Applying Economic Decision Making To Health

Full Answer Section

1. Analyze Data:

   • Review the information gathered from the media activity, transcript, and interviews. Organize your notes and identify key trends or patterns.
   • Analyze vacancy rates, patient-to-nurse ratios, staff turnover rates, and factors influencing nurse satisfaction and recruitment within each department.
   • Consider economic principles of supply and demand to understand the relationship between nursing needs and available resources.

2. Identify Shortages:

   • Based on your analysis, determine which departments have the largest nursing shortages. Consider qualitative factors from interviews alongside quantitative data from the provided resources.
   • Prioritize departments with the highest patient-to-nurse ratios, the most critical patient needs, and the most significant recruitment challenges.

3. Analyze Obstacles:

   • Investigate the specific obstacles hindering nurse recruitment in the identified departments.
   • Consider factors like salary and benefits, workload demands, work-life balance, career advancement opportunities, workplace culture, and job autonomy.
   • Use information from your interviews and research to understand the perspectives of both current staff and potential recruits.

4. Recommendation and Strategy:

   • Based on your analysis, develop recommendations to address the nursing shortage in the identified departments.
   • Consider economic principles to propose cost-effective and sustainable solutions.
   • Your recommendations might include improved wage and benefit packages, flexible work arrangements, mentorship programs, professional development opportunities, or improved staffing distribution strategies.

Sample Solution

Instructions:

1. Gather Information:

   • Complete the media activity "Applying Economic Decision Making to Health" and access the Transcript.
   • Conduct interviews with various personnel at Vila Health, focusing on departments experiencing nursing shortages. Remember to ask questions about patient loads, staff turnover, workload distribution, job satisfaction, and recruitment challenges.
   • Take detailed notes or record your interviews for later analysis.