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Contemporary Issue: Short Staffing

Cameron Spieles

School of Nursing, James Madison University

NSG 462: Issues in Contemporary Nursing

Professor Garman

November 4, 2023
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Contemporary Issue: Short Staffing

Inadequate nurse staffing has been a big problem for the past couple of decades, and has

been exacerbated after the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurses are leaving the field more frequently

than ever, and one of the biggest factors is short staffing. Short staffing in nursing has led to a

decrease in patient safety, an increase in mental health problems for nurses, and an increase in

nurse burnout rates while impacting the nurse’s ability to carry out the nine provisions of the

nursing code of ethics.

Impacts on Patient Safety

One of the biggest problems with the lack of nurse staffing is the risk it poses to patient

safety. The more patients a nurse has, the less that the nurse can be able to spend time with

patients and notice key signs of deterioration. Research conducted by Dall’Ora et al (2022)

showed that an increase in patient ratios led to an increase in patient mortality rates. Logically

thinking, the research makes perfect sense as nurses have less time to interact and critically think

for their patients when they are over their ratios. Provision 3 of the code of ethics, which talks

about advocating for and protecting patients, is hard to accomplish when the short staff and

increased ratios are taking place

Impacts on Mental Health

Another important factor that short staffing has on nurses is the impact it has on mental

health. Nursing at its baseline is a mentally demanding job, as well as physically demanding, too.

Adding on an unsafe patient ratio and not enough staff to offer assistance when needed does not

help the issue either. Research performed by Havaei et al (2021) specifically looked into the

impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the mental health of nurses and found that anxiety, 3

PTSD, and depression in nurses had all increased in number compared to before the pandemic
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began. This is such a significant finding as nurses are often overlooked and expected to come to

work on a daily basis and provide the best patient care they can. If nurses cannot take care of

themselves, how can they be expected to continually care for others? When looking into the

provisions of the code of ethics, I believe provision 4, which talks about authority to make

decisions to promote optimal care, and provision 5, which talks about the nurse owing the same

duties to themselves as to others, represent this situation the best.

Impacts on Nurse Burnout Rates

Lastly, there has been an increase in nurse burnout rates due to short staffing and dealing

with these issues day in and day out at work. Research done by Shah et al (2021) found that the

reason 31.5% of nurses that quit in 2017 was due to burnout, along with short staffing and

stressful environments. Dealing with burnout can be difficult for nurses as it hinders their ability

to best care for and empathize with patients, which effects provision 1 of the code of ethics.

Conclusion

Being a nurse, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, has been challenging for nurses

across the globe and has had systemic effects in the healthcare system. Most importantly, short

staffing has had the most detrimental impacts of nursing in the current age. Short staffing has led

to a decrease in patient safety, negatively impacted nurse’s mental health, and has increased the

burnout rates of nurses around the globe. Additionally, all of these factors in one way or another

impact nurses abilities to fulfill the nursing code of ethics.

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References

Dall'Ora, C., Saville, C., Rubbo, B., Turner, L., Jones, J., & Griffiths, P. (2022). Nurse staffing

levels and patient outcomes: A systematic review of longitudinal studies. International

Journal of Nursing Studies, 134, 104311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2022.104311

Havaei, F., Ma, A., Staempfli, S., & MacPhee, M. (2021). Nurses' workplace conditions

impacting their mental health during COVID-19: A cross-sectional survey study.

Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 9(1), 84. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9010084

Shah, M. K., Gandrakota, N., Cimiotti, J. P., Ghose, N., Moore, M., & Ali, M. K. (2021).

Prevalence of and factors associated with nurse burnout in the US. JAMA Network Ppen,

4(2), e2036469. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.36469