There is an ongoing shortage of nurses, which along with emotional stressors, is said to be the cause of burnout among nurses. It has made nurses fearful of patient safety because of the inadequate staffing. The most common source of burnout among nurses is the work overload. The problem of inadequate staffing causes nurses to have an increased workload. Nurses can end up working long days and nights, overtime work, rotating shifts, and weekend work.
An example of blurring of professional boundaries could be a oncology nurse working along side an oncologist and caring for cancer patients day in and day out. As patients suffer and die the nurse and oncologist may lean on oneanother for support through the myriad emotions that come with long term treatment and loss of life of the patients and emotionsl distress of the patients’ family members. If the nurse and oncologist don’t observe professional boundaries they may allow their emotions to become personal in nature. It is imperative for professionals to realize that we as healthcare providers may experience the same emotions of sadness and loss due to the loss of a patient but under no circumstances should this be the foundation for a personal
Compassion Fatigue and its Affect on Nursing Kelly Kramer Drexel On-Line Compassion Fatigue and its Affects on Nursing Compassion fatigue is a rising issue for nurses working in all specialties of nursing, mainly in critical care. In this paper I will be discussing compassion fatigue, it’s symptoms, how it affects the nursing profession and individual nurses, as well as the hospitals and what untreated compassion fatigue can mean for the future of nursing. Compassion fatigue, also referred to as secondary traumatic stress syndrome, has been defined by Charles Figley as the “natural consequent behaviors and emotions resulting from knowing about a traumatizing event experienced by a significant other – the stress resulting from helping, or wanting to help, a traumatized or suffering person”(Figley, 1995, p. 7). Although compassion fatigue has been studied more in the past 20 years in regards to nursing, there have not been many tools developed to measure the presence of it. There is a general consensus among all the articles that I read regarding the need for more studies, tools to assess and programs at hospitals for nurses.
This in turn exposes not only patients, but also nurses to a significant amount of noise and alarms, ultimately leading to the clinical problem called alarm fatigue. As defined by the Joint Commission, alarm fatigue is known as the desensitization of medical staff as a result of sensory overload. This overload ultimately results in a delay of an alarm being answered, and sometimes someone completely missing the alarm altogether (The Joint Commission, 2015). Alarm fatigue has been recognized as a contributing
Registered Nurse is to also respect and safeguard the property of patient/client and employer. Advanced Practice Nursing is a Nurse Practitioner, a Nurse Midwife, or a Clinical Nurse Specialists. They actually hold an RN license and are qualified to practice nursing in a specialist’s role. They are allowed to practice in a variety of settings. Some examples APN practices at are home institutions, office, industry, school, private practice, and hospital outpatient clinics.
As kind and compassionate as nurses can be to their patients, they can be just as mean and hateful to their colleagues. With knowledge comes responsibility. Horizontal violence is prevalent in the nursing profession, and the experience of this behavior is psychologically distressing, threatening patient safety, nurse moral, and nurse retention. To understand how to eliminate lateral violence amongst nurses, we first have to understand exactly what it is. WHAT IS IT Lateral violence is a devastating phenomenon in the nursing workplace.
Topic Proposal NUR/598 XXXXXXX University of Phoenix Patricia Dehof XXXXXXX Poor job satisfaction is an issue being faced by many health care organizations. Nursing retention and inadequate staffing can occur as a result of job dissatisfaction. This paper presents a proposal to educate physicians and nurses on methods of improving collaboration and relationships. . There are many factors that can cause job dissatisfaction and turnover rates.
According to the literature reviewed, there is a direct correlation between turnover of nurses and CNAs to the quality of patient care. Hunt (2009) gives a concise explanation of the correlation of staff shortage on patient care: Staff shortages caused by nursing turnover are associated with significant decreases in the general quality of patient care, increases in the length of patient stays within hospitals, and greater numbers of hospital-acquired patient illnesses and conditions that do not qualify for Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement (p.3) Another report published by the American Association of College of Nurses’ stated the same thing that there is a correlation between nurse to patient ratio and the quality of care given. As a result many organizations are left having to do major damage control externally, to prevent a bad reputation. Instead of external PR, organizations need to start taking a hard internal look at their staff management. Reasons for Staff
It becomes burdensome when the terminal client, has no advanced directive and the loved ones that are to make decisions are in disagreement with each other. The Nurse Practice Acts and Code of Ethics for Nurse’s can help with dealing with ethical and legal issues in Nursing. An example of a malpractice case is a nurse as a witness in a malpractice suit that involved harm to a client. The case is against the healthcare institution, and a nurse whom she knew was overtly negligent. On previous occasions, it is noticed this nurse violating standards of care.
Malpractice can be increasing because of a severe shortage of trained nurses, and it happened because of a few factors: nurses are required to work longer shifts; they can lead to fatigue and increase the risk for an error; also short Nursing courses providing degrees with no sufficient time to train nurses results in malpractice. Nurses who lack the experience and knowledge fail their duty, and when it happen not only them but also the hospital in which they work bear the consequences. Because most nurses are employees of hospitals, hospitals are frequently defendant in nursing malpractice cases. Another factor that contributes to nurse malpractice is miscommunication. Even though it is unintentional it can lead to tragedy.