NURSING REFLECTION: Addressing Challenges in Nursing Practice

This nursing reflection discusses two challenging situations encountered by a newly enrolled Registered Nurse (RN). The first situation involves being assigned as a team leader with limited experience, leading to stress and potential burnout, compounded by understaffing and difficult interactions with colleagues. The reflection explores the feelings of anxiety and the potential for compassion fatigue, proposing solutions such as requesting additional staff and self-care arrangements. The second situation addresses conflicts between nurses and patients' families, highlighting the impact on time management and trust. The reflection emphasizes the importance of empathy and offers strategies for resolving conflicts and preventing documentation errors, including addressing the need for mandated reports. The student relates both situations to personal experiences and poses critical questions for further discussion, referencing relevant scholarly sources to support the analysis.

Running head: NURSING REFLECTION
NURSING REFLECTION
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1NURSING REFLECTION
Situation 1
One of the first challenging situation is as the newly enrolled Registered Nurse (RN)
being made as the team leader. This because the new RN has relatively little experience and
administering such demanding work environments will cause nothing but stress and burnout.
Indeed, it has been evidenced by Rosenkoetter & Bowcutt (2017), that transitioning for new
nurses is almost always accompanied by stress, frustration and emotional upheavals for nurses
due to issues like role ambiguity and uncertainty which are further aggravated by additional
nursing workforce concerns such as bullying and critical patient scenarios. Indeed, the new RN
faces understaffing and rebuking by the (Assistant in Nurse) AIN Mandy.
I would definitely feel tensed and difficulty to perform well. My feelings of anxiety
would further increase after observing Sarah. It has been evidenced that compassion fatigue is
common in the new RN and paves the way for anxiety and clinical errors. To address this issue I
would request additional nursing staff to the nurse practitioner as well Sarah to take a break at
the storeroom. Healthcare organizations are advised to make staffing as well as self-care
arrangements for nurses facing burnout (Best, 2019).
One relatable experience was when I was an AIN in my clinical placement and felt much
tensed when I as placed in the emergency department. My supervisor however empathized with
me, gave me time to talk to her and arranged for a substitute nurse in the meanwhile. However, I
would like to ask:
1. Was it right to make the new RN as the team leader?
2. How can nursing burnout be tackled during issues like understaffing?

2NURSING REFLECTION
Situation 2
The next situation which I view as challenging is the conflict between the nurse and the
patient’s family. This is because conflicts hinder time management, increase risk of errors and
loss of trust. Further, it is common for nurses to encounter complaint since families are already
emotional and tensed for their loved ones. Additionally, organizational issues like understaffing
and lack of documentation are further compound the severity of the complaint – as observed in
the case study (Barber, 2017). I would have chosen to calmly empathize explain the son that the
best interventions were underway. Empathizing with patient families have been evidenced by
Haley et al., (2017), to increase feelings of trust and security. A key experience with which I
would relate to is when as an AIN I was allocated to a patient who was very rude and refused to
communicate. However, after calmly empathizing it turn out that she really wished to talk to her
family and felt lonely – which in turns, shows why empathy is important. I would like to ask:
1. Is a mandated report required for the bruises in the mother’s arm?
2. What can be done to prevent documentation errors?

3NURSING REFLECTION
References
Barber, C. (2016). Conflicts between patients, families and nursing staff. British Journal of
Healthcare Assistants, 10(6), 284-287. doi: https://doi.org/10.12968/bjha.2016.10.6.284.
Best, C. (2019). Building resilience in contemporary nursing practice. Practice Nursing, 30(8),
400-404. doi: https://doi.org/10.12968/pnur.2019.30.8.400.
Haley, B., Heo, S., Wright, P., Barone, C., Rettiganti, M. R., & Anders, M. (2017). Relationships
among active listening, self-awareness, empathy, and patient-centered care in associate
and baccalaureate degree nursing students. NursingPlus Open, 3, 11-16. doi:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.npls.2017.05.001.
Rosenkoetter, M. M., Nardi, D., & Bowcutt, M. (2017). Internationally educated nurses in
transition in the United States: Challenges and mediators. The Journal of Continuing
Education in Nursing, 48(3), 139-144. doi: https://doi.org/10.3928/00220124-20170220-
10.