Those activities are the essence of nursing care and are frequently the determining factors why patients live or die. They are the parts of our profession we love doing the most. Yet, unfortunately, registered nurses are increasingly unable to deliver these critical services so essential to quality patient care. Study after study has confirmed that better health-care outcomes correlate directly with appropriate staffing levels and higher ratios of registered nurses to patients in the staffing mix. Specifically, when there are more RNs, there are lower mortality rates, shorter lengths of stay, lower costs and fewer complications.
Nurses are in short supply and the situation is predicted to get worse.
Only 9 percent of us are under the age of 30, compared with 25 percent in 1980. And nursing school enrollment is at an all-time low. It has become evident that current working conditions are major factors contributing to the shortage and make it even more difficult to recruit and retain nurses. Adding to the stress of caring for larger numbers of sicker patients with fewer registered nurses is the increasing use of mandatory overtime as a staffing practice. Nurses are being required to work 16 hours or more in a 24-hour period, jeopardizing both the safety and quality of care being delivered to patients and their own safety.