about any limitations in which could have truly interrupted the study. The limitations mentioned would not particularly affect the study at all they are merely observations any one could make (Beck 2009).
The impact of the findings on this study indicate that nurses perceived time pressure is in fact negatively affecting patients safety with a high level of burnout. The reason this study was chosen and found relevant was due to that whilst nurses are understaffed it will increase workloads and induce burnout. This study was most relevant to prove a point of patient’s safety is being affected. The need for this review was to answer the research question how does the nursing shortage affect patient safety and outcomes?
To answer this question three research articles were found all which give some detail into what happens when nurses are over worked and understaffed. The findings from all three articles indicated that patient safety is at risk when the nurse’s workload is increased (Hopkins n. d). The first article indicated when nurses are understaffed it causes time constraints and that all nurse actions are not completed. The study went on to say that medication errors were more likely to happen if the staff are caring for a mean of 7. 99 patients at a time.
The 7. 99 patients was the average amount of patient each nurse had to care for in one shift. This led to patients not being cared for too the full level of which they needed to and tasks were left undone. The second article backed the first article up and went on to say also that patient safety was at risk with a low number of staff being on at one time and that there was a reported higher incidence rate of infections, pressure ulcers, patient dissatisfaction all which are negative factors and are impacts on patient safety and outcomes (Green, Johnson & Adams 2006).
The study also mentioned that with fewer staff patients were spending longer times in hospital due to tasks not being completed and of course higher rates of infection due to nurses having time constraints and not taking all precautions when caring for patients. The third study backed the first two studies up by concluding when nurses experience burnout due to the workload it creates negative impacts upon patients. It stated time pressure reduces nurse’s performance and that with an understanding of this increasing the level of staff with improve patient outcomes.
It states my managing and reducing nurse time pressure negative impacts will be reduced (Hopkins n. d). In conclusion by synthesising the results of the three studies it is clear that the question is answered and that in fact yes the nursing shortage is impacting upon patient outcomes and safety. All three articles pointed out those negative effects can happen when there is a lack of or rationing of staff. The way this can be fixed is to avoid time constraints by placing more staff on each shift.
Through saying this there is a nursing shortage and this will be hard to do. Nurses need to careful in times of burnout and care for patients to avoid such incidences in affecting safety and outcomes. REFERENCES Beck, C 2009, Critiquing Qualitative Research, AORN, no. 90, October, pp. 543-554, online Science Direct Crookes, P & Davies, S 2004, Research into Practice: essential skills for reading and applying research in nursing and health care, 2nd edn, Bailliere-Tindall, Edinburgh
Duffield, C, Diers, D, O’Brien-Pallas, L, Aisbett, C, Roche, M, King, M & Aisbett, K 2010, Nursing staffing, nursing workload, the work environment, and patient outcomes, Applied Nursing Research, February, online Science Direct (In press corrected proof) Green, B, Johnson, C & Adams, A 2006, Writing narrative literature reviews for peer reviewed journals: secrets of the trade, Journal of Chiropractic Medicine, no,5, Autumn, pp. 101-117, online Science Direct