Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Historical development of nursing
Historical development of nursing
Historical development of nursing
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The field of nursing has evolved over time and keeps changing every day. With the numerous changes comes improvement in the quality of care that nurses give on a daily basis. For example, nurses never used to wear gloves when performing a majority of their tasks such as administering injections or toileting patients. Over time, it was discovered that many patients carried diseases that were easily transferrable via body fluids or blood. As a result of the discovery, nurses began wearing gloves when performing a majority of their nursing care. This not only helped to protect the nurses from contracting numerous diseases, but the patients as well. The nurses were not transferring germs and bacteria from patient to patients because they were wearing gloves with every patient and discarding each of them when done. This is only one example of how the quality of nursing has changed over time. There are many more with a majority of the changes involving the administration of medications.
Improving the accuracy and efficiency of medication passing is a major contributor to improving the overall quality of nursing. Medications are key in improving a patient’s health and level of comfort. It’s the nurse’s priority to make sure the patient is safe when taking the majority of medications that many of them take. Nurses must take vitals, reassess, and evaluate the effectiveness of all medications administered. Medications function to maintain a person’s blood pressure, pulse, fluid balance, thyroid function, and many other things. There are also many different types of pain medications that are important when trying to improve the patient’s health because it is more likely their health will improve if they’re free of pain and comfortable. ...
... middle of paper ...
...), 243-248. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?Db=pubmed&Cmd=Retrieve&list_uids=24308090&dopt=abstractplus
Tzeng, H., Yin, C., & Schneider, T. E. (2013). Medication error-related issues in nursing practice. MEDSURG Nursing, 22(1), 13-50. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.ivcc.edu:2240/sp3.11.0a/ovidweb.cgi?&S=BGPPFPKNHIDDLPGANCMKDBMCBPDPAA00&Complete+Reference=S.sh.51%7c1%7c1
Wu, M., Lee, T., Tsai, T., Lin, K., Huang, C., Mills, M. (2013). Evaluation of a mobile shift report system on nursing documentation quality. CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 31(2), 85-93. doi:10.1097/NXN.0b013e318266cac3
Yun, L., Clifford, P., Bjorneby, A., Thompson, B., Vannorman, S., Won, K., & Larsen, K. (2013). Quality improvement through implementation of discharge order reconciliation. American Journal Of Health-System Pharmacy, 70(9), 815-820. doi:10.2146/ajhp120050
In nursing, the patient is often viewed as the main priority of the nursing staff. The nurse works to provide care for the patient based on the patient 's admitting diagnosis. However, the patient must be looked at as a part of the greater system they exist in such as their family or home environment. While the patient may be ill due to a bacterial infection or virus, their family environment also plays a role in their overall health and wellness.
The adoption of clinical information systems is one way that healthcare organizations are making an effort to improve patient safety, provide a means to exemplify regulatory compliance, and facilitate exchange of patient information between care providers (Kirkley & Stein, 2004; Nadzam, 2009). To achieve this goal, Barnes-Jewish Hospital (BJH) recently implemented a new CPOE/clinical documentation system. One of the objectives of the new system was to give bedside clinicians a standardized electronic tool, known as the Clinical Summary, for bedside shift hand-off reporting. Soon after go-live, it was identified that the standard nursing Clinical Summary did not meet specialized the reporting needs of the nurses on the Women and Infants divisions. Consequently, an application enhancement request was submitted. The goal of this project is to synthesize the knowledge gained throughout this Masters Degree program to initiate, plan, and execute changes to the current clinical documentation system to provide a standardized Clinical Summary review screen to meet the specialized hand-off reporting needs of the nurses on the Women and Infants divisions at BJH. This paper includes project objectives, a supporting evidence-based literature review, project methodology, formative and summative evaluation criteria, and a graphical timeline with a narrative description for the Women and Infants Clinical Summary project.
...estions if not 100% sure of something or use a double checking system. When a nurse is administrating medication, they should use the ten rights of medication administration (right patient, right drug, right route, right time, right dose, right documentation, right action, right form, right response, and right to refuse). Nurses should always keep good hand hygiene and always wear appropriate clothing to prevent from the spread of disease. Good communication with patients and healthcare team members is also key to success. Keeping on the eye on the patient within an appropriate time is important. If the patient ever seems to be looking different than their usual self vitals should be taken immediately. Encouraging patients to ask questions if they are unaware of something can prevent errors as well. Nurses should make sure the patient is on the same page as they are.
Unver, V., Tastan, S., & Akbayrak, N. (2012). Medication errors: Perspectives of newly graduated and experienced nurses. International Journal Of Nursing Practice, 18(4), 317-324. doi:10.1111/j.1440-172X.2012.02052.x
Some method such as audits, chart reviews, computer monitoring, incident report, bar codes and direct patient observation can improve and decrease medication errors. Regular audits can help patient’s care and reeducate nurses in the work field to new practices. Also reporting of medication errors can help with data comparison and is a learning experience for everyone. Other avenues that has been implemented are computerized physician order entry systems or electronic prescribing (a process of electronic entry of a doctor’s instructions for the treatment of patients under his/her care which communicates these orders over a computer network to other staff or departments) responsible for fulfilling the order, and ward pharmacists can be more diligence on the prescription stage of the medication pathway. A random survey was done in hospital pharmacies on medication error documentation and actions taken against pharmacists involved. A total of 500 hospital were selected in the United States. Data collected on the number of medication error reported, what types of errors were documented and the hospital demographics. The response rate was a total of 28%. Practically, all of the hospitals had policies and procedures in place for reporting medication errors.
Florence Nightingale was the Nurse of Nurses. In nursing school she is the first person you will hear speak of. She is known as “The lady with the lamp”. Her theory focused on the adjustment of the environment provided to protect the patient. She thought that a sleeping patient should never be awaken. Noise should always be avoided because it can startle the sleeping patient. This was a serious problem to her. She delegated tasks to other nurses, always keeping the patients safe and away from harm.
The nurse to patient ratio is unrealistic in many hospitals. In most cases it is almost impossible to give each patient the true amount of detailed care they really need. This is seen in most cases where there is one nurse assigned to 16 patients and each patient requires a different level of attention. Nurses are pressed for time, forcing them to cut corners, resulting in an increase in nosocomial infections and patient deaths. “The past decade has been a unsettled time for many US hospitals and practicing nu...
Tzeng, H., Yin, C., & Schneider, T. E. (2013). Medication Error-Related Issues In Nursing Practice. MEDSURG Nursing, 22(1), 13-50.
Medication errors made by medical staff bring about consequences of epidemic proportions. Medical staff includes everyone from providers (medical doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants) to pharmacists to nurses (registered and practical). Medication errors account for almost 98,000 deaths in the United States yearly (Tzeng, Yin, & Schneider, 2013). This number only reflects the United States, a small percentage in actuality when looking at the whole world. Medical personnel must take responsibility for their actions and with this responsibility comes accountability in their duties of medication administration. Nurses play a major role in medication error prevention and education and this role distinguishes them as reporters of errors.
Precision of a patient’s intravenous medication is essential; it must be safe from. contamination, toxicity, and side effects. Most people believe these medications are compounded or mixed by a trained and licensed individual. However, this is inaccurate because the pharmacy technician actually compounds a large percentage of a patient’s medications. Compounding involves a technician’s math skills, aseptic technique, and professional ethics.... ...
O’Shea, E (1999) Factors contributing to medication errors: a literature review. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 8, 5,496-503.
In this reflective essay, I will be using the Driscoll’s model of reflection to talk about how my knowledge of quality nursing care has improved since the commencement of this module. Quality nursing care has helped me develop various nursing strategies that will guide me in my first placement and throughout my career in nursing. Furthermore, it has taught me about communicating effectively with patients, I have learnt about verbal communication such as paraphrasing when communicating with patients to ensure that what said is properly understood. I have learnt not to make assumptions about patients and putting them in the middle of their care, taking into account their preferences.
Quality improvement (QI) involves the regular and constant actions that enable measurable improvement in health care. QI results in enhanced health services, organizational efficiency, quality and safe care to patients, and desired health outcomes for individuals and patient populations (U. S. Department of Health and Human Service, 2011). A successful quality improvement program is patient-centered, a collaboration of teams, and uses data in systems. QI helps to develop a culture of excellence in nursing, identify and prioritize areas of improvement, promote communication and collaboration, collect and analyze data, and encourage continuous evaluation of systems and processes (American Academy
“Researchers in London estimate that if everyone routinely washed their hands, a million deaths a year could be prevented” (“Hygiene Fast Facts”, 2013, p. 1). Hands are the number one mode of transmission of pathogens. Hands are also vital in patient interaction, and therefore should be kept clean to protect the safety of patients and the person caring for the patient. Hand hygiene is imperative to professional nursing practice because it prevents the spread of pathogens, decreases chances of hospital-acquired infections, and promotes patient safety. There is a substantial amount of evidence that shows why hand hygiene is important in healthcare
Thirdly, the science of nursing is exemplified in the fact that nurses are partakers in the lot of people who are lifelong learners. With the presentation of new and diverse challenges by the day, new skills are gained. The medical profession being as dynamic as it is, requires efforts commensurate to the fast changing picture of the medical arena. New outbreaks emerge which prompts the development of new procedures and interventions.