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Implications of nursing shortage
Implications of nursing shortage
Nursing shortage issue
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Over the years of nursing it has become more involved, more intense, increased responsibilities and attention to tedious details. With all this, the nursing profession is suffering. In burnt out nurses and compassion fatigue, the strategies to help compared to ignoring the situation affects staff and patients health. The hospital setting is where a possibility of burnt out nurses and compassion fatigue are mainly is found but can help in any setting that have nurses and patients. Both issues contribute to the other and many factors worsen the impact. Professional burnout has been defined as an ailment clearly by emotional exhaustion, impersonal, and reduced personal goals. Compassion fatigue describes a work-related stress response in healthcare …show more content…
The lack of support, the lack of recognition and appreciation and fewer resources to be able to do their job correctly is frustrating and causing problems physically and mentally for the nurses and hindering patient care. The impact on nurses is very individualized to them so not one person can react the same or heal the same. Symptoms unfortunately caused discerning fatigue emotionally and physically, relationship struggles and burnt out nurse syndrome to the point of wanting to leave the profession (Mendes, 2014). The preventive measures must continue and be creative on ways to allow the nurse to distress. Extreme fatigue emotionally and physically can cause anger, tears for no reason, pain and a foggy memory (Peate, 2015). It also caused a negative reaction on personal relationships as wanting to be alone, divorces and just became uninterested in anything that came up. Although nurses are multi-taskers, they take the risk of patient safety every time the nurses reach the point of nurse burnt out or compassion fatigue. Burnt out and compassion fatigue can cause exhaustion, dissatisfaction and low capacity to even physical ailments such as crying easily, changes of personality, palpitations, breathing difficulties, high blood pressure, headache and …show more content…
Higher empathy might protect against burnout but how do you teach this (Turgoose, Glover, Barker, Maddox, 2017)? The reason of the nursing shortages also include: aging of nurses, patient demographics, not enough staffing, inexperience, changes in nursing schools, an aging baby-boomer population and salary standards all play a part of whole picture which play a huge part on burnt out nurses and compassion fatigue (Cox, Willis, Coustasse, 2014). The Significance of the problem, unfortunately, is if it gets to the point of nurses wanting to leave the profession for good ,the importance of evidence based changes need to be addressed. Hesitation will only hinder the nursing field and delay healing or increase patient safety risks with patients. High nurse turnover is an ever-present problem that leaves the other staff members to fight, stress out and run the risk of also becoming that burnt out nurse or having compassion fatigue as well. Compassion fatigue and burnt out nurses puts nurses at high risk for poor judgments and incorrect assessments (Young, Jong 2016). Patient safety is an important indicator of hospitals’ organizational performance (Welp, Manser, 2016). So with both nurses and patients at the weakest point could cause an increase in health
Often time, nurses has been viewed by patients, their family members and the medical team as basic emotional care givers, pill crushers or cart pullers and not as healthcare professionals who are more interesting in health promotion, disease prevention and better patient outcomes. They also often forget the emotional, physical, mental, and caring part that is involved with the profession. And to make matters worse, nurses are continued to be viewed as a threat by doctors more than ever before especially with the opening of Nurse Practitioners programs.
It can be related to feelings of hopelessness and lack of meaning, anxiety, decreased ability to concentrate, irritability, insomnia, emotional numbing, lack of empathy, and escapist activities (such a self-medicating with drugs and alcohol). This is in direct opposition to the idea that nurses would be responsive to an insightful of their clients needs. Dennis Portnoy wrote “Compassion fatigue was often triggered by patient care situations in which nurses believed that their actions would “not make a difference” or “never seemed to be enough”. He further elaborated in the article Burnout and compassion Fatigue that nurses who experienced this syndrome also did so because of systemic issues such as; overtime worked, high patient acuity, high patient census, heavy patient assignments, high acuity, overtime and extra workdays, personal issues, lack of energy and lack of experience (Portnoy, 2011). These issues, interfere with the nurses' ability to identify with the patient and to tune in to important issues and obscure symptoms. Once consideration is that nurses can use Orlando’s theory to identify and address their own needs and respond with the same level of consideration to their own needs in order to prevent a burn out
In conclusion, the above research analysis explained many contributing factors to stress and burnout and its effect on performance. As expected from prior studies, job satisfaction has an effect on productivity and/or burnout. Burnout in US nurses has been linked to Philippine nurses, despite a difference in health-care systems. Gender has also proven to be a contributing factor to stress. Women have a significant level of stress compared to men due to additional work of housework and childcare. Women also are linked to low levels of emotional exhaustion with co-worker support. Finally, perception organizational support has been linked to emotional exhaustion, but not solely due to the organization. Hopefully, organizations will continue to adopt stress reducing programs and recognize that it has many contributing factors.
Nurses Joe and Sarah have been working in a medical surgical unit that has been experiencing a nursing shortage, which has led to an increase in the workload. Sarah has been feeling the physical effects of the stress and feels there is a lack of management support, while Joe experiences some feelings of being overwhelmed, but tries to use it as learning experiences. Joe has developed positive methods of coping, while Sarah is quickly heading towards burnout. Implications and Conclusions The information provided in the literature has great implications for practice in many units, including the writers. It is with great hopes that the research published can be presented to the committees on the unit in hopes that some of the workloads can be decreased to help with staffing and retention rates.
One of the most serious issues in nursing, that can affect a nurses career is nursing burn- out. According to the article “Where have all the nurses gone”, current nurses that are practicing, report high rates of job dissatisfaction (which is part of burn out) and 1 of 5 nurses may quit nursing in the next 5 years (Dworkin, 2002). Burnout is associated with nurses not coming in to work, not feeling satisfied when doing their job, high turnover rates and a lack of commitment to the work (Katisfaraki, 2013). If a nurse becomes burned- out, they may not take care of their patients as well and could make mistakes with medication administration. A study performed in the United States by Dr. Jeannie Cimiottti, shows that hospitals with high burn-out rates among nurses have higher levels UTI’s, and surgical infections (World, 2012). Nursing burnout not only affects the nurse, but it also affects the patient, the nurses’ colleagues, and the nurses’ family; nursing burn out often leads to emotional exhaustion and depression, that can effect relations and communication between the nurse effected and the person they are communicating with. This paper will cover what burn-out is, who is susceptible to burn out, and treatment and prevent nursing burn out.
Compassion fatigue is a complex form of secondary traumatic stress often experienced by nurses and other health care professionals due to their stressful work environment. Compassion fatigue is extreme exhaustion that penetrates all aspects of one’s wellbeing, including the physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual aspects of life (Murphy-Ende, 2012). Dealing with children who are both chronically ill or in palliative care is known to be extremely stressful. Not only are nurses faced with dealing with the physical symptoms of their patients, they also must attend to their fragile emotional state and be of assistance to their anxious family members. Oncologic diagnoses can put a child and their family into turmoil. Since the nurse is the first, and most constant point of contact, they are often the ones who become responsible for ensuring well-being of the entire family throughout the ...
In the recent past, nursing has come to the forefront as a popular career amongst students across the globe. The demand for nurses has kept increasing gradually over the years. In fact, the number of registered nurses does not meet the demand of the private and public health sector. This phenomenon has resulted in a situation where the available registered nurses have to work extra hours in order to meet the patients’ needs. With this in mind, the issue of nurse fatigue has come up as a common problem in nursing. According to the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA), nurse fatigue is “a feeling of tiredness” that penetrates a persons physical, mental and emotional realms limiting their ability to function normally. Fatigue does not just involve sleepiness as has been assumed before. It involves utter exhaustion that is not easily mitigated through rest. When nurses ignore the signs of fatigue, they risk the development of chronic fatigue and other health problems that may not be easily treated. Additionally, fatigue may cause nurses to lose more time at work as they may have to be away from work for several days to treat it. The issue of nurse fatigue has permeated the nursing profession to the extent of causing errors in the work performed by nurses. Fatigue causes a decrease in a nurse’s ability to make accurate decisions for themselves and their patients. It is therefore important to find ways to curb nurse fatigue such that it is no longer a problem. Nurse fatigue is a danger to the patients, organizations and to the nurses themselves and must be mitigated adequately.
It is a negative emotional and physical response to the unfortunate situations that can arise in the profession of care giving. The “detrimental effects can include exhaustion, an inability to focus and a decrease in productivity, as well as unhappiness, self-doubt and loss of passion and enthusiasm” (Lester, 2010, p. 11). Compassion fatigue develops suddenly versus burnout which develops gradually (Boyle, 2011, p. 9). This abrupt onset of symptoms will hinder the nurse’s ability to develop a trusting and therapeutic relationship with the patients under their care.... ...
Burnout is a highly unusual type of stress disorder that is essentially characterized by emotional exhaustion, lack of empathy with patients, depersonalization, and a reduced sense of personal accomplishments. The nature of the work that healthcare practitioners perform predisposes them to emotional exhaustion. On the other hand, the lack of empathy towards patients is caused by the nurses feeling that they are underpaid and unappreciated. Numerous researches have associated burnout with the increasing rate of nurse turnover. This paper explores the causes of burnouts in nurses as well as what can be done to prevent the them.
Nurses want to give complete and quality care, but are unable to, due to the constant needs of their workload and inadequate staffing. They have to prioritize their patients needs based on the most critical treatments first. Then whatever time is left, they fill in what treatments they can. Some reasons that nursing treatments are missed include: too few staff, time required for the nursing intervention, poor use of existing staff resources and ineffective delegation.” (Kalisch, 2006) Many nurses become emotionally stressed and unsatisfied with their jobs. (Halm et al., 2005; Kalisch,
I think it is important for nurses experiencing burnout to talk to someone about it and maybe think about making a change in their workplace if possible to obtain a new challenge and help keep nursing fresh and exciting for them. I also find it interesting that as nurses, we are so prone to caring for others that we often forget or neglect to care for ourselves. Not caring for us is stressful to the body and will lead to burnout at work and also in our personal lives.
The nursing theories that are currently in place in the emergency room to promote professional growth and development are vital; however, there are other nursing theories that could be implemented to help improve professional growth and development. A theory that should be implemented to more effectively promote professional growth and development is Orem’s theory of self-care deficit. Orem’s theory is considered a “realistic reflection on nursing practice” (McEwen & Wills, 2014, p. 146). If the nurse is not taking care of him or herself, “stress [can] accumulate [and the] nurse can … become angry, exhausted, depressed, and sleepless” (Ruff & Hoffman, 2016, p. 8). By the nurse having these feelings he or she is not able to take care of him
The pediatric oncology unit has become a heavily studied area for those interested in prevention of compassion fatigue, burnout, and identification of those character traits that offer increased resilience. Nurses are expected to maintain professionalism and appropriate work-life balance but this may become a difficult task on a unit where children have a chronic, intensive, and potentially life-ending condition. Nurses become close to the patient and their family and when death occurs they too may feel a great sense of intense grief and loss. The acknowledgment of this grief and the promotion of adequate self-care habits, work-life divisions, and the ability to recognize when help may be needed are amongst the most important means in prevention of burnout and compassion fatigue. In addition to utilization of positive coping skills by the nurse a responsibility by the organization is also necessary to prevent staff burnout and turnover. The organization is responsible for acknowledgement of a loss on the unit. Presentation of prompt and anonymous counseling services to everyone on the unit following a death and regularly on high-risk units is just one of the many ways an organization can continue to decrease the loss of good nurses to compassion fatigue and
Poghosyan, Clarke, Finlayson, and Aiken (2010) in a cross-national comparative research explored the relationship between nurses’ burnout and the quality of care in 53,846 nurses from six countries. Their researched confirmed that nurses around the world experience burnout due to increase workload. Burnout was manifested as fatigue, irritability, insomnia, headaches, back pain, weight gain, high blood pressure, and depression. Burnout influenced nurses’ job performance, lowered patient satisfaction, and it was significantly associated with poor quality of care. Patient safety decreased as nurses’ job demands
Lippincott , Williams, & Wilkins, (2012). Sentinel event alert spotlights nurse fatigue. Clinical Rounds, 42(3), 27-29. doi: 10.1097/01.NURSE.0000411416.14033.f5