Time Management and New Nurse Challenges: A Case Study

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report examines challenges faced by new nurses.

New nurses often experience challenges
Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................................1
Body:...........................................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion:..................................................................................................................................................5
References:..................................................................................................................................................5
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Introduction:
Newly qualified nurses comprise to about 60% of the total workforce of the nurses.
There are numerous examples through the researches in the literature of the
experiences of the new nurses defining their transition to a qualified nurse. In order
to ensure that the new nurses successfully transition to their professional nurse
roles there is a need for the healthcare system to address the problems faced by
the new nurses during their transition as the retention of new nurses after their
recruitment is a major issue globally. Great importance has been given to
acknowledge and value the views of new nurses, providing effective work
environment to the new nurses by the use of effective supervision and perception
(Wing, Regan, and Spence, 2015, pp.632-643). These steps are undertaken to
facilitate their transition to well-qualified nurses and prevent dropouts.
The new nurses have been found to encounter problems like time management,
medication management and also find it difficult to assimilate or fit in their team,
which is very important for good health care delivery (Hofler and Thomas, 2016,
pp.133-136). It has been understood that the National health system must not only
work for the improvement of the quality of health care service but also look towards
the quality of support offered to the NHS staff which will in return also improve the
quality of health care offered to the patients (Newman and Maylor, 2002, pp.93-
105). However, studies indicate that still today the problems of the new nurses have
not been fully addressed and new nurses are still experiencing many challenges
during their transition. The aim of this assignment is to examine the challenges
faced as a new nurse with special emphasis on my problems in time management
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while making the transition into professional practicing nurse and methods to
effectively adjust to the new role based on evidence-based strategies.
Body:
Competence, courage to act with confidence, alongside communication,
collaboration and continuity are the 6 Cs of the NHS ethos. Socialization and
professionalism are the two key processes which I identified while adjusting to
becoming a newly qualified nurse. However in order effectively adjust to the
transition I had to modify my professional and personal values so that I was more
aligned to my actual role as a professional nurse (Hofler and Thomas, 2016, pp.133-
136). These changes for me resulted in the change in my intellectual, emotional,
personal, skill and relationship transitions which led to the attainment of new
understandings, expectations, and finally experiences (Black, 2016). These new
experiences were shocking as compared to the theoretically based nursing
knowledge received earlier. In the NHS care system, multidisciplinary teamwork is a
key aspect for functioning and I felt coerced into adopting a variety of care
practices which challenged the theoretical understanding of best practice of mine
and lead to tension as it leads to distrust and degradation of morale for me. I
became desensitized to those feeling of loss of morale and distrust by rationalizing
the need for such a practice. I figured that environmental pressure such as a
shortage of time or staffing issues had lead to the adoption of such methods. I
renegotiated my new nursing roles for a reassessment of personal values in order to
enable adoption of similar practices for the reinforcement of the poor care delivery
within the NHS setting. When I entered the nursing practice as a new nurse I was
also mortified by fear of high level of expectations from me, my acceptance in the
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team, or if my behavior towards patients was satisfactory enough (McCalla-Graham,
and De Gagne, 2015, pp.122-128). According to studies, even a qualified nurse is
not expected to know all the things and such fears are totally accepted in the world
in any sector. Like any other job or professions, even new nurses take time to find
out the functioning and routine in the care center. It takes time to know where each
and everything is kept and the protocols followed in the care center for the
protocols for health care delivery id different in each care center. I used to walk
around in circles many times trying to find out things and also took time adjusting
to the routine of the care center.
There are not enough hours in a day to complete all the jobs required in the field as
nursing is a very demanding job (McCalla-Graham, and De Gagne, 2015, pp.122-
128). As a new nurse, I felt the pressure of time management as my biggest
burden. Unlike other jobs, I found that in nursing the priorities changes often and
that too rapidly according to the needs of a patient. We as nurses have to judicially
use our time in order to analyze the problem, to follow up, to plan the treatment
method, and commit to the time. Good management of time helps to exercise
conscious control over the available time and then improve the effectiveness and
productivity of nursing. It is difficult for new nurses to immediately handle
emergency situations perfectly as emergency situations require immediate and
reflective thinking and processing. Experience is required to handle such delicate
situations aptly. Also, new nurses continuously suffer from sleep troubles. For a new
nurse, proper time management is required so that they can efficiently adjust the
time to get sound sleep (McCalla-Graham, and De Gagne, 2015, pp.122-128).
Nurses have to provide round the clock duty and any kind of carelessness can be
harmful to the patient. Lack of sleep has caused many new nurses to endure
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headaches and cause irritability in them. I found myself not capable of performing
any of my personal duties and suffered from irritability due to sleep deprivation as a
new nurse. In order to manage my time efficiently and improve my professional and
personal life, I started arriving early at the workplace. Arriving about 10-20 minutes
early in the workplace provided me with ample time to go through patient's charts
and properly schedule my timetable for the day (Goudarzian, Ranjbar, Hatehlouei,
and Heidari, 2017, p.11). I started to prioritize my work so that I completed the
most important work first. For example, I always change my patient's IV line first
before I change urine bags so that I prevent embolism and blood clots. I always try
to evaluate the time required to perform a task and try to finish the within that
estimated time interval. Also, I make sure I do not uptake unnecessary job in
between. For example, I try to avoid using social networking sites between my work
timings. All through patient-centered care is the goal of health care services but
certain times we have to learn to say no politely to the patient's unnecessary
requests. I try to take proper breaks in between so that my body is relaxed and I get
re-energized to perform my duties. This ensures my work efficiency. I try to keep
my work organized so that no time is wasted on recovering from the mess. I also
keep a journal maintain notes which help to keep track of things and evaluate them
later. Even after duty timings, it is necessary to obtain a good sleep before
attending to other rendezvous.
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Conclusion:
It is understood that new nurses find it difficult to adjust to the settings of the care
center. Time management, adjusting to the new situation and acceptance in the
new team are the concerns of a new nurse. It has been found out that new nurses
take about six months to adapt through the transition and support from seniors
makes this transition easy. It is understood that new nurses are to be mentored to
undergo this transition properly so that they provide with efficient health care. NHS
must undertake proper programs directed at the challenges faced by new nurses as
due to the shortage of nurses in the health care sector the number of new nurses in
the health care sector is continuously rising. Through this assignment, different
methods for the proper time management have been discussed and the necessity
to do so is evaluated. It is required that NHS addresses, acknowledge and accepts
these challenges as soon as possible.
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References:
 Black, B., 2016. Professional Nursing-E-Book: Concepts & Challenges. Elsevier
Health Sciences.
 Goudarzian, A.H., Ranjbar, M., Hatkehlouei, M.B. and Heidari, A., 2017.
Assessment of Time Management in Iranian Critical Care Nurses: Predictive
Factors. leadership, 3(9), p.11.
 Hofler, L. and Thomas, K., 2016. The transition of new graduate nurses to the
workforce challenges and solutions in the changing health care environment.
North Carolina medical journal, 77(2), pp.133-136.
 McCalla-Graham, J.A. and De Gagne, J.C., 2015. The lived experience of new
graduate nurses working in an acute care setting. The Journal of Continuing
Education in Nursing, 46(3), pp.122-128.
 Newman, K. and Maylor, U., 2002. The NHS Plan: nurse satisfaction,
commitment and retention strategies. Health Services Management
Research, 15(2), pp.93-105.
 Wing, T., Regan, S. and Spence Laschinger, H.K., 2015. The influence of
empowerment and incivility on the mental health of new graduate
nurses. Journal of Nursing Management, 23(5), pp.632-643.
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