Challenges Faced by Nurses in India-the Major Workforce of the Healthcare System

Abstract

Nursing binds human society with a bond of care and affection. Nursing is a calling to care, which offers an oasis of poignant stories and pool of challenges. The scope of nursing practice has expanded and extended to different settings other than hospital only. Nurses deal with the most precious thing in this wide world-the human life. 1Nurses are often the linchpin component across a wide continuum of care. A nurse's professional skills and training contribute significantly to successful patient outcomes in a variety of care settings--from acute and tertiary care to prevention and wellness programs.2 Their smiling face and compassionate touch and care provides great satisfaction to the patient.Despite of urbanization and globalization in India, the healthcare system in the country continues to face formidable changes. The healthcare system has become increasingly detached from the curative aspect and more focusing on the satisfaction of material needs and enlarging the profit-earning aspects. This has led to unaffordability of the curative care to many common people due to the present framework of the healthcare system in the country. Subsequently the healthcare system is being plagued with various problems. The solution is to delve deeper into the roots of the problems and explore possible solutions to curb them.Nurses play an integral role in the healthcare industry, providing care to the patients and carrying out leadership roles in hospitals, health systems and other organizations. Although nursing profession can be very rewarding but it is equally challenging and it entails a huge level of dedication and commitment. Nurses needs to be focused on not only the patient needs but also on the management of system of care. This often creates unfortunate hassles irrespective of how hard the nurse's works towards patient care. They are coordinators and custodians of patient care. This entails lot of managerial skills where they need to possess apart from technical skills Reduced workforce and lack of quality care leads to overburdened workforce which further leads to higher morbidity and mortality. It is of paramount importance that all people everywhere should have access to a skilled, motivated and supportive nursing care within a robust healthcare system. The importance of nurses in healthcare should be underlined for attempting to create a better task force for better quality care for all.However, there are certain challenges which the Nurses in the present healthcare system face. These challenges arise due to issues at the organizational, state and national level. It is of utmost importance to first recognize and understand each and every possible challenges faced by the nurses in order to deal with them efficiently. Not just recognize and understand them but also find solutions to mitigate them.In India, the healthcare system is undergoing a radical change and there are unmet health targets. The change is due to the change in demographics, advancement in medical technology, profit earning mentality, immigra...

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