¶ … nurses will continue to wrestle with is patient safety. This is because of the increasing demands and larger roles for these health care professionals are continually shifting. To deal with these challenges, a number of facilities have been utilizing a team based approach to increase staffing levels. The basic idea is that this can reduce mistakes by having more staff available to monitor patients. A good example of this can be seen with a study that was conducted by the American Association of Nursing. They found that when nursing staff levels are higher is when the overall quality of care will improve with shorter hospital stays and lower secondary medical issues. This is important, in showing how nursing staff levels will have a dramatic effect on patient safety. (McGillis. 2005, pg. 17) (Kalisch, 2011, pp. 82 -- 88) To fully understand what is occurring requires carefully examining the study that was conducted in the article titled Nursing Staff Levels and Teamwork. This will be accomplished by focusing on: the purpose, the study framework, examining the sample methods, the statistics utilized and looking at the finding from the research. Together, these different elements will have the greatest impact in determining how the team approach can help to improve patient safety. (Kalisch, 2011, pp. 82 -- 88)

Purpose is stated, problem is identified, and the literature review is conducted

The purpose of the article is to look at the effect of higher staff to patient levels on the overall quality of care inside a facility. In general, this idea is being used as a way to improve communication and reduce the total number of mistakes. However, the problem is that this approach will not work all the time (especially in large hospitals). What is happening is many of the bigger facilities have tried using the team approach with no success. The reason why these practices failed is the size of these facilities made it nearly impossible for team members to work together. (Kalisch, 2011, pp. 82 -- 88)

As a result, researchers looked at over 100 different studies during the process of studying the problem. What they determined in the literature review is that there are a number of factors that will have effect on quality. Teamwork will address these issues by focusing on a variety of areas to include: providing increased attention to patients, addressing any kind of issues while they are small and there was improved performance in staff members. At the same time, other studies indicated that teamwork is based on several elements working in conjunction with each other. To include: adaptability, mutual performance, communication, shared mental models and trust. These elements are important, in showing how the team approach will provide a variety of benefits to a health organization. This is helping researchers to design a study that will take these factors into account as a part of their own survey. (Kalisch, 2011, pp. 82 -- 88)

Study framework is critiqued, variables are critiqued, and research design identified.

The framework of the study is to use the cross sectional approach in conjunction with qualitative analysis. This is when actuaries are looking at the results from their own survey to corroborate their findings with previous studies. In this case, researchers will be utilizing these 100 studies and will then contrast the trends from their survey. This will allow them to correlate all patterns and identify any kind of anomalies. The combination of these factors will assist others in mirroring these results. They can then, use the findings as foundation for their own research project. This is when the data that is collected can help to find solutions to this problem using the team based approach. (Klenke, 2008, pg. 7) (Kalisch, 2011, pp. 82 -- 88)

The variables of the study were divided into various categories. These include: hours worked per day, skill mix and the average number of patients that were on programs such as Medicare / Medicaid. The combination of these factors is important, because they helped researchers to divide the responses from 33 survey...

This is when they were able to see the impact of numerous variables on the health care environment. (Kalisch, 2011, pp. 82 -- 88)
The design method that was utilized is the descriptive approach. Under this format, researchers are concentrating on specific factors that will influence how the subjects have been feeling about particular events. During this process, is when there is a focus on comprehending the current situation with an emphasis on a number of areas to include: to find out how things are going or might have been. This is important, because it will allow the study to focus respondents on the way the team approach is impacting a health care environment. Once this takes place, is the point that actuaries can see how this is affecting a variety of facilities. (Lucas, 1980, pp. 133 -- 140) (Kalisch, 2011, pp. 82 -- 88)

Sample, measurement methods, and data collection techniques are critiqued.

Like what was stated previously, the sample is using cross sectional research. This is when we will be surveying different segments of nurses to understand how the team approach is impacting the quality of care. During the study, actuaries surveyed a total of 2,475 respondents at 4 different health care facilities. These individuals were broken down into the different sub-groups (which is illustrated in the below chart). (Kalisch, 2011, pp. 82 -- 88)

The Sample of Respondents for the Survey

Field of Nursing

Total Number of Participants

Registered Nurses

1,741

Practical Nurses

41

Nursing Assistants

Unit Secretaries

Total

2,475

(Kalisch, 2011, pp. 82 -- 88)

These figures are showing how a diverse sample of nurses was taken as a part of the survey. This improves the quality of the research by focusing on specific individuals inside the field. (Kalisch, 2011, pp. 82 -- 88)

The measuring methods involved are using a 33 question survey that was handed out to respondents. The study was conducted over a four-week time frame with participants receiving two rewards. The first one was a small candy bar provided to respondents of all surveys. Any organization that was able to return over 50% of their samples was given a pizza party as a reward. These techniques are important, because they encouraged high response rates from participants. This meant that more of the population sample was willing to provide honest answers (which improves the findings of the study). (Kalisch, 2011, pp. 82 -- 88)

The data collection method was to use a purposive sample. This is when there is a focus on the answers that are provided by specific sub-groups of the population. Once the questionnaire was completed, is when actuaries used the Statistical Package for Social Science. This is an analysis program that will compare the various responses with one another and it will group them into specific categories. When this happens, is the point that researchers can identify the trends and compare the responses with each other from survey participants. This is important, because this approach kept the research as objective as possible by having a way of focusing on a specific population segment. Then, use the software to compare the responses with one another (which improved the accuracy of the study). This is when the findings of the research were more objective. (Kalisch, 2011, pp. 82 -- 88)

A description of statistics used and results found.

The basic statistics were collected through multiple regression analysis. This is when actuaries are seeking to show how there is a connection between the different variables inside the survey. The way that this occurred is to divide respondents into different categories based on the health care model that is practiced at the facility. The most notable include: trust, team orientation, back up, shared mental and the team leadership models. This approach helps to improve the accuracy of the findings by allowing actuaries to see the impact of specific…