The Impact Of State Minimum Staffing Standards On Nursing Home Care

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Qualitative and Quantitative Review
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Park, J., & Stearns, S. C. (2009). Effects of State Minimum Staffing Standards on Nursing Home Staffing and Quality of Care. Health Services Research, 44(1), 56-78. doi:10.1111/j.1475-6773.2008.00906.x
The aim of the research is to explore the impact of state minimum standards on the level of staffing and nursing home care quality. The study qualifies as a qualitative study due to the various characteristics of the study. Qualitative studies involve collecting, analyzing and interpreting data from observations. The main aim of qualitative studies is to derive meanings, characteristics, symbols and to describe things. First, the data collection method involves over 55,000 facility-year observations from 15,217 freestanding facilities. The OSCAR data combines with data on market conditions and state policies and guidelines. One of the key distinguishing characteristic of qualitative studies is the use of observations as a method of collecting data. Secondly, the structure of the study indicates that there is little emphasis on the literature review. Instead, the research focuses on providing detailed background information. In a deductive process, the authors develop a conceptual framework that informs the formulation of hypotheses. In contrast to the deductive research processes embraced by quantitative research methods, qualitative research is predominantly inductive and conducted in a natural setting. The selected study follows and inductive process, and it is in a natural setting (hospital set-up). Unlike quantitative studies that seek to prove a theory, the study sought to describe and show correlations between state minimum staffing standard and quality of care. The study did not focus on offering statistical or mathematical relationship but rather to show how low staffing ratio affects the quality of care. The study largely uses secondary data from health facilities while the analysis provides a detailed description of the variables. Instead of using random sampling as is the goal in quantitative research, qualitative research employs purpose or theoretical sampling. The researcher intentionally selects participants who can contribute an in-depth, information-rich understanding of the phenomenon under investigation. This is the case with the selected study where the authors selective include data from facilities that meet the minimum requirement. In addition, instead of identifying the facilities randomly, they conveniently used data from OSCAR.
The chief findings of the study are that increased standards are that an increased minimum standards in small staffing increases for hospitals with staffing below the recommended standards. The finding of the study further indicates that the study is qualitative in nature. Qualitative studies aim at describing in details the phenomenon under investigation compared to quantitative studies that aims at giving statistical values. The authors discuss the results of the study by focusing on the major principal finding of the study. The discussion emphasizes the effect of low staffing standards on the quality of care. Park and Steam note that facilities are operating higher staffing that the recommended ratios do not show improvements in their staffing level. In addition, they note that increased standards reduce restraint use and deficiencies at all types of facilities. Consequently, the authors conclude that minimum staffing standards influence the quality of care offered to the aging population in most low-end facilities.

Larson, N., Sendelbach, S., Missal, B., Fliss, J., & Gaillard, P. (2012). Staffing Patterns of Scheduled Unit Staff Nurses vs. Float Pool Nurses: A Pilot Study. MEDSURG Nursing, 21(1), 27-39.
Larson, Sue, Bernita and Fliss (2012) conducted a comparative study to identify the staffing patterns of scheduled unit staff nurses and float pool nurses. The pilot study qualifies as a
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