Nursing, for me, is a noble profession as nursing professionals work together with other medical workers to achieve a healthy and quality life. As President Barack Obama noted, the United States and other nations today and in the near future will be focusing greatly on finding ways to improve the health care system. The development of modern medical technologies made medical professionals able to discover other diseases that remained undisclosed for a very long time in the history of medicine. Such discovery of diseases leads many nations and states to work closely so that the problem will be given proper treatment and effective prevention. However, such new discovery also brings problems to medical field as most states still lack medical workers, particularly nursing professionals.
As I read the book “The Nursing Profession: Description and Issues” by Timofeeva I learned that nursing, although considered as a rewarding career, has many issues that need to be solved. Two most challenging issues comprise the poor quality and scarcity of nursing professionals. Overtime, the quality of nursing is often a subject of academic debate among medical professionals. Many professionals noted that the quality problem is rooted on the poor curriculum of the nursing course such that most foundations are only theoretical and are not mostly appropriate for practical application. Moreover, academic and medical researches about nursing care are of scarce and often limited to certain topics (Timofeeva, 2002).
Concerning the quality of nursing care being provided to patients, many states share common problems. McKenna (1998), on his research, found that due to the shortage in the nursing population, nurses turn out to be unable to provide high quality of care to patients. Although the main obligation of nurses is to provide nursing care, the need for specialization on the job is still not being realized as nursing curriculum is designed as general curriculum without specialized courses for home care, hospital care, corporate care, community care, and others. Like doctors, specialization among nurses is needed since occupation for this group of professionals is large, ranging from hospital nurses to industrial nurses, and patients are diverse aside from the fact that diseases and treatments also vary from each health situation. The lack of training among nursing professionals also contributes to the poor quality of nurses. As many states experience scarcity on nursing professionals many hospitals and health care institutions are being forced to employ nursing graduates who still lack trainings and care experiences (Timofeeva, 2002).
As mentioned earlier, scarcity of the nurses is evident in many states of America and other nations. I see this condition as another major challenging issue in the nursing field today. As noted on the education system, the enrolment population of nurses is relatively low in many colleges and universities these previous years. Many students prefer to take other courses that are more stable and financially rewarding. Moreover, the working environment of nurses (which are often prone to transmitted diseases) and career condition (low pay, long hour duties, and multi-tasking) are not perceived good by most students thus preventing them to enroll the course. Thus the population of nurses is comprised of mostly aged registered nurses. Another factor that contributes to the increasing shortage of nurses is the rapid expansion of nursing occupation due to various developments in the health care field. The discovery of many new diseases and novel approaches to treating disorders increases the demand for nursing professionals (Timofeeva, 2002).
Although the nursing field faces many issues and challenges, I still find this job a noble and rewarding profession. Being able to help the health care system and the community promote health, prevent diseases, and assist patients cope with disorders gives me an idea of how accommodating and helpful the nursing profession is. Considering the two issues discussed above, I know that I will be able to contribute to solving the quality and scarcity problems. I hope to acquire all the essential knowledge on nursing and be trained enough to become an effective, efficient, and quality nurse whose goal is to help patients and communities attain healthy living thus preventing from getting diseases. Becoming a nurse student, I also hope to impart the nursing knowledge, which will be earned from the course and imparted to other individuals so to encourage them to become part of the nursing care.
References
- McKenna, H. (1998). The “professional cleansing” of nurses: The systematic downgrading of nurses damages patient care. British Medical Journal, 317 (7170), 1403-1404.
- Timofeeva, A.A. (2002). The nursing profession: Description and issues. New York: Novinka Books.