The Current State of Nursing Care: A Conversation with Dr. Barbara Ihrke (May 16th)
www.thehealthcarepolicypodcast.com
Listen Now Nurses, today numbering over four million, represent the largest segment of the healthcare workforce and deliver the majority of direct patient care. Their role in determining care quality (and safety) cannot be under-estimated. Absent adequate nursing care patients can face a long list of nonfatal and fatal outcomes. The profession however suffers a number of challenges due in part to both an aging population and one that is increasingly co-morbid. For example, not only are hospital patients more sick (i.e., have higher acuity) but because of financial pressures their lengths of stay have decreased. Among other issues facing the profession are the increasing demand for nurses (there's presently a nurse shortage that is only expected to grow worse), the increasing demand for higher educational attainment, increasing administrative burdens (that takes away from their ability to provide direct care), an aging nurse population, career burnout, long standing/persisting scope of practice issues that limits their ability to "practice to the top of their licence" and the lack of nurses in organizational leadership positions.
The Current State of Nursing Care: A Conversation with Dr. Barbara Ihrke (May 16th)
The Current State of Nursing Care: A…
The Current State of Nursing Care: A Conversation with Dr. Barbara Ihrke (May 16th)
Listen Now Nurses, today numbering over four million, represent the largest segment of the healthcare workforce and deliver the majority of direct patient care. Their role in determining care quality (and safety) cannot be under-estimated. Absent adequate nursing care patients can face a long list of nonfatal and fatal outcomes. The profession however suffers a number of challenges due in part to both an aging population and one that is increasingly co-morbid. For example, not only are hospital patients more sick (i.e., have higher acuity) but because of financial pressures their lengths of stay have decreased. Among other issues facing the profession are the increasing demand for nurses (there's presently a nurse shortage that is only expected to grow worse), the increasing demand for higher educational attainment, increasing administrative burdens (that takes away from their ability to provide direct care), an aging nurse population, career burnout, long standing/persisting scope of practice issues that limits their ability to "practice to the top of their licence" and the lack of nurses in organizational leadership positions.