The Dark Side of Nursing
Can you imagine your nurse being a murderer? Patients come to the hospital expecting to be taken care of by the nurse until they feel better. However, the person you’re trusting to take care of you might be the reason you lose your life. Many believe that nurses simply follow the doctors’ orders and doesn’t really play a big role in the interdisciplinary team. However, without nurses the health care service everyone knows and loves wouldn’t be the same. Nursing is more than taking orders it’s a passion for those who love helping and using holistic care to meet the patient’s needs mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, and environmentally.” Nursing is a health care profession that involves years of training
Most often, this advocacy takes the form of collective bargaining aimed at improving employees’ wages, hours, working conditions and benefits” (Should I Join a Nurses Union? Pros and Cons. (n.d.). Retrieved August 19, 2017, from http://nurse.org/articles/pros-and-cons-nursing-unions/). However, nurses don’t have an organization to protect and advocate their interests. If there’s unfair wages, long hours, horrible working conditions and beliefs. The nurse must defend themselves or simply deal with it and this isn’t only a problem in the State of Florida this is a nationwide problem. It’s completely unfair how doctors have their own union that is ready to go to war for them. Meanwhile, the nurse can be tossed around as everyone pleases. With the creation of nursing unions, they can set boundaries, provide the support nurses need, give the nurses vacations when they become overwhelmed, and help the nurse manage their stress. Nurses are usually afraid to say the word no when they hit their breaking point because they feel that they might lose their job or they feel like they’re letting down their responsibilities as the patient’s advocate. With the creation of nursing unions, they will set boundaries for the nurse and basically be a safeguard for the nurse. The nurse union will supervise the nurse’s schedule to make sure the health care facility isn’t putting too much on one nurse. Once the nurse union realizes that a nurse is being overworked the nurse union will step in. Most nurses’ love caring for others to the point they completely forget to take care of themselves. Well with the creation of nursing unions that will come to an end. Nurses will have mandatory vacations that they must take. With this time off the nurse will have time to focus on themselves. This will give an adequate amount of time to grieve with any losses and
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.
The problem, as defined for my argument research paper, is that to cut costs, hospitals have been steadily increasing the number of patients nurses must care for. In many areas it's not uncommon for one nurse to have to assess, give medications to, and manage the care of as many as 12 patients. This puts tremendous strain on nurses. Many of the studies I have seen in my research indicate that a high ration of patients to nurses increases the rate of death or other poor outcomes for patients. It also leads to increased nurse burnout and higher turnover, though at this point I believe my paper will focus on patient outcomes.
Frequently, nurses are confronted with the task of finding the balance between advocating for the patient, and remaining loyal to their hospital or institution (Hanks, 2007). Risks that are associated with patient advocacy are more on the institutional level (Bu & Jezewski, 2007). Risks such as accusations of insubordination, reputation slander, hostile work environment, and loss of job security are among some of the top reasons nurses tend to shy away for patient advocacy (Bu & Jezewski, 2007). Another problem with advocacy is that there isn’t a universal definition as to what being an advocate means, along with inconsistency of interpretations (Bu & Jezewski,
In the words of the late Virginia Henderson: “nurses help people, sick or well, to do those things needed for health or a peaceful death that people would do on their own if they had the strength, will, or knowledge.” Truer words were never spoken-- my personal nursing philosophy is much like Henderson’s in that I believe nurses do not simply follow physician’s orders, but utilize their knowledge, skills, and ability to think critically in order to help patients achieve a better quality of life.
There is a shortage of all health care professions throughout the United States. One shortage in particular that society should be very concerned about is the shortage of Registered Nurses. Registered Nurses make up the single largest healthcare profession in the United States. A registered nurse is a vital healthcare professional that has earned a two or four year degree and has the upper-most responsibility in providing direct patient care and staff management in a hospital or other treatment facilities (Registered Nurse (RN) Degree and Career Overview., 2009). This shortage issue is imperative because RN's affect everyone sometime in their lifetime. Nurses serve groups, families and individuals to foster health and prevent disease.
The American Nurses Association (ANA) developed a foundation for which all nurses are expected to perform their basic duties in order to meet the needs of the society we serve. The ANA “has long been instrumental in the development of three foundational documents for professional nursing; its code of ethics, its scope and standards of practice, ands statement of social policy.” (ANA, 2010, p. 87) The ANA defined nursing as “the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations” and used to create the scope and standards of nursing practice. (ANA, 2010, p. 1) These “outline the steps that nurses must take to meet client healthcare needs.” () The nursing process, for example, is one of the things I use daily. Other examples include communicating and collaborating with my patient, their families, and my peers, and being a lifelong learner. I continually research new diagnoses, medications, and treatments for my patients. As a nurse of ...
The health care system and nursing practices are undergoing rapid changes, which are as well becoming complex. Preparing nurses balance these changes is a significant challenge. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) report explored how nursing profession has to change to bring out a more solid health care system. As a result of these changes, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) decided to examine “Future of Nursing, Leading change and Advancing Health” (Creasia & Fribery, 2011). This paper will discuss the impact of the 2010 IOM report on nursing Education, nursing Practice with emphasis on primary care, its effects on present nursing practice, and the nurse’s role as a leader.
A nurse’s role in our society today is exceptionally significant. Nurses are somewhat idolized and looked to as our everyday “superman”. “The mission of nursing in society is to help individuals, families, and groups to determine and achieve physical, mental, and social potential, and to do so within the challenging context of the environment in which they live and work” (“The Role of a Nurse/Midwife”). Many Americans turn to nurses for delivery of primary health care services and health care education (Whelan). In our country, there is constantly someone in need of health care. There will always be a baby being born or a person dying, someone becoming ill or growing old. Some people due to their physical and/or mental state of health are completely dependent on a nurse and wouldn’t be able to get through the simple obstacles of every day, or achieve the necessary requirements of a simple day without their aid. Not only do nurses help, and assist you when you’re sick, but also act to promote good health to others. They end...
Healthcare is viewed in an unrealistic way by most individuals. Many people view a physician as the only means to find a solution to their problem. Nurses are still seen by some as simply “the person who does what the doctor says.” This is frustrating in today’s time when nurses are required to spend years on their education to help care for their patients. In many situations nurses are the only advocate that some patients’ have.
The field of nursing provides one the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others. Nurses interact directly with patients at times of hardship, vulnerability, and loss. The nursing profession has been around for decades. Due to the contribution from historical leaders in nursing, the nurse’s role has progressed over time. Although the roles of nurses have evolved throughout the years, one thing has remained the same: the purpose in giving the best patient care.
The role of the nurse is diverse and complex, and is not only concerned with the patient’s body, but also their mind and soul. Nurses are not simply trained to perform tasks, but are trained to be professionals who utilize evidence-based practice with a compassionate and empathetic approach to care. These tasks carry a heavy weight and responsibility, and require that we treat all patients with honor, dignity, and respect. While I had a small idea of these things before beginning school, their gravity has become more of a reality in recent weeks. I hope to be a nurse who utilizes evidence-based practice combined with excellent patient-centered care to touch my patient’s lives and care for them in meaningful
One of the most poignant statements that I have heard during my tenure in nursing school is that “Nurses are often the first person that an infant sees at birth and the last person that a patient sees upon death.” Nurses have contact with patients recurrently along this continuum of life, now more than ever. This is due to the world’s aging population and the correlating factor of higher patient acuity (Larson, 2013). This frequent and close contact with nurses has fostered a sense of trustworthiness in the minds of U.S. citizens. This is evidenced by a recent Gallup Poll which listed nurses as the most honest and ethical professionals in America (www.galluppoll.com, 2015). Nurses have the challenging task of providing this trust-worthy,
As I reflect on my nursing education, I relieved that I have unexpectedly created a set of values and beliefs for myself, otherwise known as my personal nursing philosophy. I believe that the core of nursing is advocacy, knowledge, integrity and caring. The focus of nursing is on patient need and patient health. According to the (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2017), “nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, facilitation of healing, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, groups, communities, and populations.” I believe that nursing is an art allowing the nurse to be competent,
The focus of every health care professional is the patient and the goal is to return the patient to optimum health where the patient can be independent. When the patient’s safety is being compromised it’s everyone’s job to fix the problem and make sure that it doesn’t happen again. However, there’s a dark side to nursing. The nurse is one of the few health care workers that have the most daily contact with the patient. The nurse plays a very important role in the patients care from teaching to simply being a listener while withholding any judgement. When the nurse to patient ratio isn’t balanced, it causes nurse burnout. Nurse burnout is when the nurse becomes “physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted” (Michigan, S. S. (n.d.). News.
The synopsis of the summary clearly describes that there is an issue with nursing care. The main issue is that there are unfinished nursing care. In the medical field, nurses are predominantly responsible for maintain quality care for the patient. Because they are predominantly responsible, the issue lies that nursing care is not the way it should be. The outcomes are declining and nurses often lack the time to care for their patient which cause a major declension in patient’s health.