Addressing Nursing Staffing Shortages: A Critical Issue for Patient and Nurse Safety

Olivia Montijo Professor Morgan English 122 April 18, 2021 A problem faced by the Nursing Community My community is based on my line of work. I work at a nursing home as a receptionist. My job is to welcome visitors or patients, receive and enlighten on inquiries as well as record ongoing day-to-day activities. Also, I help with discharges for the patients. Nursing origins can be traced from as early as halfway through the 19th Century. Professional nursing then commences with a daughter of two rich British parents, Florence Nightingale) (Stanhope 5). Florence, well educated, goes against all social odds and makes a firm decision of becoming a nurse. In terms of size, nurses are considered, within the social-based health provision, to be the largest group for service (Stanhope 3). A nurse works in a variety of roles to help patients at home in a bid of preventing evitable admission to hospitals and expedite well-timed remittance. The problem in my community is the working conditions to which nurses are exposed to. Chiefly, these conditions are poor and often make work almost unbearable for most nurses. The poorness in the conditions of work in the nursing community is what gives birth to other specified problems that nurses face in their day-to-day work inclusive of violence at the place of work, not enough staffing, overtime that is mandatory, and safety on the job, just to give as examples. Therefore, poor working conditions are the main cause of almost all other problems facing the nursing community, and its rectification can be the potential solution to almost all nursing-related problems. Inadequate recruitment, a problem faced by the nursing community is a result of poor conditions of work. Therefore, one of the characteristics showing that the working conditions of a nurse are poor is when the workplace has inadequately recruited staff. Inadequate recruitment of staff is common in many occupations. When it occurs in these other professions, it is usually a small inconvenience to the workers, which may at times be manageable. However, the issue of inadequate st