Potential Challenges Facing the Newly Qualified Childrens Nurse - Essay Example

Sur 2 December Potential Challenges Facing the Newly Qualified Children’s Nurse Introduction: The role of the nurses can be understood to be significant in the treatment of any individual. When the treatment is associated with small children, the responsibilities of the nurses are even greater (Pillitteri, 1036). In such situations, the nurses are in charge of the care of not only the child, but also his/her families who are required to be taken care of. Small children are less capable of expressing their difficulties or sufferings, hence the nurses have to be more careful and in close association with them to understand their feelings (Child Nursing). This implies that the nurses responsible for the nursing of children have greater stress and greater challenges to encounter as they have greater responsibilities. Enhancing the focus of the study in this context, it can be realized that children’s nurses who are newly qualified are encountered with greater number of challenges while they perform their roles of taking care of a small child. The initial years for the children’s nurses in their career have been observed to be under the influence of tremendous stress (Kirpal, 72). There are several conflicts in the minds of the newly qualified nurses when they enter an organization and start working. These conflicts are associated with the different values and cultures that the individual organizations follow, their disciplines, and the given responsibilities (Nash, Lemcke & Sacre, 49). A qualified nurse is expected to perform her responsibilities with professional expertise and involve leadership roles, maintenance of standards, take decisions based on ethics and justice, consider responsibilities sincerely as well as convey lessons to others (Burton & Ormrod, 1-2). Out of the several challenges that the newly qualified children’s nurses might have to encounter, the present study would discuss on three primary issues related to time management, leadership activities, and accountability of the nurses. Thus the study focuses on the above mentioned three key issues and discusses the effects of these potential challenges on newly qualified children’s nurses, trying to provide with some probable recommendations as well. Newly Qualified Children’s Nurses: Nursing is a highly challenging job and requires significant competency among the qualified nurses (Duffy, Dresser & Fulton, 15). Once the nurses have completed their courses they are eligible to become registered nurses. Thereafter it is essential that these nurses are prepared to perform their roles efficiently. The environment in which they work, the nature and pressure of the work, the organization’s expectations from them, the understanding of the rules and disciplines of the health organization the nurses are associated with, managing the health of patients, the small children having severe diseases and getting associated with the work culture with due responsibility, are some of the factors that are highly significant and might require support for the newly qualified children’s nurses (Chung, Wong & Cheung, 410). As soon as a newly qualified nurse joins an organization, she is supposed to take few weeks before she has all the responsibilities to be performed by her. These roles include following other nurses to understand the performing arts, undertaking responsibilities of patients, and incorporating the basic roles in their work like proper communication, hygiene, maintaining privacy and decorum, managing stress, safety, proper nutrition and suitable environment of patients (Hole, 24-26). Thus it can be realized that newly qualified nurses have greater responsibilities not only in terms of performing, but as well as in learning and becoming expert in the field of their roles and duties. This is turn can be understood to create potential challenges, as discussed later in the report, that are required to managed efficiently by the nurses to overcome all barriers and gain success in their achievements. Responsibilities towards Children: The intensive care for child treatment has been found to have improved in the recent years implying better health care and conditions available for the highly dependent children (Dixon, 1). Children being small and younger in age are highly dependent on their caregivers. Thus nurses are required to be more closely associated with them to understand their feelings. Small children require additional care from the nurses and a constant monitoring process (Moyse, 241). Physical examinations might be required to detect any disease in the child and this include observing the child, providing the child with physical touch and assessing the child’s health with an affectionate feeling, listening to the various sounds produced by the body of the child, as well as using the techniques of percussion (Fergusson, 8-9). Hence it is very essential that nurses take their responsibilities sincerely and provide the child with care and service of enhanced quality (Rosenbloom, 483). The professional codes of conduct are also essential for a nurse to be followed in order to maintain their roles of care and treatment within a health organization (Johnstone, 1-4). The primary role of nursing involves the treatment and caring of the patients (Cox & Hill, 44) which in the case of small children implies at a greater level of involvement and understanding on the part of the nurses. However when it comes to professional performance of the nurses, they have greater responsibilities since they have to make use of the scientific and technological advances as well in the understanding of the disease of the child and accordingly provide the required treatment. These responsibilities have other positive attributes for the child care since they allow the nursing facility to detect the drugs and treatment therapies appropriate for the treatment of similar diseases in other children (Thompson, Melia & Boyd, 39). Thus it can be realized that the nursing of small children proves to be a huge responsibility on the part of the nurses. Challenges Encountered by Newly Qualified Children’s Nurses: The newly qualified children’s nurses particularly when they are in their initial years of career face several challenges associated with their work. The presence of sufficient support generally varies depending on the health organization the nurses are associated with. The challenge occurs when there is lack of such support. Moreover the working environment might suggest that the nurses have to learn things on their own. The absence of proper mentorship also creates a lot of challenge for a child’s nurse. Besides, nurses who join the work of the children’s caring department having a background of the general nursing face difficulties since children’s nurses are expected to have certain knowledge regarding child’s care that might be lacking in the general wards. Lack of confidence for newly qualified nurses often creates fear in the minds of the nurses of making mistakes, overcoming which is also a challenge for them. These nurses might feel lost among the old staff, unable to understand their duties and roles that they need to undertake. Managing the time and responsibilities which is all new to the newly qualified nurses also pose challenges for them (Hollywood, 662-669). The newly qualified children’s nurses undergo an extensive learning process. The process involves a transition phase where the nurses are expected to adapt to the processes and rules of the organization they are working in (Duchscher, 2-3). Thus a structured planning and management skills are highly essential. Although supports are available from the teams under which the nurses perform yet inconsistencies might prove to create difficulties for the nurses in regard to their roles, leadership performances, and allocation of work or management of time (Maxwell et al, 433). Although in general nurses possess the rights to take their own decisions towards their care and treatment to the ill and highly dependent child (Trigg, Mohammed, & Huband, 2), in case of newly qualified nurses several limitations are reflected. Thus the role of the newly qualified nurses can be understood to have several challenges particularly owing to the new responsibilities that these nurses are expected to take and perform accordingly. The lack of experience and hence lack of confidence tend to create certain difficulties for the nurses that are required to be overcome to bring success in the achievement of the nurses’ performance in regard to the care of children. The Three Key Themes for the Study: This particular study focuses on three key challenges encountered by the children’s nurses. These are the management of time, the leadership aspects and the accountability of the nurses. Time Management: The role of the children’s nurses is involved with the proper treatment of small children relieving them and their parents from suffering and anxiety. Since small children require greater care than adults, the nurses have more responsibilities towards prioritizing their activities for such children. Thus the nurse has to manage and adjust her time according to the needs of the child that depends to a great extent on the progress of the treatment of the child. Thus the time that sets for a particular work might be modified and reset by her in case she has to consider the care or emergency for a child (Litchfield & Chater, 38). A newly qualified children’s nurse can be understood to be in a continuous stress as she has to adapt to the working environment, learn and become expert in the field of her work. The experience of the work can be realized to be new for her. In such a scenario, the setting and re-setting of time based on the needs and demands of the child’s care can be understood to be highly challenging for a newly qualified nurse. In this regard, it can also be emphasized that in order to manage time efficiently, the newly qualified nurses would require proper knowledge (Contino, 53). Once a nurse gets to learn the necessary treatment measures required for different cases of child treatment, the level of time required to be managed would minimize significantly. Also, planning has been proved to be an essential part of the process of time management. Once the nurses are aware of their duties, they need to allocate their work accordingly and work based on that schedule to get things done on time. However, since the study talks about newly qualified nurses, they can be expected to need initial support from their senior team members to learn how to manage time and allocate their works efficiently. Also, in order to be efficient in the process, the nurses are required to be flexible and capable of adapting to new lessons and expertise (Litchfield & Chater, 38). Thus above mentioned factors make it clear that the duties of the nurses and the expectations of the health organizations from them create significant challenges for the nurses in regard to the management of time and effectively performing their activities. Leadership: Considering the roles of the children’s nurses, it can realized that they are in the charge of taking care of the child such that the child gets recovered and free from the illness that he/she has been suffering from. This includes physical tests being conducted on the child for the detection of the tests, aid the child with personal care helping him/her with eating, washing and other related works, as well provide with the mental support to get well soon. Till the time the children are under the charge of the treatment of the nurses, the nurses constantly facilitate assistance in their development. They also take organizational measures to keep the children active, playful and let them stay in connection with their parents (Case Studies). From these activities, it can be realized that the nurses looking after children are required to possess certain level of leadership skills without which all these measures are not possible. Such measures often require the nurses to take decisions of their own. Thus the leadership ability plays a vital role in this regard. However, the newly qualified nurses having lack of confidence and lack of proper expertise and knowledge can be understood to encounter the need for leadership as a potential challenge in their initial years of experience. Moreover a newly qualified nurse recruited for the care of a child might not have allowance for every measure to be taken as per her own discretion (Mason & Carlisle, 48). Thus although leadership abilities are highly essential in the performance of the children’s nurses, newly qualified nurses might have to manage the controlled measures on them in regard to making decisions or performing activities of their own, which reflects a potential challenge for the nurses. Leadership qualities essentially reflect the nurses being capable of using their own expertise in making decisions regarding the care and treatment measures applicable on the children. However, the above mentioned factors clearly present challenges for the nurses who are newly qualified and newly recruited in health organizations and are yet to learn all measures and expertise of the organization. Accountability: Along with the registration of a newly qualified children’s nurse, the role of the nurses get associated with professional accountabilities. These responsibilities are not only limited to the clinical performances and management of the nurses, but they are considered as ones who are supposed to have knowledge on every aspect of nursing of a child, and be able to respond to the needs of the child patient, the parents or family members of the child as well as the seniors of the health organization. They are in charge of efficiently getting associated with the management team dealing with the care and treatment of the child, respond to the queries and demands of the family members of the child patient, and perform all activities related to the requirements of the organization the nurse is associated with (Burton & Ormrod, 3). Since nurses in charge of small children are in continuous touch with them when the children come under the responsibility of their care and treatment, they would be able to detect any abnormality on the behavior of the child hinting towards the suffering that the child might be inflicted to (Westrick, Westrick & Dempski, 59). The primary challenge in relation to the responsibility of the newly qualified nurses arises since they are accountable for the quality of services they provide. Moreover, the role of the nurses, particularly when treatment of a child is concerned, is not limited to just the treatment of the child, but she is expected to perform other related activities as well involving the administrative tasks, the teaching that also includes teaching the parents of the child about the necessary care needed to be undertaken for the child, counseling of the child, supervising the correct measures being fulfilled as well as the improvement of the child (Basavanthappa, 4). Their roles also involve providing with suggestions and teachings in relation to healthcare of such children, and make arrangements for proper care of the child (Iyer, 5). It has been realized that a nurse in charge of the treatment of a small child has wide-ranging responsibilities and duties on her part to be fulfilled and that too with utmost care and sincerity (Smith & Martin, 54). The newly qualified children’s nurses being new in the field of the work having no previous experiences can be understood to encounter severe challenges as a result of the huge responsibilities that they are required to perform. It can be understood in this context that these individuals are yet to become experts and are in the learning stage where they are actually expected to follow their seniors to understand how to manage their duties and how to be efficient. Thus so many responsibilities put together, the challenges become significantly difficult for the nurses who are newly qualified and have no prior experiences in the treatment and care of children. Effects of the Potential Challenges on the Newly Qualified Children’s Nurses: Considering the several challenges encountered by the newly qualified children’s nurses, it can be understood to have certain effects on the performance of the nurses. However, such effects may have some positive impacts as well as some negative impacts. The challenges can be proved to have positive effects on the newly qualified nurses since these challenges tend to prepare the nurses for better and effective performances. Since the challenges create pressure and difficulties for them, the nurses learn to take measures to overcome such difficulties and effectively manage their activities to perform their roles successfully. However on the other hand, there are negative impacts of such challenges as well. This is owing to the limitations that these challenges create in the initial years of a newly qualified nurse’s career. During this stage the workload seems to be excess while the nurses are unable to utilize their full potential in their performances (Carey, Stenner & Courtenay, 28). Since the newly qualified children’s nurses have a difficult time in managing their performances with the available time focusing on their efficient performances as well, it can be understood that shifts in their work loads and duties can dissatisfy them to great extents as this hampers the normal routine of the nurses (McKenna & French, 7-8). When the children’s nurses are newly qualified and newly recruited, they are under severe stress and pressure to effectively manage their roles and perform accordingly (Clarke, 116). The authority of their works being in the hands of others, the challenges can be understood to become even more difficult for the nurses to manage with and overcome. Thus such potential challenges tend to create effects that might be either positive in some respects while negative in other cases affecting the activities of the nurses significantly. Recommendations: Considering the challenging situations encountered by the children’s nurses who are newly qualified, one of the most significant recommendations that can be mentioned here is that the nurses while they are undergoing their course of nursing should be made to perform practical works on the performances that they are supposed to do once they enter the health organizations. This would enable the nurses to have an understanding of the real work which later on would not create much stress on them. Also, practical understanding would enable them to be more efficient in management of their duties and time, and allow them to effectively take responsibilities. In regard to the role of the health organizations, it can be recommended that since newly qualified nurses do not have any prior experience, organizations should allow them to have the amount of time required to learn the different measures of activities and rules of the organizations followed under the guidance of the seniors of the team working for the treatment of a child. Instead of expecting too much of the newly qualified nurses, organizations need to understand that they need the time to learn and become experts at first before they might actually be able to perform the way they are expected to do. If an understanding can occur among both the parties, that is the organization as well as the newly qualified nurses, and if proper lessons can be provided by the nursing institutes in the preparation of the nurses for the real working environment, then it might be assumed that the potential challenges would not create difficulties for the nurses and the nurses would then be able to efficiently perform their activities. Conclusion: The study has been focused on the different challenges encountered by the newly qualified children’s nurses when they enter an organization and start taking responsibilities. Of the several challenges the study has particularly stressed on three major issues associated with time management, leadership and accountability. From the study it has been clearly observed that these three challenges are significant to have either positive or negative impacts on the performances of the nurses, depending on the pressure the respective organizations create. Since the newly qualified nurses are without any previous work experience, they tend to face difficulties in managing too much of responsibilities and time together. Moreover, they lack confidence and do not have sufficient powers to utilize their full potential and decision making abilities. Thus altogether, it can be concluded that in the initial years of career, the newly qualified children’s nurses encounter difficulties in the form of challenges. However, if they are prepared to face these challenges while they are undergoing their course, it might assist the nurses to be more confident and able to perform their activities efficient and successfully. In addition, a level of understanding from the organizations would support their activities to great extents. References 1) Basavanthappa, BT. 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