What pharmacologic therapy would you prescribe for Mrs. Z? How will you evaluate the effectiveness of this therapy? What patient education would you provide for Mrs. Z relative to the pharmacologic agent you prescribed? Are there any pharmacogenetic considerations related to what you prescribed for the patient? Are there any alternative therapies or over-the-counter agents that might be of value to Mrs. Z? What, if any, lifestyle changes would you recommend?

What pharmacologic therapy would you prescribe for Mrs. Z? How will you evaluate the effectiveness of this therapy? What patient education would you provide for Mrs. Z relative to the pharmacologic agent you prescribed? Are there any pharmacogenetic considerations related to what you prescribed for the patient? Are there any alternative therapies or over-the-counter agents that might be of value to Mrs. Z? What, if any, lifestyle changes would you recommend?

Although this legislation passed in 2019, things took a different turn when the COVID19 pandemic hit. Dembosky (2020) wrote an article posted by NPR online that explains how the Governor adjusted things in December of 2020 so that hospitals in California could assign more patients to their nurses than previously restricted by the staffing ratios. This was done to address the growing number of admissions related to COVID19 and to address inadequate staffing. Patient care management can be severely impacted when additional patients are added to a nurse’s assignment and perhaps tasks might fall through the cracks, despite the RNs best efforts. There are only so many hours in a shift and a nurse can only do so much.

In regard to technology, the work flow of those staffed can be impacted on available tech equipment. If there are not enough resources available to meet the needs of staff and patients, safety can also be impacted. Safe staffing, especially in the face of the pandemic suges provides an interesting ethical dilemma – do you honor the safe staffing ratios in place and leave some patients not admitted because you don’t have a nurse to take assignment? Or do you bypass the ratios and assign additional patients to your nurses’ workloads, possibly creating situations where patient care will be compromised and less safe? Do you hire additional staff to address the surge? How is time for training factored in and what if there aren’t adequate applicants or travelers available?