Nursing Role and Scope

Nursing Role and Scope

Chapter 6

Nursing is a practice that is imperative to healthcare, and indeed nurses play a significant role in the restoration of health to patients. Nursing practice has always been seen as being a supportive function to the doctors. However, currently, the image of nursing has been improved and elevated to being seen as an independent practice that can only be done by professionals. Individuals who want to be nurses have to undergo a lot of training through the different steps so that they acquire the needed knowledge and skills that they will use to give care to their patients (Cherry, 2016).

It is currently seen as a practice that needs people who are caring and who can take care of their patients in the most emotional way to encourage the patients. This is done by giving the nurses a practical experience before they graduate so that when they do finish their studies, they will not have a shock in terms of expectations versus reality. Different factors affect role development in nursing and the way the nurses perform their tasks. The first factor is socialization which is the primary way nurses obtain their knowledge through education.

One goes through the stages gradually from a novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, then finally becoming an expert. During all these stages, the nurses are taught the ethics of nursing and what is expected of them in their roles and the duties they have towards their patients. In addition to this, nurses are given an ethical code that they are expected to follow through the code of conduct that is set out by the international nursing body. What these ethical values do is that they ground the nurses into their role and help them develop the skills and values that they need to hold as they attend to their patients (Draper et al. 2008).

Chapter 7

It has always been my dream and ambition to become a nurse, and it is something that motivates me to keep improving and increasing the knowledge that I have. I, therefore, view nursing as a career that am actively pursuing to meet the goals that I have set for myself. The first goal that I have set in advancing my nursing career is to obtain a BSN degree and then proceed with the MSN degree so that I will have educational knowledge and background required. I will then improve my role through continuously seeking out experiences that will improve my knowledge of nursing practice and especially how to relate well with patients. This will require me to actively commit to nursing through engaging in healthcare initiatives that will increase my knowledge of patient needs and also keep up with changing trends and needs when it comes to patient care (Zaccagnini et al., 2019).

In preparing for a nursing interview, the first thing I will do is go through my school notes and ensure that my resume is up to date. What this step will do is refresh my memory on all the different aspects of nursing that are important and especially the role that nurses have to play and also ensure that my competences are well stated. I will then go through the nursing code of conduct and ethics for all nursing practice. In this way, I will ensure that all the questions I answer are grounded on the moral codes that we follow and that they are based on providing the best care to patients. The final step is to ensure that I am well dressed and presentable so that I am neat and show that I am ready to take care of my patients.

Chapter 8

When I was a new nurse, I experienced a situation that greatly troubled me and left me thinking about it for some time. A patient came in complaining of severe headaches and that normally a certain type of painkiller always relieved the pain. Because she was in deep pain, I was authorized by the doctor to prescribe the painkiller, but I felt that this was not right. Looking at it now after critically thinking about it, I would have required more tests to be done on the patient before prescribing any medication that would have done some harm to the patient in the long run (Finkelman, 2017).

To promote safety,  different groups need to create a system of safety that allows the reporting of any cases and errors. When these are recorded, and the relevant groups are made aware of them, they will ensure that they do not happen again. It is also important to share the national safety requirements so that even family members will be aware of the different safety measures they will need to do when taking care of a patient.

In any given medical situation, as in all of life as well, mistakes can be made. To err is human, and what nurses need to do to create a culture of safety is to acknowledge that errors can be made in their hospitals. The other factor is to create an environment of trust that allows staff to report any errors and risks they face. In this way, they will be able to correct and improve any unsafe conditions they and their patients might be facing. The last factor is creating a system of safety, where nurses review the errors that they made in the past so that they can avoid making the same mistakes in the future (Draper et al., 2019).

Chapter 9

Nurses play a major role when it comes to improving the quality of treatment that they offer their patients, and it follows that they are the gatekeepers of quality improvement. The first role that nurses have is to develop relationships with patients, and this will ensure that they are on the same page in understanding that they aim to restore them to health. Nurses should then conduct benchmarking in which they define the quality measures and what aspects should be considered in identifying and meeting the set standard.

Their ability to monitor and record patient data is also important as it will ensure they have the right records.  After this, they should practice healthcare transparency where they make the information on healthcare needs the public to ensure that the standards of quality and known and adhered to. In addition to this, nurses need to be continuously evaluated to ensure that their performance is well tracked and that they are adhering to the rules that have been put in place for them (Jensen et al. 2016).

Nurse-sensitive measures are important in delivering the best nursing outcomes because they involve patients and ensure that they are part of the recovery process. It looks at the different measures that nurses need to take in the different patient situations and the subsequent roles that they have to play. They also include patient-centred and system-centred measures that look into how the nurses have performed and the efforts they have put in improving quality and patient recovery. They are very important in nursing because they enable nurses to gauge their actions and ensure they are helping their patients (Graystone, 2018).

Chapter 11

Patient-centred care is providing patients with responsive and respectful treatment that is particular to their individual needs and also ensuring that their values and guided in the entire process. This, therefore, calls for analyzing the needs of the patients in terms of their cultures and values to ensure that treatment is in line with them. The characteristics of patient-centred care are to respecting the values, preferences and expressed needs of the patient, communication and integration of care, information and education to the patient and their family based on patient preferences, physical comfort and emotional support (Cherry, 2016).

Information, communication and education is the nest characteristic, and this has to be based on the patient’s preferences so that they understand. Involving family and friends so that they support the patient and ensure that they continue with their treatment plans so that they may get well.  In the case of the 80-year-old adult male, the method used is andragogy. The steps include letting the patient know why the particular disease and medication are important, showing him how to take the medication and various directions. Also, relating the ailments and subsequent medication to the experiences that he has had and then motivating him to learn and recover by insisting that his culture is one that is known to persevere and be strong (Masters. 2018).

I will evaluate the effectiveness of my education based on how well the patient takes medicine and their willingness to share the information given to his family and friends. Perhaps the best indicator as to the effectiveness will be how well the patient responds to treatment and if he is improving after correctly taking their medication and meeting the outcomes of recovery.

Chapter 12

My role as a nurse is to, first of all, understand all the different types of informatics and how to operate the different technologies. In this way, I will be able to maintain a clear and smooth system of records in regards to the patient history and information and ensure that they are available whenever needed. This, therefore, requires me to be careful when inputting information and also when recording any changes in the patient to ensure that there are no discrepancies. Maintaining healthcare information calls for me to ensure that nobody else except the patient and doctors gets access to patients’ private files (Finkelman, 2017).

Information management is the science in nursing that involves collecting, managing and retrieving patient information. What this does is ensure that a database is created on the different patients and that this can be retrieved whenever needed. Information management plays a crucial role in ensuring patient safety and continuity in treatment because it greatly helps to prevent any errors from taking place, especially those that may be caused by data errors. It also plays a huge role in ensuring the privacy of patients is maintained by ensuring that their records are kept safe and not accessed by the wrong hands.

Some of the technologies that exist in South Florida include the internet and mobile clinics. In this way, the underserved communities get the chance to understand more about healthcare and also get access to their medical files in an easy way. These services they get when they go into cyber services and also when the clinics do outreach programs that go into their communities.

Chapter 13

There are various nursing care delivery models that are used by nurses, and the three main ones are team nursing, total patient care and case management. Team nursing involves dividing the nursing staff into teams who then attend to patients who are also grouped based on their diagnoses. The team, comprised of a registered nurse, a licensed practical nurse and two unlicensed assistive personnel, work together as each member is given their duties. The total patient care model, on the other hand, operates in the opposite way where it is the registered nurse who has full responsibility of the patient and takes care of all their needs during the time they are in hospital. Case management, on the other hand, requires that a case manager outlines the clinical pathway of all the different patients and ensures that healthcare professionals adhere to the expected outcomes by implementing the set interventions (Lee et al., 2019).

The first communication strategy for interprofessional teams is cross-monitoring, and this involves monitoring the activities and actions of other team members to ensure that they are in line with the team expectations. The second technique is SBAR, which starts with understanding the situation that the patient is in, the background of how it all happened, assessment based on the data that the healthcare provider has and finally the recommendations that need to be done after reviewing the situation that the patient is in. The third technique is concerned, uncomfortable and safety (CUS) in which nurses analyze the medications and interventions given to patients and the look for any discrepancies that may affect the recovery of the patient (Masters, 2018).

Chapter 14

Boundaries limit the relationships that nurses have with their patients and also give each party the respect they deserve in maintaining their autonomy. Different signs signify a boundary violation, with some of them being more severe than others. One sign is sexual misconduct from the nurse that may make the patient feels vulnerable and exploited, misuse of power, betrayal of trust on the part of the nurse where they may disclose confidential patient information without consent, and this also borders on personal disclosure which is another sign and that greatly affects the dignity of patients and their rights. Other signs include neglect of one’s duties to a patient, abuse of one’s rights and giving of gifts from the patient to the nurse as a means of bribery or trying to manipulate them (King, 2019).

Terminal sedation refers to the compassionate ending of a patient’s life by the nurse or doctor after having seen that the patient was in severe pain. They are administered some painkillers that numb the pain out completely and leads them to unconsciousness until they die. Rational suicide is seen as a form of euthanasia, and this is when the patient is undergoing a lot of pain or if they are terminally ill. The patient then asks for the doctor’s help to enable them to end their life gracefully instead of continually ailing and not getting better. Physician-assisted suicide, on the other hand, is seen as socially unethical, and it refers to when a doctor gives the patient lethal doses of certain medication so that they self-administer and die (Masters, 2018).

Chapter 15

The legal system exists to protect all people, and this is also the case for nurses and their patients. Nurses are expected to be law-abiding citizens who seek out only the best for their patients and their fellow staff. In this sense, the legal system is important to nurses because it sets out the rules that they are expected to follow and also stipulates the rights that they have as far as their professions are concerned. The legal system also stipulates the rights of patients and the mandates that nurses have and what they should adhere to. Because of this, the legal system is important to nurses because it protects them from various issues and cases and also prevents them from being wrongly accused if something goes wrong with a patient.

Registered nurses can avoid encountering ay legal nursing problems by understanding that they have a huge role to play in the lives of patients. This will encourage them to be professionally accountable in all they do, and these are strategies that will ensure they do not encounter any legal issues. The first strategy is to value of informed consent, where the patient must be made aware and must also agree to the different terms and medication that they will be exposed to. Privacy and confidentiality is the second strategy and one from which many legal cases stem. Nurses must ensure that they safeguard all patient information and do not disclose it to other people without the patient’s consent. Delegation is the third strategy, and here the nurse delegates the patient to another nurse after having established their clinical pathway and all that is left is to administer the medication (Masters, 2016).

References

Cherry yB., & Jacob, S. R. (2016). Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, & management. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Draper D. A., Felland, L. E., Liebhaber, A., & Melichar, L. (2008). The role of nurses in hospital quality improvement. Research brief, (3), 1-8.

Graystone, R. (2018). The Importance of Nurse-Sensitive Outcome Measurements. JONA: Journal of Nursing Administration, 48(11), 533-534.

Finkelman, A. (2017). Quality Improvement. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Jensen R., Guedes, E. D. S., & Leite, M. M. J. (2016). Informatics competencies essential to decision making in nursing management. Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da USP, 50(1), 109-117.

King, M. (2019). Boundary violations between nurses and patients. British Journal of Mental Health Nursing 8, no.1 (2019): 7-9.

Lee, S. E., Scott, L. D., Dahinten, V. S., Vincent, C., Lopez, K. D., & Park, C. G. (2019). Safety culture, patient safety, and quality of care outcomes: A literature review. Western journal of nursing research, 41(2), 279-304

Masters, K. (2018). Role development in professional nursing practice. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Zaccagnini, M., & Paechacek, J. M. (2019). The doctor of nursing practice essentials: A new model for advanced practice nursing. Jones & Bartlett Learning.