Administration of Medicines - Essay Example

of Lecturer] Nursing Administration of Medicines 3 Introduction For one to practice as a nurse or a midwife in England,Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, he/she must adhere to certain rules and regulations set by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). NMC is a regulatory organ that sets and revises the professional and ethical standards for midwives and nurses to follow in the execution of their tasks and their overall work lives. For nurses and midwives, these regulations steer them on the code of conduct to which they must stick not only in relation to their work but also their behaviours. Among the aspect of nurses’ and midwives’ professional lives regulated by the NMC are education, conduct, registration, supervision, allegations and ethical issues (Benner et al., 2009. P. 243). It is thus of the essence that student and practicing nurses and midwives ensure that all the latest NMC regulations are observed and standards attained. For instance, in 2004, the NMC set standards for education, which require nurses and midwives to attain the right level and types of skills, proficiency and qualities prior to their being absorbed into the industry. Besides the initial education, the NMC also set standards for nurses and midwives to develop their careers once absorbed into the industry. This continuous training and involvement in learning activities not only help nurses and midwives to sharpen their skills and competencies but also ensure their skills do not lag behind. One benefit of attaining the NMC standards of education and efficiency is to enable a nurse or a midwife to register with the NMC, which is the organ mandated to keep the register of all midwives and nurses in the United Kingdom. It is only by being registered that a nurse or a midwife may operate legally in the United Kingdom. To be registered, nurses and midwives must therefore meet the education standards, pay the annual fee and update their skills. The other function of the NMC, which nurses and midwifes must observe is supervision. During these organised supervisions, it is imperative that nurses and midwives prove that their work is supervised and meets the set standards to qualify for registration with the NMC. The NMC also deals with any issues and allegations rising within the nursing and midwifery professions in the UK, especially allegations that one does not meet the set professional standards and skills relating to education, supervision and work ethics. From these functions of the NMC, it is obvious that student and professional nurses and midwives should endeavor to attain the set standards for education, skills and work in order to be registered. Fortunately, there are NMC standards for beginners, advanced beginners and competent nurses and midwives. In this regard, there are standards for pre-registration nursing education, standards of proficiency for pre-registration nursing education 2004, standards for pre-registration midwifery education and standards of proficiency for specialist community public health nurses. Generally, these standards target mentors, practice teachers, teachers, the developmental framework of nursing and its underpinning principles, the application of the standards that support learning and assessment in practice and the approval and monitoring of mentor, practice teacher and teacher preparation. This paper is an action that documents the grounds I have covered so far, the areas that require improvement and the strategies by which these areas are to be improved. Current Level of Attainment As an undergraduate student of nursing, I understand and appreciate my role and importance in the healthcare industry, more so in assisting medical doctors and other medical professionals in the administration of medication in their hospitals, offices and specialty clinics. To this end, I have covered several positive grounds in moving towards attaining NMC’s 2004 proficiency standards for getting registered as practicing nurse in the UK. First, I am currently undergoing education and training in patient care not only on a specific specialty but also in other related fields that would make me a competent, skilled and NMC-complaint nurse. Cognizant of the considerably more time I will spend with patients compared to doctors, I am currently working hard on improving my communication skills, which will be quite essential for my nursing duties. I am therefore in the process of developing good speaking and listening skills for nursing by attending inclusive training programs that will assist me in getting updated on the latest communication approaches and technologies in the industry, more so regarding care for patients. In fact, I recognize that as a nurse, I could be more important to a patient with regards to communicative care compared to other medical professionals. For instance, as a nurse, I will need to educate patients on how to correctly measure blood sugar, administer painkillers to ease suffering, or I could be required to work with patients on dialysis to design a diet that reduces or increases fluid intake. Therefore, with the good skills obtained so far, I am able to assist patients recover quicker and encourage their compliance with medication. In other words, the patient care skills I have acquired so far will go a long way in helping me get an NMC registration and to be a licensed practical nurse. In my endeavors to meet the educational standards set by the NMC, I have consistently applied certain strategies in my lectures. First, I pay a lot of attention in academic programs, more so biology and chemistry, which relate more directly to the field of nursing. As a result of these accomplishments, I have managed to develop some vital nursing skills as early as possible as these achievements will be quite crucial in developing my nursing career in future. What is more, I follow my professors’ pieces of advice rather closely; taking notes and reading books, practices that have led me to further polish my nursing skills. I have also managed to practice various nursing procedures given that as a nurse, I will often be in direct contact with my patients. Although not mastered quite effectively, among the skills I have improved in include puncturing a patients vein and inserting an intravenous line and changing a dressing on a wound without causing infections. For example, I have practiced dressing wounds at home whenever a family member, a neighbour or a friend has an accident and there is a wound to be dressed or a bleeding to be stopped. In fact, I manage these nursing procedures without causing any more pain to my patients. My endeavors to attain NMC standards have also led me to subscribe to various nursing journals, most of which focus on nursing specialties such as pediatrics and geriatrics. The other journals I have continuously subscribed to and read touch on the challenges encountered in the general nursing profession. An interesting outcome about the journals I have subscribed to is that they have made me feel part of the nursing community, thus motivating me on the need to work with other health professionals to improve health-care standards and practices (Lynn, 2010. P. 118). Despite the many positive achievements I have in regard to attaining the NMC 2004 proficiency standards for nursing education, supervision, registration and practicing, there is still a lot to be covered and only the right strategies and academic policies will help me in achieving these objectives. For this reason, I have outlined several strategies by which I intend to attain these NMC standards and regulations on nursing education and practice. Although these skills are generally equally important in nursing and midwifery, that of medication administration is perhaps the most significant since administration of medication is among the core duties of a nurse. Setting of Medication Administration Objectives One strategy by which I intend to improve my medication administration skills to attain NMC standards is to set new learning objectives for medication and follow them to the latter using the right strategies and practices. These objectives include: I. To acquire advanced knowledge and skills in pharmaco-vigilance and medication safety II. To be an effective nurse and leader for safety medication III. Acquire safety medication management skills such as calculations and measurements IV. To manage changes in the medication system and become updated, compliant and relevant to NMC 2004 regulations To ensure that the above objectives are achieved and the journey towards NMC (2004) accreditation is on track, I will use several recommended medication skills checklists to gauge my performance and achievements as I progress with my course. Similar to the NMC guidelines, these checklists are useful in setting the minimum standards for nursing staffs administering medications in healthcare settings. However, it should be recognized that it is the sole responsibility of the NMC to determine whether a nurse demonstrates enough competency in performing the tasks in a checklist. Examples of the checklists with which I intend to compare my achievements for purposes of improvement and modification include checklists on the administration of ear, eye, oral, rectal, inhaler, per subcutaneous injection nebulizer, topical medication (Gauwitz, 2011. P. 218). Finding a Mentor The other strategy by which I intend to attain the NMC 2004 proficiency standards for nurses and midwives is by identifying an academic and a professional mentor to guide me. The important function of these mentors will be to advise and guide me on how to improve my nursing and medication skills and knowledge through motivation and evaluation programs. In fact, I am considering identifying mentors in large health care organizations such as hospitals, which offer mentorship programs. Also important as a mentor would be senior level nursing lecturers at my university that will be able to provide one-on-one training (Lynn & LeBon, 2010. P. 283). Medication Effects, Interactions and Calculations Medication side effects, interactions and calculations are among the areas in which I am weak and intend to direct most of my energy and resources since they are quite crucial to student and practicing nurses and midwives. To attain NMC-recommended standards and levels of understanding and knowledge on drug interactions, effects and calculations, which I have identified to be lacking in some aspects, I will implement certain strategies and techniques. First, practice exercises will be quite effective in sharpening my medication calculation skills, particularly since they will expose me to the main and vital concepts of medication calculations. The other widely used strategy that I intend to use in improving my medication calculation skills is the use of the internet. Through the World Wide Website, I intend to improve my drug calculation skills given the recent advances in pharmacological therapeutics, which have made it imperative that I equip myself with the right drug calculation skills. The fact that the complexities entailed in the calculation of dosages have increased in recent times has further propelled me to search the internet for the latest approaches and formulas to drug calculations. As a result of these calculation complexities, it is rather obvious that I should be proficient in the skills needed to administer medications through practice and self-assessment. Recently developed technological media such as a Computer-Assisted Learning package (CAL) will offer me the possibility and opportunity of establishing and maintaining competency in and compliance with medication calculations. In fact, the internet has been found to contain tremendous potential to assist student and practicing nurses and midwives with activity options for self-education on medication administration (Herrman, 2008. P. 97). In addition to exercising with calculation formulas in books and over the internet, there are several recommended software that are useful in medication calculations for learning, researching and practicing functions. This software could either be loaded and installed into computers and shared among professionals and students. The strategies by which I will use these software include the generation of drug calculation tests, solutions and by tracking common drug calculations outcomes and implications. Fascinatingly, the computer software have enormous capacities to generate personalized and modified multi-faceted and multi-choice and short answer questions on various medication topics and test conditions. Additionally, some software have drug calculation quiz pages to help learners and medical professionals to rejuvenate their medication calculation knowledge and skills (Craig, 2011. P. 152). To work on achieving the above listed objectives and to build and expand my skills and knowledge on medication calculations, drug interactions, and side effects, it would require a time-framed implementation of the mentioned strategies. Particularly, updated information relating to synergetic and antagonistic interactions will have to be gathered in time for NMC- compliance. Within the period of my undergraduate course, I will have to gather and process this information into a form easily and best understood. Among the sources from which this information will be gathered include the university library, the internet, and public/health facility libraries. In addition to gathering this kind of information, I will visit the campus health unit, other health professionals (nurses) and medical facilities to explore any available information on drug side effects and interactions, medication efficiency, accuracy and reliability. Lastly, I will consider consulting relevant government and private nurses that are likely to be quite knowledgeable and skilled in medication administration issues such as drug side effects, interactions and safety medication issues that arise during medication administration. A Three-Year Action Plan Timetable to attain NMC 2004 Standards YEAR 1 YEAR 1 YEAR 1 YEAR 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 2 YEAR 2 YEAR 2 YEAR 3 YEAR 3 YEAR 3 YEAR 3 Objective 1– Improved knowledge of existing NMC 2004 policies and practices 1. Accessing and reading NMC’s brochure and web site information 2. Reading NMC’s Printed and non-printed literatures distributed to learning and nursing institutions 3. Liaising and cooperating with NMC’s staffs and coordinators to access relevant materials Objective 2 - To be an effective nurse and leader for safety medication through Review of existing NMC policies 1. Setting up of working parties with NMC coordinators, representatives and personnel 2. Review of latest NMC policies 3. Following up on NMC recommendations on nursing and midwifery issues, policies, and changes Objective 3 – development and acquire safety medication management skills such as calculations and measurements 1.Form and join NMC standards-conscious and interested focus groups or individuals 2. Review and implementation of the focus groups’ recommendations 4. Join existing NMC-compliance training programs or create new ones 6. Review of the relevance of the NMC training programs Works Cited Benner, P., Sutphen, M., Leonard, V., Day, L., and Shulman, L. S. Educating Nurses: A Call for Radical Transformation, First Edition, 2009. Jossey-Bass Publishers. Craig, G. P. Clinical Calculations Made Easy: Solving Problems Using Dimensional Analysis, Fifth Edition, 2011. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Gauwitz, D. Administering Medications, Seventh Edition, 2011. Career Education. Herrman, J. W. Creative Teaching Strategies for the Nurse Educator, First Edition, 2008. F.A. Davis Company. Lynn, P. Taylors Clinical Nursing Skills: A Nursing Process Approach, Third Edition, 2010. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Lynn, P., and LeBon, M. Skill Checklists for Taylors Clinical Nursing Skills: A Nursing Process Approach, Third Edition, 2010. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Read More