Introduction
Have you ever wondered how many difficulties healthcare professionals have to overcome? Today I would like to discuss three obstacles that I faced while working as a nurse assistant. It seems that many people understand how vital the work of medical staff is. However, they are often unable to appreciate how hard their work is. The range of responsibilities of a nursing assistant is boundless; however, overcoming difficulties during the working day is fundamentally crucial for this employee. I have done some preliminary research to make sure that the value of my advice is scientifically proved. In this way, I will talk about how I cope with stress, scheduling shifts, and communication problems.
Stress Management Techniques
As a nurse assistant, I have had to use effective stress management techniques on many occasions. The stress was triggered by high responsibility, hostile patients, and difficulties in my role as an employee. Several times in my practice, I came across a situation when a patient was getting worse right in front of my eyes, and I had to decide on his condition. I also met violent patients, and it was not always clear what functions were entrusted to me. However, I found out that the challenges of working with conflicting patients can be solved by eliminating communication problems. Role conflict can be resolved by defining a chain of command (Ly et al., 2018). In situations of increased responsibility, one should immediately seek help from colleagues.
Scheduling Shifts and How to Deal with It
I noticed that during the night shifts, I feel tired and cannot work at full strength. The research I found confirms my hunch: frequent night shifts do not contribute to improving the level of health (Ganesan et al. 2). Failure by other employees to fulfill their responsibilities also spoils the work process. Therefore, employees must inform their colleagues of all necessary details before they leave for the day off. Long shifts cause chronic fatigue in nurses (Ball et al. 6); also, this circumstance can lead to the development of chronic diseases and a general deterioration in well-being. To solve this problem, I turned to my colleagues with a proposal to reduce the length of the working day. When working at night, it is necessary to detect the symptoms of fatigue in time and recuperate.
Nursing Is a Dialogue
Participation, openness, and listening are the foundation for communication and ultimately for building healthy relationships. I noticed how when patients were faced with the fact that no one wanted to listen to them, they stopped cooperating. There are enough prerequisites for aggravating such difficult situations in medicine, and if they are not prevented, they turn into conflicts. In cases of dissatisfaction with medical care, there are difficulties in the interaction between the assistant and the patient. For the nursing assistant as a professional, such vital points as helping patients with activities of daily living like eating and bathing and clinical thinking are essential (Wong). In addition, communicative competence is necessary, which implies the presence of specific psychological knowledge.
General Observation about the Circumstances I Faced
I think that the difficulties that I had to face in my practice are not uncommon. The advice offered is also not unique, but I am convinced that it will be helpful. As I noted at the beginning of my speech, not everyone is aware of the difficulties of working as a nursing assistant. However, by talking about them, I can ease the burden on those looking for strategies to cope with various stressful situations. For example, the problem of long shifts is relevant in many jobs. My goal was to share my personal experiences, but I do not rule out the possibility that the audience can learn from what I said today.
Conclusion
To overcome the difficulties arising at work, each nurse should have appropriate techniques and a clear and detailed plan of action. For each of the situations I have analyzed, methods have been proposed that can assist a nurse. Dealing with stress is essential at all stages of practice; effective techniques based on the latest research can significantly facilitate the work of such an employee as a nursing assistant. It is essential to be able to communicate the difficulties that the nurse has to face with colleagues and superiors. Otherwise, the patient’s condition may worsen, or complications may arise against the background of difficult working conditions. Nursing assistants must adapt to work with different patients and sometimes challenging conditions, using appropriate methods to facilitate the work.
References
Ball, Jane et al. “Cross-Sectional Examination of the Association between Shift Length and Hospital Nurses Job Satisfaction and Nurse Reported Quality Measures. BMC Nursing, vol. 16, 2017, pp. 1-7.
Ganesan, Saranea et al. “The Impact of Shift Work on Sleep, Alertness and Performance in Healthcare Workers.” Scientific Reports, vol. 9, no. 1, 2019, pp. 1-13.
Ly, Olivia, et al. “Exploring Role Clarity in Interorganizational Spread and Scale-Up Initiatives: The ‘INSPIRED’ COPD Collaborative. BMC Health Services Research, vol. 18, 2018, pp. 1-7.
Wong, Alex. ”CNA Job Description, Salary, & Required Skills.” Clipboard Health, Web.