Nursing as a Profession Nursing is a profession of huge importance. What does a nurse do? What is a nurse’s scope of practice? These are questions that have been debated for years. This paper will discuss nursing as the profession it has become. Throughout the years nurse have provided care along with research. They have demonstrated the integrity necessary in order to be recognized as leaders in the healthcare environment. In this paper nurse’s Scopes of Practice, standards they must adhere to, the role bachelor degrees in nursing play, along with the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to contribute successfully to the profession will be discussed.
Professional Identity Defining nursing as a profession is an area that has been debated for years. What makes nursing a profession rather than simply an occupation? Understanding the differences between a profession verses an occupation is a vital concept for nurses to apprehend. Areas that establish this differentiation are that: nursing is constructed on
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Everyday nurses utilize collaboration; perhaps not even realizing they are doing it. By definition collaboration is, exerting together, to cooperate, and to work with one another in joint effort toward mutual goals (White & O’Sullivan, 2012). Models of how nurses utilize this in a hospital setting is by asking questions to other nurses on the unit when one is unsure of something. If one is uncertain of the best practice, or how to do a certain nursing procedure, collaboration is a great tool in order to enhance one’s understanding. While it can be a simple process, it is an essential one. In nursing nurses are to look out for the well being of their patient’s. In everyday situations, nurses are face with uncertainties. It is vital to keep the fact that the quality of care nurses provide, along with their patient’s safety should be kept at the forefront of nurses minds at all
The American Nurses Association (ANA) sets forth scope and standards of practice to facilitate the social contract between society and the nursing profession as a whole. The Scope of Nursing Practice describes the “who,” “what,” “where,” “when,” “why,” and “how,” the duties, of nursing practice (American Nurses Association, 2015, p. 2). The nursing profession is continuously evolving and develops on past works. In response, the ANA revises and updates the standards every five years. They are important because professional nursing practice regulation is based on these standards, the code of ethics, and specialty certifications. The 2010 and 2015 Scope and standards editions are important as they have variations speaking to competencies,
The significance of this article is that nursing is continually changing. The role of the nurse will always be based on direct care giving, however, nursing as an occupation is professional.
The history of nurses hadn’t developed until the nineteenth century. The first law was passed to require that nurses attain a license in 1938. After passing this law, the New York State began a movement to have certain programs to promise new standards in the field. Since the first schools were opened the training and criteria has changed tremendously. Education standards for nurses have improved in many different ways. Programs are an option throughout the country, and there are laws to back up the qualification and training standards for licensure. The nursing field is an important role as a part of the health care team, and can benefit one is so many ways. The history of nurses has changed from being a minor occupation to a major one. In today’s society people rely on nurses, doctors, and specialists more than ever. Nurses have brightened our future in the most beneficial way (Hopke 592).
Nurses should foster collaborative planning to provide safe, high-quality, patient-centered health care. As nurses, we probably know the patients the best since we spend much more time with them than any other members of the care team. We are the liaison between the patient and the rest of the care team. We need to identify a potential problem or issue, and bring it to the attention of the whole care team. We should facilitate mutual trust, respect, shared decision-making, and open communication among all relevant persons in the care of the patients. With the collaborative support of the whole care team, the patients are in a much better position and are more likely to make an informed and deliberate decision. Besides, the collaboration among the care team can facilitate communication among the care providers, and provide a channel for the care providers to vent their stress caused by the ethical dilemmas that they encounter in work. The support from peers is very important for care providers to maintain their emotional and psychological
Working in the health care setting, teamwork and collaboration are used frequently to insure that everything runs correctly and efficiently. According to qsen.org, teamwork and collaboration consists of functioning effectively within nursing and inter-professional teams, fostering open communication, mutual respect, and shared decision-making to achieve quality patient care. While assessing the patient a nurse can come into contact and work with many different individuals. These can include other nurses, doctors, therapists, and family
In today’s society nursing meets all the requirements of being a profession. To be considered a profession, one has to be dedicated to their career, abide by standards and a code of ethics, and have a higher education and a body of knowledge, duty to provide service, have autonomy and be part of a professional organization. Nurses take the traditional role of caring for loved ones to a whole new level of care.
Nursing is an ever-changing and growing profession. Tools such as, the scope and standards for nursing, state nursing legal regulations, code of ethics, and general principles of philosophy are used to set standards and promote growth within the profession. I use these principles and standards daily in my career as a registered nurse (RN). In this paper I will discuss the importance of these factors in my career, and how they all contribute to making outcomes successful for all involved.
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
The purpose of this article is to define the profession of nursing. I will also talk about history of nursing, characters of the nursing profession and steps of educational paths to become a professional nurse.
Best possible care for patients can and will be achieved when nurses and other health care team members work together and prioritize meaningful conversation among each other. Dissatisfaction, errors and unfair treatment can be avoided when there’s an effective collaboration among health care team. Working collaboratively with each other improves the nursing care by bringing out the best outcome of each discipline. Thus, in my stand among various competencies, team work and collaboration is the most necessary and vital qualities needed for future nurse to provide the best quality care
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 ...
Nurses provide an invaluable contribution to healthcare. ***Shields et al (2011) state that there is ‘good evidence that a highly educated nursing workforce reduces patient and hospital mortality’ (p 314). As a result, nurses more than ever need to have a clear sense of their professional identity.
Professional nursing practice has been developing for several centuries. Nursing as a profession can be traced back to the early Christian era. Since then the perception of nursing practice has changed significantly. “Nursing is caring, commitment, and dedication to meeting the functional health needs of all people” (Craven & Hirnle, 2009, p. 32). First of all I want to find out if the nursing is actually a profession. So let’s explore the definition of the profession and if nursing has got all the components to it. Dr John Southwick in 1997 defined the profession as
“The term nursing science was rarely used in the literature until the late 1950s. However, since that time there has been an increasing emphasis, one might even say a sense of urgency, regarding the development of a b...
Nursing is a profession that blends the rich traditions of the past with the ever changing realities of today's health care industry. Nursing is not simply an assortment of special skills and the nurse is not simply a person proficient in performing these specific tasks. Nursing is a profession. I believe this statement to be true because of several factors. The Title 19 Code for Nurses is titled "Standards for Professional Nursing Practice". The status of nursing as a profession reflects the values that society places on the work of nurses and how central nursing is to the good of society. "By being a professional we imply that the person is conscientious in actions, knowledgeable in the subject and responsible to self and others." (Potter & Perry, 1993, p. 27)