1
Western Governors University
Name
C493: Leadership Experience
Staffing Ratio In The Emergency Department
, 2
A. Develop a written proposal by doing the following:
1. Identify a problem or issue related to practice, policy, population, or education that
aligns with the organizational priorities you seek to solve: Staffing Ratio
a. Explain the problem or issue, including why it applies to the area of practice you
chose and the healthcare environment: Most hospitals in this country are divided
into many different specialties, for examples: emergency department, labor and
delivery, post-partum, medical-surgical, intensive care units, telemetry, and so on.
AB 394 passed in 1999 in California where it became the first state that mandate
hospitals to have a minimum patient to nurse ratio (Kasprak J., 2004). The ratio
law mandated how many patients can be assigned to a nurse in a single shift based
on the patient’s complexity of care and clinical requirements. For example,
intensive/critical care is one nurse to two patients, the emergency room is one
nurse to four patients, telemetry department is one nurse to five patients, and et
cetera (CHCF, 2017).
Current problems we are facing as nurses is that we are working over our mandated
ratio and this is occurring more often than not. Especially in the emergency
department during flu season, most nurses will go over their ratio to accommodate
the patients’ volume that comes through the department.
2. Discuss your investigation of the problem or issue.
a. Provide evidence to substantiate the problem or issue (e.g., organizational
assessment, national source documents, evidence from a stakeholder): As a result,
Western Governors University
Name
C493: Leadership Experience
Staffing Ratio In The Emergency Department
, 2
A. Develop a written proposal by doing the following:
1. Identify a problem or issue related to practice, policy, population, or education that
aligns with the organizational priorities you seek to solve: Staffing Ratio
a. Explain the problem or issue, including why it applies to the area of practice you
chose and the healthcare environment: Most hospitals in this country are divided
into many different specialties, for examples: emergency department, labor and
delivery, post-partum, medical-surgical, intensive care units, telemetry, and so on.
AB 394 passed in 1999 in California where it became the first state that mandate
hospitals to have a minimum patient to nurse ratio (Kasprak J., 2004). The ratio
law mandated how many patients can be assigned to a nurse in a single shift based
on the patient’s complexity of care and clinical requirements. For example,
intensive/critical care is one nurse to two patients, the emergency room is one
nurse to four patients, telemetry department is one nurse to five patients, and et
cetera (CHCF, 2017).
Current problems we are facing as nurses is that we are working over our mandated
ratio and this is occurring more often than not. Especially in the emergency
department during flu season, most nurses will go over their ratio to accommodate
the patients’ volume that comes through the department.
2. Discuss your investigation of the problem or issue.
a. Provide evidence to substantiate the problem or issue (e.g., organizational
assessment, national source documents, evidence from a stakeholder): As a result,
