Staffing Levels/Respect Respect/Staffing Levels Respect in Personal

Staffing Levels/Respect

Respect/Staffing Levels

Respect in Personal and Professional Consideration

Respect is defined by one author as "a concept used to connote dignity, reverence, and regard" (Milton, 2005). This concept is not confined by what an individual does toward others, but also how they treat themselves and other treat them (Nursing World, 2010). The ethics involved speak mainly to the first part, how nurses treat patients, but there is also much ethics literature that suggests that people will give respect if they receive it and feel it for themselves. This short paper discusses how nurses view respect in its different forms and how these different forms compare and contrast.

The fact that respect for other stems from respect for self is not just a platitude that is thrown around to ensure that nurses remain mentally healthy; it is a statement with regard to proper ethics within the nursing community. It is understood that how a nurse conducts himself or herself is paramount to patient care, but that stems from the personal ethic they espouse (Nursing World, 2010). Because it is important that a nurse treat all patients with respect, it is necessary that s/he also treat colleagues and self with respect also. When compared, personal and professional considerations are both tied to the overall individual giving of respect.

The contrast is that a nurse, regardless what they feel personally, must always act with respect professionally. There are times when an individual will not feel personal regard or may have some issues with a colleague, but this should not diminish the respect that nurse exhibits professionally toward patients. The primary role of a nurse is to be a patient advocate and this is difficult when respect is lost.

Basically, being a nurse means providing care to patients, working well with colleagues and maintaining personal respect (Nursing World, 2010). Without these elements, it is difficult to provide the care that is required from the job. Respect is not just a byword, it is the most important aspect of a nurses job.

Unsafe Staffing Levels in Nursing

Nurses work under very difficult conditions due to the stress of patient care and the need to maintain a professional attitude while they are working. This is not an issue for the vast majority of nurses, but these attitudes can be compromised when a nurse is also overworked. Unfortunately, this is the case in many hospitals and healthcare organizations today because there are not enough qualified nurses available. The purpose here is to apply the MORAL model (Massage the dilemma, Outline options, Review and Resolve, Affirm position and Act, Look back) to this problem and determine how it can be solved.

Massaging the dilemma leads to the following research. One researcher writes that "Hospital staffing practices are often unsafe because nurses are regularly forced to work long hours, including excessive overtime" (Hanford, 2001). Another set of researchers makes a similar statement when they say that "The varied causes of job stress include…work schedules,…staff shortages, unpredictable workload or workflow, and the perception that the care provided is unsafe" (Paris & Terhaar, 2010). The problem here is that nurses got into the profession to care for patients, and many have become little more than "pill pushers" (Paris & Terhaar, 2010) because they have little time to do anything else.