Occupational Injuries And Illnesses Among Nurses

A discussion about a cross sectional study on injury occurrence in the nursing profession, this article includes data from a thorough study of nurses whom work in a hospital emergency department. This may be about just one hospital in particular, but the evidence adds up when combined with other data from other places. The effects on the nursing profession are displayed in numbers collected from several different measurements. It highlights the severity of the number of nurses injured through work in this emergency department.

Violence towards nurses is mentioned here also, affecting a nurse’s mental well-being as well as physical. Work related injuries, illnesses, and stress have wide spread impact in this specific emergency department. Another important note made in this article is nursing staff call off of work due to illness or injury, which adds more stress to the staff on duty. Points are made about the need of corrective measures to be put in place to alleviate the situation.

Many nurses struggle juggling all of the tasks they must complete, such as patient care, educating patients as well as families, detailed charting, following through with doctor’s orders, and meeting the requirements set by supervisors. Patients can be aggressive and actually combative, further heightening a nurse’s anxiety. In most cases, once a nurse clocks out there are plenty more duties at home that await; children need tending and chores need attention. When does a nurse have time to take proper care of themselves? Grab-and-go unhealthy food is more than common for the nurse’s diet.

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There is no time or energy to exercise. Destressing is a rarity for nurses as well because time alone is short and uncommon. Many nursing professionals suffer from hypertension, most likely due to unhealthy habits. Sleep disturbances are commonly found among nurses. These issues lend a hand in building depression, exhaustion, and a sense of not feeling well.

This article speaks of and studies the crucial turnover rate of the nursing profession in the hospital setting, in partial relation to the work life balance that can be lacking for many nurses. The study is of several different locations and states that the issue is global. When nurses decide to leave the profession, it can add stress to the remaining staff, leaving many frustrated. Not having enough nurses can cause patient care to decline which can lead to very ill outcomes and can also cause nursing errors. With so many demands on nurses and long hours at work, it is difficult to balance it all. There is a good amount of focus on work life balance among nurses who are also mothers. This article looks to management for affective solutions. It is evident that without enough nurses, healthcare is seriously impacted. If solutions to these many problems within the profession can not be implemented and nurses can not be kept happy and healthy, we would have a real crisis.

Due to being up on their feet for long periods of time and lack of proper breaks, nurses are one of the highest professions with musculoskeletal complaints and diagnoses, 8.8 per 100 in hospital settings and 13.5 per 100 in nursing home settings (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2002). An extensive study reported on in this article of nurses in many different hospital departments show just how vast musculoskeletal issues and varicose veins appear in these nursing professionals. Some departments show more issues than others. Varicose veins appear in those participants who did more heavy lifting compared to those who did not lift as much or as often. Nursing is very demanding and physically exerting. Nurses adjust patient’s positions by shifting and lifting them to help make them more comfortable or to examine them. More female nurses suffer from musculoskeletal pain and varicose veins than male nurses. Body mechanics are taught and practiced, yet pain and injuries still occur. Mechanical tools seem to alleviate a small number of nurses who develop issues, but they do not prevent. This serious problem causes many nurses to quit the profession or take an extended leave. Typically, there is a limited availability of nurses as it is, therefore the problem is quite serious.

Annotated Bibliography

1. Bordignon, M., & Monteiro, M. I. (2018). Health problems among nursing professionals and related factors. Enfermería Global, 17(3), 459-469. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.6018/eglobal.17.3.302351.
2. Jordan, T. R., Khubchandani, J., & Wiblishauser, M. (2016). The impact of perceived stress and coping adequacy on the health of nurses: A pilot investigation. Nursing Research and Practice, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/5843256.
3. Umesh, S. R., David, S., Segaran, F., & Venkatesh, K. (2014). Work-related health problems among nursing personnel. Nursing Journal of India, 105(6), 254-257. Retrieved from http://nclive.org/cgi-bin/nclsm?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1687838795?accountid=10939