Significance for graduate registered nurses
Professional issues in nursing are things which affect the ability of nurses to give care or services based on their code of ethics or standards of practice (Wolfe, 2016). Workplace violence is one of the biggest issue faced by graduate registered nurses. This can either come from the patients or coworkers. Leadership challenges may include threats nurses get from their colleges in relation to their position. One of the actions that should be put in place to control these issues is by passing laws to safeguard the safety of the nurses to ensure that those who attack or prevent graduate registered nurses from practicing their profession in the right manner are charged with a felony.
As a new professional in the nursing practice, graduate registered nurses needs some mentoring from the nurses who are more experienced in that field. Mentoring in this case means that, in their transition to the professional role, graduate registered nurses should have more experiences with those who are more experienced. Mentoring gives rise to their diverse thoughts and emotional responses which has a significant impact on professional development and socialization (Meigan, 2016). Through interacting with the registered nurses, they are able to improve on the way they interact with the patients and also coworkers. This helps in building strong work relationships. During mentoring, graduate registered nurses are able to know some of the behaviors which are discouraged in the nursing practice. For example, they get to know that keeping patients information as a secret is necessary and should avoid sharing it to the coworkers or other patients. This would, therefore, assist them in doing away with behaviors which can hinder them from achieving their goals.
Interacting with the registered nurses helps the graduates improve on their skills and knowledge (Meigan, 2016). This is because once they are exposed to more demanding situations they are able to learn new things and methods in nursing practice. For example, most of these graduate registered nurses are only familiar with taking care of patients who are not in chronic conditions. If they interact with those who have knowledge of how to nurse a person involved in a fatal accident they are able to get more advanced knowledge and skills.
Moreover, through mentoring, Graduate registered nurses are also able to improve their self-leadership skills. This is because they are able to evaluate themselves on who they are, what to do, when and control their behaviors and emotions into achieving it. Self- leadership is the first level of leadership and it helps one achieve his or her goals without supervision (Timothy, 2016).
Work-life balance
Work-life balance is a difficult thing to achieve especially in the nursing field (RN & RN, 2014). This is because this field is so demanding and nurses find it difficult to say no when the patients need them. This has increased a lot of stress among many graduate registered nurses in hospitals and nursing homes. Through mentoring, many have been able to develop their self-leadership skill whereby they organize their work on time hence creating room for other social activities. They have also learned to accept things the way they are to reduce their work stress. Acceptance is the best way to prevent work stress. Accepting that there are things you cannot change and developing own strategies to cope with the situation reduces stress.
Mentoring has helped graduate registered nurses in time management. This is where they are able to set time limits with their patients while still showing empathy. Though time management is a difficult thing for a nurse due to so many things which demand care, it is important to engage your partner in relationship goals and look at the areas where you need to set limits of your time and stick to them. This would ensure that you balance both your work and life activities. This can be achieved through clearly defining your purpose in life (Jan & Sonya, 2014). Asking yourself questions like what you need to do in a particular, which contributions I need to make in my family relationship would help graduate registered nurses in achieving their work-life balance goals.
Through Mentoring, graduate registered nurses have found ways of creating time to socialize with their family members (Emily, 2012). This is because through interacting with registered nurses they get to learn that nursing is so demanding and that most of their times are required to be in hospitals. They are therefore advised to use their off days in attending to important things of life. Also since mentoring assists one in improving on knowledge and skills, graduate registered nurses can give guidelines to their patients on what to do in case of minor situations. This would reduce their visits to the hospitals and they can, therefore, use this time to do other important things in life. There are some of the barriers which prevent graduate registered nurses into achieving their work-life balance (Woolnough & Fielden, 2017). Some of them is lack of sufficient workers. This is the major barrier to work-life balance because nurses would be forced to spend most of their time in the hospital.
Advocating for realistic actions
One of the goals I should use in ensuring work-life balance is reducing workplace stress (Fiona & Ann, 2012). Sometimes I should teach myself in saying no to situations which are beyond my control. I should also practice saying that I wouldn’t be available to take a certain project when I feel I am not able to aomplish it. This can make me to avoid work stress. Also, i should examine my behaviors to know whether they are hindering me from achieving my goals. If I have positive habits they will reduce work stress. Workplace stress brings about stigmatization and also illness (Chesak et al, 2015). The goals set to ensure that I have minimal stress at work should be measurable and achievable. For example, one cannot decide to miss work in order to attend other activities. Even though one has tried to balance the two, he or she has not followed the correct steps in balancing the two and may cause more problems.
Self- management is the goal which would enable me to recover from work-life imbalance and stress. This is because by having this goal, i will be able to know what to do, when and control my emotions/behaviors into achieving it. This goal has helped me as a graduate registered nurse in improving my skills and knowledge. It has also helped me in managing my time whereby am able to attend to other important aspects of my life. This goal has helped me to build a strong relationship with my workers which is important in nursing practice. As a graduate registered nurse, this tool has also enabled me in realizing some of my behaviors which can hinder from achieving my goals. This is because there are some of the behaviors which are not allowed in the nursing field like disclosing patient’s information to the public. Also, negative aspects of one’s nature like laziness can also bring about negative impacts on his/her career (Ann, 2017).
Conclusion
As a graduate registered nurse, there are some of the challenges one face in their transition of professional development. This may include violence from the patients or coworkers. These can make them lose their morale or prevent them from achieving their goals. Interacting with registered nurses helps the graduates gain more skills and knowledge which is important for their professional development. It is also concluded that these graduate registered nurses face challenges in balancing their work and life activities. This is because nursing involves activities which are demanding and these nurses find it hard to say no to their patients.
References
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Woolnough, H. M & Fielden, S. L. (2017). Mentoring in Nursing and Healthcare. Supporting Career and personal Development. Hobeken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd