[Sintya Sintya]

Nursing forms the largest body of employees in the health care system. Nursing shortages have been happening around the globe even before the COVID-19 pandemic started. A shortage of nurses jeopardizes the provision of quality health care to clients. The current global nursing shortage challenges the provision of a well-qualified and sustainable health workforce to meet future population health needs. A competent, confident, and regulated health workforce is a critical part of a society’s health and wellbeing. Nursing shortages lead to poor work environment issues and insufficient staffing which can lead to burnout. COVID-19 pandemic affected everyone including frontline nurses who bear physical burdens as well. The coronavirus vaccine has increased some nurses’ sense of safety on the job but has not completely relieved their fear of bringing the virus home to their families or of contracting it themselves.

I like how the article mentioned utilizing senior nursing students who are just a few months away from graduation as one of the options to help with the nursing shortage. I was lucky to be able to finish my practicum and program before the pandemic hits. But for my other classmates and friends who were in their senior rotation of the nursing program, have fewer clinical and practicum hours. I agree that senior nursing students are pretty much equipped in providing all the nursing care hospitals provide. They may not be 100% equipped but they can pretty much handle a good amount of nurses’ roles with the exception, of course to do their role safely and to ask questions or help when needed. Overall I found this topic and the article provided to be very insightful and relatable!

[Sintya Sintya]

Hi Avery,
I actually have been in your boat before where they questioned why I decided to pursue my DNP degree. It’s mostly coming from my coworkers or other healthcare professionals. As someone who’s a pretty new nurse I often understand why they would ask questions as to why I would jump into getting my DNP degree right away instead of getting experience first and other things. I get where they’re concerns are coming from but I do not let that get into me. I am grateful that I am in a program where it allows me to jump into the program while getting my experience at the same time. It allows me to grow as a nurse while preparing me to become a future practitioner. Similarly exhausting questions on the other hand, others would ask me why I decided to become a DNP instead of going to medical school or become a physician assistant instead? Of course I gave them my reasoning as to why I chose to become a DNP. Remind and reinforce them of the merits of the DNP and why it is essential to the future of healthcare. However, I think the reason others ask these questions for me is to discourage me in pursuing a higher degree and what I love instead of trying to encourage me to become something bigger and better in life.When you dream big, some people just see the magnitude and enormousness of your dreams and goals as way too threatening to them. My suggestion for you is to keep your head up and don’t listen to all of the negativity that people give to you. If DNP is what you love, pursue your dream until the end. Become a DNP provider where you can help educate others the importance of DNP role while doing the things you love! Best of luck!

[Sintya Sintya]

We all have been affected by the current COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic affects us as a whole. However, the impact of the pandemic and its consequences are felt differently depending on our status as individuals and as members of society. While some try to adapt to working online, homeschooling their children, and ordering food via Instacart, others have no choice but to be exposed to the virus while keeping society functioning. Our different social identities and the social groups we belong to determine our inclusion within society and, by extension, our vulnerability to epidemics. As a frontline worker and working as a nurse, social distance hit differently, we are needed to be working in the hospital and help patients who are affected by COVID-19. The work environment was hectic and fast-paced. All the work was done with a conscious effort to maintain the integrity of our PPE protocols. The work was heavy physical labor as patients were turned for proning and also from side-to-side to prevent decubiti. This resulted in a very uncomfortable situation inside our scrubs as the heat built up under the PPE. It was also hard to breathe through our N95 masks (if it wasn’t hard to breathe then you had a poorly fitting mask that was not protecting you). There were frequent shortages of PPE and some of what we used was of dubious quality.

To others, social distancing has separated us from other parts of society. This led others to feel very much disconnected from their friends and or loved ones. Humans are made to be out and about and socialize with beings on Earth. These unfortunate events have led many people to be disconnected from society. This has led others to cloud their judgment and may wonder and ask, “How long will my life be on pause?” No one exactly knows when the pandemic will end or if it will ever end. One thing that I do know we all must work together to fight this pandemic.

[Author]

Posts