Case Pictorial Analysis
Introduction
Health care is a community concern where it needs the contribution of many individuals. Among these many individuals that contribute to the provision of health care are the nurses. From all corners of the globe, we see individuals taking up studies in nursing. We do not know for sure if they are in it for the money or because they love the profession of taking care of someone else. What we do know is that these individuals in the field of nursing make it to one of the top occupations in health care in terms of job growth. Hopefully, they would soon be taking good care of those who need health care services.
The nursing profession faces incredible challenges in caring for patients and their families after a trend of the continued decline in nursing school enrollment, the nursing shortage, and increasing staff nurse dissatisfaction with the current workplace environment ( 2003). Many factors contribute to nurse dissatisfaction and subsequent turnover and burn out. The problem of the nursing shortage is not necessarily the decline in individuals enrolling in nursing but rather nurses who aren’t really fit for the profession.
This paper though is not focused solely on the challenges faced by the nursing profession. In the next pages, this paper will examine and analyze two photographs which are related to the nursing profession. This could include the many other challenges that are being faced in the nursing profession. Different people have different perspectives about nurses and nursing care. A nurse could be different from one person to another. We all have different understanding of the nursing profession.
Context
There are two photographs that are provided for the analysis in this paper. There is first and foremost a need to describe the photographs in detail. Second, nursing issues will be presented based on the images. There will then be a discussion on these issues raised from the two photographs.
The first photograph is actually an advertisement in nursing featuring male nurses. The photograph is in black and white. It has nine male nurses in the photograph who are nurses. Written below each person are their names, their former occupations or other professions. These nine men are of different ages and different ethnicities. Looking at them, you would never guess they are nurses. Judging by their faces, these men could be at any other profession other than in nursing. Some of the men are wearing nursing outfits while the others were wearing ordinary clothes and the others still in clothes suited for their sports or hobbies.
On the photograph, the words are written in big bold letters: Are you man enough to be a Nurse? At the bottom of the photograph are written the words: If you want a career that demands intelligence, courage, and skill, and offers unlimited opportunity, consider nursing. Below it are the words: For information about careers in nursing, and educational and financial resources in Oregon, go to Beside these two lines is the logo for Oregon center for nursing.
The second photograph is a colored one yet it isn’t as clear as the first picture. In this photograph, there are only three persons. On the front is a white man who, judging by his clothes, is a medical doctor. Behind him, on each side are two women. One woman is dark skinned while the other woman‘s ethnicity cannot be judged since she further back and the picture starts to blur. This picture seems to be taken within the hospital itself where they work. There are no written words on the photograph.
This second photograph looks like more of a picture for a primetime television show featuring doctors and nurses within the hospital setting. In the picture, these three people are posing like models with arms folded and feet apart and staring straight into the camera with serious determined faces, or at least that’s what it looks like by the doctor’s face. They were wearing hospital suits.
Identification and Discussion of Issues
From the first photograph, there are three issues I can think of. First is the increasing number of male nurses. The second issue is the one of male nurses as the minority in the nursing profession. The last one is the issue of professionals from other fields changing to nursing profession.
Social, political, and economic systems continue to perpetuate the image of nursing as a female-dominated profession. It is mostly females we see in pictures as nurses, dressed in white uniforms with white shoes, white stockings and a white nurse cap. Seldom do we see men as nurses. But although social, political and economic systems perpetuate nursing as a female-dominated profession, it doesn’t cover the truth that there are many working male nurses out there.
Since the majority of the nursing field is predominantly women, the presence of a male nurse is a bit unusual. Although this phenomenon is changing as men begin to enter the work force of nursing, they still continue to be the minority on most nursing staffs (1996). Nursing is now seen as a profession for men as well as women and this has been helped by popular TV programs which show male nurses. These TV programs make the viewing population aware that health care is more diverse than it used to be.
There is a problem though with male nurses and this has been seen in a study. Although increased numbers of men are joining the ranks of professional nursing, disproportionate numbers of male nurses are leaving nursing, compared to female nurses. New male nurses are changing professions within 4 years of graduation at almost twice the rate of female nurse graduates. Job dissatisfaction, lack of respect from the medical community, and problems working in a female-dominated profession are speculative reasons for male nurses leaving the profession (2006).
The experience of male nurses as a minority group seems to be that of encountering a lack of social approval, acceptance, and adequate role models beginning in nursing school. Perceptions of threats to sexuality, role strain, social isolation, and different performance expectations reported by male nursing students indicate that little has changed within nursing programs to enhance feelings of belonging to the nursing profession (2006).
A man’s career transition from say a US army as can be seen in the photograph to being a nurse is hard to describe. Male nurses are a minority. Men are discouraged from showing their emotions, while a nurse’s willingness to share emotions is part of the profession. This man worked hard to make patients comfortable, always making extra effort to demonstrate his caring attitude. A nurse’s excellence should be judged by the quality of care for their patients, not by their gender (1996).
Although we see too many jumping to the nursing bandwagon, we could not really tell if they are in it because they love to care for the sick or they are in it for the money. This is not a gender-related issue but rather one which depends on the caring attitude of a person. A man could have been a Harley rider and still be nurse, what matters is that he’s got what it takes to be a good nurse.
In the second photograph, there are two issues that can be identified. First is that nurses work with other health care professionals in the provision of health care services and herein lies the need for team work. The second is that nurses work frontline in the provision of health care services along with other health care professionals.
As depicted in the photograph, nurses work with doctors. Partnership between doctors and nurses is seen to be an essential prerequisite to the success of providing the best quality of care to the patient, and the key to successful partnership within health visiting practice is mutual respect and open communication between parties. There should be no feelings of jealousy, instead, health care professionals should collaborate and cooperate with each other.
In any place of employment, there should be proper collaboration of health workers. Through this, the shifts in a hospital environment could run smoothly and the patients will be cared well. It is thus recommended that there is cooperation within health care professionals and should work as teams in order for hospital shifts to run smoothly and for both doctors and nurses to be able to provide high levels of quality of care for the patients. Nurses and other health care workers must work together and find ways to improve patient health and satisfaction.
As the old saying goes, “two heads is better than one.” How much more a team? Each member of a team can contribute ideas for the care of the client. This could definitely give the team options and chose what is best for the client and his situation. Having a team to take care of a patient can significantly increase the quality of care offered to the patients. Aside from that, team work can enhance relationships between nurses and also provide many options for the care of the patient.
But there seems to be a problem here. Physicians are closely linked to nurses, but have traditionally been perceived to be less favorable to teaming up with nurses or with any other profession. Physicians’ traditional behaviors of reluctance to associate themselves with others need to be understood and monitored, given the very important role they play in patient care. Without such an understanding, no maximum impact could be achieved through restructuring (1996)
The critical assessment of physicians lack of collaboration with other health care providers has often depicted nurses in a subservient role, leading the leaders of the nursing profession to seek clarification of their relationship to physicians and to attempt to achieve greater professional recognition. This is one issue that needs to be dealt with in the health care scenario.
Teamwork and involvement have always been important components of the nurse’s job. The concept of the health care team, with significant input and participation by nursing staff, is not new. Further, nurses value teamwork and involvement as parts of their job. Yet, continuous quality initiatives and changes brought about by a renewed focus on performance and process improvement have made an impact on the way nurses conduct their everyday work through teams (1998).
Nurses, along with doctors work in the front line of providing health care. When patients go to the hospital and seek for help, it is usually the nurses that they encounter first. And all throughout their stay in the hospital, no doubt they are assisted by the nurses.
Comparison and Differentiation
The two photographs have many differences. For one, the first photograph is a black and white photograph which is more like an advertisement of a nursing center. The second photograph on the other hand is a colored one and looks more like a television promotion picture.
The first photograph shows nine men who are promoting the profession of nursing. They show themselves as from other professions or with different hobbies coming together as nurses. The second photograph emphasizes team work within health care settings especially one between nurses and doctors.
In the provision of health care services, it is inevitable that there should be collaboration among health care professionals. By working in partnership with doctors and even clients, nurses can best represent their needs and redistribute power for the good of all concerned. A critical appreciation of the sources of influence in health care is important. Yet, more importantly, unless nurses can learn to represent themselves, their interests and those of their clients more effectively, they will continue to be a large body of professionals with a relatively small voice within the wider political, social and health care arenas (1999).
Conclusion
The two photographs presented realities in the nursing profession. These are the increasing number of male nurses and the need for other health care professionals with the nurses in the provision of health care services. The nursing profession is not only for females. Although stereotyping made it seem like a female-dominated profession, there are actually many male nurses in the world today. There should not be any gender-biasness as being a good nurse is not determined by gender but rather by how well the nurse performs his or her duties. There are many individuals who are shifting to the nursing profession. This is not bad as long as they really have their hearts in it and are really willing to serve the sick and the needy. In the provision of health care services, it is inevitable that there should be collaboration among health care professionals.
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