The Health Care Industry - Case Study Example

Healthcare Job Opportunities and Career Trends Healthcare Job Opportunities and Career Trends Recent years have not been rosy for many Americans and people around the world owing to the global economic crisis, housing crisis, escalating cost of living and the looming Europe debt crisis. As a result, many sectors have been affected with employment hurting the most. Human resource managers are facing one of the worst times in their management history as they are forced to downsize so as to keep organizations afloat. The health care industry is one of the most affected with thousands losing jobs thereby hurting the already desperate workforce shortage situation. Health care institutions are in dire shortage of nurses and physicians. This understaffing has resulted into the few available workers operating for long hours thereby becoming susceptible to making grave errors. However, some reprieve has dawned on the employment prospects in this sector considering the 2010 health care legislation (Clarkson and Araneta, 2010). There is also the issue of declining morale among the staff coupled with stressful working conditions and ever diminishing incentives. It is with this realization that this part of the paper will analyze these trends well into the next decade. Staff Shortage Situation Staffing shortage is earmarked as one of the principal challenges that will face health care in the next 10 years. Nursing profession, for example, is widely a preserve for women. The employment trends indicate that women are now liberal and many opportunities are open for them to exploit e.g. engineering, accounting, self employment and many more. This factor alone has led many women to opting for other professions other than nursing. These other professions are somewhat well paying and prestigious. As earlier indicated, staff morale will be a key factor in staff shortage. Low pay and prestige, harassment and abuse coupled with poor working conditions will lead to low staff morale thereby exaggerating the shortage situation (Clarkson and Araneta, 2010). The media has also been on the healthcare staff-shortage case for too long now. This has only led to many feeling something is wrong with related professions thereby opting not to act as guinea pigs. Personal Life vs. Professional Life Today’s employees are appreciating the value of free time. This trend will not auger well with the job description of many health care practitioners in the coming decade. This is based on the fact that many physicians and nurses work for many hours under quite stressful conditions. Monetary compensation is hereby taking the back seat while concern over labor hours takes precedence. There is a growing need for employees to strike a balance between personal life and work. Labor hours are decreasing as time goes by and this trend will accelerate over the next 10 years. There is also the willingness for people to take up jobs that involve a lot of travelling and adventure than routine practice. It is essential to appreciate that today’s employees are self driven and wish to have as much freedom and autonomy as possible which is not the case in the health care professions which are plagued by bureaucracy and routine (Nevidjon and Erickson, 2001). With autonomy one is able to express their views freely thereby offering more loyalty to work than the employer. Abuse towards Healthcare Professionals When considering the nursing profession, a lot of risks are associated with it. Hospitals are visited by many people some of whom their intensions are not known. Abuse of nurses and physicians has been on the rise over the past decade where they are insulted, spit on, punched and kicked by either patients or their relatives or visiting friends. Aggression and derogatory tone towards these professionals also form principal forms of emotional abuse. Studies over the past decade reveal that rise in these cases has much to do with lenient laws surrounding abuse of health care professionals in their line of duty. Health Care Legislation The Obama Health Care Legislation enacted in March 2010 will address these issues and many others within definite time lines (Clarkson and Araneta, 2010). The Violence against Nurses Bill, for example, aims at ensuring that any form of abuse towards legally operating nurses in their line of work is not only a felony but highly punishable. The study earlier mentioned stated that more than half a million nurses are violently handled in the course of discharging their duties annually. The Obama legislation also considered the other not-so-obvious reasons behind abuse of health care staff. Some of them include influx of people without health insurance into hospitals demanding to be treated and poor performance by some nurses leading to bad image. As a result, the legislation aims to increase federal funding towards Medicare in health institution by up to 100% by 2013. Individual nurses and medical institutions will be accountable for their performance as well as quality of care provided. This takes effect this year and the whole health care system will have picked up the trend by 2015 (Clarkson and Araneta, 2010). These trends will ensure that professionals in the health care sector work in better working environment and hopefully prestige will creep in leading to desirable staff to patient ratio. Candidate Analysis: Clinical Nurse For one to secure a job in the nursing profession, some skills, character traits, and qualities are essential. Below is an analysis of a candidate that attempts to link her personal characteristics with her suitability as a nurse. Personal Characteristics Attitudes She is caring, sympathetic, courteous, hard working, cheerful, self-disciplined and does what is required of her. For one to take care of patients effectively, one must care enough to know what the patients are going through. Sick people are usually in a state of despair, and a nurse is the closest to a source of hope that they have (Feldman, 2003). Therefore, having a cheerful attitude is crucial for a nurse since happy patients tend to heal faster than less happy ones. Sometimes, in the nursing profession, one could get at crossroads where what one should do goes against what the society believes to be right. In this case, the ability to use one’s judgment to know what to do is a valuable trait that could save a patient’s life. In addition, since the nursing profession is extremely demanding in terms of time and energy, a nurse should be hardworking and able to push herself beyond personal limits for the sake of her patients. Attributes A hospital is a place where people are supposed to get well and, therefore, being clean is an attribute that suits her well for the job. In addition, she is a dynamic individual, which works well for her due to the diverse nature of the patients that one has to deal with. For any job to go well, focus is an attribute of consideration, especially since one must record all subtle changes in patient conditions. Having sick people under one’s care requires a high sense of responsibility since the well-being of patients will be in capable hands, not giving anyone a reason to worry (Feldman, 2003). Finally, where she used to work in her life, she proved to have the ability to delegate responsibilities to others. Therefore, there is no risk in work overwhelming her, reducing her efficiency and endangering patient lives. Skills As a nurse, she will use some skills that she has acquired in the course of her life. These skills include communication skills, keen listening, punctuality and problem-solving skills. Communication skills would enable her to instruct patients correctly in addition to informing them of both positive and negative developments in their health (Watson, 2008). Listening skills are indispensable especially since most patients do not know how to communicate their needs and feelings well. As a result of the heavy workload that clinical nurses have to deal with, time management skills are necessary to enable her manage all her duties effectively. Finally, the high number of patients that she has to deal with causes diverse challenges. To handle these challenges, a considerable degree of problem-solving skills is essential for every nursing professional. Experience In school, practical lessons provided the strong foundation that started out as a successful nursing career. However, most of the practical learning about the nursing profession took place during field attachment and internship after school. During these experience sessions, she practiced various duties of a nurse in a hospital setting. These duties included nursing procedures, administration of medication, administration of vaccines and allergens, record keeping, and individual patient and family education. However, though these skills are weighty and applicable for now, she is dynamic enough to allow her career to grow beyond these tasks, especially due to technological advances that may change the nursing profession as it currently stands (Watson, 2008). Occupational Interests For a career to develop, occupational interests are crucial in determining the direction that one takes. Her interest in HIV research has propelled her to become a successful pre and post testing HIV/AIDS counselor. It certainly gives her satisfaction to offer hope to someone who was in despair due to their HIV status. In addition, since she has up-to-date knowledge about the syndrome, her career took another turn where she did a course in health and safety education. This course has led her to help many people, especially the youth on how to keep themselves safe from infections of all kinds. Armed with knowledge and the desire to dissipate it, she recently started a blog where her readers can access information on anything they need to know about HIV/AIDS. This passion is sure to take her nursing career to the next level. Personality Traits Being inventive, efficient, energetic and friendly are character traits that are beneficial in the nursing profession. To deal effectively with patient’s needs, she should come up with novel ways of handling different patients effectively. Obviously, for the comfort of patients the nurse has to have the energy and a friendly personality to take care of them, both of which aid in quick recovery (White, 2005). Résumé Ann Doe, 100 Main Street, Addison, NY 12345 (972)450-7287 Objective To become a nurse in a hospital setting, acquire experience and develop skills before starting up my own firm as a consultant in the field of HIV and AIDS. Qualifications Summary Recently graduated with GPA of 3.5 out of 4 points Afterwards, I started an internship at the New York Presbyterian Hospital that has lasted for Two Years. During the internship, I practiced what I had learnt in college so well that I received recommendations from colleagues and patients. I was proficient in record keeping and dissemination of all other duties and responsibilities. Key proficiencies Administration of nursing procedures: Intravenous fluids, blood and blood products Prescribed medication intravenously, orally, intramuscularly, topically, subcutaneously, and rectally Vaccines and allergens Pre and post testing HIV/AIDS counseling of patients individually or in groups Offering health education to the youth especially in education institutions and the community in general Pre and post maternity care Registration Registered Nurse (RN) ANCC State Nursing License New York Education Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) (2009) Columbia Nursing School – New York HIV/AIDS counseling Course (2009) Coastal Carolina Community College - Jacksonville, NC  References Clarkson, R. V., & Araneta, C. (2010). Healthcare employment trends. JUNO healthcare staffing system Inc. Feldman, R. H. (2003). The nursing shortage: Strategies for recruitment and retention in clinical practice and education. Springer Publishing Company. Nevidjon, B., & Erickson, J. (2001). ‘The Nursing Shortage: Solutions for the Short and Long Term.’ Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. Watson, J. (2008). Nursing: The philosophy and science of caring. University Press of Colorado. White, L. (2005). Foundations of nursing. Cengage Learning. Read More