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The Cons of Being a nurse
By: Allure Williams
Careers in the medical field have been known to be intense and draining. While doing clinicals in EMT school I spent a great amount of time in the hospital specifically around nurses. Often, they would tell me the long shifts they have worked and the many issues in the job. Many medical workers have learned how to juggle task at work while completing them in a timely manner and deal with other factors.
Nurses are expected to complete an extensive list of duties all while following protocol and regulations. On duty nurses are often presumed to give patients “hands on care, emotional support, and proper care” along with “caring for multiple patients at a time and completing paperwork”. According to very well health RN’s are expected to “provide complete patient assessments, documents/ data, and assist physicians”. Among completing all these tasks nurses often working in understaffed environments and believe that they are being underpaid for their utility. On average most Emergency rooms are crowded and don’t have enough staff to quickly resolve the patient volume. Patients sometimes wait hours for treatment. To provide better care to patients, it’s crucial to reduce their wait times at the hospital, particularly in the emergency room. Patients are not seen on a first-come, first-served basis. The most critically ill or injured patients are seen first. A triage nurse or care provider assesses the severity of patients’ conditions when they arrive to determine who sees the physician right away and who might have to wait. With only 1 or very few doctors on the floor this will add to the issue of patients waiting a long time to be seen.
“as of 2017 California is still the only state to have a safe patient ratio law.” Says Nurse.org. This law mandates nurse to patient ratios and “seeks to empower nurses by obligating RNs to act in the best interest of the patient and advocate for patients without regard to bureaucratic and budgetary concerns of fear of being reprimanded for putting the patient first.”.
Adequate staffing is important to avoid fatigue and poor patient encounters. According to the American Nurses Association, there are studies that link insufficient staffing to “poor patient outcomes, hospital stays, and increased chance of patient death.” Out of the Nurses also surveyed by the American Nurses Association “54% saying that they did not have sufficient time to spend on each patient, despite 43% of the respondents working longer hours during the prior year.”.
While obtaining field research I talked to my neighbor. She explained how her schedule varies from 3-5 days a week which usually starts at 36 hours a week. From her own experience the longest shift she worked was 48 hours.
On average a Florida registered nurse has a salary of $64,890 which is below the national average for Registered nurses. When broken down that makes the monthly salary is $5,408 and the average per hour $31.20. But in most cases, this pay is not realistic nurses I’ve had the chance to speak with make $18 – 22 per hour. Nurses are often paid based on experience and the amount of schooling.
The turnover rate for registered nurses- which keeps track of how many nurses leave the profession is said to be 17.5% for the first year and 33.5% within the first two years according to 2014 study by policy, politics, and nursing practice. “The researchers found that turnover for this group is lower at hospitals than at other health care settings…Registered nurses (RNs) leaving their jobs (RN turnover) is costly for hospitals and also affects quality of care.”
Overall, after completing a thorough amount of research on the medical field, specifically about nursing. I’ve concluded that nurses do more than just help people and work in hospitals so there for this issue should be more aware of among citizens so that we can jump start action plans to, since there is a list of effects from the causes if it is not.
Works Cited
“Nursing Duties, Responsibilities and Career Options” studying.com, 2013, https://study.com/nursing_duties.html
Hicks, Joy. “Registered Nurse in a Medical Office Setting” very well health, 16 Dec. 2018, https://www.verywellhealth.com/rn-in-a-medical-office-2317321
Blitchok, Amy. “Proposed Federal RN Ratios - What You Can Do About It” nurse.org, 6 Jan. 2018 https://nurse.org/articles/federal-staffing-ratios/
Salmom, Nadine. “Fatigue & Understaffing: A Threat to Patient Safety?” RN.com 2013 https://www.rn.com/nursing-news/fatigue-understaffing-threat-to-patient-safety/
“Health experts debate the merits of nurse-staffing ratio law” nursinglicensure.org, 2013 https://www.nursinglicensure.org/articles/nurse-staffing-ratios.html
College for the people. “Nurse salary by state: which U.S state pays the best” nightingale college, 31 Jan. 2018 https://nightingale.edu/blog/nurse-salary-by-state/
Nearly One in Five New Nurses Leaves First Job Within a Year, According to Survey of Newly-Licensed Registered Nurses “ Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 4 Sept. 2014 https://www.rwjf.org/en/library/articles-and-news/2014/09/nearly-one-in-five-new-nursesleave-first-job-within-a-year--acc.html
Carson, Verna Benner, Koenig, and Harold Parish Nursing - 2011 Edition : Stories of Service and Care, 2011 http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.db11.linccweb.org/eds/ebookviewer/ebook?sid=9e611239-10bc-46ef-9adb-410cb0bb8ee8%40sessionmgr104&vid=0&format=EB
Lewson, Sandra. Nursing history for contemporary role development, 2017
https://union.discover.flvc.org/hc.jsp?fl=ba&st=nursing+stories+&ix=kw&fl=ba&V=D&S=2101550722160077&I=3#top
By: Allure Williams
Careers in the medical field have been known to be intense and draining. While doing clinicals in EMT school I spent a great amount of time in the hospital specifically around nurses. Often, they would tell me the long shifts they have worked and the many issues in the job. Many medical workers have learned how to juggle task at work while completing them in a timely manner and deal with other factors.
Nurses are expected to complete an extensive list of duties all while following protocol and regulations. On duty nurses are often presumed to give patients “hands on care, emotional support, and proper care” along with “caring for multiple patients at a time and completing paperwork”. According to very well health RN’s are expected to “provide complete patient assessments, documents/ data, and assist physicians”. Among completing all these tasks nurses often working in understaffed environments and believe that they are being underpaid for their utility. On average most Emergency rooms are crowded and don’t have enough staff to quickly resolve the patient volume. Patients sometimes wait hours for treatment. To provide better care to patients, it’s crucial to reduce their wait times at the hospital, particularly in the emergency room. Patients are not seen on a first-come, first-served basis. The most critically ill or injured patients are seen first. A triage nurse or care provider assesses the severity of patients’ conditions when they arrive to determine who sees the physician right away and who might have to wait. With only 1 or very few doctors on the floor this will add to the issue of patients waiting a long time to be seen.
“as of 2017 California is still the only state to have a safe patient ratio law.” Says Nurse.org. This law mandates nurse to patient ratios and “seeks to empower nurses by obligating RNs to act in the best interest of the patient and advocate for patients without regard to bureaucratic and budgetary concerns of fear of being reprimanded for putting the patient first.”.
Adequate staffing is important to avoid fatigue and poor patient encounters. According to the American Nurses Association, there are studies that link insufficient staffing to “poor patient outcomes, hospital stays, and increased chance of patient death.” Out of the Nurses also surveyed by the American Nurses Association “54% saying that they did not have sufficient time to spend on each patient, despite 43% of the respondents working longer hours during the prior year.”.
While obtaining field research I talked to my neighbor. She explained how her schedule varies from 3-5 days a week which usually starts at 36 hours a week. From her own experience the longest shift she worked was 48 hours.
On average a Florida registered nurse has a salary of $64,890 which is below the national average for Registered nurses. When broken down that makes the monthly salary is $5,408 and the average per hour $31.20. But in most cases, this pay is not realistic nurses I’ve had the chance to speak with make $18 – 22 per hour. Nurses are often paid based on experience and the amount of schooling.
The turnover rate for registered nurses- which keeps track of how many nurses leave the profession is said to be 17.5% for the first year and 33.5% within the first two years according to 2014 study by policy, politics, and nursing practice. “The researchers found that turnover for this group is lower at hospitals than at other health care settings…Registered nurses (RNs) leaving their jobs (RN turnover) is costly for hospitals and also affects quality of care.”
Overall, after completing a thorough amount of research on the medical field, specifically about nursing. I’ve concluded that nurses do more than just help people and work in hospitals so there for this issue should be more aware of among citizens so that we can jump start action plans to, since there is a list of effects from the causes if it is not.
Works Cited
“Nursing Duties, Responsibilities and Career Options” studying.com, 2013, https://study.com/nursing_duties.html
Hicks, Joy. “Registered Nurse in a Medical Office Setting” very well health, 16 Dec. 2018, https://www.verywellhealth.com/rn-in-a-medical-office-2317321
Blitchok, Amy. “Proposed Federal RN Ratios - What You Can Do About It” nurse.org, 6 Jan. 2018 https://nurse.org/articles/federal-staffing-ratios/
Salmom, Nadine. “Fatigue & Understaffing: A Threat to Patient Safety?” RN.com 2013 https://www.rn.com/nursing-news/fatigue-understaffing-threat-to-patient-safety/
“Health experts debate the merits of nurse-staffing ratio law” nursinglicensure.org, 2013 https://www.nursinglicensure.org/articles/nurse-staffing-ratios.html
College for the people. “Nurse salary by state: which U.S state pays the best” nightingale college, 31 Jan. 2018 https://nightingale.edu/blog/nurse-salary-by-state/
Nearly One in Five New Nurses Leaves First Job Within a Year, According to Survey of Newly-Licensed Registered Nurses “ Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 4 Sept. 2014 https://www.rwjf.org/en/library/articles-and-news/2014/09/nearly-one-in-five-new-nursesleave-first-job-within-a-year--acc.html
Carson, Verna Benner, Koenig, and Harold Parish Nursing - 2011 Edition : Stories of Service and Care, 2011 http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.db11.linccweb.org/eds/ebookviewer/ebook?sid=9e611239-10bc-46ef-9adb-410cb0bb8ee8%40sessionmgr104&vid=0&format=EB
Lewson, Sandra. Nursing history for contemporary role development, 2017
https://union.discover.flvc.org/hc.jsp?fl=ba&st=nursing+stories+&ix=kw&fl=ba&V=D&S=2101550722160077&I=3#top