Nursing scope of practice - Assignment Example

Nursing scope of practice: Wet Wound Dressing There are many wounds dressing techniques available in practice. For all of them, the primary objective is to enhance wound healing, reducing the chances for infection and ensuring that there is reduced loss of proteins, water and electrolytes from the body. The hospital aims to adopt wet wound dressing as a new technique in this process. As the nursing fraternity, it is necessary to ensure that the technique is in line with the professional scope and standards of practice.

This paper will discuss the process to determine if the procedure is within the scope of practice.First, it will be necessary to collect all the information concerning the procedure, its origin and how it has been used. This will guide the decision as to whether the practice is evidence-based and applicable in our situation (Schluter, Seaton, & Chaboyer, 2011). Next, we will compare the outcomes of the procedure with those of existing alternatives and decide if the new procedure adds to the quality of nursing care.

Ideally, any procedure should be in line with the ethical requirements of the profession. Therefore, the investigation should look into how the new procedure aligns with the ethical values of respect to patients’ rights, non-maleficence, benevolence, fidelity, and others.Further, the investigation should look into how the practice contributes to the body of knowledge of the nursing profession and how the practice is applicable in the current situation. This will lead to a decision whether to introduce a procedure to the hospital.

Once a decision is made, it will be necessary to plan for educative forums to discuss the need for change. In these forums, a comparison of the current and the proposed will be done, and advantages of the new over the current brought forward. The process will them move to the last phase which will involve pilot testing the procedure on a single ward and actively comparing the outcome. This will be done by all professional in the hospital and will lead to the ultimate adoption of the procedure.

ReferencesSchluter, J., Seaton, P., & Chaboyer, W. (2011). Understanding nursing scope of practice: A qualitative study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 48, 1211–1222. doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2011.03.004