Nursing training has taken a major shift since the beginning of the 21 st century. Nurses who were trained before the onset of the new millennia will no longer meet the necessary requirements to tackle the rising challenges in clinical practice in the near future (Raphael & Faleiros, 2014). Healthcare environments are experiencing complex situations, which require nurses equipped with the necessary level of skills, competencies and attitudes to come up with quality, safe and efficient solutions. Currently, nurses have adequate training to take on roles and decisions that would certainly have been made by only doctors 50 years ago. The Internet has played a major role in initiating most of these changes (Hussung, 2016). Patients are only one click away from accessing the power to gain control of their own care. Such development has changed patient to providers’ dynamics in a positive way by requiring accountability and higher quality of treatment from the government. The first solution for this issue is encouraging nurses who are being phased out of the current clinical practices, to go back to school for training on current technologies (Raphael & Faleiros, 2014). By doing so, nurses can improve their professional lives by easing their collaboration with modern nurses. They have to ensure they stay relevant. Nurses who undertook RN training should upgrade their diplomas by enrolling into BSN baccalaureate courses. Quality healthcare highly depends on having a well-educated workforce. By 2013, 55% of nurses had already upgraded from RN to BSN. The Future of Nursing report released by the Institute of Medicine in 2010, aimed at increasing the number of baccalaureate educates nurses up to 80% (Raphael & Faleiros, 2014). Online training programs also provide nurses with the opportunity to access education at the comfort of their homes. Nurses endure long working hours; therefore, having the option to learn flexibly through online courses makes it easier to find balance between personal life and studies. Organizations have to initiate empowerment programs to push their aging nursing workforce to adopt new changes in clinical practice (Hussung, 2016). Such programs also integrate the new with the old by creating a cohesive space in which modern nurses can share upcoming ideas with their more experienced counterparts.
Longer working hours is an upcoming issue that might affect a large number of nurses during healthcare provision. Currently, nurses already work for long hours with a high number already working more than 13 hours per shift. Increasing working hours could lead to patient healthcare risks and missed care. Understaffing has been highlighted as the main contributing factor towards nurses being required to work overtime (Son et al., 2019). Nurses will soon get frustrated when required to change their already tedious schedule to accommodate the looming crisis of reduced nursing workforce. Any professional with longer working hours eventually feels the effects of fatigue and mental exhaustion. Overworking nurses leads to stress and mental breakdowns forcing a reliable worker to step down from their profession and at times leave it completely. Patients who experience below par healthcare are less likely to come back. Organizations lose the trust of the patient once the latter experiences a slight inconvenience during their stay in the hospital (Raphael & Faleiros, 2014). Loss of professionalism could therefore cost healthcare institution large amounts of money. Creating better healthcare environments should have high priority. One of the solutions proposed includes increasing the number of nursing schools to satisfy the demand for nurses in hospitals. Based on data obtained from South Korea (Son et al., 2019), other strategies are required since this solution does not solve the understaffing issue immediately. Enrolled students need a minimum of three to four years to be fully competent. Studies show that poor working environments discourage licensed nurses from enrolling in the healthcare sector (Son et al., 2019). Therefore, the government should work on improving the environment that nurses already work in. More investment should be driven into purchasing new technologies. Nurses who have abandoned the practice should be encouraged to retake their positions after a conducive environment has been developed. Experienced nurses can help nurture the incoming generation by equipping them with knowledge to supplement their modem education. By doing so, the government can address nurse shortages and understaffing within a five-year period.
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References
Hussung, T. (2016, February 16). The Future of Nursing: How Changes in the Healthcare Industry Affect Clinical Practice . https://online.husson.edu/the-future-of-nursing/
Raphael, F., & Faleiros, F. (2014). Nursing Challenges for the 21st Century . Journal of Nursing and Care , 143-146. https://doi.org/10.4172/2167-1168.1000143
Son, Y.-J., Lee, E. K., & Ko, Y. (2019). Association of Working Hours and Patient Safety Competencies with Adverse Nurse Outcomes: A Cross-Sectional Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , 1-11. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16214083
