Discuss two major challenges the nursing field faces today.

Discuss two major challenges the nursing field faces today. Elaborate on why you feel those specific challenges affect patient care in 2 pages.

 Nursing is one of the most reputed professions in the health care delivery system due to the fact that it entails delivering patient care, health education and disease avoidance. However, the following areas of concern are seen by the nurses which hinders the provision of quality care. Among these challenges, two major issues stand out: For instance, there are issues to do with nurse staffing and burnout and mental health issues. These two challenges have a lot of impact on the care of the patients and the health care systems in general.

 1. Nurse Staffing Shortages

 Overview:

 Deficiency of the required number of nurses in the healthcare organizations is an issue of concern across the globe. Some of the causes of this shortage are; retirement of the nurses, increased health care needs, and low turnover rate of the nurses. According to the American Nurses Association (ANA), the demand for nurses will rise in the future due to the growing incidences of ageing and patients with chronic diseases. The U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has predicted that the employment of registered nurses is expected to rise at a rate of 7 percent within the years 2019-2029 which is faster than the average rate of employment for all the occupations. However, the number of well trained nurses has not been increasing in the same ratio as the demand for these professionals.

 Impact on Patient Care:

 Staffing shortages directly affect patient care in several ways:The following is a discussion of how staffing shortages impact on patient care:

 Increased Workload and Reduced Time for Each Patient: There is a stiff competition for patients in the society today and nurses are required to attend to many of them. This leads to the reduction in the amount of time that is spent on each patient, and this can lead to the quality of services being reduced, and the number of cases of mistakes being increased. For instance, the evidence shows that, more nurses per patient result in reduced mortality and adverse events.

 Decreased Patient Satisfaction: As the population of patients rises, it may be difficult for the nurse to spend a lot of time to handle the patients and other matters which may affect the patient satisfaction. A research carried out in Health Affairs showed that lacking workforce is associated with low patient satisfaction and increased patients’ perceptions of unmet needs.

 Compromised Patient Safety: Lack of workforce has been linked with high incidence of incidents for instance medication complications, patient fall, and hospital acquired infections. For instance, in the Journal of Nursing Administration, a research indicated that in facilities where there was one patient per nurse the rate of mortality within a month of admission was boosted by 7%.

 Strategies for Addressing Staffing Shortages:Measures for Coping with Deficiency of Staff:

 To mitigate the impact of staffing shortages, healthcare organizations can implement several strategies:Some of the measures that can be employed in order to reduce the effects of staffing deficits in healthcare organizations are:

 Investing in Recruitment and Retention: Recommendations that may have been used in the past to improve the recruitment and retention of new and current nurses include increasing on the remunerations, promotion on the professional experience, and creation of a conducive working environment to reduce the effect of the nursing shortage.

 Utilizing Technology: The use of new technologies such as the EHRs and telehealth can assist in making work easier and reduce the amount of paper work that the nurses have to do thus more time will be spent on the patients.

 Optimizing Staffing Models: The patient load can be controlled in the following way as to alter the staffing pattern so as to include registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and nursing assistants.

 2. Burnout and Mental Health

 Overview:

 Nursing burnout has been described to be increasing in the recent past and this has been of concern. It can be described as the state of affairs where one feels burned out, indifferent and unfulfilled at one’s workplace. The causes of burnout include; stress, long hours of work, emotions, and lack of support. A survey spear by American Nurses Foundation in 2021 showed that 30% of the nurses exhibited burnout and COVID-19 has only exacerbated such experiences.

 Impact on Patient Care:

 Burnout has several negative effects on patient care:The following are the various drawbacks of burnout in patient care:

 Reduced Quality of Care: It can lead to the loss of focus, and poor judgment in decision making and thereby expose one to burn out. Burning out is a condition that hampers the attention and the memory of the nurses; this is quite risky for the quality of services delivered. A paper in The Lancet reveals that the levels of nurse burnout are associated with increased levels of medication and patient safety errors.

 Increased Absenteeism and Turnover: Burnout raises the levels of absenteeism and turnover in nurses, which aggravates the deficiency of personnel and affects the continuity of care. According to the American Nurses Association conducted a poll whereby revealed that about one in every three nurses is planning to leave the current job in the next one year due to stress.

 Negative Effects on Patient-Nurse Relationships: Nursing profession is not an exception and burnout is one of the most frequent outcomes which affect the emotions of the staff and therefore the interactions between the patients and the nurses. This can be rather disadvantageous when it comes to the patient satisfaction and the patient experience.

 Strategies for Addressing Burnout:

 To address burnout and support nurse mental health, healthcare organizations can:Preventing and handling burnout and supporting the mental health of nurses can be done by the following:

 Implement Support Programs: Listing counseling services and support groups also can help the nurses to relieve stress and therefore prevent burnout.

 Foster a Positive Work Environment: Thus, to avoid the occurrence of burnout, the work environment of the nurses should be enhanced to the best of its capacity. Some are; availability of communication channels for some training and development, and the provision of adequate time for work and personal life.

 Enhance Work Conditions: This also prevent burnout since there is less paperwork, more staffs, and enough time is given for rest and support.

 Conclusion

 Among the most significant problems that affect the nursing practice in the current society include the shortage of nurses and burnout. These two problems therefore directly impact on patient care and, as such, solutions need to be sought in order to address these two problems. The healthcare organizations can improve the performance of the nurse, and hence the patient by improving the recruitment and retention of the nurse, improving the staffing model and the mental health of the nurse. To achieve this there is need to know how these challenges can be best managed so as to enhance the quality and safety of care given.