Good Nursing Practice - Essay Example

?Table of Contents Table of Contents Good Nursing Practice 2 Leadership Skills 2 Communication 4 Team Work Skills 6 Team Reflection 7 Ensuring the Participation of All Members 7 Establishment of Ground Rules 8 Organization Skills 8 Prior Planning 9 Prioritize 9 Accessibility 10 Charting 10 Time Management 10 Conclusion 11 References 12 Good Nursing Practice Nursing is composed of collaborative and professional care of individuals spanning all ages, communities, groups and families, healthy and unhealthy at all settings (ICN, 2011). Nurses are crucial members of the health care fraternity. They serve in various settings such hospitals, nursing homes and doctors’ offices. In addition to the education and training requirements, it is imperative for them to be well-rounded individuals who possess many other skills and are able to improve their effectiveness in the job. They are also required to adhere to the NMC code of conduct as the framework that guides their operations. According to the code of conduct, nurses are required to make the care of the people their first concern through respecting them with dignity and respect. They are required to collaborate with their colleagues in protecting and promoting the health of the families as well as the wider community. They should provide consistent high standards of health care and practice. Nurses should portray openness and honesty in addition to maintaining the reputation of their profession. Some of the skills that a nurse should possess for effective adherence to the stated NMC codes include communication, leadership, organizational and team work. The essay below focuses on the four principal skills that are crucial for proper nursing and efficient health care delivery. Leadership Skills Leadership is defined as a process that involves influencing the members of a group setting towards attainment of a goal. The student nurses are required by the NMC code to apply their leadership skills in supervision and management of others in contributing to the health improvement (NMC, 2012). The three most eminent aspects of leaders are power, authority and influence. Effective leaders use more influence with less power and authority. Shirey?(2009:193) states, “Leadership is not merely a series of skills or tasks; rather, it is an attitude that informs behaviour.” In nursing, leadership is portrayed through the ability of nurses to progressively improve the health care through influencing others; whether patients or the fellow workmates. Leaders should possess the capability of helping people plan, lead, organize and control employees’ activities. According to Wheeler, (2012), the prominent challenge facing the nursing profession is the development of future nurse leaders. All nurses require leadership skills at all hierarchical levels. Some of the crucial roles of a nurse leader include acting as a role model to their colleagues, ensuring optimal care through collaboration and provision of support and information. Additionally, they defend the rights of the patients and provision of care based on a theoretical and research background. Nurse leaders should also have management knowledge, team work and communication competence. Some of the personal characteristics necessary for a nurse include courage, collaboration, creativity and confidence. They should enact changes depending on the changes in technology and working environment (Wong?and Cummings,?2007:508-521). The heath care environments are constantly changing and producing new changes to the nurse leaders that limit their performance if they do not device the efficient strategies for handling them. Leadership skills entail the art of making people produce extra ordinary impacts while experiencing challenges and other barriers. Direct, hierarchical approach to leadership is an impediment to task completion and performance. Nursing leadership should adopt the style of listening, encouraging and facilitating role play. Tregunno, D. et al. (2009:337) defines leadership, “the ability to create new systems and methods to accomplish a desired vision.” The desired vision for the student nurses is provision of quality health care through application of leadership skills such as self-confidence, adaptability and judgement. Health care services can only meet the needs of the patients if they are well-led and organized. Nurse leadership is an immensely influential component of health care satisfaction as the patient’s involvement in care is normally nurse-led. Enhancement in leadership skills among nurses has led to increased awareness on health care needs and treatment practices among the patients. The new development has forced nurses to be well equipped with assertiveness and analytical skills. Transformational leadership is necessary for the current nursing practice as it ensures satisfaction. It is characterized by participation and inclusion between the leader and the follower. Effective leadership is flexible; allows the leader to adapt to various situations. It also provides patients with an opportunity to appreciate the flexibility and conform to changes in health care. The avoidance of hierarchical or bureaucratic leadership enables the authorities to assemble resources and add value for both health workers and patients. Communication Communication is the art of sending or receiving information through words signs, gestures, cues and symbols. Communication in nursing involves the combination of talking, listening and writing skills. Effective communication is outlined in the NMC Code that indicates that nurses should practice in a respectful and compassionate manner while preserving dignity and well-being as well as upholding effective communication (Wheeler, 2012:9-30). Nursing is a collaborative profession that requires efficient communication for the provision of appropriate treatment and medical services. Communication is the central aspect for the success of all the activities involved in nursing. Communication serves as the foundation for working with people. Efficient communication skills will enable the nurse to be able to communicate to the patients, doctors and the co-workers in an extremely competitive and changing environment. Possession of these skills enables the nursing student to be able to listen to the doctor’s instructions and respond accordingly. It is imperative for the student nurse to understand what their colleagues or patients want. Communication in nursing is necessary for ensuring customer satisfaction and avoidance of any form of medial mishaps. A student nurse should be efficient in both writing, and verbal communications skills as both aspects are eminent in the effective delivery of services. Some of the skills learnt by the nurses in reference to exemplary communication include listening, repeating, summarizing and clarifying. Effective communication can also be enhanced by personal attributes such as being respectful, empathetic, attentive, clear, assertive, non-judgemental and honest. Effective communication enhances relationship-building with patients, families and other health stakeholders. The power of effective and creative nursing care is enhanced by enhanced communicative characteristics. Ineffective communication causes misunderstanding leading to the prevalence of misdiagnosis or medication errors. Nurses should note the information communicated by the patients and their families and compare with the information derived from the physical examination and laboratory tests to determine the diagnosis of an ailment. Good communication is especially crucial when handling complaints emanating from the patients. Most patients consider nurses more approachable than doctors. This makes them share confidential and personal information related to their health with the nurses. This disclosure speeds up the treatment process. Excellent communicators can quickly deal with issues when they arise and assist in avoiding any catastrophic outcome related to the multiplication of the problems. Nurses are supposed to be having conclusive and right information in advance necessary to satisfy any queries posed by the patients (Wheeler, 2012: 9-30). They should also be ready to listen to the patients, read both verbal and non-verbal signals and be prepared emotionally to handle emergency cases. Efficient writing skills are necessary for offering a clear and concise description of an assessment, diagnosis and medical report for each patient. Nurses, who speak multiple dialects, including the sign language, have enhanced capability of communicating with patients than the one who possess skills in only one language. Communication skills enable student nurses to achieve their role both as interviewers and teachers. They should be able to ask the correct questions and relay pertinent responses. This leads to patient contentment, career satisfaction for the nurse and improvement of the health care system. Barriers to efficient communication include time pressure that gives the medical specialist limited time to pay attention to the patients’ grieves; lack of privacy; inefficient training; language barriers; and presence of mixed skills within the wards. Team Work Skills Nursing is a collective action; team work skills are mandatory for any student nurse. The NMC code proposes that nurses should collaborate with other health and social care professionals and agencies to enhance patient care. They are also required to collaborate with those under their care (NMC, 2012:13). An effective team can be described as the one where member roles and responsibilities are respected and understood by everyone. The members should also uphold trust, openness and support. Members also exhibit respect of individual skills, values and hierarchy. Darzi (2008) asserts that leadership is a product of team work effort and not individual. Team members that exhibit unity and togetherness have a higher level of performance and delivers high quality health care. The stress levels also low. Effective teamwork is a product of responsive and two-way communication amongst partners. The student nurses join groups, equipped with new clinical, leadership and professional skills. These skills should be incorporated and harnessed by the group members for planning, delivery and evaluation of efficient patient care. Success in team work is ensured through focus on critical measures that include team reflection, ensuring member participation and establishment of ground rules. Team Reflection The best predictor of team work performance is the ability of the team members to reflect on the task goals, processes and culture. Team reflection involves the focus on the strategies that are working well and the measures that can be applied in rectifying the situation. Action learning is characterized by reflection and experiential learning i.e. analysis of challenges and support (Lisko and O’Dell, 2010). The benefits of this activity include improvement in service delivery, individual development and learning from the past successes and failures. It also involves enhancing change management skills and improving the working environment. The ability to reflect on the past results learns from experience and take the necessary improvement action contributes to team effectiveness. Ensuring the participation of all members is another crucial aspect of team work. Ensuring the Participation of All Members An effective team is that which has the participation of the skilled members and has clear goals and agenda. Participation should not be based on the individual personality as this may contribute to bias. Each individual has a responsibility to contribute to the progress of a team. Team work activities should be organized upon convenience of all members. This implies that participation can only be guaranteed if all members are involved in planning. After ensuring participation of all members, the leadership should articulate on the individual role that is required of each member. Establishment of Ground Rules Rules direct team members on the working procedures as well as the expected behaviours and processes. Team conflict and stress is normally a product of misunderstandings related to perceived values and behaviours. Confidentiality, honesty and respect, are the values that should be considered when formulating the ground rules. This is because misunderstanding and misinterpretation can result from the diverse interpretations of the ground rules. Reflection, ensuring participation and establishment of ground rules needs practice and commitment of all the team members. However, team work initiatives face several barriers. The most prominent challenge is the lack of communication in nursing leading to lack of consistency and continuity (Nash and Govier, 2009)). Nurses may be unable to work together due to lack of understanding and recognition of individual contribution. Nursing professionals may lack trust and respect amongst the team counterparts leading to performance as well as endangering the patient’s health. Proper team building techniques should be applied during the early stages. This prevents future challenges from tearing down teams. Such techniques include assertive communication, active listening and application of constructive criticism. Organization Skills Perfect organization skills are a key ingredient for a successful nursing career. Student nurses cannot be able to uphold consistent excellent standards of professionalism and practice at all times as stipulated in the NMC (2012) of they lack effective organization skills. This is because the profession is characterized by emergencies, interruptions and unforeseen situations. According to Wall S. (2010), organizational skills helps a nurse stay focused on the correct tasks, assist in setting priorities, and offer confidence that a person is following the correct footpath towards achievement of goals. Efficient utilization of time results into better outcomes, fewer errors and reduced stress. Stress is caused by the nature of the profession as it is both physically and mentally demanding. Excellent organization skills can help to avert the stress and improve performance. Nursing profession requires nurses to be highly organizational to manage and satisfy the needs of diverse patients. Organization skills enable student nurses to be active members of an interdisciplinary team that ensures that patients access the required medical care. Solid organization skills can also save time and energy spent while maintaining a healthy environment for patients and their colleagues. Some of the strategies necessary in developing efficient organizational skills include: Prior Planning This is the prominent factor in the development of robust organizational skills. Planning enables the nurse to get ahead of the stipulated schedule. Taking some time to plan the daily activities before embarking on the shift routine saves nurses the agony of feeling pressurized and stressed even before starting duties. The student nurse should take considerable time to prioritize on the roles and duties of the assigned shift (Lisko and O’Dell, 2010; 106-108). The activities should be noted down in terms of their time schedules. Planning in advance ensures that the patients’ medications are ready at the required time. Planning also negates the last minute rush that lowers the value of the services offered to the patients leading to poor performance. Planning should not be limited to certain activities only; it should be extended to all aspects of patient care as any negligence will affect the order of activities and tamper with the time allocated for each activity. Prioritize Improvement of organizational skills requires the nurse to learn how to prioritize. This enables them to determine the activities that need to be handled first and those to be handled later. Prioritizing is especially crucial as the profession is characterized by safety and medical guidelines that dictate the importance of various duties. Accessibility A nurse should ensure that they have all the requirements for any health process in handy. Some of the items that are used frequently, e.g. paper, pens, watches, scissors and tapes, should always be readily accessible. Charting Efficient charting is dependent on the form of charting the health facility has in place for the system. The most efficient chart should be carried out while still in the patient room. Accurate charting requires the jotting of clear notes from the central charting system. The facility’s charting guidelines should be followed. Efficient charting method should be acquired through training and close observation of the charting norms of the veterans. Time Management Effective planning and ensuring accessibility assists in saving time. Learning to apply the available technology assists student nurses in avoiding the manual processes that unnecessarily much time. For instance, use of charts will curtail physical movements that require more time (Waterworth, 2003; 432-440). Personal familiarization with the processes enables the specialist to take the shortest time possible in task performance. Prior awareness of the processes enables a person to plan in advance. This curbs the stress emanating from unnecessary pressure and anxiety. Conclusion Student nurses operate in hospitals, nursing homes or doctor’s offices. Their effectiveness is a product of the application of both professional and personal skills. The four main skills that a student nurse should possess for efficient delivery of services include leadership, communication, and team work and organization skills. The standards outlined in the NMC code of conduct offers the guidelines required in the implementation of the four skills. Leadership skills are exhibited through the ability of nurses to progressively improve the health care through influencing others; whether patients or the fellow workmates. Ineffective communication causes misunderstanding leading to the prevalence of misdiagnosis or medication errors. Team work skills are mandatory for any student nurse as nursing is a collective profession. Organizational skills helps a nurse stay focused on the correct tasks, assist in setting priorities, and offer confidence that a person is following the correct footpath towards achievement of goals. Application of the stated skills enables the student nurses to deliver essential health care for all, safeguard the public well-being as well as be accountable for safe, patient-centred and evidence-based practice. The nurses will also be able to exhibit professionalism and integrity within the concept of ethical and legal practice. References Darzi, A. (2008) High quality care for all: NHS next stage review final report, London, DH. Duffy, J. R. (2009). Quality caring in nursing: applying theory to clinical practice, education, and leadership. New York: Springer Pub. International Council of Nurses (ICN) (2011) Definition of nursing, (Accessed 12 April 2010). Available at: < http://www.icn.ch/about-icn/icn-definition-of-nursing/> Lisko, S. & O’Dell, V. (2010) Integration of theory and practice: Experiential learning theory and nursing education, Nursing Education Perspectives, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 106-108. Nash, S. & Govier, I. (2009) Effective team leadership: techniques that nurses can use to improve team working, Nursing Times, 105: 19, Early Online Publication. NMC, (2012) Guidance on professional conduct: For nursing and midwifery students. Pg 1-20. Available at: Shirey?MR,?(2009)?Authentic?leadership,?organizational?culture,?and?healthy?work?environments,?Crit Care Nurse Q?32(3):?189–98 Tregunno, D. et al. 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