Among the most fulfilling and challenging careers in healthcare is nursing. Due to staffing shortages, nurses may face an onerous burden during a 12-hour shift, deal with bullying at work, run the danger of contracting an infection, and still encounter patient loss despite their extensive training. Professionals at Nursing Assignment Help are here to discuss the several issues that nursing students face in their academic journeys.
These difficulties were widespread at COVID-19’s height. During the epidemic, a poll of healthcare professionals—including nurses—found that 93% felt pressured, 82% thought they emotionally spent, and 75% felt overburdened. Additionally, burnout, or mental and emotional stress, was mentioned as the reason for more than 30% of nurses who subsequently left the field.
Despite what may seem like insurmountable obstacles, registered nurses and other healthcare professionals are committed to reducing nursing stress. Doing this can improve patient care, lessen medical errors, and prevent burnout.
Being a nurse has several difficulties that might result in stress, exhaustion, and depression. These difficulties can result in medical errors, hazards to consumer health, and less favorable health results if the correct coping mechanisms are not used.
1. Patient deaths
Nurses cite patient deaths as a significant source of stress. Nurses often develop an emotional bond with patients who pass away because they interact with patients and their relatives more than other healthcare professionals. Many nurses experience grief, with some patients making it harder than others. Nursing professionals at assignment help can suggest ways to deal with patient death using various strategies.
Patients who receive professional nursing care from RNs also receive emotional support. They have to engage in challenging discussions involving patients and their loved ones, which affects the nurses’ emotional well-being.
2. Communications Issues
For several reasons, it can be challenging for nurses to communicate effectively with patients and other healthcare providers. This may be especially relevant when dealing with patient communication across cultures. Important medical information between nurses and their patients may be miscommunicated as a result of linguistic or cultural differences.
3. Staffing Issues
The lack of nurses in the healthcare sector began well before the COVID-19 outbreak. Due to a lack of staff, nurses could work extra shifts or be in charge of more patients. Medical errors can occur as a result of exhaustion brought on by overwork. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there are over 194,500 RN positions per year. Among the causes of the shortage are:
High turnover
Between 17% and 30% of nurses quit their jobs during the first year, while up to 57% quit within the first three years.
Nurses who are about to retire.
At 51 years old on average, RNs start their retirement, and their departure increases the burden on the industry.
Faculty shortage in nursing schools
A shortage of nursing school professors constrains the number of prospective nurses who may pursue training each year.
Increase in demand
The COVID-19 epidemic and the aging of the global population are just two factors contributing to the rising demand for nurses.
Specialization
The Specialization of care and a complexity-experience gap brings a lack of nurses with the proper technical training and experience. Therefore, several students also adopt Nursing Assignment Help to overcome the complexities of the nursing field.
4. Numerous Patients
High patient ratios, a problem in nursing that can result in subpar patient outcomes, can be caused by a lack of staff. For instance, instead of just one or two patients, intensive care unit (ICU) nurses might now be in charge of three or more. This increased duty may lead to missed appointments or medical mistakes.
5. Risk of Death, Injury, and Infection
According to the assignment help professionals, nursing students are susceptible to various injuries. The most frequent ones are back injuries (when lifting patients), exposure to hazardous materials (needlesticks, dangerous chemicals), and illness acquisition (such as coronavirus). Nurses were among the predicted 3,000 healthcare professionals who died from COVID-19 in 2020.
6. COVID-19 Concerns
Many nurses worried they might spread the coronavirus to their husbands, kids, and other family members during the COVID-19 epidemic. To prevent spreading illness to their loved ones, many nursing students went to extraordinary lengths, such as cleaning their clothes as soon as they got home and taking showers before giving their children hugs.
7. Occupational Violence
Nursing students may encounter bullying and verbal abuse at work from doctors, other nurses and healthcare professionals, and patients and their families. In the end, they can experience physical abuse, and unreported workplace violence can have a negative emotional and physical impact on victims.
8. Digital Health Records
EMRs, or electronic medical records, contribute significantly to a nurse’s stress. Although this technology aims to give staff access to the most recent patient data, some nurses see EMR data entry as a time-consuming, stressful process that detracts from patient care.
9. Moral Anguish
When a task they perform conflicts with their ethical conduct or expertise, nurses suffer moral distress, also referred to as ethical harm. When there were inadequate funds, such as ventilation systems, to treat patients during the COVID-19 epidemic, nurses experienced moral distress. Nurses may experience moral discomfort if their employer undervalues their education and experience.
10. 12-Hours-Long Shifts
The nursing industry generally works 12-hour shifts. However, it is associated with exhaustion and medical mistakes, exceptionally when nurses must perform multiple changes or cover an excessive number of patients. Experts recommend switching to eight-hour shifts to improve patient care and ease the strain on nurses.
Nursing students who understand what is needed to give patients the most tender care are qualified to be leaders, and, with the proper training, they may take on additional tasks. Nursing assignment help and online help programs offer a core curriculum to educate students on nursing leadership, evidence-based practice, and care quality improvement. Learn more about the program’s specifics and begin pursuing a nursing profession immediately.