Fifteen Questions on Nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Fifteen Questions on Nursing - Essay Example Hospitals also report that they have had to turn away patients to other health facilities because they did not have enough staff to care for these patients (Hunt, 2009, p. 4). Hospitals have also been forced to consider contract nurses to fill in nursing shortages caused by turnovers; this often costs twice as much as nurses employed by the hospitals. Nurse turnover has also been known to increase shortage in staff which has then led to increases in the workload of the remaining nurses. This has then created high levels of stress and exhaustion during work and in turn, an increase in the probability of medical errors (Hunt, 2009, p. 4). Eventually, many nurses end up quitting and choosing other careers in order to get away from these difficult work conditions. High levels of nurse turnover have also created an unstable workplace which then has negatively affected the retention of other health professionals. The cost of recruiting, hiring, and training new nurses has been increased by high turnover rates. The hospitals have also found themselves hard up in trying to recruit new nurses because of the unfavourable stories shared by other nurses regarding the work conditions of the nursing profession (Hunt, 2009, p. 3). Accidents and absenteeism have also increased in incidence in the workplace. Accidents are caused by work stress and exhaustion. Reduced work enjoyment and fulfilment have also caused frequent absences. 2) Providing privacy for patients is an important consideration for health service planners and providers. What factors should be considered in regard to privacy when providing nursing care? There are various factors which must be considered with regard to privacy of patients in the provision of nursing care. First and foremost, nurses and patients sometimes do not clearly understand the difference between privacy and confidentiality. Not knowing what privacy and confidentiality makes a health provider likely to abuse such practices. Nurses sometimes do not know that privacy refers to the right of individuals to control access to their information; on the other hand, confidentiality refers to how nurses treat private information once it has been revealed to other people, including themselves (Erikson and Millar, 2005). This privacy is now difficult to protect because of the current practices of digital and electronic technology, including electronic health records. These forms of technology are more difficult to secure and as such securing the privacy of patients is also more difficult. Nurses and other health professionals may sometimes be careless in accessing information about their patients that they allow such information open to other health professionals who are not part of the patient’s care team, and to other individuals in the hospital (Erikson and Millar, 2005). The current practice of using electronic mails and charting is also vulnerable to errors with mails and messages being sent to the wrong party or bein g read by the wrong party, thereby violating the privacy of the patient. Electronic information can also be sent easily to other care providers and this limits the privacy of the patient, limiting his ability to prevent his personal and medical information from being shared to other health professionals (Erikson and Millar, 2005). Health professionals themselves have become complacent in their duty in securing their patient’