HPV among Adolescents - Research Paper Example

? HPV among Adolescents Insert Insert Grade Insert HPV among Adolescents The Higher Calling Nursing Organization Nursing is the practice of autonomously and collaboratively offering care to individuals; from all groups, families, ages, communities, the sick or even the healthy and in all settings. It involves the promotion of health, care for the ill, prevention of diseases and general care for the ill and the dying. Nursing have the key roles as promotion of safe environment, advocacy, health system management practices, research, designing health policies and educational roles. As a clinician, one is tasked with general advocacy and involvement in educating the public on health practices, from parents down to the children. This requires thorough campaigns in schools, communities and general public learning institutes. Issues of adolescent patients’ sexuality, risk behaviors, and other psychosocial risk factors should be a priority within the working procedures of all physicians. Adolescence is one of the most vulnerable life passages for the acquisition of human papillomavirus (HPV) (Anonymous, 2010, p19-20). Nurses and other health practitioners have a unique role to play in the fight against HPV amongst adolescents. This is effective by early health screening, effective communication and good care to the adolescent patients (Nancho, n.d, p30). The process is long and involves participation of many stakeholders and hence necessitates good organization and management of the whole process. Therefore, this process requires competitive and skilled leadership from the responsible health care managers (Cherie and Gebrekidan, 2005, p4-5). From an early age in my upbringing, I knew very well what I wanted do when I grow up. I loved helping patients and attending to the less fortunate in the society with medical attention. However, amongst the many health practitioners categories, nursing interested me most. Therefore, this urge drove me to the decision of pursuing nursing as a career. Recently, I attended a nursingprofessional meeting with a renowned organization from an invitation by a colleague who is an active member of the organization. The organization comprises of already certified nursing practitioners, volunteers, student participants and other health practitioners affiliates. Amongst the participants present in the meeting were other invited global players whose role was monitoring the programs and evaluating the progress of the professional group. The health organization is a national, not-for-profit, independent, voluntary association. It represents public health in the country and is globally linked to the international public health community. The organization believes in universal, equitable and accessible basic life conditions, which necessitate the acquisition of health services to all in the country. The organization’s mission is to constitute a nationwide resource that has the main role as to advocate for the improvement and maintenance of health among individual citizens and the community at large as according to the public policy. The meeting was organized and convened by the interim chair of the organization and the board and directors to deliberate on the mechanisms and ways to address the rampant cases of spread of HPV amongst adolescents in the country and the globe at large. The main agenda was the role of nursing profession in the treatment and control of the condition in the overall health practitioners’ fraternity. The meeting resolved unanimously that the youthful stage of adolescence is the main target in the fight against Human papilla virus, which easily transcends through risky sexual behaviors amongst adolescents. The nursing fraternity proposed effective mechanisms to be employed to ensure effective and successful fight against the threat posed by the viral condition. However, one of the greatest challenges outlined was the leadership program that would facilitate the success of the campaign. The leadership skills important in the whole organization were the overall organizational management, effective communication, strategic and analytical reasoning and overall visionary leadership. Organizational management circles around management of time, information, human resources, change, technology, revenue and expenses and medical nursing equipment. Included in the above categories are key competencies, skills and abilities which when coupled together makes organizational leadership effective (Anonymous, 2010, p1). By definition, management is the process of getting procedures effectuated through people. It is the process through which organizational goals are reached through organizational resources and people or the human resource. Panning, leading, controlling and organizing members in the organization towards the set goals through proper coordination and direct of the planning were all sited to be critical for the total performance to be realized (Cherie and Gebrekidan, 2005, p3). The membership of the group is entirely voluntary, with no cultural, racial or even tribal inclination. There is a proper representation of cultural diversity in the membership and the management team. Leadership is tri-annually elected through democratic ballot election as I established through an interview with a few of the leaders. Eligible candidates of the management posts are vetted and approved before running for the posts. Every registered member has a constitutional democratic right to seek any elective post in the running of the organization. The constitution of the organization also permits nomination of a member to fill any vacant position left by serving management personnel either by death or even by personal resignation. Decision making process is the role of the current serving management team with the approval of the members and affiliates in the regularly convened management meetings. Health campaigns are ran with the approval of the national health governing council and the facilitation by the ministry of health in the country. A critical analysis of the meeting led me to make the following observation. The meeting was successful not only for a few shortcomings that I noted. According to Davis and Common Ground (Center for Cooperative Solutions) an effective meeting always has a proper planning procedure. Prior planning for the meeting convener, the attendees and the facilitators are all critical to the smooth running of a meeting. In a discussion meeting as this was, the convener is always supposed to have clearly thought about the main agenda for the meeting and a proper communication to the participants done in time to avoid time wastage in the meeting through unnecessary deviations. It’s necessary that all meetings have a written or well understood unwritten agenda. A written agenda template provides the participants with proper and prior planning that is very useful for the success of any meeting. The well completed agenda template should be shared on time with all the participants for the purpose of proper planning for the meeting. The template also allows the participants to keep record of key agreements and note on the action steps (Davis and Common Ground: Center for Cooperative Solutions, n.d, p1-2). This was poorly done as the participants would easily divert their attention to other subsidiary meeting agendas and this would lead to time spillage. Overall effectiveness of the meeting was below limit as a generally low attendance of the participants was recorded, with only about 53% of the participative membership present. Lateness was another key thing that was deliberated on as the meeting was late to commence as a result of late attendance of the members. Participation of the members was also limited, which was explained to be as a result of poor and late circulation of message about the meeting. Financial constraint was also evident as the organization treasurer sought to demand remittances from the members who had defaulted the membership contributions agreed upon for the running of the organization’s affairs. The overall performance of the meeting would be rated below average and some interventions were necessary for the meetings to follow as the trend would not be effective in the future. More participants were liable to fail to attend for the reason of poor planning and facilitation of the meetings. Action points noted were the need to do proper pre-meeting briefing to the participants and the use of proper procedures in the future meetings. Nevertheless, the meeting guiding principles and activities made me consider joining the group in the future. I would consider active participation with primary volunteering and later full membership. The organization critically needs competitive leadership which would drive the organization towards full realization of her set goals and missions. As the president of the organization, I would propel the organization towards professional leadership. In conclusion, the nursing organization is a fairly well organized body with clearly set mission and vision. The organization has led in the overall service to the member nurses and affiliate members for the common good of all. It is in the forefront in ensuring high health standards are realized in the community by maintaining high levels of professionalism, commitment and integrity in her service to the people. A good example of her undisputed commitment to serving the public is the effort towards effectively fighting the spread and effects of HPV among the adolescents in the country. Nevertheless, a few shortcomings are evident in the general running management of the organization and therefore needs proper address. Given an opportunity, I would like to join the organization and serve the public and bring about proper leadership for the overall success of the organization. References Anonymous, (2010). Public Health ~ Community Health Nursing Practice in Canada Roles and Activities. Retrieved from http://www.cpha.ca/uploads/pubs/3-1bk04214.pdf Cherie, A.and Gebrekidan, A.B. (2005). Nursing Leadership and Management, Lecture Notes, for Nursing Students. Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa. Retrieved from http://www.cartercenter.org/resources/pdfs/health/ephti/library/lecture_notes/nursing_students/LN_nsg_ldrshp_final.pdf Contino, D.S. (2004). Leadership Competencies: Knowledge, Skills, and Aptitudes Nurses Need to Lead Organizations Effectively. Retrieved from http://www.knowyourtype.com/criticalcarenurse.pdf Davis and Common Ground: Center for Cooperative Solutions (n.d). How to Have More Effective Meetings, Davis and Common Ground: Center for Cooperative Solutions. Retrieved from http://extension.ucdavis.edu/unit/common_ground/pdf/more_effective_meetings.pdf. Nancho, R.M.H. (2005). HPV and Adolescent Health Issues, College of Medicine-Philippine General Hospital. Retrieved from http://www.aogin.com/pages/documents/Rosa-Nancho-HPV-and-adolescent.pdf Read More