The nursing profession is very important in the delivery of medical services to the citizens of any given country. As such, helping nurses improve their competencies and their skills in practicing their professions are very important in ensuring their excellence in the nursing profession. Before the state of nursing could be improved in any given territory, it would be important to understand the current situation of the nursing profession and have an informed and accurate understanding of the issues that beset the nursing profession in such a locality.
The nursing profession in Hong Kong is also facing several important issues that have to be dealt with in order to improve the delivery of medical services. These issues should be identified so that the appropriate solutions would be arrived at and the nurses, hospitals, clinics, and the residents of Hong Kong could benefit from the enhancement of their skills and competencies. In this regard, Thomson’s (2006, p. 158) article is very helpful.
He identifies these issues and sought to achieve a better understanding of the nursing profession and the needs of the Hong Kong society so that the nurses could provide excellent services to their clients and the patients needing their services. The author underscored the need of Hong Kong for the services of professional and competent nurses. After all, more than 40% of the healthcare workers of Hong Kong are nurses. Hence, their expertise and services are very crucial in promoting health, coordinating the type of care that should be received by citizens in the communities as well as in clinics and hospitals in the area.
The main argument of the author in the article is that the nursing industry in Hong Kong is facing a myriad of challenges, which could be categorized into three areas. There area challenges and issues in the area of workforce, the education of the nurses, their nursing practice and leadership. The author proceeded to enumerate these problems and tackle them one by one. Thomson (2006, p. 159) assumed that the nursing practice in Hong Kong can be assessed by looking at several criteria, trends, and the situation of the health care services delivery in the territory.
He also implicitly stated in his article that these issues need to be addressed if the nursing practice were to become better significantly. He also drew upon the importance of numbers in the delivery of nursing services. As such, if there is a lack of nurses, there would also be a problem in the delivery of nursing services. At first glance, this connection seems to be common sense. Yet, Thomson also backed up his claim with facts and statistics, thereby underscoring the importance of the issue. Workforce Issues
Shortage of nurses appears to be one of the major problems of Hong Kong nowadays. There is no doubt that there is a shortage of nurses in Hong Kong. After all, the old ones had been encouraged to retire early. Although there are new graduates to fill the shortage, they are still on their way to the top and they are but learning their set of skills and knowledge as they go on with their practice. This trend is alarming as it will surely have a great impact on the delivery of health care and the access of Hong Kong residents to the services of nurses in Hong Kong.
To address this issue, it would be necessary to reinstate some of the nurses that have been laid off or attract new ones from overseas as they are more experienced and knowledgeable in their practice. Another problem, however, is that the regulations of bringing in new nurses in Hong Kong is a little strict at the moment. Nurses coming from other countries need to register with the Hong Kong Council of Nurses. In addition to that, they should be fluent with the Cantonese language.
Such a requirement tends to raise the bar so high that it practically discourages nurses from foreign countries to apply in Hong Kong (Thomson, 2006, p. 160). Some of the workforce issues of the nursing profession in Hong Kong is the empowerment of nurses such that they would be capable in running nurse-led clinics. Wong and Chung (2006, p. 358) explored nurse-led clinics and concluded that such clinics headed by nurses are effective in delivering health services to people needing them badly.
Of particular importance is the lack of nurses that provide health care to aging residents as well as those that have mental health problems. Moreover, because of the overall shortage and working conditions, the morale of the nursing workforce in Hong Kong is low and they seem to be tested with issues of job dissatisfaction, and commitment problems, too (Thomson, 2006, p. 160). Another issue in the workforce, though, that Thomson was not able to identify is the recent surge of the demand for nurses in Western countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom.
Given the current situation of nurses in Hong Kong and the lure of better options abroad, the situation might become worse in the near future if no remedy is readily made. What is needed therefore is a way to ensure the satisfaction of Hong Kong nurses. But before they could do that, those in the nursing profession should undertake a review that would enable them to identify solutions to these issues in the workforce. Educational Issues Another broad area of concern is the level of education of nurses in Hong Kong.
Although the educational system for nurses in Hong Kong is good with universities training upcoming nurses, what Thomson (2006, p. 160) sees as problematic is the lack of workforce analysis that would enable them to identify the kinds of nurses needed by the society. As a result, the needs of the society in the short-term and in the long-term are not identified and addressed. The problem with the education and training program of the nursing profession, however, is the emphasis on theory and not on practice. This is also causing ripples of problem in the practice of nursing profession in Hong Kong.
In fairness to universities, they have started collaborating with the intent of producing research in the nursing profession. Yet, the terms of employment of the nurses employed there are contractual. This uncertainty in employment also causes distress and a feeling of uncertainty, which could be detrimental to the professional development and continuing education of nurses in Hong Kong (Thomson, 2006, p. 160). With these problems and developments, the nursing practice in Hong Kong should be seen as both a vocation and a profession with a stronger focus on the latter.
When nurses perceive that nursing is their vocation, they would be able to feel more strongly about the delivery of health care services. On the other hand, if they perceive it as a profession, they are able to further develop their skills and capabilities and aim for excellence in their nursing practice (Yam, 2004, p. 979). Practice Issues The practice of nursing in Hong Kong, itself has several issues that should be addressed. There are policies that should be reviewed so that the delivery of nursing services becomes more effective and cost-efficient.
Moreover, the whole sector should be looked into so that the nurses are given the attention and the compensation that they deserve without compromising the health of patients and needy persons within Hong Kong. On the part of the residents and citizens of Hong Kong, the distribution of nurses in all areas should be ensured although this goes back to the problem of the shortage of nurses. Apparently, the government and even the leaders in the health care sector should arrive at different means of ensuring that nursing services become accessible even in remote areas and difficult to reach places.
If this happens, then health care would be transformed if not revolutionized. Leadership Issues On top of the issues already presented above, Thomson (2006, p. 161) also looked at the role of leadership in these issues. Like the other areas, there are several issues in leadership that have to be addressed. The perceived leaders of nurses in the Department of Health and of the universities are not uniting in their efforts to improve the practice. Rather, they seem to be working by themselves only.
Hence, the only way for the nursing sector to improve is for the leaders to find a way to unite and collaborate with each other (Thomson, 2006, p. 161). Conclusion Thomson’s article presents an interesting and rather comprehensive view on the issues being faced by the nursing sector in Hong Kong. From the educational issues, and the workforce, down to the practice and leadership issues, he enumerated numerous problem areas for the attention of policymakers and other decision makers in the society and in the nursing profession.
By doing this, he hopes to stimulate discussion and encourage the Hong Kong nurses to transcend their differences and start working in achieving their common goal, which is to deliver health care services to citizens and residents of Hong Kong. The only apparent problem with Thomson’s analysis is that the mainly enumerated problems, issues and challenges without identifying concrete actions that could be taken to solve, if not minimize, these problems and challenges. Yet, he strongly called for the recruitment and continuous empowerment of nurses in Hong Kong. Pointing out concrete ways to deal with the situation would have been ideal.
Nonetheless, his article pointed to nurses and policymakers alike the importance of the nursing profession and the need to upgrade it at the soonest time.
Reference
Thomson, David R, (2006). Nursing in Hong Kong: Issues and Challenges. Nursing Science Quarterly, Vol. 19 No. 2, 158-162. Wong, F. K. Y. & Chung, L. C. Y. (2006). Establishing a definition for a nurse-led clinic: structure, process, and outcome. Journal of Advanced Nursing, Vol 53, No. 3, 358–369. Yam, B. M. C. (2004). From Vocation to Profession: The Quest for Professionalization of Nursing. British Journal of Nursing, Vol. 13, No. 16, 978 – 982.