Essential Qualities for Competent Nursing Nursing is a career path abounding with complexity, opportunities, autonomy, and challenge. These things come with a very heavy burden of responsibility to provide quality, safe care to all patients. It is for this reason that there are specific guidelines that govern the practice of a nurse. This paper aims to evaluate and explore ethical issues in nursing and how they relate to the five core competencies laid out by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The first part of this paper will compare the role and perception of nursing now in contrast with the how it has been throughout history. The second part of this paper will explain the five core competencies, including examples of a knowledge, skill, and
50). In 2003, the IOM published a list of five core competencies that every healthcare professional can use to improve the quality of care (Finkelman & Kenner, 2016 pg. 50). “Provide Patient-Centered Care” is the first core competency and is defined as an incorporation of a patients preferences and values into a comprehensive plan of care that will address not only a disease process, but also the prevention of disease and promotion of a healthy lifestyle (Finkelman & Kenner, 2016 pg. 50). An example of using this competency would be a nurse who identifies that a lack of understanding by the patient about their treatment plan is preventing them from managing their disease. The nurse should use her teaching skills to creatively and patiently teach this person until their understanding is adequate. The second core competency is “Work in interdisciplinary/inter-professional teams”. The goal for this competency is for nurses to be able to effectively foster open communication between all staff so that patient care can be improved (QSEN, 2007). For example, the work environment on a certain floor should be such that all employees feel that they are important enough to make suggestions on how to improve the system, and should be allowed
From the past, where nurses were considered a doctor’s helping hand, to the present, where nurses are highly educated and independent, caring remains a constant element of nursing (Finkelman & Kenner, 2016). As time has gone on, nursing has become more structured and guidelines have been put in place to help shape the way a nurse thinks and practices. The five core competencies created by the IOM are a very important set of parameters that help to improve the quality of modern healthcare. One example of using the core competency “Provide Patient-centered Care” to provide holistic, culturally sensitive care was discussed, but there are countless other issues (either hypothetical or factual) that could be remedied with the guidance of these competencies. Nursing is a critical segment of healthcare, and having an understanding of its history and especially its future is what will drive the profession forward to a better
The main goal of this competency is to recognize the patient as a unique individual in order to provide care that is compassionate and focuses on individual’s preferences, values, and needs (QSEN, 2014). According to Sherwood & Zomorodi (2014) nurses demonstrate this competency through cultural
To be involved in the nursing profession, you must abide by the Code of Ethics provided for nurses. Nurses must hold the good of the patient as its most important value; this is the ultimate goal in the nursing profession. They must treat each patient as an individual, care for them with respe...
Nursing should focus on patient and family centered care, with nurses being the patient advocate for the care the patient receives. Patient and family centered care implies family participation. This type of care involves patients and their families in their health care treatments and decisions. I believe that it is important to incorporate this kind of care at Orange Regional Medical Center (ORMC) because it can ensure that we are meeting the patient’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs through their hospitalization.
As a nurse we are responsible for the safety and overall health promotion of our patients. Competency in the nursing field is what ensures patient safety and decreased hospital acquired injury. Continued competence ensures that the nurse is able to perform efficiently and safely in a constantly changing environment. Nurses must continuously evaluate their level of skill and find where improvement needs to be made in order to keep up to date with the expected skill level set by their
The American Nurses Association (ANA) developed a foundation for which all nurses are expected to perform their basic duties in order to meet the needs of the society we serve. The ANA “has long been instrumental in the development of three foundational documents for professional nursing; its code of ethics, its scope and standards of practice, ands statement of social policy.” (ANA, 2010, p. 87) The ANA defined nursing as “the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations” and used to create the scope and standards of nursing practice. (ANA, 2010, p. 1) These “outline the steps that nurses must take to meet client healthcare needs.” () The nursing process, for example, is one of the things I use daily. Other examples include communicating and collaborating with my patient, their families, and my peers, and being a lifelong learner. I continually research new diagnoses, medications, and treatments for my patients. As a nurse of ...
Although nursing is universally practiced, not all nurses values and morals are the same. Nurses and nursing students are usually put in situations where they must operate within an ethical structure which is either unfamiliar to their cultural criterion or those of the patients for whom they are taking care of. The most prominent values and morals of nurses are based on human dignity and benevolence. Human dignity is the main component that branches off into other values under caring for health and well-being. Trust, integrity, autonomy, and privacy are one of the many sub-values that fall under human dignity. It is important for the nurses to respect and understand the culture and beliefs of the patient without being judgmental or confrontational. The wellbeing of the patient is priority and so the nurses must focus on gaining the patients trust first by tending to their needs and exhibiting
The health care system of today will be invaluable without the help of well-trained registered professional nurses. According to Wilkinson, Treas, Barnett, Smith (2016) registered nurses in today’s health care have the training required to develop a care plan with other health care workers that is specific for each patient in their care, instead of the same general approach for every patient. This is known as patient centered care because each patient is different from the other and the registered nurse role includes developing a good plan for every patient they care for. In performing such duties, registered nurses tend to create a strong bond with their patients by caring for their patients by all means possible. By caring for their patients, they tend to gain their patients and their families trust. According to Wilkinson et al. (2016) There are many support systems for patients in our communities that have good intentions of assisting sick people and those in need. Most of them are not known by the patient or their families. The registered nurse is the one who is in the position to inform the patient or family about such resources that may be very helpful for them if they are interested. By doing so, the patient knows that the nurse really cares about him/her and that feels very comforting and may help the patient get well
They have found that even today, RN’s experience ethical issues. The problem at hand is that the education of ethics and human rights is not being properly taught to undergraduate or postgraduate institutions (Monaliza 1). Therefore, we as nurses to not need further teaching, we need better teaching while we are in school in order to properly carry out the ANA code of Ethics practice. If we are taught in a more thorough way of to deal with ethical issues, it will only make us as nurses that much better at our
Nursing ethics has a vast spectrum of subjects. The history of ethics was around way longer then the declaration of specific ethical issues. According to Fox, Myers and Pearlman (2007), the field of ethics consultation has been developing over the last three decades, (Kosnick 1974; Rosner 1985). Ethics has become an organized and accepted division of healthcare services. Gallagher (2010), discussed the purpose of nursing ethics is to help us think, speak and perform better in our practice. The Nursing Code of Ethics was addressed by Lachman (2009). “Futile care” is discussed by Sibbald, Downar, Hawryluck (2007). Ball (2009) addressed the need for clarification of DNR orders in surgery patients.
In order for nurses to practice ethically they must understand the meaning behind each professional value. The first value is human dignity. With each patient we encounter we must show them respect as individuals. It does not matter what the medical condition is, race, ethnicity, culture, religion or gender of the individual. The dignity of a person must be protected. As nurses we must respect the uniqueness of each individual we care for, as this is a fundamental right of all humans. A person with dignity feels a sense of self-worth and as nurses we must do our best to help our patients maintain that feeling of worthiness.
The American Nurses Association created guidelines for the profession including, a set clear rules to be followed by individuals within the profession, Code of Ethics for Nurses. Written in 1893, by Lystra Gretter, and adopted by the ANA in 1926, The Code of Ethics for Nurses details the role metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics have within the field (ANA, 2015). Moral obligation for an individual differs within professions than it does within an individual’s personal life, so the code of ethics was written to establish rules within the profession. The moral obligation to provide quality care include the fundamental principles of respect for persons, integrity, autonomy, advocacy, accountability, beneficence, and non-maleficence. The document itself contains nine provisions with subtext, all of which cannot be addressed within this paper however, core principals related to the ethical responsibilities nurses have will be
The four fundamental nursing responsibilities of promoting health, preventing illness, optimizing health and alleviating the ill are represented in the code of ethics. (Arnold & Boggs, 2016) One can say that the code of ethics are rules that a nurse needs to follow in order to effectively communicate and protect the patients. The American Nurse Association provided the code of ethics to guide nurses to ensure that patient’s care, safety, rights and health are well cared for and well managed. Models like Utilitarian, deontological, and the human rights-based all contribute in answering dilemmas that can arise with a patient. Thus, explaining what some of the code of ethics are, and how the code of ethics influence our responsibilities as a nurse will impact the overall care of the
In every nurse's career, he or she will face with legal and ethical dilemmas. One of the professional competencies for nursing states that nurses should "integrate knowledge of ethical and legal aspects of health care and professional values into nursing practice". It is important to know what types of dilemmas nurses may face
In conclusion, there are numerous legal and ethical issues apparent in the nursing practice. Nurses should study and be as informed as they can with ethics and legality within their field in order to ensure no mistakes occur. Ethical issues vary based on patient’s views, religion, and environment. Nurses are influenced by these same views, but most of the time they are not the same as the patients. As a nurse we must learn to put the care of our patients and their beliefs, rights, and wishes before our own personal