Working as nursing professionals, we specialize in providing care to individuals, families, and loved ones, so that they may recover and maintain optimal health for a long period of time. Even though there are different means of care, not everything is 100% percent effective. This can be due to issues such as lack of health care, medical errors, and even shortage of care in the medical facility. Over time, the health care system continues to improve, as it still has a long way to go.
Nursing and the Six Aims of Improvement
In March of 2001, the National Academy of Medicine (2001) created ideas on how the health care system can be improved. They called it the six aims for improvement. In their article titled Crossing the Quality Chasm: A
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The six aims for improvement discusses this and they are as followed:
1. Safe: avoiding injuries to patients from the care that is intended to help them.
2. Effective: providing services based on scientific knowledge to all who could benefit, and refraining from providing services to those not likely to benefit.
3. Patient-centered: providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values, and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions.
4. Timely: reducing waits and sometimes harmful delays for both those who receive and those who give care.
5. Efficient: avoiding waste, including waste of equipment, supplies, ideas, and energy.
6. Equitable: providing care that does not vary in quality because of personal characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, geographic location, and socioeconomic status. (National Academy of Medicine, 2001, pg.
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In order words, you should treat those the way you would like to be treated. As a soon to be healthcare personnel, we spent numerous years receiving the education in order to be prepared for any situation which comes our way. By relying on the previous and current experiences which we face, this will help us become more logical thinkers, easy decision makers, and strong leaders as we avoid poor health care and build around the six aims of improvement. We can provide safe, effective, and patient-centered care by taking out time with each and every patient. We should avoid being in such a rush of discharging them or wanting to get the day over with quicker because as a nurse you may never know what will come your way next. Care can be done in a timely and efficient manner by setting up a more successful strategy for care such as having more staff or directing patients to proper units/facilities based on their needs or wants. This will also create less waste of equipment, supplies, and ideas which is under the efficient aim. Lastly, care can be equitable by treating each and every individual with respect. By giving those respect, this will help you in the long run and you will be able to provide care as a nurse everywhere you go. By providing these examples, there should no issue as to why myself or others cannot attain to these six
Safety is focused on reducing the chance of harm to staff and patients. The 2016 National Patient Safety Goals for Hospitals includes criteria such as using two forms of identification when caring for a patient to ensure the right patient is being treated, proper hand washing techniques to prevent nosocomial infections and reporting critical information promptly (Joint Commission, 2015). It is important that nurses follow standards and protocols intending to patients to decrease adverse
According to the American Nurses Association, nursing is defined as “the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, facilitation of healing, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, groups, communities, and populations” (American Nurses Association, 2016). Nurses have many jobs and responsibilities and wear many different hats. Nurses can perform at many different levels depending on their scope of practice which is defined by the board of nursing in one’s state of residence. It is important as nurses to understand and follow
When I am older I would love to be a Nurse Practitioner, I enjoy helping people when they are sick and taking care of them. Another reason I want to be a Nurse Practitioner is because my sister is also a Nurse Practitioner.
Licensed practical nurses (LPN 's) fill an important role in modern health care practices. Their primary job duty is to provide routine care, observe patients’ health, assist doctors and registered nurses, and communicate instructions to patients regarding medication, home-based care, and preventative lifestyle changes (Hill). A Licensed Practical Nurse has various of roles that they have to manage on a day to day basis, such as being an advocate for their patients, an educator, being a counselor, a consultant, researcher, collaborator, and even a manager depending on what kind of work exactly that you do and where. It is the nursing process and critical thinking that separate the LPN from the unlicensed assistive personnel. Judgments are based
Once upon a time, my best friend, Bryan Martinez, often heard his mother’s medical conversations with friends. One day at school, our teacher confronted Mrs. Martinez and told her that she was able tell that Bryan was a son from a nurse. Apparently there was an incident at school where a little boy was acting out and Bryan told our teacher that the little boy was agitated, and to give him some medication to calm him down. As demonstrated by Bryan, nursing is ongoing profession that promotes the health and well-being of individuals.
The following essay is a reflective paper on an event that I encountered as a student nurse during my first clinical placement in my first year of study. The event took place in a long term facility. This reflection is about the patient whom I will call Mrs. D. to protect her confidentiality. Throughout this essay I will be using LEARN model of reflection. I have decided to reflect on the event described in this essay since I believe that it highlights the need for nurses to have effective vital signs ‘assessment skills especially when treating older patients with complex medical diagnoses.
What is the central component of advanced practice nurses (APNs) direct clinical practice and patient/families?
In an evidence based research, evaluation plan is very important. Evaluation is a systematic approach to assess the information, data or statistics collected through a research on a specific problem. Nurses should always practice evidence based approach and collect data so these can be compared with other studies done on this specific topic.
Patient’s safety will be compromised because increase of patient to nurse ratio will lead to mistakes in delivering quality care. In 2007, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) conducted a metanalysis and found that “shortage of registered nurses, in combination with increased workload, poses a potential threat to the quality of care… increases in registered nurse staffing was associated with a reduction in hospital-related mortality and failure to rescue as well as reduced length of stay.” Intense workload, stress, and dissatisfaction in one’s profession can lead to health problems. Researchers found that maintaining and improving a healthy work environment will facilitate safety, quality healthcare and promote a desirable professional avenue.
In today’s health care system, “quality” and “safety” are one in the same when it comes to patient care. As Florence Nightingale described our profession long ago, it takes work and vigilance to ensure we are doing the best we can to care for our patients. (Mitchell, 2008)
The overall goal for the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) plan is to meet the challenge of educating and preparing future nurses to have the knowledge, skills and attitudes that are essential to frequently progress the quality and safety of the healthcare systems in the continuous improvement of safe practice (QSEN, 2014).Safety reduces the possibility of injury to patients and nurses. It is achieved through system efficiency and individual work performance. Organizations determine which technologies have an effective protocol with efficient practices to support quality and safety care. Guidelines are followed to reduce potential risks of harm to nurses or others. Appropriate policies
Solutions for the nursing shortage beyond implementing safe nurse staffing ratios include: ongoing long-term workforce planning; institution of an education and practice system to promote more equitable compensation in the health care community based on a better understanding of the educational preparation required for different health care roles; implementation of specific strategies to retain experienced nurses in the provision of direct patient care, investigating the potential for using technological advances to enhance the capacity of a reduced nursing workforce; and advocate for increased nursing education funding under Title VIII of the Public Health Service Act and other publicly funded initiatives to improve
“The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival” (Aristotle, n.d.)
Nursing excellence is defined in various ways. I believe that nursing excellence is demonstrated when nurses are involved in promoting holistic patient centered care, quality and innovation, education, evidence-based practice, and nursing research. Nursing organizations plays a pivotal role in promoting nursing excellence. For this discussion post, I will be discussing the role of two organizations; the National League of Nursing (NLN) and the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN), in promoting nursing excellence and nursing practice.
Each individual gets to a point in life whereby they assess their internal qualities, people reflect their profession aspirations and attempt to see which careers will make them happy in their lives. It is also important for a person to consider whether they have the qualities needed for a particular profession and also consider the available resources that will help him or her reach their set goals (Chafey, Rhea, Shannon, & Spencer, (1998). Every human being has weaknesses and strengths in their personal or professional aspirations. Having strength means that someone has the physical and mental power to perform things in a successful manner. On the other hand, weaknesses are the drawbacks, the inadequate lack of strength or power to accomplish important goals in life, and every human has some potential of being a leader in some way (American Association of Critical Care Nurses (2006). This paper will discuss the outcome results inventory on the nurse as a manager, it illustrates personal strength and weaknesses in relation to personal life and professional aspirations. The paper will also discuss planning for career, disciplines in personal expedition, practice