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NUR/440
4/15/13
Carol Dallred
Vulnerable Population in the Workplace
Nursing profession is a career with a vast field of different practices with different roles to choose from. This variety makes the nursing field a vulnerable profession for mistakes if not tackled with adequate educational and clinical training. Although there are different specialties for a nurse to choose from to continue their career, it is still necessary for every nurse to have even a little amount of knowledge, or background, of the different scopes of practice of the other specialties of nursing. If this can’t be achieved as an individual, teamwork is necessary by sharing the knowledge you have especially in the workplace. Having that knowledge about vulnerable population is an essential tool to be able to work with patients properly. Sharing that knowledge to your workplace is important in order for them to be able to work competently, especially in the field that I work with where we handle different kinds of patients. In this paper, we will see how the knowledge about the vulnerable population is essential in the workplace, which consists of topics essential to this subject such as the Vulnerable Population: Vulnerable People, Cultural Competence and Resilience, and Social Justice in Nursing.
Vulnerable Population: Vulnerable People
Understanding the definition of being vulnerable is the first step to be able to work competently with this population. According to the American Journal of Managed Care, members of this “vulnerable population” are those who are at risk for certain health problems. (AJMC, 2006) As the term elaborates, vulnerability is the susceptibility of any group or individual for risks of problems. Home health nurses meet lots of vulnerable patients especially those who have chronic diseases, disabled, and the elderly. Understanding what their at risk for are essential in order for nurses to plan