Environmental Hazards for Nurses Paper

Environmental Hazards for Nurses Paper

In this assignment, students will pull together the change proposal project components they have been working on throughout the course to create a proposal inclusive of sections for each content focus area in the course. At the conclusion of this project, the student will be able to apply evidence-based research steps and processes required as the foundation to address a clinically oriented problem or issue in future practice Environmental Hazards for Nurses Paper.

Students will develop a 1,250-1,500-word paper that includes the following information as it applies to the problem, issue, suggestion, initiative, or educational need profiled in the capstone change proposal:

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1. Background
2. Problem statement
3. Purpose of the change proposal
4. PICOT
5. Literature search strategy employed
6. Evaluation of the literature
7. Applicable change or nursing theory utilized
8. Proposed implementation plan with outcome measures
9. Identification of potential barriers to plan implementation, and a discussion of how these could be overcome
10. Appendix section, if tables, graphs, surveys, educational materials, etc. are created

Review the feedback from your instructor on the Topic 3 assignment, PICOT Statement Paper, and Topic 6 assignment, Literature Review. Use the feedback to make appropriate revisions to the portfolio components before submitting.

Project Change Proposal: Addressing Environmental Hazards for Nurses Environmental Hazards for Nurses Paper.

1. Background

Despite being a critical professional within the health care industry, nursing facing some environmental hazards that hinder service delivery. In fact, these hazards hinder their capacity to deliver the best possible nursing care with the result that patients are placed at risk. While physical hazards are common, they are more prevalent in the psychiatric care where patients pose both disease and physical threats (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2017). These physical hazards are a source of concern because they act as stressors that impede the nurses’ capacity to deliver care. For instance, nurses who contract diseases in the workplace or are physically hurt by violent patients are forced to take time off from work to recuperate. This causes a staffing shortage that increases the patient-nurse ratio while straining and overworking the available nurses. Given that the core function for nurses is to deliver the best possible care, then it stands to reason that physical hazard within the nursing environment should be identified and addressed as a strategy for improving nursing outcomes for patients.

2. Problem statement

The health care environment is particularly hazardous for nurses when they perform their professional duties. These facilities expose them to infectious diseases when working in the pediatric department, ambulatory care facilities, and emergency rooms. This is particularly true for Hepatitis B that is transmitted when handling blood thus explaining why it is the most common infectious disease in the US. These ailments can similarly be spread through other body fluids, secretions, materials and wastes to include feces, semen and saliva (Black, 2016). Other than the risk of infection, nurses also face the risk of getting injured by the materials they use. For instance, some drug agents have are irritants that affect the mucous membrane to cause acute reaction. Yet some materials have teratogenic and mutagenic effects on nurses from repeated use (Thompson & Schwartz-Barcott, 2017). Besides that, patients are also a physical threat, particularly psychiatry patients who could physically harm their nurses (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2017). In this respect, the physical hazards present in the medical environment are a threat to nurses and should be addressed since they compromise their capacity to deliver high quality health care ultimately resulting in patients not receiving the best possible nursing care.

3. Purpose of the change proposal

The change proposal is intended to effectively reduce the threat that physical hazards pose to nurses in their professional working environment. It acknowledges that every point of contact between the patients and nurses is a potential threat to the nurse (Cherry & Jacob, 2016). Given that nurses have an inherent duty to provide the best possible care to their patients, then it stands to reason that creating a safe working environment that enables nurses to perform optimally is an ideal situation. That is because a safe working environment would allow nurses to focus on providing care rather than the distractions that the physical hazards pose.

4. PICOT

The PICOT question has been presented that: “In a population of nurses (P), does conducting regular hazard awareness trainings (I) versus not conducting regular hazard awareness training (C) affect nurse exposure to environmental risks (O) measured over a six-month trial period (T)?” Disintegrating this question into the five elements of PICOT shows that the population of interest is all active nursing personnel who provide professional services. The second element is the intervention to be tested through research, presenting as conducting regular hazard awareness training during the course of the study where nurses recruited in the study are informed of some of the common hazards in the workplace and how to mitigate and avoid them. The third element is the control whereby nurses recruited in the study are allowed to operate normally without attending hazard awareness during the duration of the study. The fifth element is the desired outcome that has been identified as reduced nurse exposure to environmental risks where it is expected that nurses subjected to the regular hazard awareness training will present fewer incidence of accidents as opposed to their counterparts not subjected to the training. The final outcome is time whereby positive results are expected to occur within six months of consistent attendance of the hazard awareness trainings Environmental Hazards for Nurses Paper.

5. Literature search strategy employed

The search terms used in the research were physical hazard, nurse safety, psychiatry environment security, and medical workplace threat. This was informed by the research topic and purpose, in which case the research intended to determine how best to ensure the safety of nursing personnel working in the psychiatry environment. To facilitate this search, three databases were accessed to include Google Scholar, CINAHL Plus Full Text, and MEDLINE Plus Full Text. These databases we selected because they contain peer-reviewed publications which are an important source of information. There was a need for the literature search strategy to be refined so as to narrow the topic and avoid generalizations. Given the extensive amount of information that is available on the topic. The refinement added a publication date limiter that focused on material that had been published after 2012.

6. Evaluation of the literature

Although the nursing profession is focused on providing medical care to patients, this does not imply that the nurses themselves are not in need of care. In fact, their need from care stems from the physical hazards they face in the workplace. A distressing aspect of this awareness is that the hazards can be prevented, controlled or even reduced to acceptable levels (Cherry & Jacob, 2016). The reviewed literature sources similarly revealed that although the medical environment is suffused with physical threats to nurses, but they can be minimized through different deliberate strategies. Thompson and Schwartz-Barcott (2017) mention that nurses must first be exposed to the physical threat before it can be considered an issue. Clay et al. (2017) explains this point by determining that nursing students can identify the hazards they face in the workplace. Aluko et al. (2016) similarly notes that nurses have personalized opinions of hazards in the workplace and how they are mitigated. Bonow et al. (2013) mentions that perception of physical hazards and communicating their presents is faced with challenges. Hu, Luk and Smith (2015) go a step further in noting that physical hazards cause burnout among nursing personnel. Kim, Jeong and Kwon (2018) adopts a proactive approach in noting that hazard training could improve nurses’ safety in the workplace. Sato et al. (2018) acknowledges that the medical environment is full of threats to nurses, but these threats can be reduced through hazard training. Tung et al. (2014) notes that although training could improve outcomes, the particular training medium and approach on how much nurses can learn. Based on these literature sources, it can be argued that the medical environment presents physical hazards to patients, although they can be minimized through hazard training.

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7. Applicable change or nursing theory utilized

Based on the evidence from Kim, Jeong and Kwon (2018), Sato et al. (2018) and Tung et al. (2014), it is clear that although nurses face physical hazards in the course of discharging their professional duties, the hazards and threats can be minimized by ensuring that nurses attend hazard training. The training informs nurses of how best to minimize the hazards, and how to react to threats that occur.

8. Proposed implementation plan with outcome measures

The plan will be implemented in three phases. The first phase will be conducted for one month during which time nurses will be asked to report on the physical threats they encounter and how many are able to harm them. The second phase will be conducted for one week, during which time nurses will be subjected to hazard training. The final phase will be conducted for one month during which time the nurses who attended the hazard training will be asked to report on the physical threats they encounter and how many are able to harm them. Comparing outcomes from the first and third phases will determine if the hazard training has an effect on the number of physical threats they face in the workplace, and how many of them end up harming them Environmental Hazards for Nurses Paper.

9. Identification of potential barriers to plan implementation, and a discussion of how these could be overcome

Three barriers are likely to hinder the plan implementation. Firstly, resistance from facility management personnel who must okay the play before it can proceed. The program intentions will be explained to them in a bid to get their support. The second barrier would lack of support from nurses who would feel that the program adds to their workload. This barrier would be addressed by offering the training through an accredited learning institution so that the nurses would receive certification at the end of the training to make them more attractive to employers. The final barrier is getting funding for the program, particularly to facilitate acquisition of the training material. This would be addressed by approached funding organizations and presenting them with proposals to convince them that the program is necessary.

References

Aluko, O. O., Adebyo, A. E., Adebisi, T. F., Ewegbemi, M. K., Abidoye, A. T. & Popoola, B. F. (2016). Knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of occupational hazards and safety practices in Nigerian healthcare workers. BMC Research Notes, 9, 71. Retrieved from https://bmcresnotes.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13104-016-1880-2

Black, B. (2016). Professional Nursing-E-Book: Concepts & Challenges. New York, NY: Elsevier Health Sciences.

Bonow, C. A., Cezar-Vaz, M. R., de Almeida, M. C. V., Rocha, L. P., Borges, A. M., Piexak, D. R. & Vaz, J. C. (2013). Risk perception and risk communication for training women apprentice welders: a challenge for public health nursing. Nursing Research and Practice, Volume 2013, Article 386260, 1-11. Retrieved from https://www.hindawi.com/journals/nrp/2013/386260/

Cherry, B. & Jacob, S. R. (2016). Contemporary nursing: issues, trends, & management. Amsterdam: Elsevier Health Sciences.

Clay, A. S., Chudgar, S. M., Turner, K. M., Vaughnn, J., Knudsen, N. W. … & Mollo, M. A. (2017). How Prepared Are Medical and Nursing Students to Identify Common Hazards in the Intensive Care Unit? Annals of the American Thoracic Society, 14(4). Retrieved from https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10.1513/AnnalsATS.201610-773OC

Hu, S. X., Luk, A. L. & Smith, G. D. (2015). The effects of hazardous working conditions on burnout in Macau nurses. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 2(1), 86-92.

Kim, C. H., Jeong, S. Y. & Kwon, M. S. (2018). Effects of hazard perception training (HPT) on nursing students’ risk sensitivity to patient safety and developing safety control confidence. Applied Nursing Research, 39, 160-166. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0897189717302124

LoBiondo-Wood, G., & Haber, J. (2017). Nursing research-e-book: methods and critical appraisal for evidence-based practice. New York, NY: Elsevier Health Sciences.

Sato, Y., Okamoto, S., Kayaba, K., Nobuhara, H. & Soeda, K. (2018). Effectiveness of role-play in hazard prediction training for nursing students: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 8(2), 1-7.

Thompson, M. R. & Schwartz Barcott, D. (2017). The concept of exposure in environmental health for nursing. Journal of advanced nursing, 73(6), 1315-1330.

Tung, C. Y., Chang, C. C., Ming, J. L. & Chao, K. P. (2014). Occupational Hazards Education for Nursing Staff through Web-Based Learning. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 11(12), 13035-13046 Environmental Hazards for Nurses Paper.