In this paper, I am going to reflect on how I have built resilience and developed professional skills while coping with challenges. Another half of the discussion would be based on ideas about investing in nursing profession.
A Voice to Lead
Initially, when I was placed to a Covid ward in the hospital, I have encountered multiple challenges. Poor health outcomes of the patients, suffering of patients in life- threatening conditions, workload, working in unfavourable environment, compromising own safety, witnessing death and prolonged detachment from family due to the outbreak had impacted physical and mental health of us severely. Resilience can be considered as a positive concept which allow us cope with difficult situation. The first step I took for achieving resilience as a nurse was to accept the unchangeable situation and maintain an optimistic approach throughout my clinical practice. Cultivating resilience is not an easy task, rather requires self- esteem, courage and the ability to identify own flaws. Although, the initial situation during the pandemic was alarming and I always had faith in myself and maintained the “can-do’ attitude” irrespective of the situation. My family was supportive throughout these days and played important role in overcoming my stress after days of severe stress. Gradually, I started recognising my own health needs and with the help of supportive social networks with my collogues I got the opportunity to share my problems and developed problem- solving strategies to resolve them.
As nurse, it is highly essential to learn and implement effective communication skills for delivery of optimum care. In this regard, improving both the verbal and non- verbal communication skills is important. Hence, I decided to listen actively to what the patients complain and this approach helped to identify the clinical cues from patient’s verbatim based on which preparation of effective plan became easier (McKenna et al., 2020). In last two years, I have attended several seminars (online and offline both) on Covid- 19 related complications, vaccination and how the patients and their families should be communicated by the healthcare workforce so that I can enrich my clinical knowledge and incorporate them during my clinical practice. This is how I have enriched my professional knowledge and skills and gained the confidence to combat difficulties in my life. For me, fighting all the uncertainties, coping with the mental and physical stressor and providing care effortlessly have earned me “A voice to lead”.
Investing In Nursing
Nursing is considered one of the noblest professions in the world and nursing professionals play the role of backbone in the healthcare systems (Abo-Alazm Abd-Elgaleil, Mostafa Shazly & Mohammed Elsayed, 2021). The number of stressors was considerably high during the pandemic and the healthcare professionals (especially the nurses) had experienced the adversity of the situation direct from the practice. Every year 12th May is celebrated as International Nurses Day across the globe and in 2022 the theme has been titled as “A Voice to Lead - Invest in nursing and respect rights to secure global health” which implicit the contribution of nursing professionals throughout the Covid- 19 pandemic and emphasize on protection of their health. Nursing practitioners encounter diverse challenges while working in a practical healthcare setting. Reflecting on those incidences help them to become resilient, to grow as an efficient professional and thus ensures provision of high-quality care to the individuals. There are evidences which indicated that approximately 4.7 million nurse practitioners are retiring from in the next 10 years from the profession as they are heading towards ageing and around 10% of nursing workforce which is equivalent to 2.5 million nurses intend to quit the profession as a result of COVID impact (Hughes, 2017). From this, shortage and rising demand of nursing professionals in upcoming years is evident.
In this regard, investing in different fields of nursing has become a subject of utmost importance. According to my knowledge and best understanding, I have realised that shortage of nursing staffs is one of the commonest problems in the healthcare system and this has impacted the balance between work and life of the nurses. Substantial workload and mismatched patient- nurse ratio in the healthcare set up has compelled the nurses to work beyond their shift hours and this might be considered one of the major causes underlying poor health outcomes among the nurses (Books et al., 2020). Hence, it is highly essential to invest in the field of nursing jobs and facilities for the nurses (Aydoğdu, 2022). Nurses are the direct caregivers and this profession is demanding in terms of providing effective care to individuals. Investing in the field of nursing jobs might be beneficial in terms of resolving the issue of staff shortage in critical situations (Park & Yu, 2019). In addition, addressing the health needs both at individual and in community level would become possible if adequate number of nursing professionals are engaged in this service.
There are evidences which indicate that availability of adequate number of healthcare staffs in a particular organisation is essential to ensure safe practice and optimisation of healthcare facilities (Stamps et al., 2021). Availability of sufficient numbers of nursing staffs would increase the opportunity to exchange different skills and knowledge which further may aid provision of effective care to the patients.
In order to protect, support and to invest in nursing occupation, it is essential to safeguard physical and mental health of the nurses. They should be provided the facility to participate in health check ups at least once in a month. The facility to engage in mindfulness-based programs should be provided by the employers to ensure protection of nurses’ mental health (Wexler & Schellinger, 2022). Ensuring proper sanitisation of the healthcare units to reduce the rate of hospital acquired infections among the nurses is mandatory in this aspect. Availability of personal protective equipment and providing the nurses with healthcare insurances would be advantageous in order to retain the current staffs. At last but not the least, investing in internship scholarship and offering attractive salary to skillful nursing practitioners would be one of the best strategies to support the professionals.
References
Abo-Alazm Abd-Elgaleil, R., Mostafa Shazly, M., & Mohammed Elsayed, S. (2021). Nursing Students' Attitude toward Nursing Profession: Its Relation to Their Self Esteem. Egyptian Journal of Health Care, 12(4), 773-790. https://dx.doi.org/10.21608/ejhc.2021.204462
Aydoğdu, A. L. F. (2022). Influence of the nurse manager’s leadership style on nurses’ job satisfaction. World Academics Journal of Management. https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13055/240
Books, C., Coody, L. C., Kauffman, R., & Abraham, S. (2020). Night shift work and its health effects on nurses. The health care manager, 39(3), 122-127. https://dx.doi.org/10.1097/HCM.0000000000000297
Hughes, F. (2017). Nurses: A voice to lead. British Journal of Nursing, 26(9), 501-501. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2017.26.9.501
McKenna, L., Brown, T., Williams, B., & Lau, R. (2020). Empathic and listening styles of first year undergraduate nursing students: A cross-sectional study. Journal of Professional Nursing, 36(6), 611-615. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.profnurs.2020.08.013
Park, H., & Yu, S. (2019). Effective policies for eliminating nursing workforce shortages: a systematic review. Health Policy and Technology, 8(3), 296-303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hlpt.2019.08.003
Stamps, D. C., Foley, S. M., Gales, J., Lovetro, C., Alley, R., Opett, K., ... & Faggiano, S. (2021). Nurse leaders advocate for nurses across a health care system: COVID-19. Nurse Leader, 19(2), 159-164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2020.07.011
Wexler, T. M., & Schellinger, J. (2022). Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Nurses: An Integrative Review. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 08980101221079472. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F08980101221079472
