Introduction to Case
Marlena, a newly hired RN on an oncology unit at a small suburban hospital, began offering nutritional counseling after completing a course on nutrition. She soon noticed that many patients lacked basic knowledge about nutrition before discharge. However, providing this counseling took time away from other nursing duties. Marlena questioned whether staffing changes, such as lower nurse-to-patient ratios or hiring a nutrition specialist, could address the issue. After her manager cited budget constraints, Marlena felt discouraged and decided to continue providing nutritional counseling on her own despite the challenges.
Case Analysis
Nursing is the art of caring for patients with the utmost respect and intention. Therefore, the nurse is the primary advocate of the patients and is obligated to protect each client and their family’s interests by ensuring they receive appropriate care. In the case described, nurse Marlene has demonstrated diligence in her work by identifying a critical gap in care provision in the new facility. By failing to convince the hospital management team to address patient education on diet and its health benefits, she should decide how to provide care. Research and knowledge on role transition and quality work environments can significantly influence Marlene’s next steps.
Research on Quality Work Environments
Knowledge of quality work environments could be salient in helping Marlene solve her dilemma. This aspect provides details on issues such as understanding the role of effective communication and collaboration at all workplace service levels. Communication concepts are significant in counseling; Marlena could develop new strategies to incorporate counseling into her services. A partnership with family members and other staff, especially nurses, could be essential in determining the best care-provision styles Marlene could adopt.
Additionally, having a better understanding of safety and assessing the realistic workload of her new workplace could help Marlene make her next decision (Canadian Healthcare Association, 2015). She could use the knowledge to determine whether implementing her plan with other nurses would benefit patients. This could ensure that patients receive the best possible care without increasing the workload on available staff or causing burnout, which, in turn, could impair care provision. Furthermore, possessing skills for working in high-quality environments could make Marlene an effective leader, enabling her to take cautious steps to address the prevailing challenge.
Role Transition
Marlene has been relocated to a new facility and is transitioning to a new role. Knowledge of such a concept could help her choose her next steps. Marlene could consider understanding the new environment before addressing the issues. Being oriented to the facility’s place, culture, and organization is essential for helping her learn the area’s strengths and weaknesses (Schlak et al., 2021).
This could allow her to formulate her strategies by utilizing available resources, such as the nurses, and to collectively decide whether it is possible to integrate diet counseling into care provision. Further, it could enable her to develop others’ skills through preceptorship and mentorship (Udod et al., 2020). The nurses could assess the workload and ability to execute the plan, evaluate the risk of stress and burnout, and learn how to cope with them if they occur.
Conclusion
In conclusion, nurses often face dilemmas as they strive to provide care to patients, as evidenced in Marlene’s case. Therefore, nurses should be informed about matters such as the quality of work environments and role transition. Such aspects will enable them to formulate appropriate interventions to collaborate with the new administration, colleagues, patients, and their families. Role transition will help the nurse understand that it is crucial to be oriented to new workplaces and to assess them to support better decision-making.
References
Canadian Healthcare Association. (2015). Psychological health and safety in Canadian healthcare settings.
Schlak, A. E., Aiken, L. H., Chittams, J., Poghosyan, L., & McHugh, M. (2021). Leveraging the work environment to minimize the negative impact of nurse burnout on patient outcomes. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(2), 610.
Udod, S. A., Duchscher, J. B., Goodridge, D., Rotter, T., McGrath, P., & Hewitt, A. D. (2020). Nurse managers implementing the lean management system: A qualitative study in Western Canada. Journal of Nursing Management, 28(2), 221-228.