Patient Safety Issues

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In this essay, the topic of ‘’patient safety in relation to the shortage of nurses’’ will be critically discussed. The shortage of nurses, and also the stress, emotional and physical exhaustion of those nursing staff working in Irish hospitals can only have adverse effects on the care of patients, leading to serious patient safety issues. This essay will be focussing on these issues faced by the patients and the risks that are involved in their care whilst in hospital. The extent of patient safety problems will be discussed, examining issues such as higher mortality rates, less effective care and delayed response to call bells, all in relation to the shortage of nursing staff. Political responses to address the issue of patient safety due to the shortage of nurses will also be …show more content…
According to Kohn et al, 2000; patient safety can be defined as ‘’freedom from accidental injury; ensuring patient safety involves the establishment of operational systems and process that minimize the likelihood of intercepting them when they occur.’’ Three overall goals for effective health systems are; good health, rapid responsiveness and equality in financial contribution. (WHO, 2000 p.26)
Due to the shortage of nurses in the Irish health system; good health outcomes for patients in hospital and rapid responsiveness are difficult to achieve. The ratio of nurse to patients is critically determining satisfactory patient outcomes. The number of patients per nurse is a deciding factor resulting in life or death outcomes. According to University of Pennsylvania the optimal workload is four patients per nurse per shift. A 31% rise in mortality rate was identified when the nurse to patient ratio increased to 1:8. In Ireland it is

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