Increased accountability and responsibility is my main fear as I enter the health care workforce as a registered nurse. Over the last three years as a student nurse on clinical placement, every shift I was supervised and overlooked by a registered nurse at all times. As well as being provided a diverse range of advice and techniques to use when applying my nursing practice. As a nursing student it gave me room for minor errors, as I always had someone to correct it and demonstrate efficient practice. Yet knowing next year I will have to carry the responsibilities of a nurse independently puts a different perspective on my year ahead. A registered nurse is accountable and responsible for their own actions and distribution of care to enrolled nurses and a number of other health care workers (Nursing Midwifery Board of Australia, 2006). According to a Nursing Times paper, accountability and responsibility is a key stressor in transitioning from a graduate nurse to a fully qualified nurse (Whitehead and Holmes 2011). Being ethically and legally responsible for another human being, was recognized as an overwhelming and ‘extremely scary’ experience. Specifically, graduate nurses fear the lack of recognising a deteriorating patient as a result of ‘overlooking something’ important (Goh and Watt 2003). Therefore, this stress and uncertainty in their practice may lead to a number of unfortunate events occurring and put patient’s safety at risk, due to the degree of responsibility and
Nursing is known to be one of the most challenging careers, owing to the tough responsibilities that nurse practitioners are charged with and the immense sensitivity of their role (Li, 2013). Both Registered nurses and nurse practitioners work together monitoring a range of patients’ health and providing them with adapt care needed within their scope of practice. However, the roles and the responsibilities they bestowed are different. Creating a balance between a tough job and the extremely sensitive wellbeing of a patient, which lies in the decisions that a nurse practitioner makes, does surely propel one to the pinnacle of clinical nursing. As they carry out this sensitive role, they are also expected to be active in a wide range of other areas, including research, education, policy, and clinical governance. It is true that the working environment in which they work, to a considerable extent, does not provide the flexibility needed by nurse practitioners in an effort to carry out these complex roles, but they somehow have shown they are able to achieve this (Fleming & Carberry, 2011). This essay looks to justify the claim that nurse practitioners are the pinnacle of clinical nursing drawn from evidence from existing literature. It will demonstrate the roles and responsibilities a nursing practitioner holds a higher expectation than a registered nurse. It is also argued though that there is immense pressure on registered nurse, making the nurse practitioners role not as
As a registered nurse, midwife or health visitor, you are personally accountable for your practice. In caring for patients and clients, you must:
Current literature continues to reiterate the indicators of a major shortage of registered nurses (RNs) in the United States. The total RN population has been increasing since 1980, which means that we have more RNs in this country than ever before (Nursing Shortage). Even though the RN population is increasing, it is growing at a much slower rate then when compared to the rate of growth of the U.S. population (Nursing Shortage). We are seeing less skilled nurses “at a time of an increasingly aging population with complex care
A Registered Nurse is a person who enjoys helping other people. They practically have the responsibility for many peoples lives. What’s interesting about a Registered Nurse is that they get to learn about all the parts of the human body. A Registered Nurse works in the medical field and needs to be ready with anything that comes their way. There could be a sudden death, some kind of medical issue that pops up, and even a patient just falls over and hurt themselves. As a Registered Nurse they need to be able to deal with blood, snot, vomit etc. The main thing a Registered Nurse has to be good at is being able, and wanting to help people in need.
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
Nursing profession is constantly changing with the development of new technologies that lead to a new level of responsibility. The new level of responsibility challenges nurses torespond to different and difficultsituations in the health care industry, especially in protecting the human right, dignity of patients and their safety. Nurses hold adistinctive position as patient advocates, regardless of their respective areas of practice; either in a home health, clinic, or in a hospital setting. Nursesare faced with ethical decisions, both personal and professional decisions.
31,000 were prelicensure applicants” (as cited in Ganley & Sheets, 2009, p. 401). As more
Nurses are constantly challenged by changes which occur in their practice environment and are under the influence of internal or external factors. Due to the increased complexity of the health system, nowadays nurses are faced with ethical and legal decisions and often come across dilemmas regarding patient care. From this perspective a good question to be raised would be whether or not nurses have the necessary background, knowledge and skills to make appropriate legal and ethical decisions. Even though most nursing programs cover the ethical and moral issues in health care, it is questionable if new nurses have the depth of knowledge and understanding of these issues and apply them in their practice
It is likely that most people have heard about the nursing shortage for years now, and perhaps they believe it’s been fixed. However, the nursing profession is experiencing a reoccurring deficiency. According to Brian Hansen, (2002), there was a nation wide shortage in 2001 of 126,000 full-time registered nurses, but the shortage will surge to 808,000 by 2020 if something isn't done. This pattern is a persisting cycle of high vacancies followed by layoffs and a high over supply of registered nurses. Various factors contribute to the lack of nurses within the health care facilities, but today’s shortages are a little different. Many feel that this scarcity is severe and long-drawn-out. The four major issues contributing to
Who has not heard of a terrible experience with staff in a hospital or healthcare facility? It is likely that the reason that these unfortunate situations have happened is because of the nursing shortage around the nation. The issue of the nursing shortage refers to the lack of sufficient qualified nurses in the healthcare system. Thus, with nursing shortages comes the lack of attention for individual patient needs and even possible malpractice law suits if the issues persist. Undeniably, the shortage of nurses around the nation is growing exponentially because of the lack of experience, education, and resources. Although this is the case, there are actions that may be executed to help the cause, such as more training in hospitals, school programs that bridge education with careers, and the encouragement for a more gender diverse nursing profession.
they also receive on the job training as education through trial and error while working
Have you ever thought about the role a nurse has between his or her client? A nurse’s role is more than just helping clients when they are not feeling well. In 2007 there were a reportedly 12 million nurse’s employed (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2009). That is a large amount of nurse’s that are employed in the world. A nurse protects, promotes, optimizes health and ability, prevents illness or injury, alleviates suffering through treatment and diagnosis of human response, and advocates in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations (Amercian Nurses Association, 2012). A nurse stands for many good qualities but, why is there a big shortage of nurses?
Nurses are subject to a plethora of legal, ethical, and professional duties which can be very challenging on a day to day basis. Some of these duties include respecting a patient 's confidentiality and autonomy, and to recognize the duty of care that is owed to all patients. As nurses our duties are always professional; however there are legal implications if these duties are breached. We also must consider when it is okay as nurses to breach these duties and therefore ethical issues arise. As nurses one of our main priorities is to advocate for our patients, without our own personal feelings on the matter taking over.
The decision to work towards becoming a registered nurse requires a personal transition from the role of being an aerospace technician to one of a healthcare professional. As part of this transition, I must learn what defines a nurse, understand what I can contribute to the profession, establish and meet professional goals, and be aware of extraneous factors that affect the healthcare industry.
Public health nurses (PHN) “apply the nursing process”, “use data”, and emphasizes “prevention…educating and empowering” individuals in the community (Allender, Rector, & Warner, 2014). The government on federal, state, and local levels rely on the PHN to uses their nursing skills and critical thinking to do the “greatest good for the majority of people” in the community (Allender, Rector, & Warner, 2014). The funding provided by the federal, state, and local government is assessed and implemented based on nurses input and epidemiology. As a PHN they must have skills like, assessment, “priority planning”, and evaluation; working in conjunction with the three core functions of public health according to IOM, “assessment, assurance, and policy development” (Allender, Rector, & Warner, 2014).