Answer:
Situation
The problem: Nurses are made to work in unsafe work environments in hospitals lacking modern infrastructure
Proposal: The proposal is to build up a Health Centre in every hospital to help remove work-related disease and promote nurses’ health and safety.
Background-
Due to lack of division of labour, nurses have to do over time, working in late night shifts which have a direct impact on their health and well being. Due to the increase in number of hospitals and growing globalization, there has been an increase in the number of patients in the United States. This has lead to an increase in the demand for modern technology. More patients mean more requirements for round the clock attention by nurses. Conducting interviews on nurses have brought to light the health related impediments that nurses face arising from anxiety, stress and depression. Handling diseases need more sanitation and hygiene protection which the low cost hospitals lack as a result of which nurses face diseases like Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). Nurses fall ill while dealing with severe contagious diseases as these hospitals lack modern technology to combat such risks. Lewis’ Medical-Surgical Nursing: Assessment and Management of Clinical Problems has talked about the risks that befall the nurses and the clinical depression they face working in high risk conditions (Brown et al. 2017)
Similar proposals in the Past: The Nurses’ Bill of Rights was adopted by the American Nurses Association which said that nurses have the right to work in a safe environment and give full protection to the health of patients. This Bill did not receive proper assent and did not become a Bill.
Assessment
United States being a economy dense territory, the revenue generated from hospitals in immense. The low cost hospitals need the protection of the legislature and the state to promote modern technology to combat health related risks. There needs to be a legislature that regulates work hours equitably and set up Health Centers in every hospital to register complaints of nurses and work towards resolving them (Jones, Brener and Bergren 2015).
The United States put enormous efforts to regulate and optimize health care. The way to attract the attention of stakeholders is to build a strong case for stakeholders that will be financially robust. The stakeholders need to be told about the vision and how to go about turning that vision into reality by using proper plans (Shamian et al 2016). Technology is the driving force behind healthcare and stakeholders need to be told about digitalization of health care records that will save the time of nurses and healthcare professionals and they will be able to divert their attention towards a safer and work conducive environment.
The constant work pressure and the occupational hazard of getting infected with disease poses a great amount of risk to the health care professionals (Ross et al 2018). The proposal of building modern equipment might pose a threat to the hospital authorities as these require large scale investment which the hospital authorities might not want to bear.
Recommendation
To make the work environment better, there is need for large scale investment. To reduce the health risk, there is an immediate need for revamping the hospitals and for this there needs to be a strong legislative backing.
References
Brown, D., Edwards, H., Seaton, L. and Buckley, T., 2017. Lewis's Medical-Surgical Nursing: Assessment and Management of Clinical Problems. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Jones, S.E., Brener, N.D. and Bergren, M.D., 2015. Association between school district policies that address chronic health conditions of students and professional development for school nurses on such policies. The Journal of School Nursing, 31(3), pp.163-166.
Ross, A., Brooks, A.T., Yang, L., Touchton-Leonard, K., Raju, S. and Bevans, M., 2018. Results of a national survey of certified nurse coaches with implications for advanced practice nurses. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.
Shamian, J., Kerr, M.S., Laschinger, H.K.S. and Thomson, D., 2016. A hospital-level analysis of the work environment and workforce health indicators for registered nurses in Ontario's acute-care hospitals. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research Archive, 33(4).
