Essay Example on Issues Within the Nursing Field

Introduction

Issues in the nursing field comprise the problems directly related to the profession, and they adversely impact practice. Among them include understaffing, fatigue, absenteeism, depression, quality of care, and anxiety (Jansson et al., 2114; Ruz et al., 173). Practitioners may also experience other setbacks like poor interpersonal relations and a substandard work environment if the management does not consider supporting them to accomplish the set goals.

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Professional Misconduct

Professional misconduct and issues associated with communication problems can affect the nursing field, making it vital for policymakers at local and national levels to coordinate and solve the current and emerging issues (Abdelrahman and Abdelkader 66). The nursing field can also encounter issues related to the quality of instruments used for patient management and treatment. For instance, the inability to provide sufficient protective gear, particularly for airborne diseases, can expose the practitioners to contract disease-causing infections (Alharbi et al., 1785). The nursing field remains the backbone of society’s health and wellness. Hospital management and policymakers need to offer maximum attention to the historical, current, and emerging issues to ensure that policy requirements have been met.

Inadequate Staffing

Inadequate staffing is a problem that makes registered nurses (RN) not effectively fulfill their mandate, as they will be overloaded with patient care duties. Hospital management may thus be compelled to force RN to work overtime (Cherry and Jacob 23). The problem with such a policy is that the nurses may become dissatisfied with how they are being handled and start to record absenteeism, as the turnover rate becomes a concern (Scott 34). The health and safety of patients will thus be compromised as individualized care becomes unattainable.

Conclusion

The American Nursing Association has also given the guidelines for managing the work environment's health and safety, but this expectation may not be met in some facilities (Roux 19; Walden University). For instance, workplace violence remains an issue to consider, as patients can be arrogant and even fight the RNs.

Works Cited

Abdelrahman, Safaa M., and Abeer M. Abdelkader. "The influencing factors of absenteeism among nursing students." Journal of Nursing Education and Practice vol. 7, no. 10, 2017, pp. 64-69.

Alharbi, F.L., Almuzini, T.B., Aljohani, A.A., Aljohani, K.A., Albowini, A.R., Aljohani, M.E., and Althubyni, M.M., "Causes of absenteeism rate among staff nurses at medina maternity and child hospital." The Egyptian Journal of Hospital Medicine vol. 70, no. 10, 2018, pp., 1784-1788.

Cherry, Barbara, and Susan R. Jacob. Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, & management. Elsevier Health Sciences, 2016.

Jansson, Miia, Pasi Ohtonen, Hannu Syrjälä, and Tero AlaKokko. "The proportion of understaffing and increased nursing workload are associated with multiple organ failure: A crosssectional study." Journal of Advanced Nursing, 2020, pp. 2114-2124.

Roux, Gayle. Issues and trends in nursing. Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2017.

Ruz, Mohannad Eid Abu, Hekmat Yousef Al-Akash, and Samiha Jarrah. "Persistent (anxiety and depression) affected academic achievement and absenteeism in nursing students." The open nursing journal, vol. 12, no. 1, 2018, pp. 171-179

Scott, P. Anne, ed. Key concepts and issues in nursing ethics. Springer, 2017.

Walden University. "5 Issues Nurses Face in Their Career." 27 Sept. 2019,
http://www.waldenu.edu/online-masters-programs/master-of-science-in-nursing/resource/five-issues-nurses-face-in-their-career. Accessed 5 Dec. 2020.