Removing Barriers to Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Care, Essay Example

There are basic principles that are important when completing a job in an efficient and effective manner.  This includes equal pay and opportunities, practical management, and work conditions that are adequately safe.  In accounting for these issues, hospital administrators can hope to establish a more practical, efficient, and safe work environment.  This is important in any workplace, due to the need for specific standards.  This is especially true, however, when working in a healthcare environment, in which the performance of employees has a direct and profound impact on the health of those that they care for.

The need to provide adequate compensation, policy decisions, and work safety is important in any field, but especially in regards to healthcare.  Licensed vocational nurses and licensed practical nurses, for example, are an essential element in providing services to these patients.  Their work helps to provide the necessary services to patients that go towards making their lives more comfortable.  Administrative issues can also work to undermine the performance of workers, and also the experience of the patients, and their abilities to recover from the issues that they face (Porter 2015). In promoting effective management of these environments, a more inclusive healthcare system can be created. Finally, the issue of culpability is important.  For healthcare workers to be able to make mistakes and report on unsafe or impractical working conditions should be a priority for healthcare establishments, due to their moral obligations to those that they serve.

The inability to provide adequate pay to healthcare workers presents a challenge in maintaining a well-established workforce. The attainment of these positions requires specialized training, and the need to invest money creates the necessity of providing adequate pay to LVNs and LPNs.  “The concept of equal pay for work of equal value is complex requires rigorous criteria” (Chicha, 2006 p. 23).  Providing deserved pay and the availability for advancement can help to make these worker’s employment more enjoyable, prompting them to say, and effectively establishing a more cohesive workforce. In providing a better work environment for employees, they will provide better services to those that they care for.

Another issue that can prevent these workers from properly fulfilling their roles is the presence of specific rules or regulations that prevent them from providing the best care that they can for their patients. This involves not only providing them with well-trained workers, but those that they are familiar and comfortable with. “Individual hospital bylaws and policies, can block hospitalized patients’ access to their provider of choice” (Brassard, 2011 p. 1).  In establishing arbitrary policies that prevent healthcare workers from providing their best services, these regulations effectively work to prevent them from receiving the best possible experience within their healthcare environment.

One of the most important aspects of hospital care that prevents these workers from fulfilling their obligations is the inability to make complaints or recommendations without fear of reprisal. This prevents them from providing the best possible care to their patients as well as confirming that they have the best treatments available or that they understand the options available to them when making important decisions.  “The willingness of staff to freely report accidents is a prerequisite of safer healthcare” (Emslie, 2002 p. 17).  The importance of this ability essentially lies in the capabilities of the workers to promote the preexisting values that should be inherent in the healthcare system’s underlying policies.

References

Brassard, A. Smolenski, M. (2011). Removing Barriers to Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Care: Hospital Privileges. AARP Public Policy Institute, 1-12.

Chicha, M.T. (2006). A comparative Analysis of Promoting Pay Equity: Models and Impacts. International Labor Organization, Geneva, 1-89.

Emslie, S. (2002). Improving Patient Safety: Insights from American, Australian and British healthcare. ECRI, 1-183.

Porter, J. (2015). Role of the Licensed Practical Nurse/Licensed Vocational Nurse in the School Setting. National Association of School Nurses. Retrieved 24 September 2015 From https://www.nasn.org/PolicyAdvocacy/PositionPapersandReports/NASNPositionStatementsFullView/tabid/462/ArticleId/864/Role-of-the-Licensed-Practical-Nurse-Licensed-Vocational-Nurse-in-the-School-Setting-Adopted-June-20.