Essay on Addressing the Budget Cut in the Hospital

Key Issues that will have to be Addressed immediately

One of the issues that will have to be addressed regarding the budget cut is canceling previous expansion plans that the institution had. The organization may have intended to increase the number of enrolled students, increasing infrastructure in the school or increasing the number of instructors, which would have benefited the institution. Now that there will be a funding cut it is likely that the organization will need to make the tough decision. Another critical issue that will need to be addressed immediately is the prioritization of programs and deciding on which one will be canceled. The director of the school will have to project future health care needs and decide on the one that will be of most benefit to the population. The third key issue is determining cost reduction strategies that will be applied and which areas will be affected by the reduction.

Stakeholders that may Provide Support in Addressing the Budget Cut

The stakeholders that may be in support of Mary in dealing with the budget cut issues include educational institutions, nursing students, and the nurses association. These are persons expected to be negatively impacted by the budget reduction. Nursing students will provide support in addressing budget cut issues since the announcement would have devastating effects on them. For instance, the state budget provides funding to programs that help students from low-income families. Besides, the reduction could significantly reduce funding for educational institutions meant for scientific research. The issue has the potential to decrease the number of qualified nurses in the state's workforce. Another stakeholder that is likely to support Mary in addressing the issue is nursing associations. Nursing organizations function by promoting patient safety, preparing nursing students for professional responsibilities and providing programs required for professional interests and concerns (American Nurses Association, 2010). Budget cuts in state-funded programs will likely lead to the compromised quality of courses offered and will result in the elimination of vital but lowly prioritized courses which does not guarantee patient safety. They are therefore likely to provide support through opposing budget cuts. It would imply that Mary would have to decide on areas that need restructuring. One of the areas that may be affected is the size of the institution's workforce.

Legal and Ethical Issues Surrounding the Predicament

One of the ethical issues surrounding Mary's dilemma is deciding and prioritizing on nursing programs, courses, and services that will be of benefit to the current and projected population health care needs. As stated earlier, the budget cut is likely to eliminate key courses within the school's nursing programs due to the funding shortage. The undertaking means that a failure to accurately forecast healthcare population needs will create a supply crisis of nurses suited to attend to a particular health care issue. Largely, the budgetary cut is likely to reduce the number of qualified nurses in the state (Aaron, 2010).

A potential legal issue that is likely to that is likely to surround Mary's predicament emanates from compromising the quality of available programs at the institution to accommodate all programs without eliminating any of them. According to Shi and Singh (2014), legal issues will arise from state board requirements and accreditation bodies due to the lack adequate skills and capabilities of the potential workforce to tackle functions and responsibilities in the real world. State boards and accreditation bodies will have to reject the labor force for being ill equipped with skills.

References

Aaron, H. (2010). Serious and unstable condition: Financing America's health care. Brookings Institution Press.

American Nurses Association. (2010). Nursing's social policy statement: The essence of the profession. Nursesbooks. org.Shi, L., & Singh, D. A. (2014). Delivering health care in America. Jones & Bartlett Learning.