Margaret Compton will confront a variety of unique hurdles if she decides to return to nursing after a break of 23 years. The first barrier will be a lack of skills essential for her to succeed in today's workforce. The abilities required to be a successful nurse 23 years ago are no longer the same as those required by nurses in today's workforce. The transformation in the health care setting will be the second obstacle she will confront once she enters the employment. Margaret may face difficulties if health care facilities increasingly use technology in their settings. Additionally, she will also face the challenge of working in a diverse nursing workforce especially working with youthful nurses who have just joined the practice. However, these challenges can be solved by enrolling for a refresher nursing program to update skill.
Health care has been transformed in several ways in the past two decades that Margaret was not practising. Health care now uses a multidisciplinary approach to provide services to patients. Further, health care services are now more patient centred unlike in the past. The other aspect that has changed about healthcare is that the privacy of patient information has been transformed by the use of technology. Although these transformations have come with other challenges, there has been an overall improvement in health care as compared to the past.
I contemplate that what has not changed about nursing is the provision of high levels of care to the patients. A nurse from 23 years ago will still provide the same level of care that a current nurse would as their training equips them with patient centred skills. The other aspects I believe has not changed about nursing are the ethical standards. While the nursing environment has changed due to aspects such as technology, nurses are expected to uphold the highest level of ethical standards.
