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Introduction
According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, roughly between 700,000 and 1 million people fall in hospitals every year in the USA. The complications of falling can be from ending up with bruising to ending up with serious injuries such as broken bones and even bleeding internally, The majority of the people that fall in hospitals are the patients and not the nurses. However, nurses must always be aware that they are at risk of falling, which is why they must wear high-quality nursing shoes.
The reasons to wear good nursing shoes are straight-forward. However, nurses can easily forget how important it is for them to wear slip-resistant shoes, so they do not injure themselves. They care for the patients to the point that they can forget about their self-care. Nurses must know what qualities of nursing shoes to purchase.
What Are The Important Qualities Of Nursing Shoes?
Nursing shoes are slip-resistant. Hospital floors are often slippery. Additionally, those floors need to be hard because of the need for disinfecting. Because hospital floors are very hard, the risk of injury when falling is very high. Especially since they are cleaned and disinfected quite often. That is the main reason why nurses must wear shoes that will prevent them from slipping on wet and hard surfaces. They are safe.
Slip-resistant shoes are known to be safe as the soles of them grip well on hard and slippery surfaces, whereas other shoes will not. Nurses that wear the shoes that they are confident will keep them safe gives them the peace of mind that they will not injure themselves from falling onto the hard surfaces. In addition to the fact that nursing shoes are safe, they help nurses increase their productivity.
The fact that these shoes grip well on the floor means that those who are wearing can walk faster without worrying about slipping. When people are wearing shoes that can easily slip, they end up walking very slow because of not feeling secure. They must be mindful of where they are stepping. Walking too fast in shoes that don’t grip well to the floor can increase your chances of encountering an area that is not safe. An example would be a top of a step, which means you’ll likely fall from it.
However, nurses can walk fast while wearing non-slip shoes in hospitals so they can work during their shifts productively without having to worry about slipping. Nurses need to be safe as well as productive when they are doing their hospital shift-work. Walking too slowly as the result of not wearing shoes that are safe for wearing on hard and slippery surfaces will prevent the nurses from getting their jobs done.
In addition to that, one of the reasons to wear good nursing shoes is that they are very comfortable. The thick rubber sole does not only protect nurses from falls, but it cushions their feet as they often have to work for 12 hours at a time during their shifts. The lack of cushion can cause them to develop foot pain, which will hurt their productivity levels. Therefore, they will be kept safe, productive, and comfortable. Nursing shoes are also durable because they have high-quality rubber soles.
These shoes are not very cheap, which is why nurses will want to get the non-slip shoes that will last them for a long time. However, slipping and falling is not the only danger they will face if they don’t wear good nursing shoes.
What Are The Dangers For Nurses By Not Wearing The Proper Shoes For Their Line Of Work?
You know that nurses that don’t wear nursing shoes are increasing their chances of falling on the hard, slippery, hospital floors. However, that is just one risk they take if they don’t wear slip-resistant shoes. Wearing shoes that have higher heels or absent or inappropriate fastenings can put their health in jeopardy.
If their feet are constricted or are not placed within the shoe properly, they can end up with paraesthesia, which is that feeling of having pins or needles in the feet. Temporary numbness is another effect that they may experience. Short-term problems may not seem problematic until they turn into long-term health problems.
One of the short-term conditions that nurses can develop if they don’t wear improper shoes is corns on their feet. Corns are large pieces of skin that are dead and hard that grow over a joint or another bony prominence. Nurses are on their feet as they often work 12 hours shifts. The chances of corns developing increase for that reason alone. Corns are extremely painful.
Toenail problems can also result from nurses wearing shoes that don’t fit correctly. They can range from ingrown toenails to nail fungi. Ingrown toenails are the result of the sides of the toenails that poke through the skin that is surrounding them. Those are quite painful in addition to toenail fungal infections.
Toenail fungal infections become not just unsightly but cause the nail to be weak and brittle. They are self-esteem crushers as nurses that have them will be self-conscious. The condition is also dangerous as the infection can spread, and that can be dangerous to the patients that they are treating. An example of a common fungi infection is Athlete’s foot, and avoiding this complication is one of the reasons to wear good nursing shoes. Avoiding long-term problems is an even more significant motivator to do so.
Common long-term problems that nurses can face if they don’t wear the proper nursing shoes are the development of flat feet or collapsed arches. This condition is quite painful. They can also develop other conditions such as bunions, Plantar Fasciitis as well as back and joint pain. Nurses that develop these complications will not be able to carry out their duties, which can also hurt their self-esteem and image.
Conclusion
The complications that nurses can end up with are the reasons to wear good nursing shoes. Slip-resistant shoes not only protect them from falling on the hard and slippery hospital floors. They protect nurses from developing short-term and long-term complications to their feet, their backs, and their joints.
Even though good-quality nursing shoes may be on the pricier side, they are the best investment that nurses can make. These shoes will not just keep nurses safe and reduce their chances of developing any complications. Wearing proper shoes will help them ensure that they keep their jobs as nurses so they can treat and care for patients, and feel empowered as they are doing their duty.