Paediatric Nursing Case Study

The aim of this assignment is to pick one occupation and investigate the associated risks and appropriate control measures of vocational specific work issues. The occupation I have chosen for this assignment is paediatric nursing. ‘Paediatric Nurses care for children in all aspects of health care. Paediatric nurses practice in a variety of settings which include hospitals, clinics, schools, and in the home.’ (Mona, 2005). For this assignment, the topics discussed will be on noise and sound, stress, diet, exercise and lifestyle, dangerous chemicals, fumes and dust, manual handling and occupational related illnesses in regards to paediatric nursing. Throughout this assignment, under each topic I will examine causes, symptoms and the effects

(Fact sheet: heart and disease). Stress is difficult to measure, but we all know what it feels like and how we cope in stressful situations. (Fact sheet: heart and disease, 2005). Stress is a naturally occurring phenomenon in the life of a nurse. As a nurse, we work with people that are hurt or in pain which results in stress for the patient and also may lead to stress for the nurse. ‘Stress is like a storm- anything from a quick cloudburst to a hurricane’. (Wisniewski, 2013)
Causes of stress would be identified as overload of work, overcrowding at work, inadequate physical space, high level of noise in the work unit, double shifts, no breaks, lack of support from other workers, government restricting the amount of staff on duty at one time, patients and complaints from patients and family members, staff members, malfunctioning of equipment will lead to not getting the job done in time, financial situation, outside stress been taken into work. Bullying within work will also cause

Eliminating risks which is one of the five principles for eliminating work related hazards needs to be applied by reducing the amount of noise intake. Appropriate control measures such as getting rid of any trolleys that are squeaking or broking will reduce noise in the ward which is one concept that will eliminate the risk of hearing loss. By identifying the noise problem and assessing the level and fixing it, will allow the risk of noise to be reduced and lower the level of stress for a nurse. Hearing checks will also allow nurses to identify if any early hear lose is occurring and also by new modifications of machines in a unit, they could reduce the level of noise or eliminate unnecessary noise needed on