Nursing Jobs in Georgia – Key Challenges

Since the times when Florence Nightingale first organized an army of nurses to take care of wounded soldiers in the Crimean War in the mid-1800s, the profession has come a long way and has suffered its fair share of challenges. The earliest nurses faced daunting social disparities, while modern states like Georgia face a shortage of those to fill up nursing jobs in Georgia.

In modern times, nursing has become one of the most respected job roles in the community. Though tough, nursing is a professionally and personally rewarding career that impacts thousands of lives.

Challenges in nursing have evolved over time, but the career still fits those who wish to serve others. Currently, nursing is a varied and vast field with multiple opportunities for those motivated to pursue it as a career.

Nurses face unique challenges because of the degree of effort invested by them in their work. They closely cater to the needs of patients and play a major role in their recovery. This has a tremendously positive impact on the lives of countless people they touch, in spite of the numerous challenges they face.

It is important to understand what these challenges are and how to deal with them. This will prevent any chances of burn-out. Following are some of such major challenges:

Long hours

These are constant and consistent challenges to nurses. Typically, nurses have to deal with grueling schedules as nursing is a round-the-clock, 24x7 job. This can mean many 12 -hour shifts in a row, having over time, or being constantly on call. Schedules of nurses are demanding, and more than 40 hours of work in a week is quite common.

This can cause nurses to feel drained out. Exhaustion (physical and mental) and stress can cause secondary challenges in nursing that can lead to costly errors and mistakes. If a nurse is juggling both career and family, there will be new problems. Nurses are not able to pay attention to their families and their self-care after a taxing day at work.

Physicality of work

Besides the long hours at work, nurses are likely to be exhausted by being always on their feet, demanding much physical exertion. The job demands are highly strenuous, like lifting patients (like from bed to wheelchair or bed to bathroom).

Thankfully, in modern times, there are many kinds of equipment that can reduce nurses' burden and physical exertion, like mechanical lifts and slide sheets. But still, nurses face a high degree of work-related injuries. One common issue is back injuries. As per the American Journal of Critical Care, back injuries are quite common in the nursing profession. Other issues include leg pain and shoulder injury.

Workplace hazards

Nurses face the constant threat of contracting a bacterial, viral, and fungal infection from ill patients. They face the risk of contracting infectious diseases. This is especially true of the COVID pandemic era. Nurses face added risks when patients carry infections without manifesting any symptoms.

Nurses are at risk in the annual cold and flu season. They may develop a degree of immunity but cannot be protected from more virulent strains of microbes. To tackle this, nurses must adopt proactive preventive care. In case they do fall ill, they must rest at home till they recover.

Harassment and bullying

Sometimes, nurses may face physical or verbal abuse not only from patients but from bystanders, supervisors, and peers. Veteran nurses often make things difficult for new nursing professionals. Bullying by patients and their families is also common. Nurses must stand up against such bullying and demand respectful behavior from everyone.

Shortage of nurses

The State of Georgia is currently facing an unprecedented shortage of Registered Nurses (RN's). This adds to the work pressure on current nurses. Some of the causes of such shortages are the retirement of old nurses, the ageing of the baby boomer generation, alternative job opportunities for nurses, lack of enough faculty to train new nurses, and the priority of the millennial workforce for work-life balance.

In sum, these are the major challenges faced by those working for nursing jobs in Georgia.