Assume That You are a School Nurse
Let us assume that you are a school nurse in a high school. At a recent school athletic event, a spectator suffered a cardiac arrest in the stands. A coach of the home team went into the high school to fetch the automatic emergency defibrillator (AED) only to find out that it was not readily available. In the meantime, an emergency squad arrived and resuscitated the spectator. On Monday morning, you learn of the absence of the AED only to find out that it had been locked in the custodian’s closet. Reflect on the following questions outlined in the ‘Political Analysis and Strategies’ chapter
What is the issue?
Is it my issue, and can I solve it?
Is this the real issue or merely a symptom of a larger one?
Does it need an immediate solution, or can it wait?
Is it likely to go away by itself?
Can I risk ignoring it?
What are the possible solutions? Are there risks to these solutions?
What steps would you need to take in order to solve the issue?
Does anyone else at the school need to be involved in the solution?
Where is the power leverage in the school to reach the preferred solution?
Reaching a solution requires the use of power vested in the nurse. Review Box 9-1 (Sources of Power) and determine which type(s) of power the school nurse has in this situation. State your reasons for your answer.
Sample Paper
The Issue
In the above scenario, the nurse has a role to play to ensure care delivery to the individual. It is expected that the nurse was able to understand the cause of the problem and thus execute services to cater to the individual. The case depicts a scenario where the nurse fails to carry out duties per the expectation and therefore failure to execute services diligently. From the political and judicious point, the nurse was supposed to use the available resources to prevent damages and emergency cases such as resuscitation (Maughan et al., 2019). In this case, I believe that the nurse should have checked on all areas to ensure better service delivery in case of an emergency and thus the possibility of implementing evidence-based solutions in the area of work in such situations.
Is it my Issue?
Yes, it is entirely my issue to ensure that all required equipment are available before engaging in any activities that might result in an emergency. Analyzing this case, I was fully responsible for every situation in the field. However, in that situation, I also had other supporting professionals such as the emergency squad, and thus the mission of saving the player was accomplished. However, the issue can be solved going forward by ensuring that all the equipment required is put into place to ensure that all factors have been tackled in case of an emergency and the client will be taken care of immediately.
Was the scenario a real issue of a symptom of a larger one?
The situation was a real scenario; any issue associated with a cardiac arrest can become fatal within very short notice. For instance, let’s assume that the emergency squad did not have the required items to resuscitate the individual; the result would have been fatal (Sir et al., 2015). Therefore, it is evident that the issue was of major concern, and in the long run, it needs further check-up to offer better interventions in the future. The electrical malfunction of the heart causes arrhythmia, which disrupts the flow of blood in other body parts. Thus the arrest could have adversely affected the individual as very few people are said to service a cardiac arrest. The scenario depicts a real issue resulting in a fatality within the school environment.
Is an immediate solution needed for the scenario?
Yes, an immediate solution is needed to address these concerns in the school setup. A school nurse needs to be equipped at all times as they can receive an emergency at any time. Lack of preparedness can result in medical errors and thus affect the overall health and safety of the children. It is politically described that a healthcare professional needs to have all the equipment ready for action as emergencies occur on any day. Therefore, to avoid legal battles and unwanted healthcare outcomes, the issue needs to be addressed immediately to prevent negative future occurrences.
Is the issue likely to go away by itself?
In this case, the answer is no. The issue has to be handled, and all factors looked into to prevent such occurrence in the future. For instance, assuming the medical emergency team did not arrive in time to save the spectator and that time the AED had been locked, the scenario could have turned out bad for the individual (Vafaei et al., 2018). Therefore, the lack of competent preparedness cannot go away on its own, and thus the involved personnel needs to come on board and deliberate on the issues at hand and draft a way out. To prevent future re-occurrence, these factors have to be addressed to maintain a balance in the workplace and ensure better service delivery to the clients.
Risk of ignoring it
The risk of ignoring such issues is bound to have huge repercussions in the future. For instance, the role of nurses has been explained through various aspects of political analysis and strategies. These strategies state that a nurse is responsible for giving out services to the patients, but they need to be prepared for emergencies. For instance, the scenario at hand perfectly depicts an emergency that requires immediate attention (Vafaei et al., 2018). Therefore, in this case, ignoring preparedness for such future occurrences, the legal liabilities are bound to fall in the school nurse and risk the job while serving a sentence for going against the stipulated laws under the nursing profession.
Possible solutions
In this case, the solution is to have a definite emergency preparedness. For instance, the school nurses need to ensure that Public emergency preparedness has been enhanced to provide better service delivery to the children in the workplace. PHEP is the capacity to ensure that public health and health care systems have been taken care of to facilitate better service delivery and better care in the rise of an emergency (Sir et al., 2015). In this case, the school nurse needs to ensure that all tools have been available and authenticated to ensure that they are in good condition to tackle any emergency. For instance, the school nurse needs to ensure the AED has been refilled and placed inaccessible areas to provide faster care, thus helping avoid negative outcomes to the patient. The solutions have zero risk attached to them as they are all geared towards ensuring the preparedness to tackle any sort of emergencies as they await other necessary medical interventions.
Steps to solve the issue at hand
The best solution in such cases is to ensure that other professionals within the vicinity can help out in case of an emergency of the sort. For instance, let’s assume that another medical emergency was required on the other side within the course of resuscitating the spectator. With the above example, it is evident that the ratio of nurses to patients needs to be enhanced per the law of clinical professionalism. Again, testing and authenticating the emergency apparatus prior to an engagement that might require them is essential to arrest such cases in the future.
School involvement in the issue
In this case, the school has to be involved to ensure that the required materials and resources are required. Additionally, the nurse needs to be on good terms with the school to provide better resources and human labor to support the school nurse in the case of an emergency. On the other hand, the school needs to ensure that the students understand the necessary steps to take in case of an emergency to reduce the chances of more harm to the affected individual.
Power leverage of the nurse
The nurse has a legitimate power or position that is derived from a belief that they have the power to make decisions and others to follow. The power comes from an organization position that empowers the chief nurse to offer guidance and initiatives that help them execute their duty as expected (Reverby, 2019). Therefore, in this case, the school nurse is responsible for ensuring that the school meets the needs required to facilitate smooth facilitation of services and attending to emergencies.
References
Maughan, A. E., Ganose, A. M., Scanlon, D. O., & Neilson, J. R. (2019). Perspectives and design principles of vacancy-ordered double perovskite halide semiconductors. Chemistry of Materials, 31(4), 1184-1195.
Reverby, S. M. (2019). 6. A Legitimate Relationship: Nursing, Hospitals, and Science in the Twentieth Century. In The American General Hospital (pp. 135-156). Cornell University Press.
Sir, M. Y., Dundar, B., Steege, L. M. B., & Pasupathy, K. S. (2015). Nurse–patient assignment models considering patient acuity metrics and nurses’ perceived workload. Journal of biomedical informatics, 55, 237-248.
Vafaei, S. M., Manzari, Z. S., Heydari, A., Froutan, R., & Farahani, L. A. (2018). Nurses’ perception of nursing services documentation barriers: A qualitative approach. Electronic Journal of General Medicine, 15(3).
