First-Year Nursing Dilemma and Future Practice

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Table of Contents

The Regulation of the Nursing Profession
First-Year Challenges
Important Future Topics
References

The Regulation of the Nursing Profession

Nursing is the backbone of medical practice and has been essential in saving the lives of many people and restoring their health. NCSBN (2021) provides a summary of a report that sought to evaluate the steps nursing should take to enhance effectiveness and boost productivity. The report submits that nursing must focus on the social determinants of health to ensure community needs are met. Equity in healthcare is also attainable if nursing is enhanced in both capability and professionalism. Changes to restrictive state laws by the federal authority alongside improvements in the licensing exam, so it incorporates social health determinants are moves likely to enhance health equity. The report also recommends the use of a national nurse identifier to ensure ease in following nurse performance of duties. New nurses are a key part of the workforce and ensure the ratio between nurses and patients is maintained within the recommended limits. NCSBN (2022) offers a knowledge base for novice nurses to ensure they have a conducive entry into the profession. Nurses are required to acquire knowledge on essential topics such as professional responsibility to avoid legal repercussions related to negligence.

The regulation of the nursing profession is a crucial issue that must be given due attention to ensure nurses comprehend the hierarchy. Additionally, NCSBN (2022) also outlines the roles of the national regulatory body and the state laws called nurse practice acts. The importance of upholding professional boundaries and nursing ethics is also covered and is important in ensuring one has a fruitful and successful career as a nurse. The novice to expert theory by Patricia Benner provides that nurses undergo a series of steps before they become competent in practice (Murray et al., 2019). These steps include the novice who is a beginner without experience, the advanced beginner with acceptable performance, and a competent nurse with a few years of experience. The fourth step is the proficient nurse who understands situations wholly, while the fifth is the expert nurse who has a wealth of experience and a great background understanding of the profession.

First-Year Challenges

Personal and Employer Expectations on Performance

Nursing is a generally demanding career that requires professionals to deliver high-quality work because the job presents life-and-death situations. First-year nurses are required to integrate into the practice seamlessly, and this requirement is both personal and employer enforced. During the first year, new nurses are keen to prove their competence, while employers are generally demanding of these workers. First-years must accept their limitations in practice as novices and ensure careful actions and immense consultation with seniors to avoid obvious errors. Employers are also required to set a reasonable bar for their new nurses while putting them under sufficient oversight to ensure proper performance.

Orientation, Preceptors, and Mentors

Orientation within the new working environment is essential in guaranteeing that first-year nurse are proficient. Learning the processes and requirements within a certain environment is vital, and preceptors along with mentors fit for this role. These two are advanced in their level of practice and can play the role of guides to first-year nurses perfectly, ensuring their output is outstanding. The preceptors and mentors within the various healthcare facilities must gently and sternly correct their protégé to ensure the nursing profession has proficient future nurses. First-year nurses must also make deliberate efforts to observe the actions of their seniors within the job environment while interrogating them more to acquire knowledge.

Stress and Burnout

Nursing is a demanding profession, and first-year nurses are usually the victims of stress and burnout due to the relative newness of their environments. First-year nurses display an immense commitment to their work, with minimal regard for their own lives (Matarese et al., 2018). These workers must realize the importance of their general health in the greater matrix of restoring the health of others. First-year nurses can learn vital topics such as taking breaks from the profession to ensure recovery and rest. Having personal ambitions outside the practice is also vital in ensuring that the job is not all they have.

Important Future Topics

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence encompasses the ability to handle emotional triggers by professionals and is an essential component of the practice. Emotions are always high within the healthcare environment as many situations are life or death instances (Matarese et al., 2018). Senior healthcare professionals, patients, and their families always say things they don’t mean to nurses, and this may discourage a nurse with minimal emotional intelligence. Emotions are sometimes demoralizing and affect the mental health of some nurses, and emotional intelligence must be developed as a cornerstone of the practice. This can be developed through reduced reaction to triggers, better evaluation of situations, and greater understanding of patients.

Lifelong Learning

A medical practitioner is always learning throughout their lives, and the moment they don’t learn anymore, they stop being proficient practitioners. This is accurate for nurses as they must hunger for knowledge eternally. This implies reading the things already learned to avoid forgetfulness, reading new research to ensure they are updated, and observing senior professionals gain experience (Yoder-Wise, 2021). Despite the wealth of knowledge that encompasses medical professions, including nurses, there is never a point of sufficient education for these professionals. Learning also involves attending conferences and presentations of nursing papers to realize what is new in the profession. An updated nurse is a resource for their healthcare center and a great professional for their patients.

Solutions in Practice

First-year challenges such as stress and burnout can be combated by ensuring I don’t overwork myself. This implies performing the tasks assigned dutifully and taking sufficient rest to prevent stress and burnout. Personal and employer expectations are vital, and I would prevent the poor performance by first being sufficiently knowledgeable and avoiding duties that I am least proficient at doing. I would also ensure employer expectations are attained through collaboration with willing colleagues and maintaining efficient communication with the boss for better understanding. Orientation, preceptors, and mentors are indispensable parts of nursing, and I would fully incorporate them into my practice. I would observe experienced practitioners in action for better learning and consult them whenever in doubt.

Emotional intelligence is crucial, and I will develop this skill through greater reflection practices. This will enable me to analyze situations objectively, preventing emotional outbursts (Matarese et al., 2018). I will also communicate better with the various people I interact with to avoid confusion and frustrations that are often the cause of emotional outbursts. I will also practice my duties diligently and within the confines of the law and performance standards to prevent shortcomings. I will attain lifelong learning through reading more about the various cases I handle at healthcare facilities. This will enhance my knowledge and add to my experience (Yoder-Wise, 2021). Apprenticeship is an indispensable aspect of learning, and I will foster that through greater cooperation with senior practitioners in conversation. Attending nursing conferences will be the hallmark of my lifelong learning as I will acquire new information that is tested and proven.

References

Matarese, M., Lommi, M., De Marinis, M. G., & Riegel, B. (2018). A Systematic Review and Integration of Concept Analyses of Self-Care and Related Concepts. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 50(3), 296–305. Web.

Murray, M., Sundin, D., & Cope, V. (2019). Benner’s model and Duchscher’s theory: Providing the framework for understanding new graduate nurses’ transition to practice. Nurse Education in Practice, 34(1), 199–203. Web.

NCSBN. (2021). The Future of Nursing Report, 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity. NCSBN. Web.

NCSBN. (2022). New Nurses: Key Issues. NCSBN. Web.

Yoder-Wise, P. S. (2021). Lifelong Learning: Part 1. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 52(7), 303–303. Web.

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