Challenges Faced by Newly Registered Nurses - Essay Example

Challenges Faced by Newly Registered Nurses Student Institution Instructor Course Date of Submission Introduction Majority of the graduate nurses experience a lot of stress during the transition period from being a student nurse to being a registered nurse. This is due to the fact that they tend to move from a familiar education environment and join the workforce, where they are evacuated on basis of their competence. Unlike when a student, once one become a registered nurse, they do not receive much support from their lecturers and other staff. Moreover, situations are taken more seriously at this point unlike when they are students. They are given more responsibilities and there are great expectations from the management staff unlike when they are students. The most common professional challenge faced by this group of freshly registered nurse includes role ambiguity, role overload and role stress during practice. In this paper I will be discussing some of the challenges that I am expected to face as a newly registered nurse, once I enter he field of practice, and how to overcome those challenges. It will be based on past experience during my practice as a student nurse (Frisch, et.al, 2004). Role stress As I worked in the orthopedic ward at both Liverpool and concord hospital, in Sydney, I observed that most nurses were experiencing some role stress. This was worse amongst the newly employed registered nurses. According to my own assessment this was related to the working environment. For instance, it was clear that most fresh nurses did not receive enough support from their colleagues, yet there was high demand in their work. The number of patients within the hospitals was overwhelming and yet the number of staff was not sufficient to meet the high demand from the patients. The great patient turnover was so stressing to the nurse (Foxall, et.al, 2010). Additionally, the change of status from being a student to being a professional nurse was a source of anxiety and role stress among the newly registered nurses. This is due to the responsibilities endorsed to them as they try moving from being students to professionals. Moreover, most of the lack self-confidence as they perform their tasks as nurses. This causes a lot of anxiety resulting to stress. This is due to the fact that they were previously used to having continuous support from their lecturers and did not have any accountability endorsed to them as student nurses, unlike when they are professional nurses. Thirdly as newly registered and freshly graduated nurses, their skills tend to be less competent as compared to other registered nurses who have experience within the field. This is a major source of stress amongst them. These include the organizational skills, interpersonal skills when dealing with other professions such as the physicians and lack of technical skills. This is made worse by the high expectations put upon them by their colleagues at work. Moreover, I was able to identify that these nurses had a big problem with dealing with the new shifts within the hospital. As a student nurse, the shifts are less demanding as compared to when one is a professional nurse. These changes in shift cause a lot strain during the first several months of practice (Hendry, et.al, 2008). As a newly registered nurse, I plan to deal with the role stress in several ways. To begin with, I will do sufficient research about the hospital I will be join in the first instance, and learn about the most frequent cases of diseases and incidences within the hospital. I will then do further research on how to handle the cases within the specific hospital setting. This will help me to be psychologically prepared about my new work environment, and hence I will evade experiencing shocks and surprises from the new environment (Foxall, et.al, 2010). Furthermore, I will try to learn about the shifts earlier, so that I can prepare myself psychologically for the new shifts within the working environment. I will also ensure that manage my time appropriately in order to avoid collision with the management staff and ensure that I am accountable of what I do during my working hours. Another way in which I will handle the role stress is by trying to create a good rapport between me, my colleagues at work and the patients. By creating a good rapport, it will enable me to seek clarification in case there is need to so. It will also help in reduction of anxiety as it will ensure that I have a backup in case I do not understand something within my practice. Furthermore, I will do my best to ensure that I have sufficient knowledge on both nursing and medical management of the most common disease within the hospital in order to reduce the levels of anxiety and sharpen my skills. Furthermore, I will always appreciate that during the initial moths of practice my skills are not very competent, ad purpose to improve on them with due time. This will be effective in dealing with criticism from other workers who may be more experienced. It will also assist me in getting job satisfaction and hence reduced role stress (Frisch,et.al,2004). Role Ambiguity As I worked in both Liverpool and concord hospital it was clear to me that most of the newly employed nurses lacked clear and consistent information on how they should behave in their newly acquired roles, due to insufficient information on the responsibilities they should play as new graduates. Lack of clarity on how one is expected to behave can make an individual lack confidence in whatever they are doing and lead to lack of satisfaction in their own job. According to my own assessment, it can also attract a lot of criticism from other clinicians and made an individual feel inefficient and incompetent in performing their nursing tasks. Additionally, it was clear to me that most nurses who had more experience on working in the orthopedic wards in both Liverpool and concord hospitals were less willing to clarify to the newly employed and newly registered nurses on what is expected of them in their newly endorsed roles. They felt as if the newly registered nurse was being a bother by ensuring form them and hence tried as much as possible to avoid them. This left the nurses more confused and made them perform tasks according to their own knowledge rather than relying on anybody. However, it made the more marginalized and isolated from the rest of the workgroup, since nobody was willing to perform tasks with them(Miller,et.al,2008). One way in which I will deal with role ambiguity as a newly registered professional nurse will be trough seeking for clarification on what is expected of me during different scenarios within the hospital. This will be done during the orientation, induction and socialization phases of my new work. I will also try as much as possible to have sufficient knowledge on how to handle different situations within the hospital in line with the hospital’s policies. This means that I will have to learn about the policies in the hospital I will be working in. By knowing about the hospital policies, I will be able to understand better what is expected of me, and therefore evade anxiety related to insufficient knowledge on what is expected of me. Secondly, I will ensure that I try as much as possible I achieve autonomy during the first one month of working within the hospital. This is through having sufficient knowledge on the correct thing to do and how to do it in different scenarios. This will help me become more competent and confident in my work and help me attain job satisfaction. It will also make me more accountable on whatever I do during my working hours. Moreover, it will also influence the rest of my colleagues on how they perceive me and help in creating a good relationship between me and my colleagues (Miller,et.al,2008). Role overload   Acccording to my assement, it is clear that there is lack of reasonableness in the expectations from majority of newly registered nurses from their workplace. Most fresh nurses expect a very friendly and supportive enviroment, similar to the one I had as a student. Howerev, it was clear to me that most clinicians in Australia are unwilling to work comfortably with newly registerd nurses as thety rate them as being incompitent. Additionally,most fresh graduates have high expectations to command respect from other nurses since they are graduates. However according to me I expect that most nurses will look down upon me and rate my technical skills as being substandard. This could be a source of frustration as my abiltites will be undermined. As a newly registerd nurse, I will deal with the issue of role overload by setting reasonable goals and ensuring that I perform my tasks in the most appropriate manner and appreciating myself rather than expecting to be appreciated by others or even critising myself. I will ensurer that I do proper docmentation of what I do and manage my time appropiately in order to achieve my already set goals. This will also help me in achieving job saitsfaction.Moreover I will lower my expectations on a good reception from other clinicians in order to avoid being frustrated in case I do not receive a positive response from them. However, this does not imply that I will avoid being social with them or even isolate myself from them (Orchard, C 2010). Conclusion The transition from being a student nurse to being a professional nurse is a stressing process. This is worst especially within the first three to four months within a new workplace. This leads to many newly registered nurses giving up on working in their new environment and moving from one hospital to another in order to try gaining more confidence and job satisfaction. Most newly registered nurses face challenges which include role stress, role ambiguity and role overload. It is imperative to set own goals and work towards overcoming the challenges at an individual level as a newly registered nurse, in order to avoid being frustrated. Moreover by setting appropriate goals and doing self-evaluation helps most nurses overcome these challenges and gain more competence and confidence in their work. List of References Foxall M, Zimmerman L, Standley R, Bene B.2010. 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