Practicum Nursing Service Administration - Essay Example

Practicum Nursing Service Administration Practicum Nursing Service Administration Ethical Standards of nursing as a professional practice Nursing is a profession that provides services that are aimed at elevating the health status of individuals in the community. Its vital components are: provision of care; provision of cure; and coordination. Care encompasses comprehension of the need of the patients in a manner that makes individualization of therapies related to nursing permeable. On the other hand, cure involves aiding patients to comprehend not only their health challenges but also how to cope with the problem. However, coordination consists of organization and timing of medical services and technical services to in order to deal with the patient’s needs. ANA is a professional organization that represents interest of registered nurses in the US. The standards of professional performance by ANA describes the behavioral competency in the role of the profession in activities that commensurate with quality while providing care; education; and appraisal of performance among many others. It has its constituents that such as state nurses association and other affiliate organizations that aid in its practices. It promotes nursing profession by advocating for high level or standard practices in nursing; ensuring that the rights of nurses are catered for at the work place; and liaising with regulatory agencies and as well as the congress on issues concerning healthcare that affect the public and nurses. Nurses have an obligation to integrate ethical conducts in the different facets of their practices. There are ethical codes that guide these practices such as interpretive statements for nurses. Furthermore, the nurses in the profession have a mandate not only to establish and maintain professional therapeutic and patients and nurse relationship but also discharge health care in such a way that the patient’s dignity, autonomy and rights are upheld. They are also required to make ethical decisions while at work; report cases that are incompetent and illegal; and maintain and ensure patients on confidentiality within the boundaries of regulations and legal requirements. The sole commitment of a nurse is the patient irrespective of individuals or groups of individuals. It is a nurse responsibility to be accountable for nursing practices and evaluate ideal and correct task delegation mechanisms that are consistent with their duties to provide maximum care for the patients (ANA, 2010). The codes of ethics also stipulate that nurses have self obligations or duties which entail having the responsibility of upholding integrity and preserving safety; and ensuring competency besides the professional and personal growth. In addition, they establish, improve, and maintain the environment of the health care and employment conditions. The conditions should be conducive for the quality health care provision as well as providing consistency imbedded in the values of the profession either through an individual’s action or collaborative actions. Nurse work in unison with other professionals in other health related fields or disciplines and the public as well in fostering communal efforts in meeting the needs and demands for health services. ANA as an organization that represents nursing profession in the US community; articulate values in the nursing discipline; ensure that there is integrity both in the practices and the profession; and shaping policies in the social arena. ANA ethical codes also ascertains that nurses participate in the professional advancement of this discipline by making significant contributions to the education, practices, administration, and development of knowledge of the health care systems and practices (ANA, 2010). In the hospital where I work, the adherence to the ethical requirements is strictly observed. All the workers in the different facets of the hospitals have the mandate of upholding the ethical codes while discharging their duties. The policy and procedure for ethic is written in manual book in all the hospital wards all staff should sign that they have read it. There is consistency in the application of the codes of ethic in this hospital. Perhaps, this is because the administration puts more emphasis on the code. It provides checks and balances for worker in this hospital thus minimizing cases of unethical conducts. However, I would recommend that the hospital creates a monthly forum or session where hospital workers gather to review their ethical practices. Education Education is an important facet and the root that firmly holds nursing profession into place. The nurses acquire knowledge, competences and skills that highlight the contemporary practices in the profession. The nurses have an obligation to take part in any ongoing activities pertaining education that relate or coincide with knowledge on issues such as clinical and professional issues. In addition, nurses are obliged to demonstrate willingness, ability and commitment to acquiring or learning for a longer period of time, perhaps lifetime or entire duration of practice. The other mandate in the standard practices of nursing by the ANA organization is that the nurses have to seek experiences that enable them to maintain their skills on clinical issues. Besides, they also seek skills and knowledge based information that is ideal to the settings of their practice. While discharging their duties, they are usually tasked with the responsibility of maintaining and keeping records related to the profession which in turn acts as evidence that illustrated their level of competence and long life learning experience (ANA, 2010). For quite sometimes, ANA has held a stand that the entry level into nursing profession is baccalaureate degree. For one to practice nursing, he or she has to be registered, given license, and authorized either by the state or by the commonwealth or by the territory in question for the practice. Nurses who are registered into learning institutions are educated on not only the art but also the science of nursing which provide them with the ammunitions of obtaining, maintaining, and the restoration of health. The channel of professional nursing and career growth in the educational sector of the US has not been linear. The progression has been relatively explicit though there is flexibility on how to achieve it. Learning institutions on the nursing category has been establishing entry into educational programs such as masters, degree that are equivalent or associate to bachelor’s degree, or even masters programs on degree level. The American Association College of Nursing (AACN) has introduced two degrees. One of the degrees is the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) as a generic degree that focuses on clinical practices which is related nursing based practices. AACN proposed it to be the graduate degree for the advanced practices of nursing or a preparation for specialization. The other degree is the Clinical Nursing Leader (CNL). This degree refers to education that is generally advanced at the graduate level. It focuses on the reduction of health risks; promotion of health; and health care of the population. Competent, proficient and experienced nurses usually more role and have higher chances of concentrating on care related to healthcare consumers in the specialty of clinical nursing practices (ANA, 2010). In the hospital where I work, education of hospital staff especially the nurses is often encouraged. There are usually exchange programs between staffs from different health disciplines that have played a key role in not only the acquisition of additional knowledge but education as well. Moreover, some nurses have been sponsored by the institution to further their education in the nursing field. The procedure and policies of the institution focuses on employing nurses based on meritocracy which is usually exhibited by the educational level and performance. The staff has been perceived to be providing quality services and perhaps education has been the contributing factor. However, I would recommend that the hospital intensifies its research activities. Evidence-based-practice and research Nursing practice today is associated to be having its roots historically due to battlefields, industrial revolution, poor housing that characterized America and Europe in the 19th century. Before these phenomenons, nurses majorly trained in nursing school hospitals and their employment encompasses care for patients at the comfort of the patient’s homes. However, the foundation for this practice was founded by Florence Nightingale. She is credited with identifying why it is important to collect evidence empirically and laying more emphasis on practices that have evidences (ANA, 2010). Despite the fact that Nightingales recommendations not being adhered to for several decades, the research in nursing grew since nurses were receiving educational practices that were more advanced. Early in the 20th century, nurses obtained degrees in nursing education thus the limitation of the research was within the boundaries of nursing education. However, mid in the century, care studies in nursing began surfacing. Nurse researchers and theorists widened the scope of knowledge through the studies of nursing practices as well as development of models and theories in the field. For instance, there were systems theories developed by Neumann and King; conservation model by Levine; and science of unitary humans by Rogers among many others (ANA, 2010). Evidence based practice (EBP) is a systematic, scholarly technique of solving problems which consequently leads to the provision of healthcare that is high in quality. It is prudent to marry external and internal evidence while using EBP for making ideal clinical decision. Nursing has incorporated EBP with the aim of integrating it into disciplines and professions of healthcare. For example, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) on clinical education has a vision that is geared towards meeting the needs of the patients. The IOM report of 2003 suggest that all health related disciplines have to incorporate EBP , informatics, and quality improvement in reference to the delivery of health care that are consumer oriented (ANA, 2010). Research in nursing and Evidence based practice immensely contribute to wealth of knowledge as well as enhancing results. The profession progressively evaluates and applies findings that emanate from nursing research. In addition, one of the vital steps of evidence based practice is the evaluation of outcomes or results. When new knowledge crops up, it is infiltrated into healthcare to enhance efficient and effective care and outcomes. Nurses have to ascertain that practical changes are based on contemporary evidence. Moreover, resource experts ought to be present in the environmental practice (ANA, 2010). The dynamics in the healthcare coupled with the demand for reforms in the system are likely to present challenges to the profession in the qualification and quantification aspects on the value of nursing and care. Nursing practices can also be examined and evaluated based on the level of staffing. It is clear that safe staffing correlates with quality care towards patients. Apparently there is a relation between staffing and corresponding effectiveness of staffing to results or outcomes. All these changes in the nursing practices are attributed to Florence Nightingale. Her work influenced nurses to care for individuals beyond their sick beds; improvement of safety and health of persons in the society in the attempts of minimizing cases of reported deaths (ANA, 2010). In the hospital where I work, nursing research is highly encouraged, besides the incorporation of EBP though there are no clear policies or guidelines in manuals that reinforces this phenomenon. Little has been visible on this standards set by ANA and therefore I would recommend that that the hospital administration revisit its commitment to this particular standard. Quality of practice in nursing There are standards of performance that are deemed professional in terms of the quality of practices. The registered nurse has the duty to promote the quality and ensure that the nursing practices are effective. There are criteria for measurement of the above vindication. One of the criteria is that nurses must exhibit quality in the manner in which they document the processes of application of nursing. The documentation has to be done responsibly in an ethical and accountable manner. The second criterion is the utilization of improvement activities that are of high quality in making changes in the nursing practice besides the delivery of the health care system. The next one is the incorporation of innovation and creativity to elevate the delivery of nursing care. In addition if the anticipated outcomes are not achieved the nurses are at liberty to incorporate new or additional knowledge that are capable of effecting changes in the nursing practice. The final criteria encompass the need for nurses to take part in activities that are likely to improve their quality. To achieve this, the registered nurse has to find out the important aspects of the practices that can be employed to monitor quality. They incorporate the use of indicators that determine not only quality but also effectiveness and safety of the nursing practices. Furthermore, quality improvement may involve data collection with the aim of continuous monitoring quality and effectiveness as highlighted above. After the collection, the data is then analyzed in a bid to find out the existing opportunities for improvement of the practice and also to allow the formulation of recommendation either for the outcomes or improve practices. The quality improvement also encompasses the implementation of activities. Besides implementation, there is development, policy evaluation, guidelines and procedures (ANA, 2010). There is an obligation in this discipline that individuals engrossed in it should participate in professional and inter-professional teams to elate the services in the health sector and clinical care as it tends to sub optimize on costs. The nurses are also usually involved in the identification of problem that crop up daily in order to limit their consequences in terms of causing inefficiency. In their analysis that is geared towards improving quality of their services, they evaluate and do an analysis of the likely organizational barriers to the provision of quality healthcare to the consumers and outcomes. When the barriers are already identified, the devices appropriate implementation strategies that have the potential of either weakening or doing away with the barriers that emanate from the system of the organization (ANA, 2010). However, there are additional responsibilities to the specialty nurses. For instance, they provide and demonstrate leadership in both the implementation and design for the improvement of quality in the nursing practice arena. These designs should be innovatively crafted so that they can effect change(s) in practices as well as the outcomes (ANA, 2010). Quality of practice in nursing has been the building block that guides and the driving factor in the hospital where I work. There are manuals in form of magazines and books that are being used to emphasis on quality nursing practices. To improve quality of improvement in the nursing practices and healthcare, the following recommendations can be incorporated into the practice: Reducing or minimizing the restraining of patients coupled with secluding setting that are related to healthcare The evaluation modalities for the clinical nurse masters program should be relooked. Communication While practicing nursing, there is a deep inherent need in the discipline for the registered nurses to device appropriate formats that allow effective communication. These communication formats or strategies need to be assessed to determine if they are aligned with or commensurate with the consumers of healthcare. This is achieved by an individual assessment of one’s skills in reference to communication through constantly seeking to elevate or upgrade the existing skills. In addition, it also factors in the individual nurses abilities or their conflict resolution formats or skills. The nurses have to device ideal ways of dissemination information to consumers of the healthcare services such as families, professional and inter-professional team members. The formats of communication employed should enhance accuracy. When the processes embedded in care processes or decisions appear or are perceived to sideline the interest of the patient, then the rationales that tend to support the care processes are validated and re-observed. Suppose the concerns or observations related to errors and hazards are made or projected in the practice environment or during and in care, then the nurses are obliged to disclose the above vindications to the concerned levels. This standard of ANA practice requires nurses to constantly and continuously with other providers to communicate especially in the reduction of risks that crop up during transition and transfer in the delivery of care. Communication is a tool that enables them to discuss appropriately their perspectives and approaches to health care and nursing practices in the inter-professional team forums (ANA, 2010). In my hospital where I serve as a nurse, the staff consciousness and awareness on the need to effectively communicate among themselves and clients is relatively average. It takes quite sometimes to instill or inculcate effective communication skills in individuals. Although there are manuals that emphasis on employees needs to apply appropriate communication skills, some nurses or workers have often fallen short. I would recommend that the institution to initiate more forums than those that currently exist to further reinforce this standard. The application of ethics, education, research and EBP, and communication standards These standards have provided clear framework and guidelines in the nursing practice and healthcare which help in optimization of positive outcomes in the field. Through effective communications, nurses and other professions in the health sector are able to synchronize their activities to elevate the healthcare system as well as nursing practices. The research and EBP have also made significant improvement in the system. It has not only improved the desired outcomes but also increased the certainty in the practices that are being employed in the contemporary nursing. The advancement of education has resulted into increase in depth and scope of comprehension of knowledge. This has significantly impacted in the outcomes of the practices related to nursing. In addition, these standards have been highly embraced by healthcare institutions as well as training institutions. Reference List: ANA (2010). ANA Standards of Professional Nursing Practice. Retrieved on 8th April 2015 from: http://www.nursesbooks.org/ebooks/download/NursingScopeStandards.pdf Read More