How competing needs, such as the needs of the workforce, resources, and patients, may impact the development of policy.

The development of healthcare policies can be influenced by the needs of the workforce, resources, and patients. Healthcare policies should consider the demands and needs of healthcare professionals. Policymakers could increase financial incentives in organizations to attract and retain nurses. That could help improve the nursing shortage, reduce turnover rate, and improve job satisfaction (Costa & Friese,2022).

Policies also influence budgets. Healthcare budgeting is an extensive interprofessional process in any healthcare organization. Budget constraints influence the availability of supplies, the usage of technology, and the availability of staffing. The resources and goods that serve a healthcare organization include patient care outcomes, patient satisfaction, and community and population health (Zhang & Bohlen,2023).

Competing Needs in the National Health Stressor- Nursing shortage

The nursing shortage is affecting competing needs such as workforce demands, resources, and impacting patients. The shortage has caused a lack of administrative support, lack of equipment, health resource disparities, and lower salaries in rural and underserved areas. The high patient-to-nurse ratios have caused demanding workloads, increased risk of burnout, lower job satisfaction, and higher rates of turnover. The nursing shortage is negatively affecting health care quality, access to healthcare, and wait times for care across all health care settings (Pelham, 2024).

How might policy address these competing needs?

Implementing policies can address the needs of patients and staff within the healthcare system. Policies could prevent workforce losses and increase the supply of nurses. Implementing policies that could promote safer nurse-staffing practices, establishing mandatory patient-to-nurse ratios to support patient safety, and reducing the likelihood of nurse departures, could improve patient outcomes and job satisfaction for health care workers (Costa & Friese,2022).

References:

Costa, D. K., & Friese, C. R. (2022). Policy strategies for addressing current threats to the U.S. nursing workforce. New England Journal of Medicine, 386(26), 2454–2456. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmp2202662 

Pelham, S. (2024). Nursing shortages: A threat to patient care. OHIO Today. https://www.ohio.edu/news/2024/11/nursing-shortages-threat-patient-care#:~:text=“Nursing%20shortages%20negatively%20impact%20health,care%20settings%2C”%20Chertok%20explained. 

Zhang, R., & Bohlen, J. (2023). Healthcare Business Budgeting. StatPearls [Internet]. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK589707/