Nurses have demanding, stressful jobs. They often work long shifts and may have to occasionally be present on holidays. Sometimes, their choices can have an immediate impact on someone’s health or quality of life. They have to be effective communicators and capable of making a decision quickly in an emergency.
Unfortunately, many nurses will have a difficult time performing their job because of constant distractions. Distractions can affect everything from medicine administration to how nurses evaluate the symptoms presented by a patient. Even if you are a responsible nurse who doesn’t use their personal mobile devices at work, you could still commit distraction-related mistakes because of patients and their family members.
People can be demanding when interacting with nurses
The people in a hospital, including the patients and their closest loved ones, tend to forget that nurses have multiple other patients that require their attention and support. They expect immediate responses and for a nurse to have accurate and up-to-date information about each patient on demand.
It can be a very distracting experience to start distributing morning medications to everyone, only to have the daughter of one patient come up to you and start asking questions. Patients complaining about their day or asking about their treatment and can also distract medical professionals trying to multitask at work.
Despite the known negative impact of distraction on the performance of nurses, you might still face professional consequences if you make a distraction-related mistake while providing patient care.
The science can help you defend yourself
Claims of improper or inadequate medical support could cost you your license. Whether your employer brings allegations against you to distract from their culpability for a recent mistake or an unhappy patient files a direct complaint with the licensing board, your professional future could be at risk following claims that you allowed distraction to compromise the medical care that you provide your patients.
Having someone advocate for you during your hearing in front of the licensing board could improve your chances of retaining your license. Research into the effects of distraction and testimony about the moments leading up to the alleged mistake could potentially help you prove that even reasonably prudent nursing professionals could have made the same mistake.
Looking into different solutions when you need to defend your nursing license will improve your chance of success.
