Workforce Advocacy
Impact on My Role as a Nurse
Issues affecting the nursing workforce will affect me as an individual include staffing shortages and ethics considerations. I was really disappointed with my profession in 2020 when COVID requirements rolled out; I felt the whole thing was off, that there was a great deal of panic, fear, hyperbole, and insistence put out there, which is the exact opposite of what one is supposed to do in a pandemic situation. I felt that the industry shredded its credibility and it was all put on the shoulders of nurses to bear it and face the brunt of a rightly incredulous and skeptical public. That affected me deeply and hurt me personally as I have friends who distrust Fauci et al. for all that has come out since.
As a result of all the conditions that prevailed, nursing has been hit hard. It was already in a bad situation as far as staffing goes, but now it is even worse. Staffing shortages are a big issue affecting nurses nationwide. It increases workloads for current nurses; they have longer shifts (12 hour shifts are commonbut they really should not be), and higher stress levels can result (Koy et al., 2020; Trinkoff et al., 2021). For me, this means a greater likelihood of experiencing burnout, which I dont want to have to experience as it can negatively impact my mental and my physical health. On top of all that, the quality of patient care can suffer. Patients can feel dissatisfied, patient safety might be reduced, risk could increase, and nurses could end up quitting due to job dissatisfaction....
More turnover results, and the situation just gets worse and worse.
I believe that burnout is a direct consequence of the high demands placed on nurses (DallOra et al., 2020). I know many nurses who are emotionally exhausted and continuously think about getting out of the work. I think more emphasis needs to be placed on self-care and giving nurses time to refresh and recharge. Addressing burnout something that needs to be done to have a...
…place that have mechanisms for follow-ups and resolution of reported incidents.
Another idea is to alter the physical environment to improve safety and reduce the risk of violence. An obvious option here would be the installation of security cameras; panic buttons and controlled access points could be considered to prevent the spread of serious violence, like an active shooter situation. There should always be adequate lighting and clear lines of sight to help keep potential perpetrators from acting violently.
There should also be a genuine culture of collaboration and communication among all staff members. Everyone should promote teamwork and mutual support and management should promote a unified team approach to preventing and addressing workplace violence.
Conclusion
Overall, nursing is not an easy field. Between burnout and the risk of violence, there is a need for some serious support. There should be regular assessments of workplace violence prevention strategies to see where improvement can be made. Feedback from staff and data on reported incidents could be useful in coming up with good steps for addressing all nurses top concerns,…
