big issues facing nursing professionals in the delivery of their functions

big issues facing nursing professionals in the delivery of their functions

Question One

In the modern-day, nursing is a vital profession that holds a patient’s healthcare journey together. Throughout the entire patient experience, nurses work tirelessly to protect, establish, and identify the needs of an individual. From ensuring accurate diagnosis, care, and public health education, the nursing profession is indispensable in safeguarding society’s health. Moreover, nurses fill leadership roles in healthcare facilities, health systems, and other institutions. However, nursing professionals face three big issues in the delivery of their functions.

1. Compensation

Several factors influence the pay received by nursing professionals. According to Danielsen, Sand, Rosland, and Forland (2018), nurses living the specific regions earn more salaries than their counterparts do in other areas. For instance, nurses in the pacific region make more than in the mid-Atlantic and the central regions. Moreover, their research finds about forty percent of nursing professionals believe inadequate compensation was a challenging experience in their jobs. Even though there are more opportunities for nurses in the modern health environment, they continue being underpaid. Beyond the regional differences in compensation, nursing professionals experience pay gaps between genders. On average, male nurses earn more than females in almost all specialties. Healthcare administrators should address this issue by eliminating the assumption that salary packages drive employee retention. In addition, the health industry should establish policies that allow nurses to pursue their career goals through competitive pay

1. Workplace Hazards

Nurses report high levels of illness and job-related injuries. According to Mahran, Taher, and Saleh (2017). The nursing duties, responsibilities, and working environments expose the workers to significant occupational hazards. The majority of nurses experience continuous job-related discomforts, including musculoskeletal pain, pain in the knees, and lower back. Notably, the profession exposes the workers to contagions, infectious diseases, and blood-borne pathogens. Furthermore, chemical materials such as sterility products, disinfectants, and hazardous drugs endanger nursing professionals to significant risks (Danielsen, Sand, Rosland, and Forland, 2018). Nurses in the emergency department services continue to experience high occurrences of on-the-job violence, including physical and verbal abuse. These occupational hazards have changed nursing into a life-threatening experience. One way to overcome this challenge is to ensure healthcare facilities provide greater access to patient transfer and lifting equipment to improve the situation. Administrators should address this crucial issue by making nurse safety a priority.

• Work Overload and Short-staffing

Nurses continue to experience high workloads due to increase in demand for the workers, inadequate supply, and reduced employees. Staffing is a common issue in both personal and professional concerns for nurses in a modern environment. Uthaman, Chua, and Ang (2016) note that the top reasons nurses leave a healthcare facility is due to issues related to staffing and inequitable assignments.  Inadequate staffs threaten the harmony within the hospital as well as lead to significant complexity of patient safety. This situation results in to increase in fatigue and risk of injury to the nurses as they work to cover the responsibilities. According to Mahran, Taher, and Saleh (2017), the workload in the nursing profession negatively affects their satisfaction leading to high turnover. Healthcare administrators should balance the impact of workload on the nurses by recruiting more workers to ensure the effectiveness of patient care.

Question Two

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) sought to address the challenges faced by healthcare professionals by establishing the five core competencies. These standards prepare health workers to undertake the tasks with a common vision and commitment to meeting patient needs. According to Morris and Hancock (2013), all healthcare professionals should be trained to deliver patient-centered attention as members of an interdisciplinary team, emphasize evidence-based exercise, quality improvement methods, and informatics.

1. Provide patient-centered care

The IOM committee requires healthcare professionals to identify, care, and respect all patients irrespective of their preferences, needs, values, and other differences. Nurses should establish and integrate care to alleviate the patient’s feelings by coordinating clinical care, ancillary services, and front-line support. In addition, nursing professionals should focus on providing information on clinical status, prognosis, progress, processes, and health promotion. According to Morris and Hancock (2013), caregivers should provide emotional support by paying specific attention to anxiety over physical status, financial impact, or the impact of illness. In addition, healthcare facilities should involve family and friends in decision-making. One major challenge in meeting this standard is the implementation across disparate departments. Different services, such as cancer treatment, hospice, routine physicals, and terminal care, have unique procedures. Patient-centered care might lead to miscommunication and confusion when health staff work in disparate departments. Healthcare administrators should develop a universal policy to be implemented across different facilities and departments.

1. Work in inter-disciplinary teams

The other competence is the cooperation, collaboration, and integration of nursing care in units to ensure the reliability of patient attention. Morris and Hancock (2013) state that healthcare facilities should establish practices and policies that increases the prevalence of interdisciplinary teamwork. The overall objective is to take the attention closer to the patient while overcoming the conventional traditional boundaries. Nurses should work together with other health professionals to share knowledge, skills, and expertise in the effective delivery of patient care. In the modern environment, nursing care has become more specialized and complex, which forces medical staff to learn new methods quickly. Working together as a team reduces the number of medical errors and increases patient safety. Notably, the approach eliminates nurse burnouts since the patient’s well-being concerns every health professional. The common barrier to this competence is the organizational framework. Healthcare administrators may lack the knowledge and appreciation for health professionals. However, hospitals may agree on a unified philosophy in its mission centered on primary patient care. The healthcare facility should develop a commitment to the common goal of collaboration by providing financial resources.

• Emphasize evidence-based practice (EBP)

The impact of EBP echoes across all healthcare areas, including education, training, and nursing. According to Morris and Hancock (2013), EBP allows the integration of the best research with patient values and clinical expertise for optimum care for the clients. Moreover, the approach will enable nurses to participate in research and learning activities that lead to feasible operations. EBP ensures the redesign of attention and care services that are effective, efficient, and safe. Nurses have the responsibility to launch initiatives that maximize valuable contributions in delivering extensive care to the patients. An example of EBP is the measurement of blood pressure in children. The procedure is different from that of adults; thus, the integration of evidence-based systems may lead to effective treatment. One primary challenge for the implementation of EBP in nursing is the lack of knowledge on the use of the practices. However, nurses could adhere to the approach by learning soft skills, which improves interaction with other health professionals.

1. Apply quality improvement methods

The application of quality improvement (QI) allows healthcare professionals to identify errors and hazards in patient care. According to Morris and Hancock (2013), QI is a formal and systematic approach to the evaluation of the functional performance of nurses and related efforts to improve performance. The process is established on the establishment of a quality culture in the healthcare facility by integrating QI efforts with the procedures. In addition, the approach assists nurses in determining and prioritizing potential areas for improvement. For instance, nurses should examine their patient population, and the activities are taken to accomplish the practice. This allows the identification of issues such as poor communication, low morale, high-risk patients, and barriers to effective care. Moreover, QI efforts lead to transparency in the healthcare facility where nurses communicate transparent results to the physicians, patients, family, and other staff. The principal challenge is gathering data, monitoring systems, and convincing other professionals that there is a problem relevant to them. Healthcare administrators should establish incentive programs and resources that help nurses conduct QI projects.

1. Utilize informatics

In the modern world, nurses have more technology at their disposal that their counterparts in the twentieth century. One of the critical areas the profession has incorporated new methods is informatics. According to Morris and Hancock (2013), the effective utilization of information processing science assists healthcare professionals in communicating, managing knowledge, mitigating error, and supporting decision-making.  Modern nurses can use electrical medical records and other information standards to administer, interpret, and deliver the data. The core aim is the improvement of the quality of attention and care services provided to the patients. Informatics in nursing improve documentation activities, reduce medical errors, reduce costs, and improve care coordination. One major challenge is the barrier in the purchase and implementation of modern software. In addition, the application of informatics leads to the redesign of processes and workflow in the healthcare facility. Nurses may tackle this challenge by learning advanced skills such as data-driven practice to incorporate the practice well.

Question Three

Key message 2

“Nurses should achieve higher levels of education and training through an improved education system that promotes seamless academic progression” (Hayness, 2011).

There have been continuous changes in the health care system and the nursing practice environment in the United States. These changes require significant modifications in the education provided to nurses, both before and after they receive the practice permits. The IOM considers an improved education system as critical in ensuring the safe and quality patient care by current and future nurses. More notably, the committee highlighted the areas of public health, community, and primary care as the key areas that need continuous improvement. The primary objective of nurses is constant in meeting the diverse needs of the patients and advancing science that benefits the health profession (Mahran, Taher, and Saleh, 2017). However, in the modern environment, there needs to be a transformation in nursing education needs to prepare graduates to work at sophisticated healthcare facilities. For example, current nurses should be equipped with knowledge that emphasizes public health and community settings. This key message is essential in tackling significant challenges in the nursing profession. The high level of education and training will assist in addressing the shortage of competent nurses in the faculty, insufficiency in clinical placement opportunities, and lack of adequate workforce in the industry. Therefore, the recommendation hopes to respond to the complex demands of the evolving healthcare system and patient care.