Practicum Nursing Service Administration II - Coursework Example

Practicum Nursing Service Administration II Practicum Nursing Service Administration II Introduction Nursing is a very delicate field and needs allot of keenness in training and in practice. According to American Nurses Association (2010), nursing can be defined as promotion, protection and optimization of human health and abilities, prevention of illness as well as injury, alleviation of patients suffering through necessary diagnosis and treatment of human physical and psychological response, and advocating for the care of individuals, their families, communities as well as populations. ANA Standards of Professional Performance In order to ensure that nursing practices is to the highest level of quality and excellence, there is need to have benchmarks and guidelines. In reality, nursing practice should at all times be a reflection of sound and refined ethical standards. Taking care of patients requires more than the nurse applying their scientific knowledge. A nurse has the responsibility to think critically, solve particular problems and establish the best solutions for their patients. According to Rubenfeld & Scheffer (2010), life skills such as critical thinking may take a scientific criteria based on findings of research or practice based. Whichever the case, the nurse should be able to be in position to decide the right decision. The American Nurses Association has developed standards, guidelines, and principles they are aimed at elevating the nursing profession by giving strict definition of the values and priorities for registered nurses across the America. This has enabled ANA to provide direction and guidance to nurses across the America, influence national legislation, and implement structures and framework that have the objective to evaluate excellence in nursing. According to Shoenfeld et al. (2013) the ANA has become a protector of not just the nursing profession but most importantly the general public The interest of the public have now been given the priority it deserves. Leadership Accoding to American Nurses Association (2010), the nurse is supposed to provides and demonstrate leadership in all aspects of the nursing practice setting as well as the profession. This would translate to mean that nurse is also a leader regardless of the position they have in the organization. Leadership skills are very vital for both staff and management. According to Forman (2011) nurses, automatically become leaders to their patients since the patients look up to the nurses for direction and inspiration. This is a very crucial role that needs special skills. This standard is applicable to majority of the hospitals as majority of the nurses are registered with the ANA. In order to encourage and emphasize of this standards, hospitals have come up with manuals and guide books for all the practicing nurses. These resources help the nurses on decision making as well as practicing of their duties. There are hospitals that have developed their organizational structure in such a way that nurses get the opportunities to practice leadership in their operations. According to Fulton et al. (2014) the nurse should be able to make us of leadership skills at any given opportunities. Since they are also role models, nurses have a duty to maintain high standards o practice. Feedback and recommendations The hospital I work with has been encouraging the nurses and staff to show and practice leadership skills in different capacities. The hospital through the management assigns leadership roles to the nurses. This is done on weekly basis where a nurse leads a team and making sure that they are able to attend to their duties and run the operations. The nurses and the rest of the employees have been able to improve the leadership skills over time. According to Roe (2014), leadership just like any other practical skill needs practice and the longer one is able to practice it, the more experienced and exposed they are. However I would recommend that the hospital introduce mentorship programs with other leaders from other professions who might have a different approach towards leadership. According to Ledlow et al. (2014), nurses like any other practitioners need inspiration and leadership from other leaders. This helps them immolate emulate positive skills. Kush (2009) adds that leadership challenges may have solutions based on other challenges based on different professions. Exposing leaders to different scenarios expand their mind and exposé them to multiple solutions. Collaboration Healthcare and specifically nursing has allotted of stakeholders involved. A nurse is supposed to collaborate will all stakeholders which include the patients, their families, and others within the conduct of nursing practice. This collaboration is very significant as it plays a key role in the treatment and recovery of a patient. Collaborating with these pay creates confidence to the nurse and this working environment is suitable for effective practice. According to Hamric et al. (2014) the relationship that a nurse establishes with the rest of the nurses is very significant. The practice of nursing is a continuous process and needs daily improvement. This can only be achieved through sharing new skills and experiences. Hospitals and institutions ensure that the collaboration between all the necessary stakeholders is not affected. Measure has been put in place that control n.d monitor this collaboration as well as how each person relates to each other. There codes, policies and guidelines in hospitals that clearly stipulate the way nurses are supposed to relate with other nurses, their responsibility to patient and their families and so on. This ensures that regardless of any personal differences, a nurse will still be in a position to collaborate with all people. Feedback and recommendation The hospital I work with has been very keen to ensure that the nurses and the rest of the staff are working in collaboration. This has been encouraged by asking the staff to work in pairs. The hospital has developed a list of employees and their partners. This list is shifted every two months. This has created a good environment for the nurses to be able to learn about each other’s strength and weakness. According to Lipe & Beasley (2004), add that nurses have the role to partner with others to create changes that generates positive outcome. In such they should be able to document referrals as well as provision of continuity. I would recommend that the hospital work on improving the pairing system by making sure that weak staffs are not paired with other weak pairs. This can lead to compromise and confusion among a weak pair. According to Knust & Hanft (2009), academic qualification may not necessarily mean that an individual will be competent in their work. There is more than qualification that an individual needs to work on and learn from other members of the staff. Professional practice evaluation The nurse is expected to evaluate their own nursing practice in regards to professional practice standards and guide line, rules, relevant statutes and regulations. This evaluation helps a nurse identify their weaknesses and therefore set up strategies towards improvement in these specific areas of weakness. According to Gibson et al. (2014) self evaluation for nurses is significant as it helps a nurse challenge themselves and set new goals for themselves. For new nurses, self-evaluation is particularly important as it helps them master their strong points and work on their weaknesses. Self evaluation is a process that does not have any particular format. Instead, individuals should be creative in establishing ways of evaluating their performance in practice. There are institutions and hospitals that have set up programmers to ensure that nurses are able to improve and update the practice skills through self evolution. There are policies that require the nurses to undergo through self evaluation by taking feedback from the rest of the nurses and even the patients. The ANA encourages nurses to be more frequent with self evaluation other than one relying on their performance blindly. As a regulator of nursing in America, ANA is a realizable source of all the latest skills and knowledge and therefore is a realizable source for nurses to inquire about new information that can be used to improve three weak areas. For this reason, institutions are working in partnership with ANA in order to benefit the nurses. Reflection on Professional practice evaluation An effective and a competent nurse will engage themselves in self evaluation on a regular basis whether it is a management requirement or not. They will do this due to the need to improve their skills. In doing this, they will seek constructive feedback from the rest of the stakeholders regarding their own practice. They take the feedback and evaluate their performance based o that. The nurse is also required to participate actively in the peer reviews appropriately. These activities will help the nurse review their performance in relation with other people. The nurse will also reflect regularly on the latest advancement in regarding to the profession to make sure that they up to date with the skills and regulations. Recommendations The hospital encourages self-evaluation of nurses by giving nurses and the staff time off duty to review their performance. The hospital has a feedback form that nurses are supposed to share with patients they serve. The patients are supposed to explain and give feedback regarding the service given. The nurses are supposed to analyze the feedback and work on areas they have been found to be weak in. However, the hospital management needs be involved directly in the self-evaluation of an individual. This involvement will create some sense of accountability and commitment by the nurses to the programmed. In a situation where a nurse has full power over the process, they are likely to be reluctant and slow in doing the program. In addition to that, the management will be able to give a clear and unbiased judgment regarding their assessment. Resource utilization Every nurse is equipped with all the necessary resources that will help them deliver effectively. They should therefore consider some of the factors that are related to utilization and use of these resources. These issues of concern range from cost, safety effectiveness as well as impact on planning of practice and delivery of nursing services. The resources allocated for disposition to the nurse are very significant and should be utilized as needed. The resources could be in form of information or physical resource but all need the care of the nurse. According to Keating (2011) nurses are in their own ways manager and custodians. Their profession leads to resource allocation to them and this should be utilized in the right way. Hospitals and institutions have set up rules and regulations that govern the use and utilization of resources that are under the dispensation of the nurses. These policies and guidelines determine the circumstances under which the nurses are allowed to use the resources. Apart from that, hospitals have departments and heads of departments who nurses are answerable to. According to Doran (2011) utilization of resources in any organization needs a system of control and management as there are situations when employees neglected their responsibility and wanted the resources or misappropriated them. Feedback and recommendation The hospital I work with has a resource management centre where nurses are able to access all the necessary resources to facilitate their work. The resource centre has its own management with an accounting system that monitors the movement of resources within the hospitals. The nurses have a register with the centre and are required to sign against any item they acquire from the centre. This has helped the nurses utilize the resources wisely without misuse. Despite that, this system makes the nurses push the limits to the extreme in terms of resource utilization. Instead of being effective, they have turned it being a limitation to their job. The hospital should work on training the staff more on resource utilization other than putting strict rules that might influence the performance of the staff. This can be achieved by proper training of all staff members by resource team. Environmental health According to American Nurses Association (2010), there is an additional nursing standard which aims at supporting the nurse’s concern with their environmental health. This standard states that the registered nurse should practice in an environmental that is safe and healthy too. This standards aims to; Improve the general safety as well as quality of patient care Ensure the safety for health of the nurse and other professionals within the health care as well as health care workers Ensure the health care practices do not cause any harm to the public health or the environment outside the location where health care is delivered. This standard is a new concept but nonetheless, hospitals have incorporated the system to allow nurses work within environments that have no health effect to the nurse or the patient the work with. Environmental effects can have different health impacts on different individuals. Environmental exposures if not controlled can have a negative impact on human beings. According to Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (2014), Biological, behavioral and social factors that render human beings vulnerable to poor health conditions and outcomes are so close related to environmental influence. Feedback and recommendations The hospital I work has a security and safety team whose duty is to ensure the security and safety of all the employees. The team performs regular inspection and maintenance in areas of operation. There is also a fire and emergency department that is on standby in case of accidents. The hospitals offer training occasionally to employees and nurses on how they should safeguard their health and how to handle emergency situations like the first aid. All this is to ensure that the nurses and the rest of staff are in a safe environment. According to Lundy and Janes (2009) it is easy to overlook on the environmental risks that may affect the nursing practice. For that reason, the right procedures should be ensures to safeguard the life of the nurse. The hospital should also put emphasis on ensuring that not just the staff is protected but also the environment itself. Disposing of the waste and cleanliness of the environment should be maintained. According to Guzik (2013), issues of environment can be contradicting. Much attention has been given to the effect of human act ivies and ignoring the effects that he environment causes to the human beings. There is need to balance this two concepts. References Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments. (2014, January 1). Vulnerable Populations. Retrieved May 4, 2015, from Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments: http://envirn.org/pg/groups/16/vulnerable-populations Top of Form American Nurses Association (2010) Nursing: Scope and standards of practice. Silver Spring, Md: American Nurses Association. Top of Form Rubenfeld, M. G., & Scheffer, B. K. (2010) Critical thinking tactics for nurses: Achieving the IOM competencies. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett. Bottom of Form Top of Form Shoenfeld, Y., In Meroni, P.-L., & In Gershwin, M. E. (2013) Autoantibodies Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Top of Form Forman, H. (2011). Nursing leadership for patient-centered care: Authenticity, presence, intuition, expertise New York, NY: Springer Pub. Co Top of Form In Fulton, J. S., In Lyon, B. L., & In Goudreau, K. A. (2014) Foundations of clinical nurse specialist practice. Top of Form Roe, K. (2014) Leadership: Practice and perspectives. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press Top of Form Kush, B. D. (2009). Auditing Leadership: The Professional and Leadership Skills You Need. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Top of Form Ledlow, G. R., Coppola, M. N., In Birtcher, K., & ODonnell, M. (2014) Leadership for health professionals: Theory, skills, and applications Top of Form In Hamric, A. B., In Hanson, C. M., In Tracy, M. F., & In OGrady, E. T. (2014) Advanced practice nursing: An integrative approach. Top of Form Lipe, S. K., & Beasley, S. (2004). Critical thinking in nursing: A cognitive skills workbook. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Top of Form Knust, M., & Hanft, A. (2009) Continuing higher education and lifelong learning: An international comparative study on structures, organisation, and provisions Dordrecht: Springer Top of Form Gibson, J. L., Shah, B. M., & Umberger, R. (2014) Clinical medical assisting: An introduction to the fundamentals of practice Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Top of Form Keating, S. B., Keating, S. B., & Keating, S. B. (2011) Curriculum development and evaluation in nursing New York: Springer Pub. Co Top of Form Doran, D. (2011) Nursing outcomes: The state of the science. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Top of Form Lundy, K. S., & Janes, S. (2009). Community health nursing: Caring for the publics health. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Top of Form Guzik, A. (2013). Essentials for occupational health nursing Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons. Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Read More