Health Care Workers Unprotected, Coursework Example

Introduction

I have learned much from units 1-8 that have been provided in this course, and I believe that because of this information, I possess an even greater ability to be effective in my own practice setting in the future. There are many different facets to nursing practice that impact the quality and scope of patient care; therefore, these concerns must be addressed on a continuous basis as a means of developing strategies to enhance practice objectives and promote patient wellbeing. These units have provided me with a comprehensive framework for understanding nursing practice more effectively and the issues that are often raised in treating patients, using existing policies, evidence-based practice solutions, and other factors that contribute to effective outcomes for patients. The challenge is to combine these tools and to be effective in providing a framework for my patients and my fellow nurses that build upon traditional education, while applying policies and methods that are practical and effective in meeting the needs of patients across all health status levels. These factors will demonstrate the effectiveness of patient care outcomes and the ability of nurses to be successful in treating patients under a variety of conditions. The following reflection will summarize my own personal analysis of the units that I have learned and how they currently contribute to my growth as a learner and in my future role in nursing practice.

Analysis

Through these units, I have learned that nursing practice is continuously evolving, thereby creating an environment that requires change as new policies, regulations, and other needs emerge (Fairman et.al, 2011). With the continued expansion of technologies in nursing practice, there are critical factors that must be addressed to promote efficiency and effectiveness within the scope of practice that will provide a consistent framework for change as healthcare evolves (Fairman et.al, 2011). Nursing practice cannot remain static within the scope of a much larger healthcare practice setting; rather, it must reflect an opportunity to examine the different perspectives that are associated with nursing practice that incorporate different forms of change and opportunity for the field and for its nurses (Fairman et.al, 2011).

There are many issues to consider with nursing practice, and these concerns are associated with direct patient care, research, evidence-based practice, and the availability of resources in order to perform all required roles effectively. These factors support the development of new strategies that enable nurses to provide high quality care to patients under a variety of settings. Policies that govern nursing practice are significant because they regulate specific procedures and other activities that involve direct patient care, research, and other areas, thereby creating an environment that supports some restrictions on activities that promote patient safety. This is one of the most critical components of nursing practice, as it provides a basis for exploring different issues that are related to nursing and how patients are evaluated and treated in the healthcare setting. I believe that nursing-based regulations are critical to all practice settings because they support the continued growth and development of factors that have a positive impact on patient care outcomes over time. Without these regulations in place, patient safety and health could be unnecessarily jeopardized, which is not a practical means of conducting practice on any level.

The nursing profession requires my full commitment and dedication to all patients across all practice settings; therefore, I must be able to demonstrate my ability to articulate the professional goals and objectives of nursing practice on a continuous basis (American Nurses Association, 2010). From this perspective, I must establish expert knowledge in all required core competencies, along with other factors that will encourage and support my growth as a nursing professional within the context of the modern healthcare setting (American Nurses Association, 2010). In all of my activities as a professional nurse, I must demonstrate my ability to be an effective communicator and an advocate of nursing as a socially and ethically responsible field (American Nurses Association, 2010). With these units, I have become increasingly interested in the legal political, and regulatory aspects of nursing practice because they largely govern practice settings and establish a tone for greater compliance across the profession. I believe that full ethical responsibility and disclosure regarding nursing-based activities is critical to the success of practice environments and in expanding knowledge across different areas of focus, including advanced practice nursing and specialty areas.

There are many areas of nursing practice that must be considered in order to develop a comprehensive point of view regarding the practice and how successful outcomes are achieved on behalf of patients. These issues reflect the importance of new strategies that include an evolution of practice settings as needs change and new requirements emerge. For example, the integration of evidence-based practice solutions is a critical aspect of modern nursing practice that requires an ongoing approach that supports the active utilization of research-based evidence to solve longstanding issues in nursing that impact quality of care on a continuous basis (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2011). Evidence-based solutions often provide a new set of objectives and expectations for nurses that are likely to have a positive impact on patient care outcomes once they are proven effective in the practice setting (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2011). As I have developed a greater understanding of evidence-based practice, I have also learned that patients require a significant level of attention and focus, particularly with problems for which current care guidelines and treatments have been unsuccessful. In this capacity, I believe that there is always room for change if a new technique or strategy is deemed more effective than an existing one, and this is important because it provides me with a framework for making recommendations that will lead to effective outcomes for my patients through evidence-based practice concepts.

In a professional capacity, I must demonstrate my commitment to the nursing profession and to my fellow nurses on a daily basis, and this is achieved through activities that promote a “culture of safety” among all nursing units (American Nurses Association, 2013). This concept refers to the ability of nurses to have access to tools and technologies that will enhance their own safety, as well as the safety of all patients (American Nurses Association, 2013). Promoting safety for nurses and for patients requires greater attention to the alternatives that are available to support nurse and patient safety, including common techniques that prevent injury (American Nurses Association, 2013). I believe that protecting my colleagues and patients from injury are key priorities of nursing practice that require ongoing attention and focus in order to promote greater attention to proper body mechanics and other tools to prevent injury when lifting patients or in working with patients in other areas. In addition, protecting patients requires an ongoing approach that will be effective in preventing injury in patients, particularly from falls.

Advanced practice roles in nursing enhance the nursing environment in many ways and support the expansion of knowledge in order to achieve high quality care and treatment at all times (Lowe et.al, 2012). There is much confusion regarding the role of advanced practice nursing and its relationship to patient care, noted as follows: “A plethora of international literature exists discussing advanced practice nursing roles and their contribution to healthcare delivery in various countries. However, lack of consistency around title, role definition and scope of practice remains” (Lowe et.al, 2012, p. 677). As a result, advanced practice nurses may be misunderstood from the general patient perspective and in healthcare practice as a whole, including the scope of their roles and practice objectives (Lowe et.al, 2012).  In advanced practice nursing, there are theoretical models in place that support an ongoing approach to expand caring not only as an emotional response, but also as a scientific principle that supports nursing practice objectives (Dunphy & Winland-Brown, 2011). However, nursing relies on other clinical areas in order to provide patients with a comprehensive environment for achieving excellence and high quality care, using the tools that are available to achieve these objectives effectively at all times (Dunphy & Winland-Brown, 2011). From this perspective, I have learned that advanced practice nursing requires expanded education to enable patients to better understand these roles and to recognize the value of these roles in the care and treatment of patients. At the same time, the scope and limitations of advanced practice nursing must also be addressed, while also recognizing the opportunities that are available to expand these roles in both traditional and non-traditional environments to better recognize the value of advanced practice nursing in the modern era. This is the future of nursing practice, and it requires a high level of education and knowledge in order to support its growth and acceptance from a patient care perspective. In addition, the general healthcare environment is likely to benefit from advanced practice nursing on a larger scale, once it is better understood and accepted by the healthcare community. Furthermore, caring must be incorporated as a means of expanding the quality of care and treatment that are provided to patients, along with other factors that will positively impact outcomes and enhance patient wellbeing.

All areas of nursing practice require continuous attention and focus to promote greater excellence throughout the nursing environment. Therefore, as systems evolve and change to meet the needs of patients and of the surrounding environment, how these changes impact nurses must be well understood and accepted so that the appropriate changes are made to accommodate patient care in an effective manner (Edwards et.al, 2011). For example, the expanded presence of nurse practitioners has required a period of adjustment for those who are unfamiliar with this role and how it impacts patient care (Edwards et.al, 2011). From this perspective, it is essential to better understand how nurse practitioners impact the nursing environment and the dynamics that have been long been held through traditional unit nursing objectives (Edwards et.al, 2011). As the scope of practice requires expanded knowledge and resources, however, there has been a shift in the perceptions regarding advanced practice nursing and its role in practice settings, thereby increasing its relevance and its contributions to the nursing environment (Edwards et.al, 2011). These factors support a greater understanding of the advanced practice role and how it impacts patient care quality and the knowledge that is available to treat patients effectively and without incident (Edwards et.al, 2011). As the scope of practice expands in this area, I believe that other factors must also be considered as key contributors to nursing practice that will impact direct patient care and treatment in a positive manner. Advanced practice nursing is critical in modern healthcare environments as a key contributor to promoting change and progress that will positively impact patient care outcomes.

Nurses are educated regarding a variety of theories that follow them into the practice setting in many ways. The application of these nursing theories is instrumental in adopting a framework to promote high quality care and an understanding of the nurse’s role in promoting the patient as a human being and as a recipient of care and treatment (Anderson and McFarlane, 2010). With this framework in place, I believe that although theories are not discussed in nursing practice on a regular basis, they are adequately adopted under different settings, depending on the applicability of the theory and how it impacts patient care in different ways. Different specialty areas call for different theoretical approaches; therefore, these frameworks often shape the decisions that nurses make and how they adapt to changes that occur in the practice setting. I am committed to adopting these theories as necessary in order to achieve the desired results and to demonstrate my ability to understand complex concepts and to adapt them to the work environment as necessary to enhance the quality of care for my patients.

As nursing practice continues to evolve, the future direction of nursing requires a higher number of nurses with advanced degrees in order to accommodate the needs of an ever-changing population, including an increased number of older adults (Aiken, 2011). These factors support the development of new perspectives that will encourage the growth of practice settings and the development of expanded opportunities to prepare and train advanced practice nurses, which are currently severely limited in many areas (Aiken, 2011). Based upon these needs, it is important to identify methods to expand education for advanced practice nurses and to provide them with the tools that are necessary to provide expert knowledge and attention to a variety of specialty areas and in primary care settings (Aiken, 2011). These factors support the development of new methods to acquire expert faculty to educate students and to support advanced practice nursing through these tools (Aiken, 2011). I have learned that nursing schools providing advanced degrees are severely limited in their resources, thereby requiring new methods to recruit qualified faculty and to educate larger numbers of nurses to obtain advanced degrees to accommodate demand within the healthcare environment. The advanced practice role is a significant contributor to high quality care and treatment for patients, and therefore, it requires much attention and focus in order to accomplish the desired objectives. This process will support the continued expansion of efforts that are required to generate support for advanced practice nursing to accommodate the changing demographics of the patient population and in supporting the needs of patients across a variety of specialty areas. These issues will continue to be relevant to nursing practice for the foreseeable future.

Conclusion

Over the past eight units, I have acquired much information regarding various aspects of nursing practice that will support and enhance my growth as a nursing professional, both now and in the future. I have learned that regulations and policies are critical to the development of new approaches to improve quality of patient care. In addition, I have learned that nursing practice requires significant support and input from a variety of areas and individuals from all experience levels in order to form a cohesive practice environment and overall level of support for the work that is performed within these settings. All nurses must hold themselves ethically accountable for all decisions that they make, and they must also be able to justify their actions, based upon existing policies, regulations, and frameworks. These opportunities are essential to the discovery of new strategies to enhance nursing practice and patient care quality through the actions that are taken and the decisions that are made to accommodate patient care effectively and with the safety of all patients as a primary objective. These units have been largely instrumental in expanding my knowledge and interest in areas that I was not familiar with, such as regulatory requirements and policies that impact nursing practice on a daily basis. I believe that this knowledge will be effective in impacting my future practice setting and in determining how to best move forward to improve my own practice and the work that I perform in a professional nursing capacity. As I move forward in my career, I am committed to making the most of every situation and in supporting the advancement of nursing practice through my actions in order to promote a greater understanding of the practice setting and how my role promotes quality of care and patient safety through the decisions that I make and the actions that I take on behalf of my patients on a regular basis.

References

Aiken, L. H. (2011). Nurses for the future. New England Journal of Medicine, 364(3), 196-198.

American Nurses Association (2013).  “Health care workers unprotected”: Clarion call for                    Culture of safety.

American Nurses Association (Ed.). (2010). Nursing’s social policy statement: The essence of the profession. Nursesbooks. org.

Anderson, E. T., & McFarlane, J. M. (2010). Community as partner: Theory and practice in nursing. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Dunphy, L. M., & Winland-Brown, J. E. (2011). Primary care: The art and science of advanced practice nursing. FA Davis.

Edwards, N., Rowan, M., Marck, P., & Grinspun, D. (2011). Understanding whole systems change in health care: the case of nurse practitioners in Canada. Policy, Politics, &  Nursing Practice, 12(1), 4-17.

Fairman, J. A., Rowe, J. W., Hassmiller, S., & Shalala, D. E. (2011). Broadening the scope of nursing practice. New England Journal of Medicine, 364(3), 193-196.

Lowe, G., Plummer, V., O’Brien, A. P., & Boyd, L. (2012). Time to clarify–the value of advanced practice nursing roles in health care. Journal of advanced nursing, 68(3), 677-685.

McSherry, R., & Douglas, M. (2011). Innovation in nursing practice: a means to tackling the global challenges facing nurses, midwives and nurse leaders and managers in the future. Journal of nursing management, 19(2), 165-169.

Melnyk, B. M., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (Eds.). (2011). Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: A guide to best practice. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.