Introduction
This essay will outline the self-care issues that registered nurses face while on duty. Registered Nurses (RNs) possess a degree or diploma in nursing, have qualified in the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) examination, and have fulfilled the licensing obligations issued by the board. RNs provide care and interact more with patients than doctors. RNs work in critical care units, surgery and transplantation, cardiology, and pediatrics. RNs face physical, mental, and spiritual issues that reduce their capacity to provide the necessary and appropriate care to patients.
Critical Evaluation
Role of Registered Nurses in the ICU
Registered Nurses play a significant role in the critical care units such as the Intensive Care Units (ICU) to facilitate and improve a patient’s well-being. First, RNs and graduate nurses evaluate and monitor the patients’ conditions such as the respiratory rate, heart rate and rhythm, blood pressure blood-oxygen saturation, among other parameters. The nurses also provide a regular briefing to the doctors and the patients’ families on their progress. RNs are patients’ caregivers hence are aware of how the patient is fairing and give feedback to the desired personnel. The nurses are responsible for meeting the family members’ informational needs by delivering effective and honest details of the patients and offering informational support to the family. Nurses act as a connection of the patient to their loved ones. On the other hand, doctors need to know the progress of the patient to decide on the most appropriate treatment mode to enhance the patient’s welfare and quick recovery. Nurses inform them of the instant and precise adjustments in a patient’s health condition (Gaeeni et al., 2014).
Second, RNs, with the graduate nurses’ assistance, administer primary treatment, and keep the dosage track of the patient. While monitoring the patients’ condition, the RNs offer basic treatment that could help in the recovery process of the patient and administer the right medication to the appropriate patient as per the prescribed dose at the correct time and in the best route. In other circumstances, the RNs handle medical emergency cases such as cardiac arrest and inform the appropriate doctors. The nurses ensure that the patient monitoring, diagnostic, and life support and emergency resuscitative equipment in the ICU are in good condition and alert the appropriate person if maintenance or repair is necessary. Patients in the ICU require constant care; hence the nurses should offer close supervision and be alert always in emergencies. Therefore, nurses must have the desired technical skills to tackle such situations and save lives (Gunarto et al., 2018).
Third, RNs in the ICU update and maintain the patients’ records for clear understanding and follow-up. Appropriate record-keeping is an essential aspect of healthcare and fundamental in nursing. Good record keeping allows the right patient’s information to circulate among all the healthcare team members responsible for the patient’s treatment and well-being. Record keeping also promotes early identification of risks and recognition of complications. Patient’s records include the medication charts, medical records, laboratory orders and charts, progress notes, vital signs observation charts, among other components. Therefore, the records reduce confusion among the patient’s attendants and reduce or prevent any medication errors that can alter the recovery process of the patient. The nurses are also responsible for updating and completing the required paperwork before relocating a patient. Updating the record facilitates better communication and ensures an easier care progression (Alberto et al., 2014).
Self-care Issues Affecting Registered and Graduate Nurses
Self-care is a mechanism for the nurses to reduce the stress that is brought about in nursing. Self-care helps nurses be more productive and recharge the nurses’ capability to give empathy and compassion to patients. RNs and the graduate nurses in the ICU face different self-care issues due to the constant care that ICU patients face. The self-care issues trigger nurses’ productivity in providing the best care to patients.
In the first place, the nurses’ safety working in the ICU is at risk since the chances of contracting diseases patients are suffering from are high. The outbreak of Covid-19 has led to a high intake of patients in hospitals and critical care units. Covid-19 affects the respiratory process, and the illest patients are admitted to the ICU for further treatment. Since Covid-19 is a respiratory disease, one can easily contract the disease without quality personal protective equipment. Some healthcare workers have also been reported to have been infected with Covid-19 while in their line of duty and some of them being nurses working in the ICU. Safety, therefore, becomes a self-care issue facing RNs and graduate nurses (Ng et al., 2020).
Also, the lack of rest makes the nurses on the verge of getting compassion fatigue. Patients in the ICU are intended to take longer periods hence required regular check-up. The constant check-up leads to some nurses developing a close, and in other circumstances, a personal relationship with the patients. Nurses also tend to develop an emotional attachment to the patient and often act as friends to rely on and shoulders to cry. The close connection between the nurses and the patient leads to a heightened feeling of loss when a patient fails to make it. Patients in the ICU are unstable; therefore, failing to make is not uncommon to the healthcare workers. Constant stress and anxiety, difficulties when sleeping, and the development of a negative attitude towards work are signs of compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue may further lead to a condition known as secondary traumatic stress (STS) (Sacco et al., 2015).
Finally, nutrition becomes a challenge to ICU nurses due to the constant checking of the patients. The nurses are always alert in case of emergencies due to the unstable conditions of the patients. Some nurses tend to work for long hours due to a shortage of nurses working in the ICU or inadequate staffing, hence getting burnouts. Burnouts can cause physical and psychological fatigue, sleeping problems, and depression, making provide less quality care to the patients. The nurses aim to ensure the welfare of the patients first and theirs to come later. Therefore, working for long hours leads to poor nutrition and interferes with the nurses’ feeding habits (Saleh at al., 2017).
Key Findings Relating to the Graduate Nurse
A graduate nurse has completed a degree or diploma course but has not yet attained the required necessities to become a Registered Nurse. Graduate nurses in the ICU aid the RNs in providing compassionate care such as medication administration or intravenous fluids. Graduate nurses also collaborate with registered nurses to assess the patients’ condition and progress and control and handle ICU situations and emergencies.
Like registered nurses, graduate nurses also face self-care issues that affect their productivity in caregiving. Graduate nurses entering the workforce at times of a pandemic may lack emotional stability because they are new in their workforce and only have basic academic and practical skills. The graduate nurses face many stressful circumstances and a range of emotions such as panic, emotional fatigue, depression, helplessness, and time constraints. In their new practice, they have been unable to exercise their theoretical knowledge in nursing practice fully. The emotional problems call for emotional support since, without the proper support, the graduate nurses may be forced to leave their profession. The provision of moral and emotional support from the more experienced nurses can reduce the tension, gain emotional stability, increase productivity, maximize patients’ satisfaction, and cope with the work pressures (Ebrahimi et al., 2016).
Graduate nurses newly in the workforce may lack trust in their experience and doubt their capabilities. Seeing their fellow experienced nurses well equipped with the desired knowledge and skills may create a sense of fear and reduce their confidence in taking up any duties or responsibilities. Lack of self-trust among the new nurses may increase doubtfulness levels regarding their performance capabilities and pose a challenge in effective communication with fellow healthcare workers. In many healthcare institutions, healthcare workers perform tasks in teams, and graduate nurses may not have the courage to express their opinions or ideas during the group workings. The graduate nurses may feel unqualified to propose or oppose the suggestions, therefore, making them feel helpless, inadequate, or inappropriate in their profession (Ebrahimi et al., 2016).
Strategies
Graduate nurses joining the workforce at this pandemic time might find it challenging. Putting into place mechanisms to help the new nurses maintain focus might be helpful. Strategies help retain a clear goal, vision, and mission of the institution and keep the healthcare workers well defined. At first, traversing personal self-aid, deliberation, and illustrative style is a strategy that can be adopted to keep the new graduate nurses focused. The strategy can help the nurses have positive alternatives when things do not go as expected, such as when patients suffering from Covid-19 fail to make it. Just like in healthcare institutions, stress is inevitable. The strategy can help nurses replenish and recharge their inspiration in pressure and stress cases to maintain a reliable support system for emotional stability (Mellor et al., 2017).
Similarly, assessing feedback on progress, accomplishment, and functioning strategy can help keep the graduate nurses on toes and retain the attention. Dealing with Covid-19 patients might create fear, but the strategy can help the new nurses entering the workforce remain confident. Assessing feedback motivates the employees and makes them feel worthy and acknowledged. Evaluating accomplishment can improve the nurses’ productivity and create room for continuous learning (Shanafelt et al., 2020).
Besides, tackling social intelligence and the new graduate nurses’ call to fit into the institutional culture is another strategy that can be embraced to help focus the new graduates’ attention in achieving the organization’s goal. Addressing social intelligence gives the nurses a platform to showcase their abilities and skills in accomplishing the organization’s objectives. Fitting and gaining acceptance into the organizational culture may be hard, but calling for ways to adjust could be of significant importance. Fitting into the organizational culture can help the new graduate learn the institution’s undertakings, increase the exposure, and have an effective and efficient workflow with other healthcare workers (Mellor et al., 2017).
Conclusion
Registered Nurse self-care issues affect the nurses’ productivity in the provision of care to the patients. RNs face self-care issues such as lack or insufficient rest due to nurses’ shortage, which leads to workloads and nursing burnouts. Poor feeding and nutrition face the nurses too due to long shifts, and the constant checking of patients denies them some time to replenish and nourish themselves. The nurses’ safety, especially at this Covid-19 times, is not guaranteed; hence, they are at risk of contracting diseases from the patients. Health caregiving errors occur, and hence contracting infections from the patients is not exceptional. On the other hand, graduate nurses are also facing issues such as lack of emotional stability, trust issues, lack of confidence, and doubtfulness of performance levels. RNs and the graduate nurses entering the workforce put the well-being of the patients at the forefront; hence their welfare should be considered.