NRS 430 Professional Development Discussion
NRS 430 Professional Development Discussion
NRS 430 Topic 4 Professional Development of Nursing Professionals GCU
Continuing professional development of nurses is a fundamental aspect of lifelong learning and allows nurses to keep knowledge and their skills up-to-date. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) in its 2010 recognized the role that nurses would play in healthcare reforms and made a raft of recommendations based on its four key messages (Brunt & Morris, 2021). Therefore, a core aspect of these messages is the need for nurses to improve their skills through lifelong learning by getting advanced nursing education. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the influence of the IOM report on nursing practice and the need for professional development among nurses as a critical component of healthcare provision.
Four Message of the IOM Report & Significance to Nursing Practice
The 2010 IOM report had four key messages or recommendations for nurses to position themselves strategically in healthcare provision. Firstly, the report stresses the need for nurses to practice to the fullest level of their education and training without any hindrances imposed by state boards of nursing. The message influences nursing practice as it means that nurses should be barred from practicing what they have trained on in different specialties (Price & Reichert, 2018). Secondly, the report asserted that nurses should engage in lifelong learning to acquire higher levels of education and training based on a better education system. The message means that the nursing practice requires professional nurses to engage in continual professional development to attain the latest skills and knowledge in healthcare provision, especially the deployment of technology.
Thirdly, the report asserts that nurses should be full partners alongside physicians and other healthcare profession to redesign the health care system. The message means that nurses can also practice autonomously based on their training to enhance access to care among patient populations. Fourthly, the report asserts that effective workforce planning and making policies needs better data gathering and an improved information infrastructure (Grand Canyon University, 2018). The implication is that the nursing profession should have relevant data to assess the different specialties for nurses to improve care delivery.
The IOM report has significant influence on nursing education and leadership. Firstly, as equal partners, nurses are leaders and have increased power to advocate change and revise restrictive barriers to practice. Nurses are recognized as primary care providers in certain states and can lead in care provision among inter-professional and multidisciplinary teams (Shelton et al., 2020). The IOM report has improved nurses access to better and advanced education as it recommended an increase in Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) prepared-nurses to respond to the changing nature of healthcare provision. Through the recommendation and evidence-based practice (EBP) findings, many facilities introduced tuition reimbursement, instituted continuing education plans and promotions to incentivize nurses to attain higher educational qualifications.
BSN-prepared nurses have more competency and necessary skills in communication, critical thinking, management and leadership compared to their non-BSN-prepared colleagues. Further, BSN-prepared nurses are becoming designers, coordinators, and care managers in different situations (Tierney et al., 2020). Therefore, the IOM report implores stakeholders to continuously transform the nursing profession as frontline care providers, and encourages them to attain higher education to be leaders in different areas of care provision.
Evolving Role and Education of Nurses to Meet Needs of Diverse Patient Population
Nurses roles continue to expand and transform because of different aspects impacting the healthcare sector and care delivery. These include an aging population, patient diversity, and integration of innovative care models like value-based purchasing aimed at enhancing access to quality care as well as the implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP) interventions (Tierney et al., 2020). Today, nurses leverage their education and training to deliver safe and quality care in an effective manner. The increasing prevalence of chronic conditions due to arise in life expectancy means that nurses will have more roles in different care settings. Emerging infectious diseases like the Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) that cause pandemics and public health concerns like the opioid epidemic means that nurses will remain frontline care providers. Therefore, nurses must educate patients on aspects like self-management for those with diabetes, promote primary and preventive care in community settings, and collaborate with other healthcare workers to deliver quality care.
Nurses need higher education and training to meet the needs of the expanding scope of practice and increasing accessibility among patients. Racial diversity continues to define American society and nurses need cultural competence to deliver quality care. The implication is that nurses should be prepared to offer services, initiative, and interventions that are culturally appropriate and sensitive to these diverse patient populations (Mlambo et al., 2021). Nurses based on their expanding roles have the best position to advance and advocate for patient needs, especially in primary care settings.
Professional development or lifelong learning is significant to nursing and very relevant in caring for diverse populations across the lifespan and in the health-illness continuum. Lifelong learning allows nurses to acquire requisite skills to interact with patients, especially from diverse cultural settings. Lifelong learning ensures that nurses have up-to-date medical and health knowledge and can promote primary care interventions in their practice (Price & Reichert, 2018). Lifelong learning gives nurse a chance to acquire better approaches to care situations, align their experience and scientific study findings by implementing EBP model, and increasing wellness of patients (Brunt & Morris, 2021). Through professional development, nurses acquire better skills that include critical thinking and problem-solving attributes required to resolve issues that they face in care delivery. Therefore, nurses must embrace lifelong learning to improve their skills and offer quality care to diverse patient populations through cultural competent care.
Evolution of Healthcare System and Management of Patient Care
The management of patient care is at the core of the nursing profession. Nurses can effectively manage patient care as the health care system evolves by using EBP interventions and offering care that is patient-focused. They should also acquire advanced education and competence aimed at meeting demands of an aging and diverse population and society. Advanced education will remove practice barriers and allow nurses to engage in research (Grand Canyon University, 2018). Nurses can transform the health care system through advanced education when they focus on utilization of research evidence and safe quality patient care. Nurses should also lead inter-professional teams and focus on enhanced teamwork to deliver quality care. They also need to understand their roles and responsibilities within their multidisciplinary team setting for better patient care management.
Conclusion
Professional nursing development is critical for nurses to meet the growing need and diversity of health care system. Nurses should attain the suggestions made by the IOM report to position themselves better to deliver quality care. The diversity in population and care demand require nurses to enhance their education, adopt EBP interventions, and work collaboratively in teams to deliver quality care to patients and health populations.
References
Brunt, A. B. & Morris, M. M. (2021). Nursing Professional Development. StatPearls [Internet].
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK531482/
Grand Canyon University (Ed). (2018). Dynamics in nursing: Art & science of professional
practice. Chapter 4. https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs430v/dynamics-in-
nursing-art-and-science-of-professional-practice/v1.1/
Price, S., & Reichert, C. (2018). The importance of continuing professional development to
career satisfaction and patient care: meeting the needs of novice to mid-to late-career nurses throughout their career span. Administrative Sciences, 7(2), 17. doi:10.3390/admsci7020017
Mlambo, M., Silén, C., & McGrath, C. (2021). Lifelong learning and nurses’ continuing
professional development, a meta-synthesis of the literature. BMC nursing, 20(1), 1-13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-021-00579-2
Tierney, M., Finnell, D. S., Naegle, M., Mitchell, A. M., & Pace, E. M. (2020). The Future of
Nursing: Accelerating gains made to address the continuum of substance use. Archives of psychiatric nursing, 34(5), 297-303. DOI: 10.1016/j.apnu.2020.07.010.
Shelton, D., Maruca, A. T., & Wright, R. (2020). Nursing in the American justice system.
Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 34(5), 304-309. DOI: 10.1016/j.apnu.2020.07.019
Topic 5 DQ 2
Discuss the importance of advocacy as it pertains to client care. What is the nurse’s role in client advocacy? Describe a situation in which you were involved with client advocacy. Explain what the advocacy accomplished for the client, and what the repercussions would have been if the client would not have had an advocate.
Being an advocate for patients is something nurses do daily. But how do we advocate for them? When do we advocate for them?
Lampert (2016) makes a good point stating “The first step in successfully advocating for your patient revolves around knowing your patient’s wants and needs” (para. 2). Lampert goes on to remind nurses of the importance of advocating for the patient and what they want not the wants of others such as family members or even the wants of the nurse (2016).
Advocating for the patient requires the nurse to be assertive in discussing the wants and needs of the patient. Being assertive is different than being aggressive according to Lampert (2016). Learning this balance is important.
What are your thoughts on these things? How do you find you can be assertive in advocating for patients?
Lampert, L. (2016). How to advocate for your patient.
Lampert brings up a great point between aggression and assertiveness. I think bedside nurse and advocating for your patients is a huge and very important part of our job because we have a responsibility to keep our patient safe from harm. I believe one can be assertive without being aggressive when advocating for their patient by collecting as much objective information about the patients as possible and presenting it to whomever in this case most likely the hospitalist in charge of the patient in a manner where you have to show legitimate concerning information and direct advocation for your patients health and well being. I believe if you present information in this manner it is assertive and shows concern without being aggressive.
Advocating for your patient helps build trust and overall helps that patients wellbeing and outcome. You’re putting that patients needs and wants above all else, and involving them in their care. We must listen to what our patient wants and think about what is best for that patient when following through with their care plan, making sure they are involved also!
We can advocate for our patients by being diligent in our documentation, paperwork, charting and directions. Make sure to carefully read all orders and double check with doctors, pharmacists, nurse practitioners to prevent errors, misinformation or oversight. When do we advocate for our patients? All the time. Anytime we see or have the hunch that things might be wrong, we have to follow up on it and make sure we are doing everything we are supposed to do to ensure patient safety.
Advocating for patients can help improve patient wellbeing and help to improve patient outcomes. It’s important that nurses advocate for their patients because it gives patients a voice in their own care and helps them to keep up with their treatment and procedures. By having a voice patients can also communicate confidently with physicians and the ones that are invested in their care. Those advocates will take the time to explain and answer questions that they may have (2022).
I’ve advocated for this particular patient because of the lack of care the patient was receiving. The patient had a Specialist a nephrologist as her primary care physician, under normal circumstances the hospitalist will act as the primary medical physician and the specialist would be consulted to suit the patient’s needs and care. The patient was seen earlier that day by the specialist in the office for follow-up but complained about having periods of confusion, Patient was sent to the ED and admitted under his care. The family complained that they felt that the patient their mom was only worsening and requested to see someone else. The nursing staff also complained of the objective data and asked for a consultation with other disciplinaries, neuro, cardiology, and pulmonary. The specialist refused and stated that this was a result of the patient’s kidney injury and wanted us, the nursing staff to agree to that. This without doubt goes against the standards of care, (2017), therefore we as nurses disagreed and were asked by the family to seek help for their mom elsewhere, I advised the primary nurse to immediately contact the patient advocate and explain the situation we were dealing with. Within an hour the patient had a primary medical doctor, and consults, for neuro, cardiology, and pulmonary. Although there was a delay in patient care, in the end, the patient was able to receive the proper care she deserves. The family even requested that he to be removed as her nephrologist. Once the other doctors came on board, we noticed a significant change in patient status.
Avoiding Liability Blog (2017) Are There Limits to a Nurse’s Duty to Advocate for September 2022 from https://www.chins.com/are-there-limits-to-a-nurses-duty-advocate-for-patients/
Haft, J. (2014) What is Advocacy Communication Retrieved September 21, 2022 from eliteplusmagazine.com
