NSG 4150 Week 5 Discussion

Sample Answer

Healthcare organizations use travel nurses temporarily to fill short-term employment gaps in various clinical settings. Travel nurses usually assist the staff nurses in dealing with the patient loads. Hospital units have mandatory or recommended nurse-to-patient ratios meant to promote safety and standard patient care. T

ravel nurses help maintain the nurse-to-patient ratios while relieving the patient load for current staff and improving patient satisfaction (Vander Weerdt et al., 2023). By maintaining healthy ratios, travel nurses help to maintain quality nursing care since the current staff are not overwhelmed.

Nonetheless, the use of travel nurses is associated with some disadvantages, like inadequate time for rest. Nurses work for extended hours ranging from 48 to 72 hours per week. When not working, they may be called to supplement staffing during coverage gaps, which denies them time for rest and recovery (Vander Weerdt et al., 2023).

Furthermore, using travel nurses has a financial implication for the organization since it has to use more resources to compensate additional employees. Another financial impact of using travel nurses on unit and healthcare organization includes hospitals losing their full-time employment nurses to travel nursing agencies.

Travel nurses earn more than full-time employees, making more nurses prefer the former. As a result, organizations are losing many staff nurses to travel nursing and then forced to pay travel nursing agencies exorbitant rates to get new nurses (Odom-Forren, 2022). This jeopardizes the financial stability of healthcare organizations. Furthermore, they are forced to use more resources to recruit new nurses, affecting the organization’s budget. Staffing and retention of full-time nurses can be improved through employee engagement.

It is a strategic commitment that encourages continuous employee performance, accomplishment, and improvement. It entails improving the workplace and culture so employees feel more connected and committed to the organization’s vision, goals, and values (Sahni, 2021). This increases staff motivation, which increases employee motivation and reduces turnover rates, thus reducing the annual budget allocations for the recruitment of new nurses.

References

• Odom-Forren, J. (Gouging or Supply and Demand?. Journal of perianesthesia nursing official journal of the American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses, 37(2), 153–154. https //doi.org/10.1016/j.jopan.2022.01.013
  
• Sahni, J. (2021). Employee engagement among millennial workforce Empirical study on selected antecedents and consequences. SAGE Open, 11(1), 21582440211002208. https //doi.org/10.1177/21582440211002208
  
• Vander Weerdt, C., Peck, J. A., & Porter, T. (2023). Travel nurses and patient outcomes A systematic review. Health care management review, 48(4), 352-362. https //doi.org/10.1097/HMR.0000000000000383