The Problem Of Emergency Nurses

Equating status with authority can be misleading or misconstrued by other nurses who have the same status as to the authority figure. For an organization or department to work harmoniously, timely, and chaos free, there should be a clear understanding of who is the authority figure even when the nurses have the same status. “Essentially, in the formal organization, the emphasis is on organizational positions and formal power. Through departmentalization and work division, provides a framework for defining managerial authority, responsibility, and accountability. In a well-defined formal structure, roles and functions are defined and systematically arranged, different people have differing roles, and rank and hierarchy are evident.” (Marquis

Leadership at times can be a complex topic to delve into and may appear to be a simple and graspable concept for a certain few. Leadership skills are not simply acquired through position, seniority, pay scale, or the amount of titles an individual holds but is a characteristic acquired or is an innate trait for the fortunate few who possess it. Leadership can be misconstrued with management; a manager “manages” the daily operations of a company’s work while a leader envisions, influences, and empowers the individuals around them.

As an Emergency Room Nurse, You become a part of the Emergency Response Team that works together to not only provide individual care, but also to provide fast and accurate stabilizing care to individuals in a crisis situation.

The CIPD (2014) factsheet states that Employee Engagement is a concept that ‘is generally seen as an internal state of being – physical, mental and emotional – that brings together earlier concepts of work effort, organisational commitment, job satisfaction and ‘flow’ (or optimal experience)’. An engaged workforce willingly demonstrates discretionary effort within their roles; their goals and values reflect that of their employers/organisation; they express a passion for work, feel valued and that their work has meaning.

When needed, nurses can ask for assistance from their peers or delegate patient care tasks to increase their productivity. Implementing either strategy requires an understanding that with either task there are specific responsibilities and accountability. Nurses must have an understanding

“The emergency nurse acts with compassion, integrity and respect for human dignity while recognizing and safeguarding the autonomy of the individual”, (ENA, 2015). While this provision appears simply stated, most nurses find it difficult to remember their patient as a human being with intricate needs and basic human rights. As an emergency nurse, I have to keep these needs and rights at the forefront of my thoughts during the care of the patient during a very vulnerable time. Patients come in under stress, sometimes involuntary and at the most desperate times in their lives. I constantly have to make a concerted effort to communicate with the patient during a chaotic time, take time to listen to the patients fears and concerns and communicate those to the team.

Care within the hospital has become very complex and challenging as nurses are being faced with taking critical decisions associated with care of seriously

Queens Hospital Center Department of Nursing practices Shared Governance Model; it is defined as both process and outcome. Within a culture of collaboration, honest, respect, trust, and open

A few nurses expressed their concern of patients’ losing confidence in the nursing staff. One nurse stated, “Patients want nurses to talk to them, they need to feel safe…if you stay with him for 5 minutes doing a procedure and not listening, next time he will not talk to you, he will be afraid to ask, will not want to bother you because you are busy…”(Nurse 7 from the test group). The findings in this research support the view that nurses work in complex environments that tend to give priority to medical or technical interventions, whereas establishing caring relationships with their patients is of secondary importance. Limited resources will always generate difficult decisions along with ethical and moral choices. The nursing profession needs to analyze and openly discuss the criteria used for rationing and at which point and for which tasks nurses accept or reject rationing and its’ repercussions. Prioritization in nursing needs to be recognized as a major patient safety issue and openly discussed at a policy level.” (Papastravrou, Andreou, & Vryonides, 2014, page

I agree, Sydni. When working in healthcare we must learn to work as a team to accomplish goals. As you stated in your post, we simply cannot do it alone. The nurse supervisor must also understand her role in making assignments. That nurse is responsible for assigning patients to the most appropriate nurse. He or she must look at each individual patient and place them with the correct nurse. When picking a nurse for that patient the nurse must know what is within the nurse's scope of practice and whether that nurse is competent enough to effectively and safely care for that

Shared governance grew in popularity because of nurses’ dissatisfaction with hospitals administration but waned in interest in the 90’s. Shared governance has suffered from a variety of names and interpretations and although these definitions differ in their depth, common words like autonomy and empowerment and collaboration always arise.

The American Nurses Association 's (ANA) is dedicated to patient safety and nursing quality comes in the form of advocacy. The ANA is able to encourage legislation on important issues such as safe patient handling and patients ' rights by creating initiatives that raise awareness both among the public and among politicians (www.nursingworld.org). Advocacy is responding to the call to be an active voice and demonstrating positive partnerships. Ida Jean Orlando’s Theory of Deliberative Nursing Process is based on key concepts and dimensions. The key concepts include: patient’s behavior, need for help, improvement, nurse’s reactions, perception, thought, feeling, nurse’s activity, automatic nursing process, and deliberative nursing process. Orlando’s nursing theory focuses on the reciprocity relationship between a nurse and her patient (Alligood, 2010). Orlando conceptualized the nurse’s unique function as “finding out and meeting the patient’s immediate needs for help” (Orlando, 1987). In this paper, I will share how I was able to meet the immediate needs of a patient by advocating on his behalf and partnering with the other disciplines within the facility.

Moral distress is yet one more causative factor of high occupational stress in emergency nursing. Fernandez-Parsons, Rodriguez, & Goyal, (2013) identified the top ten causes of moral distress in emergency nursing where work with incompetent healthcare provider was on top and provision of care that does not relief the suffering of the patient was on the bottom of the list. Moreover, the authors pointed out that moral or initial distress if not resolved effectively and timely, could lead to the reactive

A professional nurse is one who puts the needs and importance of patient care above all others. While striving for professionalism, nurses need compassion, patience, empathy, strong moral and ethics, accountability and the commitment to always act in the best interest of their patients. Nurses are held accountable for providing quality, safe, and effective nursing care (Hood, 2014). A professional nurse has the responsibility to continually improve and implement nursing standards while maintaining integrity by involving themselves in various tasks. Regular involvement in reading professional literature and sharing of evidence- based research with other healthcare personal helps increase knowledge and skills. This nursing ability can be used to encourage the actions of others in the healthcare team resulting in improved patient care. Nurses should encourage each other to become involved in hospital committees, provide an environment to encourage the discussions of ethical dilemmas, promote professional growth of nurses to voice their concerns and share viewpoints to address issues. “A professional nurse should expect to commit to a life of continuous learning growth and development”. (Hood, 2014, pp. 29). Nurses choose this profession to help others. As professional nurses we must maintain our ethics, values, characteristics, and commitment to drive our profession forward (CCN, 2015). Nurses must be autonomous, accountable, and be able to delegate to unlicensed assistive personnel. Being autonomous as a nurse means having control over their practice (Hood, 2014). It allows a nurse to take risks while being held accountable for ones’ actions (Hood, 2014).

This study is grounded on Shaufeli et al. (2002) work engagement theoretical concepts (vigor, dedication, and absorption) whereby,