Essay Sample on Nursing Power

Introduction

In the ever-growing healthcare industry, the empowerment of nurses is pivotal in enhancing the coherence and effectiveness of the industry. Nurses play a crucial role, and without them, the industry is incomplete. There is a greater need to shape the delivery of health care and develop a powerful practice that will enhance service delivery within the nursing sector. There are various compelling reasons for empowering nurses. Powerless nurses are dissatisfied and ineffective in their duties (Cicolini, Dania, and Valentina, 2014). Ideally, a considerable number of nurses exist within the healthcare industry, and this is due to the increasing demand for nurses. Despite their numbers in the industry, nurses are still identified as not the most powerful in the industry, and this is attributable to various reasons as discussed further in this paper. This involves looking at the leadership roles in the healthcare sectors and the position of nurses together with what contributes to this.

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There are various barriers to the participation of nurses in the development of health policies, and among them is having the adequate knowledge and skill to take part in the policy formulation hence rendering them powerless. Most nurses tend not to have the interest and knowledge about how various policies impact them and their carrier. This ignorance level has led to the nurses being dropped into the policy implementation stage and not the formulation part, whereby they could clearly articulate their grievances (Hood, Leroy, and Charles, 2013). Additionally, empowerment and leadership of the nurses should originate among themselves within the nurses' leaders and groups championing and educating their fellow members and groups on the need to rise and be actively involved in the policy formulation on matters affecting them.

Historically, there has been a poor public image when it comes to the nursing profession. This refers to how the public perceives the profession as compared to others within the industry, such as medicine. These perceptions have gone to the extent of influencing the actions taken by nurses in regards to the pertinent issues affecting them. The public views the nursing course as being inferior to other courses such as medicine by looking at the time and resources required to become a certified nurse (Rezaei-Adaryani, Mahvash, and Mohammadi, 2012). Ideally, nursing education takes a shorter period of time, and this is mainly two to four years as compared to medicine courses that go up to six years and above. These perceptions make it difficult for the nurses to be leaders within the industry as they are looked down upon despite their massive numbers and importance. The public knowledge is also attributable to the inability of nurses to perform complex procedures as they lack the technical knowhow to do so as compared to the doctors. This makes the public view them as not being important (Wilkinson, Geoff, and Margaret, 2016).

Nurses lack adequate education and knowledge required for policy formulations. Nursing education does not provide such a robust experience when it comes to the various aspects of formulating policies that affect the industry. Basically, nurses need to be educated more on the policy development process and the different healthcare systems to be able to participate and take influential positions in policy development. More significant support should be made by various professional organizations towards equipping nurses with advanced skills and leadership abilities. The involvement of nurses with adequate knowledge in policy formulation is of great benefit to the nurse, the profession, and the patients being attended to (Hsaio, GhiYin, et al., 2010). Additionally, the nursing profession lacks influential leaders to rally the nurses as one unit and advocate for their right to be heard since they interact with the patients most times. The various nursing groups or council face interruption from the political arena who view them as a threat since they make a large number of workers as well, and when they unite, and down their tools, it could be disastrous to a nation. For these reasons, the available nursing leaders are sometimes bribed, and they change their tone, making it difficult for nurses to stand and fight as one for them to be heard.

The entry-level for a nursing course in most Africa nations are generally lower compared to those who want to be doctors. Usually, most nurses are educated at the diploma level as an entry point into the nursing profession, and the focus is mainly on the clinical skills and the theories which are related to patient care and their management. This means that the nurses are limited in their scope, and they can express their power regardless of their numbers when it comes to policy formulation (Shulruf, Boaz, et al., 2011). Additionally, in most countries, the organizational structure tends to be bureaucratic, and nurses are positioned lower. In these organizations, the decision making is vested with the managers at the top level, and despite nurses having their representative, they are only meant to adopt the different ethos of the senior management. From this, it is clear that workplace conditions tend to discourage the participation of nurses in policymaking.

There is a great advancement in regards to medical technology and the curative dominance within the healthcare industry. These development have changed the nurses' focus from the promotive and preventive care to individual care, and this led to the massive withdrawal of nurses from political and social activism (Brooks, Rochelle, and Courtney, 2010). Additionally, the nurses' withdrawal from such activities due to the continually lessening reputation when it comes to being the social change agents. Consequently, the result is the loss of power for nurses to participate in pertinent policymaking decisions (Barnard, 2006). Technological change and inventions mean that the nurse does not decide on the key aspects affecting the patients since they do not have the adequate understanding when it comes to equipment that can be put in place to facilitate the whole process of patient care.

Conclusion

Nursing has proven to be crucial and pivotal when it comes to the enhancement of the patients' service delivery and care, and without it, the healthcare system is considered doomed. The power within the healthcare industry should be shared to enhance equality and lead to better decisions and policies that will benefit the public. In the healthcare industry, nurses make the highest number meaning that they should be more powerful and empowered to influence the various critical policies, and they be in both the formulation and implementation phase of policies. Multiple reasons, as discussed herein, illustrate why nurses, despite their numbers, are not the most potent force in the industry. Among the reasons discussed are their knowledge and educational level, technological changes, unity to act as one, the public perception, among others. Patient safety and health are pivotal, and better care should be enhanced at all times, and this entails empowering the nurses to take part in critical policy-making processes.

Works Cited

Barnard, Alan. "Technology, skill development, and empowerment in nursing." Contexts of Nursing: An Introduction (2006): 199-212.

Brooks, Rochelle, and Courtney Grotz. "Implementation of electronic medical records: How healthcare providers are managing the challenges of going digital." Journal of Business & Economics Research (JBER) 8.6 (2010).

Cicolini, Giancarlo, Dania Comparcini, and Valentina Simonetti. "Workplace empowerment and nurses' job satisfaction: a systematic literature review." Journal of Nursing Management 22.7 (2014): 855-871.

Hood, Leroy, and Charles Auffray. "Participatory medicine: a driving force for revolutionizing healthcare." (2013): 110.

Hsaio, GhiYin, et al. "Nurses' knowledge of highalert medications: instrument development and validation." Journal of advanced nursing 66.1 (2010): 177-190.

Rezaei-Adaryani, Morteza, Mahvash Salsali, and Eesa Mohammadi. "Nursing image: An evolutionary concept analysis." Contemporary nurse 43.1 (2012): 81-89.

Shulruf, Boaz et al. "Rethinking the admission criteria to nursing school." Nurse Education Today 31.8 (2011): 727-732.

Wilkinson, Geoff, and Margaret Miers, eds. Power and nursing practice. Macmillan International Higher Education, 2016.