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Poll taps into nursing staff challenges

Nurse Leader Weekly, June 9, 2008

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Nurses across the country care for patients at all types of facilities. But would they want to be cared for at their own?

According to a recent study conducted by the American Nurses Association, more than half of the nurses surveyed said they wouldn't feel comfortable having someone they are close to receive care at their place of employment.

That was just one of many eye-catching results garnered from a study which drew responses from more than 10,000 nurses in less than two months.

The Safe Staffing Poll, which was conducted to gauge staffing issues in healthcare facilities and how nurses are being affected by them, highlighted the growing need to fill the nursing shortage. Problems with retaining nurses may not be new to the eyes of those in the healthcare industry, but the poll brought to light common issues across the board and the importance of assessing them in order for nurses to deliver high-quality patient care.

Significant findings include:

• Almost three-quarters of the respondents (73.1%, including nurses working in hospitals, nursing homes, and schools), believed staff numbers in their unit are insufficient
• More than two-thirds of participants (67.5%) always partake in non-nursing activities such as delivering meal trays, going to the pharmacy, and drawing labs.
• More than a quarter of participants said they take their full lunch break once a month, and 24.9% take it once a week. A smaller portion (11.5%) never takes their entire lunch break
• More than half of respondents (51.2%) believe the quality of nursing care in their unit has declined in the past year.

Editor's Note: This excerpt was adapted from the article, "Poll taps into nursing staff challenges" featured in The Reading Room on HCPro's new online resource center, www.StrategiesForNurseManagers.com. Get a free trial membership that will give you 30 days to test drive all the exciting features on the Web site.

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