Within every career, there will be positive and negative impacts on the staff. Over the past 3 years, there has been an increase of negative impacts on nurses.
Negative Impacts
- Inadequate Staffing: Across the country, there has been a shortage of nurses since the Covid-19 pandemic. With such shortages, nurses have been overworked and are given heavy workloads on site.
- Stress: Nursing provides physical stress on the body from being on your feet all day and moving/lifting patients.
- Workplace Violence: Nurses are not protected all day on site. If there is a safety hazard, such as a violent individual, nurses are not directly protected. If a patient is agitated, a nurse may be at risk for assault.
- Lack of Self-Care: Due to spending the entire shift taking care of others, nurses lose the time and urge to take care of themselves. Many nurses go a whole shift without food, and not enough water. With long, odd hours, most nurses do not get enough sleep either.
Positive Impacts
- Serving Community: Leaving every shift knowing that you impacted somebody’s life and possibly saving their life is a very rewarding feeling that leaves nurses feeling very good and motivated to keep going.
- Prideful in Work: Nurses help save lives every day, with the reassurance that you are providing the best care possible, and helping others every day, nurses feel very proud and confident in their work.
- Recognition: Along with everyone in the medical field, nurses receive a lot of recognition in the community from various individuals including employers, co-workers, patients, and patients families.
- Patient/Family Connections: Nurses have the honor to deeply connect with their patients and the patients family. These relationships can be life-changing for all parties involved. Some patients and families stay in contact with their nurses for the rest of their lives.
