The Healthy Lifestyle of the RN Health care students quickly forget, as they transition into the role of an RN, that varying work schedules, long hours, and split shifts start to create an unhealthy balance for the working nurse. Eating schedules are off and daily exercise is forgotten. Mental health is at risk for being compromised from an increased level of stress, anxiety and concern about patients’ conditions, which does not include the extra mental clutter from their personal lives. Quickly, the RN loses focus on a healthy balance coupled with the everyday workload. Have you ever heard of people talking about nurses falling apart? This is a prime example of how a nurse starts to unravel. At some point in a nurse’s career, the disintegration of one or more of the three main life style components, diet, exercise, or mental impacts his or her health. The American Nurses Association (ANA) defines a healthy nurse as one who “actively focuses on creating and maintaining a balance and synergy of physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, personal and professional wellbeing. A healthy nurse lives life to the fullest capacity, across the wellness/illness continuum, as they become stronger role models, advocates, and educators, personally, for their families, their communities and work environments, and ultimately for their patients” (S. Letvak). The way you currently perceive a nurse and their lifestyle may soon change your perspective after …show more content…
While the health of nurses is important to nurses themselves, it is also important for quality of care. A recent study of hospital employed nurses found that nurses who work with pain and/or depression report more medication errors and patient falls and a lower quality of care provided (C. Spencer). Clearly, the health of nurses can no longer be
Personal health is extremely important to everyone around the world. But it is especially important to citizens of the United States of America. Being one of the leading countries in Health technology and also in food and beverage leaves most people choosing between living a healthy lifestyle and indulging in the varieties of food we offer. Across the country, many people are living with pre-existing conditions, living in food deserts, living below the poverty line and a long list of other factors that either hinders them from eating healthy or force them to eat healthily. When trying to live a healthy lifestyle in this country not only does the promotion of prevention matter, but also the promotion of Career and job opportunities matter just as much. In the United States, Money equals Power and money also equal the opportunity to create and live a healthier lifestyle.
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.
In most aspects of life the saying “less is always more” may ring true; however when it comes to providing quality care to patients, less only creates problems which can lead to a decrease in patient’s quality of life as well as nurse’s satisfaction with their jobs. The massive shortage of nurses throughout the United States has gotten attention from some of the most prestigious schools, news media and political leaders. Nurses are being burnt out from their jobs, they are being overworked and overlooked. New nurses are not being properly trained, and old nurses are on their way to retirement. All the while the rate of patient admissions is on the rise. Nurses are reporting lower satisfaction in their job positions and hospital retention rates are at an all-time low, conversely this is affecting all patients’ quality of care. As stated in the article Addressing The Nurse Shortage To Improve The Quality Of Patient Care “According to an Institute of Medicine report, Nurses are the largest group of health care professionals providing direct patient care in hospitals, and the quality of care for hospital patients is strongly linked to the performance of nursing staff”.
A nurse is able to achieve this great balance, with the patient and self, by being conscious of the environment that surrounds them and through self awareness. For example, in the scene of an emergency, first and foremost, a nurse must check the environment before started emergent care. Both the patient and nurse must be safe for treatment to be effective. The environment is what surrounds us; our workplace, home, communities, issues we think about, the people we interact with, and the emotions associated with these interactions. The nurse knows that all of these components play an integral role in maintaining stability in a person’s life and health. The nurse assumes care of not just a disease process but of a human being as a whole; a family, a livelihood, a spirit, a person. A nurse knows that in order for holistic care to be effective, the care taker themselves should be at a point of stability as well. A true nurse knows that in order to excel you must know your limits and understand that while your main goal is to help the patient regain their strength, identity, and independence, that goal does not have to be achieved by compromising your own self, identity, and
When someone hears holistic nursing their mind may immediately jump to a form of hippie nursing with little to none scientific background or accuracy in the quality of care. This belief however is extremely inaccurate as to what holistic nursing really is. Holistic care can be defined as to when the nurse honors the patient’s wishes and takes into consideration the social, physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of the patient’s life (American Holistic Nurses Association, n.d.). Holistic nursing is growing in popularity amongst patients because of its open communication between nurse and patient, its unique approach to health and healing, as well as the comprehensive care it can provide.
Pediatric Nurse 1. A pediatric RN assists pediatricians by assessing a patient's needs and providing initial patient care. They help families deal with a child's illness or injury. They often offer information on nutrition, diet, and good health habits. The work of a Pediatric Nurse can range from assisting a Physician with the exam of a child to drawing blood.
A leader is described as a person who guides others and has authority and influence over others. They work to influence others into meeting certain goals. There is no right or wrong definition of a leader and there is no recipe that ensures effective leadership. Successful leaders have a good balance of vision, influence, and power. Leaders gain their authority from their ability to influence others to get the work done; because of this, anyone has the potential to be a leader. (Finkelman. 2012, p15)
What is the central component of advanced practice nurses (APNs) direct clinical practice and patient/families?
Working as a registered nurse for over six years has given me the opportunity to experience firsthand and understand the huge impact, either negative or positive, that health care providers can have in their patients’ wellbeing.
The major concern for registered nurses regard’s the nurse’s health and well being. Safe staffing levels are continuing to become more of a problem. The U.S is expected to experience a shortage of nurses as the “Baby Boomers” age and the need for health care grows (Rossester, 2014). This shortage is causing some health organizations to work with minimal amounts of nurses. This is affecting the nurse’s ability to provide safe care due to fatigue and injury. This shortage is also resulting in a dramatic increase in the amount of mandatory overtime, which often means that nurses stray from face-to-face patient care and can produce an increase in the amount of medical errors (American Nurses Association,
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,
Saying that you are a registered nurse is a broad statement. Registered nursing is a job that has many aspects. Registered nurses work in many different settings and they carry out many different routines. As a registered nurse you could be exposed to many different opportunities. My goal is to be a registered nurse but, I need to learn a lot. Becoming a being a registered nurse requires a lot of hard work and effort but, if I focus on my goal I will be able to achieve it.
The following essay is a reflective paper on an event that I encountered as a student nurse during my first clinical placement in my first year of study. The event took place in a long term facility. This reflection is about the patient whom I will call Mrs. D. to protect her confidentiality. Throughout this essay I will be using LEARN model of reflection. I have decided to reflect on the event described in this essay since I believe that it highlights the need for nurses to have effective vital signs ‘assessment skills especially when treating older patients with complex medical diagnoses.
Historically, the nursing profession has been actively involved in the health promotion and disease prevention among the general public. However, while caring for others, nurses often neglect their personal safety, which ultimately results in the high level of work-related injuries. Failure to timely address risk factors for nursing can have dire consequences for patient outcomes, since it is often associated with increased medication errors and patient falls, poor quality of care, and permanent disability of the nursing staff (Stokowski, 2014).
The importance of a healthy community is not only an issue that affects the individual health of member of the community but is also something affects the health of the overall economic health of the community. Health education helps keep people in check with their personal health, and good personal health correlates with more happiness. Happiness is life correlates with more satisfaction with what an individual 's does on the daily. If an individual is more happy with their daily life then it is very possible that they are in some way happy with their chosen job or occupation. When companies have a happier workforce there is a higher chance of increased productivity, which in turn creates higher chances for an increased profit in the company.