How nurses’ work environment may be better designed to support the health and well-being of nurses while supporting nurses ‘professional rights.
Nursing is the largest workforce in the healthcare system globally, and nurses have the capability of leading the way to improve health for all (Pacquiao, 2018). However, to realize the potential of nurses, they should be granted an environment that is satisfying, safe and empowers them. Just as nurses have to provide optimal care to their patients, employers have a fundamental role in creating a healthy environment for nurses. According to the World Health Organization, a healthy working environment is a place of physical, social, and mental well-being that supports optimal health and safety, and not merely an environment free from potential physical threats to health practitioners.
To ensure the overall well-being of nurses, health organizations should put in place strategies that make nurses’ environment an enabling one to provide quality care. Mancuso (2018), stipulates that to achieve this, health organizations should employ occupational health and safety initiatives, which focus on preventing illnesses and injuries among nurses. This would include employing more staff to ensure nurses have are not burdened when providing care to patients. For instance, in the facility that I work with, a nurse cannot lift and turn a patient alone. Instead, he/she is assisted by another nurse to prevent musculoskeletal injuries. Besides, hospitals should put in place measures to control and eliminate health hazards to nurses. For example, vaccinating nurses against infectious diseases, including Hepatitis B in which the environment they work in exposes them to.
To promote the mental well-being of nurses, health organizations should integrate health promotion and wellness activities in attending to the needs of nurses. This can be achieved by having a supportive organizational culture and leadership practices. As (Jalil et al. 2017) puts, nurses are exposed to psychological stress that predisposes them to poor mental health. Thus, hospitals need to have counselors and psychologists to attend to nurses whenever they need their services. Besides, assigning new nurses mentors and preceptors can help young nurses to adapt to the work environment and reduce incidences of mental illnesses.
In conclusion, hours lost to injury, illness, and absenteeism among nurses could be prevented through cultivating a work environment that promotes the wellness of all nurses. Therefore, healthcare administrators should liaise with nurses’ leaders to identify initiatives and strategies to decrease stressful working conditions and create an environment that supports nurses, and promotes their health and well-being.
References
Jalil, R., Huber, J. W., Sixsmith, J., & Dickens, G. L. (2017). Mental health nurses’ emotions, exposure to patient aggression, attitudes to and use of coercive measures: Cross-sectional questionnaire survey. International journal of nursing studies, 75, 130-138.
Mancuso, A. (2018). The Occupational Health Nurse Role in Implementing Total Worker Health®.
Pacquiao, D. (2018). Culturally Competent Multicultural Workforce. In Global Applications of Culturally Competent Health Care: Guidelines for Practice (pp. 275-286). Springer, Cham.