Intervention Plan Design

During the last evaluation, I carefully analyzed the problem statement by employing the PICOT approach and recommended an intervention for the given issue. In the context of the assessment of the intervention plan design mentioned in the task, I will outline some of the components of the nurse-to-patient ratio in responding to the burnout rate among nurses in Minnesota hospitals (Alshahranit et al., 2021). To make a case for having to lower the nurse-to-patient ratio, I will use different theoretical frameworks that will emphasize the benefits of the nurses and lessen the rate of burnout. I will also ensure during the process of intervention the implementation of the needs of stakeholders, the rules and regulations of the regulatory bodies, and the ethical considerations in the successful implementation of the intervention.

Major Components of the Intervention Plan

The primary intervention is still aiming at reducing the ratio of the number of nurses to patients in Minnesota. It offers measures such as reducing the current nurse-to-patient ratio to 1:1 in long-term care units. At the same moment, the intervention will also attempt to reduce the proportion of the emergency units to 1:2 (Plotzky et al., 2021). If a nurse transferred to another unit where the patients do not have severe illnesses, the ratio of patients per nurse could reach four or five patients for each nurse. The intervention aims to reduce burnout rates and the amount of stress that leads to nurses losing their jobs. The study has a duration of more than one year, and in this timeframe, it will attempt to assess the effects of the lowered nurse-to-patient ratio among specific nurses. Reducing the quantity of the ratio will decrease the workload among the nurses and increase the effectiveness of care provision.

Nurse burnout is another significant predictor of quality care in the permanent care structures, implying that employers that implement burnout countermeasures may experience enhanced patient outcomes (Melguizo et al., 2019). Studies proved that having a large area or large ward size is correlated to better care outcomes. On the other hand, realistic quality improvement will enhance the patient experience with the help of technology, culture, and leadership.The primary outcome that will indicate the success of the intervention plan involves increasing positive nurse-to-patient ratios which can be gauged from the satisfaction ratings. For any hospital that is here today to mean that it has made this achievement then this is an assurance that it has implemented the plan well.

Impact of Cultural Needs and Characteristics of Target Population

The targeted nurses that are chosen for the studies vary in terms of their background. Minnesota developed its peculiar nurse workforce; the backgrounds include White, Black, Hispanic, Muslim, and Latino. The majority of the targeted samples are female while a few of them are male (Sak et al., 2022). Another aspect that needs to be taken into consideration is whether the nurses are parents or not. And people came to know that some of them were mothers too or some nursing who had reached adulthood. In addition to the background of the specifically identified nurses, the environment of the hospital also influences the execution of the intervention (García, 2020). Many hospitals are privately owned, and a limited number of hospitals are public hospitals. Specifically, a private hospital has the burden of the patients, while a public hospital offers minimal services to the patients. There is a sample of burnout rates in Public hospitals latest than private hospitals.

The private hospital hires few nurses on higher wages while on the other end, the public hospital hires numerous nurses on meager wages. Below are the cultural considerations that should be made when conducting interventions on the targeted nurses. This means some of them may not accept some practices such as; blood transfusion due to ethical issues among others. During the process of implementing an intervention, it should be recommended that tasks be assigned to the nurses where they would prefer and where feel safe (García, 2020). It would lead to increased overall satisfaction of the nurses and thus promote effective performance of healthcare functions by these professionals. It’s assumed that such practices would enhance the decision-making among the nurses, increase the confidence of the nurses towards the hospital, and decrease the percentage of burnout rates among the nurses.

Evaluation of Theoretical Strategies

Another theory which is the Conservation of Resource Theory explains the impact of burnout on the nursing profession. Based on theory burnout is a state where work-related stress accumulates hence leading to poor performance. The theory is based on four resources namely energy, objects, the condition in which and character states. The theory goes further to explain that burnout is a result of these four resources (Liu et al., 2023). According to the above theory, health care organizations should design ways through which nurses can be shielded from burnout which may cause harm to the nurses as well as the patients. According to the Conservation of Resources theory, a reduction in the number of patients attended by each nurse can enhance their burnout. The strength of this theory is that it reveals the causes and outcomes of the issues of nurse burnout, but it does not show whether the performance of the nurse is the moderator between burnout and patient safety (Mitchell et al., 2021).

A strategy to understand the burnout symptoms of medical students during the United States Medical Licensure Examination suggests the following tips to reduce burnout in students: exercise, taking the day off, reducing the number of hours to study in a day, playtime setting time for fun, balanced diet, balanced sleep and studying with company. Through them, the levels of burnout among medical students can be reduced while their wellness is preserved throughout the study.

Justification of Major Component of the Intervention

The largest part of the intervention is to decrease the nurse-to-patient ratio in the LTCU to 1:1. The topic of ‘A standardized nurse-to-patient ratio?’ is another issue that requires an exact nurse-patient ratio for hospitals to apply. Literature shows that adequate staffing has a positive impact on clinical and financial outcomes for patients including patient satisfaction, medication errors, the cost of patient care, nurses’ exhaustion, and burnout (Tucker et al., 2021). Australia was the first country to establish nurse-to-patient ratios and this was done in Victoria state. It recommended 1:4 on morning duty, 1:5 on afternoon duty, and 1:8 on night duty in its public sector hospitals. Moreover, the first state to legally define the minimum nurse-to-patient staffing was California. Concerning the ratio of the nurse to patient, in other general wards, it was 1:5 in an emergency it was 1:4 and in I.C.U the nurse to patient ratio was 1:2 or even lesser in all the hours (LeClair et al., 2021). Now other US states are also starting to debate over laws on minimum nurse staffing standards.

The conflict that is attached to the intervention is that the number of patients that a nurse is expected to handle is arrived at through different approaches because one approach cannot fit well when used in the other. Staffing was defined for many years regarding the census, which means that the number of patients determined the number of nurses required to attend to them. 

Analysis of the Impact of Stakeholder Need, Healthcare Policy, Regulation, and Governing Bodies

The major stakeholders in our settings include patients, nurses, managers, finance officers, community members, and other hospital staff. This is what the patient requires: confidence, communication, information, education, self-care, and support. These needs will be affected by a decrease in the nursing staff-to-patient ratio; however, they will gradually be enhanced (Butow et al., 2023). At the same time, expectations from nurses embrace service delivery that encompasses staffing, staff and patient communication, availability for other staff, decision-making, skill maintenance, and promotion of a healthy work and personal life. Effective communication, organizational skills, ability to initiate and sustain a team, leadership skills, ability to manage change, and domain expertise are among the key competencies that managers require to be effective in their work. 

Stakeholder needs affect the functioning of the hospital and have to be taken into account. Normal nurse staffing is suggested as a regulation for hospitals and other healthcare institutions under the Public Health Service Act. The main intention of the legislation was to introduce Varied requirements for nurse staffing levels in different facilities. 

Analysis of Relevant Ethical and Legal Issues

Research has flagged some aspects that may expose nurses to emotional exhaustion and Burnout. Burnout rates in the U.S. healthcare units are high implying that the issue is systemic and requires an ethical evaluation on traditional working modalities. There is a high economic impact of burnout on employees, as well as the taxpayers, amounting to billions of dollars (Raspa et al., 2020). Another study has found that burnout negatively affects the physical and mental well-being of psychotherapists personally. It has also been associated with reduced production effectiveness and even misconduct by practitioners. This burnout ratio affects the performance of the organization and hence needs attention. The gap that the current literature presents is the fact that the nurse-patient ratio is calculated using different methods since none is applicable universally.

Conclusion

The study highlights major dimensions of the intervention plan: the number of nurses per shift per patient in different areas and standards (Raspa et al., 2020). It assesses the implications of cultural necessities and attributes of the target population. The intervention plan continues the discussion of the area of uncertainties and proposes to explicate the connection between burnout and patient safety.  Thus, ethical consequences of burnout are not only in nurses’ relation to their customers but also in their obligations to the employer.

References

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