Nursing Problem

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Date

Specialization: Nursing Practitioner.

As a nursing practitioner, the major roles include the assessment of the needs of the patients. A nursing practitioner also orders and interprets test from laboratories, they do illness and disease diagnosis, medication prescription and formulate plans for treatment. There are a number of challenges that face the nurse in their field of practices. This paper will focus to discuss the hazards in the workspace of these practitioners. It will also seek to find a way of solving these challenge using innovative means.

The Problem of Interest

Hazard in The Nursing Field

The nursing field of practice is one of the most dangerous places of working as one does work in a delicate environment where one is in the risks of being infected or even injuring oneself. Nurses are faced with a number of risks in daily job activities. Some of these hazards include injuries, flu germs, hand washing –related dermatitis and pathogens that are based in the blood among others.

According to the report produced by OSHA, about 5.6 million of 12.2 million workers are under the risk of being exposed to blood borne pathogens. This is a big number of health workers under the risk meaning that soon there will be a shortage of health nursing or health workers in general. Moreover, the rates of risks are higher in the health care industry than any other industries. This industry has registered around 35000 injuries covering different parts of the body. These range from the shoulders, hands, feet, and back. These statistics are according to the Bureau Labor Statistics (Gooch, 2015).

Apart from the acute injuries discussed, they also suffer harm exposed on their hands. From a recent study carried out in the University of Manchester, the health workers that follow protocols are 4.5 times exposed to skin damage risks. The report also reported up to 25 percent of cases of irritant contact dermatitis.

These individuals also get exposed to infectious diseases in their areas of practice. One of the most commonly contacted infection is Hepatitis B (HBV). This is infection can be contacted via blood contact, feces, saliva, and semen. This instrument of spreading the infection is in contact with the patient and also the needles (Gooch, 2015). Nursing practitioners also risk exposure to toxic substances in the clinical environment. Radiation is another risk that comes majorly from the ionizing radiation. Complications associated with radiation include skin cancer, leukemia, and cancer among others. One comes to contact with this radiation in the instances of performing x-ray scans. Another challenge that faces nursing practitioners is stress. This is experienced mostly among the nurses who work with the patients that are terminally or chronically ill (NCBI, 2016).

Research Strategy.

The focus of the research is on the articles that are based on nursing practices. These articles also further narrow down to the specific problems facing the nursing practitioners. The aim is to find a solution to the above-identified problem.

Innovative Solution.

It was crucial to put up ways to protect nursing practitioners. It is important to take extra measures when working in various situations. Capacity building of the nurses on the safety measures while working is very important. They should also be educated on using the protective gear which will reduce exposure to risks. For instance, the use of antiviral face mask inactivates the 99.99 percent of the flu viruses tested in the laboratory.

References

Gooch, K. (2015, August 13). 5 of the biggest issues nurses face today. Becker’s Hospital Review. Retrieved from 

Gooch, K. (2015, July 15) 4 common nursing hazards demanding hospitals’ attention. Clinical Leadership & Infection Control. Retrieved from 

NCBI (2016). Nursing Health & Environment: Strengthening the Relationship to Improve the Public Health. Retrieved from