Developing Organizational Policies and Practices Lea Leconte Walden University NURS6053: Interprofessional Organizational and Systems Leaders Dr. Betty Jean Joubert March 18, 2023Developing Organizational Policies and Practices Healthcare stressors refer to changes in any productive or service sector, as well as, innovations in an area of knowledge that present new challenges for those who are part of the sector these affect. Some of these problems are recurrent over time, even if there are technological changes. This paper addresses one of the national healthcare issues/stressors - nursing shortage-, and how it affects healthcare setting (in this case the staff members from the emergency unit in a primary care facility), and how some institutions respond to this problem, The Stressor Excessive demand for health services is due to multiple factors. Regardless of the cause, the result ends up being the lack of health professionals (in this case, nurses) who can attend to the number of cases that occur in their dependency, given that the number of patients to attend to exceeds them by far (Auerbach et al., 2020). In quantitative terms, estimations suggest that the shortage of nurses nowadays is higher than 7 million all over the world (Maré et al., 2019). In consequence, each nurse to carries an unbearable workload, even for nursing standards. Excessive workloa one of the consequences of nursing shortage. A work falls under the category of excessive when its execution is beyond the individual capacity for recovery (Ghasemi et al., 2019). The latter can negatively affect staff nurses because it poses risks in terms of their physical and mental health. Some of the symptoms of excessive workload include: a reduction on the ability to concentrate, visible signs of exhaustions (such as drowsiness, lapses in memory, disorientation, anxiety, depression) or even cardiac anc/or neurological syndromes (West et al,, 2018). In the end, the individual experiences what literature refers as burnout, severely compromising his/her, health (Duiko & Kohal, 2022),Study Summary A study by Nelson-Brantley et al., (2018), points out an existent gap between the number of nurses required for optimal eare and those currently available worldwide, however, it does not ‘mean that 1 s constant for each health facility or geographical area (Halter et al., 2017) However, the authors suggest this does not imply either that (compared to others) there is an identical cause for shortage in each of the facilities. The latter indicates that, the phenomenon of nursing shortage might be recurrent but their circumstances vary in each facility. Another study is the one condueted by Kelley et al. (2022), when they use the example of the RWJF (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) which, was able to reduce the bedside nurse shortage, by attracting qualified professionals from other areas (of specialty and geographical) to work for them and making improvements in terms of quality care, In addition, authors note that RWIF enabled these professionals to do their best work, and studies showed it had positive outcomes (Kelley et al., 2022). The ANA (2019) has adopted similar policies. Impact Using an example that is consistent with the studies previously mentioned, involves a recent expansion in the services of facility that does not have the necessary number of professionals they need. The fact the facility lacks of human resourees, however, does not necessarily involve that the facility lacks of people to hire, but rather, for example, that has hired less than those who appear as available in their area (some of them might even be unemployed), which can fill the positions and reduce the workload. The impact of these policies serves as renovation and reinforcement in the facility, qualified enough to address its needs, and helping to mitigate the effects of excessive workload, but it can also create an environment of unhealthy Is ( competence between nursing professioi ialous & Batzell, 2020).Competing Needs Competing needs refer to a situation in which two parties are in dispute for an identical resource, but they cannot share it or are not willing to do it, meaning that just one of the parties can have access to this resource, at the expense of the other (Marquis & Huston, 2019). Two competing needs affecting nursing shortage (productivity and pa jients’ demand) involves the organization's focus ‘on managing their costs’. Productivity and patient's demand represent a competing need, since they are standards that condition the facility’s operational costs. In one hand, productivity means that current nursing staff members (even if they have shortage) must report higher benefits to the organization in terms of patient’s attention but, at the same time it should not represent additional costs than those considered by the organization to remain operational (Carvalho et al., 2018). On the other hand, if the patient’s demand decreases (for instance, due to their dissatisfaction with the facilities services), it would mean the facility will not be able to operate, since it lacks the number of necessary patients to finance their operational costs (Griffiths et al., 2020). However, even if nursing staff members experience excessive workload to meet patient’s demand, there will be a point in which the facility will not be able to meet patient's demand due to the staff members’ exhaustion and lack of renovation, Policies Influencing Nursing Shortage When it comes to develop strategies that address the healthcare system’s necessities. The healthcare administrators’ urge to maintain operation costs in accordance to the productivity and patient's demand level, leads them to avoid investing in new staff members increasing the ‘work of their current ones (Carvalho et al., 2018). Their purpose is to have more productivity with the use their current resources or less than those available. The latter not only influences nursing shortage, but also a dynamic of exploitation with healthcare staff membersEthical Considerations, Maintaining productivity levels and patient demand in a health facility not only generates negative impacts on the professionals employed, but also on an ethical level. The latter is due to the fact that maintaining said levels would imply a forced reduction in the number of personnel. but also the time they spend on their tasks, including patient care. For example, the quality of care cannot be the same if a nurse is responsible for more patients than those she can actually handle, even if the organization sets this target as necessary to meet those competing needs. At an individual level, nurses will stumble with situations involving ethical such as prioritizing which patients need more attention, depending on their condition, even if is not a critical scenario (Larijani & Fabti, 2018). If their regular schedules do not suffice the patient’s demand, they will have to either quit their job or do some extra work, which can also cause bumout and turnover among healthcare staff members (Aydogdu, 2022). At the same time patients will suffer the negative effects of nursing shortage, up to the point of compromising, not only their satisfaction levels, but also their own health (Maré et al., 2019). Recommendations Studies suggest developing clear policies that limit practices that influence nursing shortage or contribute in dealing with competing needs (Sharma et al., 2018). For this case, polices need to be specific on what are the productivity and patient demand levels the facility can actually meet and what would be the healthcare members priorities without compromising the patients” quality of care (Adams et al., 2019). The latter can give institutions a strategy in terms of leadership, logisties and management to alleviate this urgency in an assertive manner and replicating it in other facilities, to reduce the impacts of this problem.Conclusion Although it is true that the shortage of nurses is a phenomenon that seriously affects the provision of health services, each facility must examine what the cause is for its specific situation (for example, if itis budgetary or due to a lack of qualified personnel available in the area), On the other hand, making use of the renewal from the incorporation of new professionals from the universities can contribute to leveling the workloads in the facility. 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