Enhancing the acute ward's care quality through a safer staffing approach

Abstract

The lack of staff in the healthcare system has been a problem in recent years. This has been linked to disastrous consequences like challenges resulting in patient safety events and unfavourable outcomes, inadequate patient experiences because patients' needs aren't met, errors in medication administration, collapses in surgical wards, discontent, and burnout from working overtime, among others. An acute ward serves as the main location for patients who have shown up in medical emergencies and need immediate attention. An overview of the utilization of a safe staffing approach as a technique to improve the quality of care provided in the acute ward is provided in this report. The report considers the safe staffing policy and assesses the impact of staff scarcity on patient care quality by employing a fishbone cause and effect analysis. Plans for intervention (empowerment, technological use, and stakeholder participation) were facilitated by SWOT analysis, and quality improvement was assessed using the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle.