Interview 1: Pediatric Ward Nurse
The nursing profession experiences extreme demand
The health care scenario has also advanced considerably throughout the years in order to address the ever-escalating issues and demands
The issues that are discovered prevalently include staff shortage, remuneration, and burnout.
This assignment will attempt to discover the most important issues and challenges in nursing taking the help of 4 interviews.
There is mounting evidence that indicates that the nurses have to invest much more time and effort than any other professions, the moral distress of this profession have also been considered to be very high as compared to other professions (Cherry & Jacob, 2016). Although the remuneration structure of the nursing profession is not appropriate to the dedication and efforts that the nurses have to employ in this profession. The extreme stress and burnout of the profession, lack of proper remuneration and staff shortage continues to be considerably challenging issues complicating the process of the practice for the nurses. This assignment will attempt to discover the most important issues and challenges that are pertinent to the practice scenario for the nurses in the health care facility scenario taking the assistance of interviewing four nursing professionals, two in administrative or managerial roles and two in direct patient care roles (Black, 2016).
Gender: female
Approximate age: 29
Current role: junior nurse
Current general practice setting: practicing in the paediatric ward from the last year.
She had been very forthcoming and frank in answering the questions and according to her the extreme stress and lack of supportive networks while starting practice in the ward had been the most challenging factor in her practice.
For this particular assignment activity, I had chosen the two registered nurses that are associated with direct patient care, one working in the paediatric care unit and the other working in the acute care background. For the administrative department, the first nursing professional that I chose had been a nurse manager and the other had been a nurse administrator.
The first interviewee had been fairly new to the facility and I assumed to discover certain key information from her regarding the perception of the newly graduating nurses that are transitioning into practice and what challenges or protective factors that might play in the scenario. She had been very easy to communicate with and she had been readily agreed to the interview process that I proposed.
Gender: female
Approximate age: 36
Current role: senior acute care nurse
Current general practice setting: She is a registered nurse that had been practicing in the acute care unit for 10 years and had recently been promoted to the position of the senior nurse two years ago.
She had been working in the facility for a longer time and according to her, the most important challenge for her had been the multiple shifts and not enough monetary benefits provided for the same.
Gender: Female
Approximate age: 38
Interview 2: Acute Care Nurse
Current role: Nurse manager
Current general practice
setting: She had recently transferred to this facility and has started to work as the nursing manager for the surgical unit.
She pointed out the remuneration is a very important concern and she also illustrated the fact that not only the remuneration is the concern for her, the lack of co-operation of burnout in the nurses is also related to the lack of adequate remuneration.
She also had been very forthcoming in the interview and it had been very easy to complete the interview procedure with her. As she had been very new to the facility she had a number of challenges and issues to point out that she had been facing in not just this particular facility but also different health care facilities as well. She pointed out the remuneration is a very important concern and she also illustrated the fact that not only the remuneration is the concern for her, the lack of co-operation of burnout in the nurses is also related to the lack of adequate remuneration. It also a very common grievance that the nurses share with her as a manager when delegating the duties for the day.
Gender: Female
Approximate age: 40
Current role: Nurse administration
Current general practice setting: working as a nursing administrator in the facility from 15 years.
She explained that staff shortage is the most challenging issue that she faces every single day while delegating responsibilities and supervising them. She also mentioned that the staff shortage also contributes to extreme burnout and higher frequency of errors in the facility.
The nurse administrator is responsibility for supervising the nurses working in the facility for the last 15 years and had been working in the facility from a long tiem and hence she has had a long experience of managing the nursing workforce of the facility. Hence, I chose her as the last interviewee for my project and it helped me understand the impact of the challenges that the nurses experience while working in the facility. She explained that staff shortage is the most challenging issue that she faces every single day while delegating responsibilities and supervising them. She also mentioned that the staff shortage also contributes to extreme burnout and higher frequency of errors in the facility.
The range of nursing issues or practice oriented challenges developed are interconnected with each other
Paediatric nurse mentioned feeling overburdened with the lack of adequate practical training as compared to the theory based educational course while transitioning into practice.
There is need for more practice based educational framework along with the implementation of the better support network for the newly graduated nurses while they start practice (Moreland, & Apker, 2016)
Croft, Currie and Lockett, (2015) opined that nursing is already a profession that is associated with a number of different factors that facilitate both physical and emotional burnout, the added workload when is not compensated with adequate monetary benefits becomes a huge psychological strain on the nurses which is reflected in their behaviour and performance
Interview 3: Nurse Manager
From the interview procedure, it is clear that the range of nursing issues or practice oriented challenges developed are interconnected with each other. First and foremost, the extreme workload and treatment of the nurses that are transitioning into practice after graduation has to be discussed. As per the paediatric nurse, she experienced the immense workload instantaneously after she joined the facility and she mentioned feeling overburdened with the lack of adequate practical training as compared to the theory based educational course. As discussed by Grossman and Valiga (2016), the gap between the theory and practice is a very common contributing factor that produces considerable challenges complicating the practice scenario for the transitioning nurses. In support, Moreland, and Apker (2016), have mentioned that there is need for more practice based educational framework along with the implementation of the better support network for the newly graduated nurses while they start practice.
The next challenge has been the burnout and remuneration issue which is the concern for mostly the senior nurses both practicing in the direct care scenario and in administrative roles. Croft, Currie and Lockett, (2015) opined that nursing is already a profession that is associated with a number of different factors that facilitate both physical and emotional burnout, the added workload when is not compensated with adequate monetary benefits becomes a huge psychological strain on the nurses which is reflected in their behaviour and performance. Along with that, the lack of financial gain after working multiple shifts affect their job satisfaction and reduces their employee engagement as well, which is reflected in their performance.
A distinctive pattern in the issues mentioned by both broad groups and yet the issues were largely interconnected
The nurses in the direct patient care were more burdened by the extreme workload, burnout stress and the lack of monetary advantages (Sreelekha, 2018)
The administrative nurses were dealing with the burnout brought forward by the lack of staff shortage and the issues in streamlining the workloads in the existing staff (Andrew Scanlon et al., 2014).
Staff shortage is the contributing factor to the enhanced workload and low nurse to patient ratio leading to extreme burnout for the nurses
Remuneration issue has links with the fluctuating economy and faulty health care budget allocation (Wong et al., 2015).
The issues are interlinked and follow a distinctive pattern.
Contrasting the challenges mentioned by the two groups of nurses selected, one group associated with direct patient care and the other in administrative roles. There was a distinctive pattern in the issues mentioned by both broad groups and yet the issues were largely interconnected (Sreelekha, 2018). Whereas the nurses in the direct patient care were more burdened by the extreme workload, burnout stress and the lack of monetary advantages to compensate for the stress; on the other hand the administrative nurses were dealing with the burnout brought forward by the lack of staff shortage and the issues in streamlining the workloads in the existing staff (Wong et al., 2015). Although the nature of the challenges were different but they are interlinked with each other. The staff shortage is the contributing factor to the enhanced workload and low nurse to patient ratio leading to extreme burnout for the nurses. The remuneration issue has links with the fluctuating economy and faulty health care budget allocation. Although the issues are interlinked and follow a distinctive pattern (Andrew Scanlon et al., 2014).
Interview 4: Nurse Administrator
My choice of professional practice is the administrative roles
along with burnout and remuneration, the staff shortage also emerged as a notable challenge in practice for administrative practice sector
The impact of staff shortage is directly linked with burnout due to multiple and extra workload, which affects not just the performance but the nature or behaviour of the nurses.
It is also difficult for the administrator to assign responsibilities to demoralized staff with extreme physical and emotional fatigue and very little job satisfaction
The mitigation of grievances, conflicts and errors resulting from the amalgamation of these challenges become strenuous for the administrative nursing staff as well and lead to burnout.
My choice of professional practice is the administrative roles, and the literature states that along with burnout and remuneration, the staff shortage also emerged as a notable challenge in practice for administrative practice sector (Rosseter, 2014). As mentioned by the nurse administrator interviewed the impact of staff shortage is directly linked with burnout due to multiple and extra workload, which affects not just the performance but the nature or behaviour of the nurses. The impact of these issues are creating considerable strain in the system, it is also difficult for the administrator to assign responsibilities to demoralized staff with extreme physical and emotional fatigue and very little job satisfaction. As discussed by Hairr et al. (2014), the mitigation of grievances, conflicts and errors resulting from the amalgamation of these challenges become strenuous for the administrative nursing staff as well and lead to burnout.
Conclusion:
This experience helped me discover the challenges and issues prevailing in the practice scenario
Engaging with four different nurses with different designations helped me explore my soft skills as well
This particular experience helped me understand which issues are present in the care scenario of my choice of designation
It can be hoped that I will be using the knowledge gained in my future practice effectively
On a concluding note, the nursing is a professional field that is sought with extreme demand, the health care is a very important basic health care needs of the present day scenario. Along with that, the health care scenario has also advanced considerably throughout the years in order to address the ever-escalating issues and demands. In the present day scenario, the health care sector is controlled by the variety of different legislations and professional guidelines and even with the ever-increasing pressure of the patients with different health care, the shortage of the staff is still pertaining. This experience of interviewing four different nurses with different designations helped me explore my soft skills and helped me develop links between different issues in practice and how it impacts other professionals as well. It can be hoped that I will be using the knowledge gained in my future practice effectively
References:
Andrew Scanlon, D. N. P., Denise Hibbert, R. G. N., Freda DeKeyser Ganz PhD, R. N., Linda East PhD, R. N., & Debbie Fraser MN, R. N. (2014). Addressing issues impacting advanced nursing practice worldwide. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 19(2), 1.
Black, B. (2016). Professional Nursing-E-Book: Concepts & Challenges. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Cherry, B., & Jacob, S. R. (2016). Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, & management. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Croft, C., Currie, G., & Lockett, A. (2015). The impact of emotionally important social identities on the construction of a managerial leader identity: a challenge for nurses in the English National Health Service. Organization Studies, 36(1), 113-131.
Grossman, S., & Valiga, T. M. (2016). The new leadership challenge: Creating the future of nursing. FA Davis.
Hairr, D. C., Salisbury, H., Johannsson, M., & Redfern-Vance, N. (2014). Nurse staffing and the relationship to job satisfaction and retention. Nursing Economics, 32(3), 142-147.
Khamisa, N., Peltzer, K., Ilic, D., & Oldenburg, B. (2016). Work related stress, burnout, job satisfaction and general health of nurses: A follow?up study. International journal of nursing practice, 22(6), 538-545.
Moreland, J. J., & Apker, J. (2016). Conflict and stress in hospital nursing: Improving communicative responses to enduring professional challenges. Health communication, 31(7), 815-823.
Rosseter, R. (2014). Nursing shortage. American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
Sreelekha, B. (2018). Burnout Among Nurses. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, 4(8).
Wong, F. K. Y., Liu, H., Wang, H., Anderson, D., Seib, C., & Molasiotis, A. (2015). Global nursing issues and development: Analysis of World Health Organization documents. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 47(6), 574-583.
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