NURSING WORKPLACE ISSUES 1

Current Issues In The Nursing Workplace Environment

Anthony Scandy

Contemporary Nursing

Youngstown State University

Abstract
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In this paper I will mainly be discussing the stressors that are caused by current issues in the

nursing workplace environment. I will provide some solutions and also just analyze the issues.

Some of the issues I will be discussing will be the short staffing of nurses, the long shifts and

extreme weekly hours worked by nurses, and the occupational dangers and medical hazards that

come along with being a nurse.

Nursing as a profession is a very respectable, rewarding, and stressful career. Nursing is

respected in todays society because everyone knows how much work it takes to not only become
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a nurse, but to actually do the work of a nurse day in and day out. Nursing is rewarding because

of the inner satisfaction one gets from caring for and doing their best to make sure their patients

get the proper care and compassion needed. Nursing is stressful for many reasons, and I’m going

to inform you of a few of the factors that commonly lead to stress for all nurses that are caused in

the nursing workplace environment. Nurses are generally short staffed, forced to work either too

many hours weekly or extremely long shifts, and are exposed to workplace violence and

dangerous hazards.

The staffing of nurses is the biggest factor that leads to stress in the workplace. If you are

interested in nursing even the slightest bit, I bet you have heard at least once that there is simply

not enough nurses in todays society. This is why nursing is such a great major for college

students today to go into, so that we can change this trend and resolve the issue. Hospitals often

try to employ the smallest amount of nurses possible to cut back on costs and maximize their

profits, since the world of healthcare is already so expensive. What hospitals fail to realize is that

if staffing is inadequate, nurses contend it threatens patient health and safety, results in greater

complexity of care, and impacts their health and safety by increasing fatigue and rate of injury

(Gooch, 2015). So, either hospitals and nursing employers simply don’t prioritize their nursing

staff, or money is actually that tight where they can’t hire enough nurses to handle the amount of

patients in the building adequately and stress free. National surveys have revealed nurses’

perceptions that the shortage has caused deterioration in professional relationships and the work

environment (Buerhaus, Donelan, Ulrich, & Norman). In simpler terms, if there were more

nurses working together in each setting, the amount of stress and the workload on each nurse

would be reduced and in turn would make for higher quality work and more satisfied employees!
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Nurses typically work anywhere from 36-60 hours a week, working 8 or 12 hour long

shifts. A recent study was done on a random sample of Michigan nurses who worked both 8 and

12 hour shifts. The nurses on 12-hour shifts experienced significantly more chronic fatigue,

cognitive anxiety, and emotional exhaustion (Jennings). This finding is a prime example of

nurses being worked too hard and too long. There are also cases when nurses have to go on

mandatory overtime. This can be the result of insufficient staffing levels and/or high patient

acuity (Ward, 2014). If there were simply more nurses employed, all of the nurses could work

less hours a week along with the shorter, more manageable 8 hour shift, and not be forced to

work mandatory overtime. I’m not preaching that the profession should be made easier for

nurses, but I am advocating that with a little more money spent and nurses hired by the

hospitals/employers, the quality of their nurses work would be raised and the overall satisfaction

in the workplace would be enhanced. This would also lead to far less stress being put on the

nurses shoulders. Stress is a common issue in community nurse populations which leads to

nurses having a greater likelihood of taking time away from work. (Terry, 2015). One goal of

todays health care society should be to find a way to reduce the stress on nurses, whether it be

with more staff members or something like technological advances. If the stress on nurses was

reduced it would be beneficial to both the nurses and the patients needing care, and would result

in less nurses needing time away from their stressful workplace.

Lastly, nurses are often exposed to violence and many dangerous hazards in the

workplace. These hazards include the behavior of other people. In some cases, nurses report

feeling threatened by angry patients (Ward, 2014). Between 2012 and 2014, workplace violence

injury rates increased for all healthcare job classifications and nearly doubled for nurse assistants

and nurses, according to data from the Occupational Health Safety Network (Gooch, 2015).
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Angry patients trying to cause physical harm to their nurse out of frustration happens all of the

time. As a nurse, you must understand that this will be something you face and you have to leave

the situation before it gets out of hand. Misunderstandings happen and all we can do as nurses is

make the best possible outcome out of the situation. Another hazard of the nursing workplace is

being exposed to bloodborne pathogens, injury, and cold and flu germs. OSHA estimates 5.6

million out of roughly 12.2 million workers in the healthcare industry and related occupations

are at risk of occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens (Gooch, 2015). Nurses are working

in hospitals and places were there is large amounts of sick people and it is a common occurrence

for nurses to get sick or be exposed to very serious illnesses. All nurses can do is follow all

safety and health protocol and be up to date on their annual vaccines and immunizations.

In conclusion, the profession of nursing has both it’s positives and negatives, just as any

profession does. Some of these negatives can be fixed with a little more nurses on staff, with a

little more leeway with hours and shift flexibility, and simply more attention to the nurses

workplace satisfaction. All in all, the profession of nursing is still extremely rewarding,

respectable, and a title to be proud of, and I am excited to dive into it even deeper!

References

Buerhaus, P. I., Donelan, K., Ulrich, B. T., & Norman, L (2007). Impact Of The Nurse Shortage

On Hospital Patient Care: Comparative Perspectives. Retrieved November 09, 2016,

from http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/26/3/853.full
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Gooch, K. (2015, August 13). 5 of the biggest issues nurses face today. Retrieved November 09,

2016, from http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/human-capital-and-risk/5-of-the-

biggest-issues-nurses-face-today.html

Jennings, B. M. (n.d.). Work Stress and Burnout Among Nurses: Role of the Work Environment

and Working Conditions - Patient Safety and Quality - NCBI Bookshelf. Retrieved

November 09, 2016, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2668/

Terry, D. (2015, August 12). Workplace health and safety issues among community nurses ...

Retrieved November 9, 2016, from http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/8/e008306.full.pdf

html

Ward, J. (2014, May 14). 9 Common Problems in the Nursing Profession. Retrieved November

09, 2016, from http://www.nursetogether.com/9-common-problems-nursing-profession