Document9__1_.docx Project in Policy, Politics, and Global Health Trends C159 Western

Document9__1_.docx    Project in Policy, Politics, and Global Health Trends  C159  Western Governors University  Policy, Politics, and Global Health Trends  A1. Public Policy Issue  Having a minimum nurse-to-patient staffing requirement in acute care hospitals is a policy that needs to be implemented in Utah to address inappropriate staffing levels.  I selected this public policy issue because I have witnessed and have been a part of nursing resources being overwhelmed and unsafe.  14 states currently have legislation that address nurse staffing in hospitals, Utah is currently not one of them.    Safe nurse staffing is relevant to the nursing profession because it can create problems with safety and effect patient outcomes.  High quality patient care is the goal of nurses and healthcare organizations. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between nurse staffing and patient outcomes. This study looked at specific outcomes including failure to rescue (incidents where physicians, nurses, or caregivers fail to notice a change of condition or respond appropriately to signs that a patient is dying of preventable complications), falls with injury, pressure ulcer incidence, catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). The results from the study showed benefits of lower nurse to patient ratios were reduction in medication errors, patient mortality, hospital readmissions, and length of stay. Safety outcomes were