Research Topics: Nursing Career

Life Long Learning: A Look at the Future

Part One:  Reflection on personal and professional life at the university.   The role of learning and its importance to personal growth and development             While it has been true that learning for nursing faculty is complex and complicated, it goes along with individual effort of pursuing further learning through master’s or doctoral program.  It demands constant inquisitiveness and eagerness about the nursing role and all its dimensions in order to cope up with the current learning throughout the nursing career.  Therefore, the pursuit of lifelong learning is indispensable provided that our education programs are to be of its highest quality.                What have been learned at the university are generally theoretical matters.  With this, many nursing individuals come to their positions knowing little about what to do.  Fortunately, with the aid of preceptors, they are then guided to matters not regularly discussed at school.  Nurses for several years may even know only those approaches to teaching or evaluating learning that they have experienced themselves as students.                The important thing to raise here is the generation of learning from older and experienced faculty passing it to the next potential nurses.  This is to preserve and enhance the handing over of nursing role for the betterment of the service along with individual’s growth and development.                I had only completed an associate degree in the field of nursing.  Nevertheless, I aspire for the completion of the nursing course for personal and professional growth and development.  Along with my desire for growth and advancement is my inclination to rendering proper and up-to-date service and care to patients.    Part Two:  Evaluation and recommendation of the growth and development gained at the university               Theoretical learning from the university builds up a strong and solid foundation to my career.  Even though most of the practical things are learned on the job experience, university teaching is still an undeniable factor for my early course development.  It greatly helps construct solid base prior to my pursuance of the profession.                There have been courses that significantly helped my personal and work life.  The university offers general and core courses that in particular directly facilitate my personal growth.  The core courses were Nursing 467 that involves nursing management of families and Nursing 486 involving nursing leadership and management.  On one hand, general education courses were Psy 428 or Organizational Psychology and Physiology 430 which is Team dynamics for managers.  These general education courses helped a lot for my improvement much more that I am destined in a Psychiatric hospital.  Nursing leadership and management course directed me to the proper principles on controlling a situation and appropriate actions to be taken.    Recommendations:               In the search for the proper facilitation enhancement of lifelong development, National League for Nursing (NLN) offers a wide range of opportunities.  These are the following:   <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Yearly Faculty Development Institute</li> </ul> This program allows nurse educators to immerse themselves in discussions of real-world challenges to implementing the educator role. <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Annual Educational Summit</li> </ul> Faculties are challenged to think in new ways, integrate research findings into their approaches to teaching and evaluating students, and consider different curriculum models. <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> NLN Press publication</li> </ul> This publication addresses innovative approaches to teaching, learning, and evaluation; implementation of the faculty role; and evidence-based teaching. <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Presentation of NLN’s official journal</li> </ul> This official journal addresses similar topics and presents opportunities for faculty to debate, argue, or struggle with real-world issues that are student-related or that arise from attempting to implement a complex, demanding role. <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Local or regional workshops</li> </ul> These workshops provide opportunities for faculty to dialogue with expert educators and have a “hands on” experience in solving a problem or creating new approaches to teaching. <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Programs sponsored by NLN’s Constituent Leagues</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Research grants</li> </ul> This program support studies related to effective approaches to facilitating learning, developing innovative curricula, enhancing students’ total development, etc. <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Online courses</li> </ul> Such courses allow individuals to study topics at their own leisure and without having to admit publicly that they do not know as much about a topic (e.g. test construction) as colleagues think they should know. <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Annual Nursing Education Research Institute</li> </ul> This foundation assists nurse educators to develop studies that address the NLN’s Priorities for Research in Nursing Education and develop the science of nursing education. <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Opportunities for colleague networking</li> </ul> A chance to network with colleagues who share similar interests, either through listservs, chat rooms, or contacts made through a nurse educator database, as well as at conferences.   These programs and opportunities offered by this association definitely and without a doubt are for the enhancement and improvement of learning for future students.  However, this will require good instructors or nurse educators to properly impart and achieve this objective.  They play a critical role in shaping the nursing profession.  This has been due to the fact that nurses must maintain competence through participation in ongoing professional education in order to uphold and upgrade knowledge and skills relevant to clinical practice, management, education or research setting.    Part Three:  The impact of completing the university bachelor’s program for the current and future professional goals.               The completion of my program of study in my associate degree just made me crave and thirst for more knowledge.  A further learning is what I have been longing for lately in my career as a Registered Nurse.  It would be a lifetime achievement making it up to the bachelor’s degree.  I have been serving already sooner than having it attached with my accomplishments.                Nursing career is one of those professions that need constant improvement in coping up with the increasing demands for rendering care to all people.  This would just mean that all this lifelong learning is a way in promoting quality nursing care.                This continuing education helps a lot in accomplishing my responsibility as a nurse to provide high quality and safe nursing care to the community that needs it.  Having reached my associate degree made me think of the way up with the endeavor of maintaining competence using lifelong learning opportunities for the development of my skills and knowledge.  As provided by the NLN, these lifelong learning opportunities can be gained through the workplace, educational services, even at home using the internet and other distance education methods.    Future Plans               After finishing my bachelor’s degree, I will be serving for the next five years before retiring.  Nursing Management will be the first program that I am interested for the enhancement of my knowledge in legal and ethical aspects of nursing management.  Included in the management program are the practical matters of personnel management, budget preparation, product selection, and quality control.  Additionally, it will build up my leadership skills, clinical management methods, systems management, quality assurance, provision of healthcare, and strategic planning.   This will be an excellent approach in route to working with other staffs and managers in the hospital.              Furthermore, attending to several conferences or workshops would be also of great help.  A better example would be attending nursing association such as the National League for Nursing (NLN).  The layout provided by the NLN’s opportunity gives an exact implication on how to facilitate lifelong learning.  The prospects have already been mentioned above.                If there would be any other additional degree for me to pursue, that would be Education.  I always wanted to impart and pass on everything that I have learned throughout my nursing career.  At least I would be able to guide and instruct students for their studies.  For the simple fact that things learned by students do not only come from the classroom or by itself alone but with the help of mentors and preceptors along the learning process.    As quoted in the above-mentioned statements, nurse educators play a significant role in influencing the nursing profession.  I would be honored helping students in preparing for their roles that they will assume upon completion of their study.  Moreover, as in any other profession, educators set the tone for the future.  What will the future brings will depend on the hands of these educators in instilling appropriately what students needed to know.  Accounting to my experiences and several classes for my advancement, I believe it wouldn’t be impossible to achieve such things.  As a final point, it would be the greatest feeling of contentment I would ever felt having to see students succeed knowing that I had once helped them.  I can then reminisce with my heads up and proud of what I have accomplished throughout my entire profession.    Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Life Long Learning: A Look at the Future

Part One: Reflection on personal and professional life at the university. The role of learning and its importance to personal ...

Nursing Science Case Study

Introduction   Nursing knowledge was once regarded as subjective, contextually bound, and developed through experience with the context of nursing situations. That is, the knowledge used in nursing practice was not objective in that it could not be shared with other professionals (Johnson & Ratner, 1997). Afterwards, nursing practitioners have founded some special means for building up its professional knowledge. Nowadays, nursing science provides a sound basis for describing, explaining, understanding, engaging in, and changing nursing practice. To sustain quality of delivered nursing care services, modern nurses must learn how to integrate the latest discoveries of the research into their daily practice. As a team of professional practitioners who claim to be founded on a knowledge base, doing literature review critically is a very effective means for training researchers as well as frontline healthcare practitioners. It is sure that knowing the research findings has become the central element in the proper practice of nursing practitioners. The practice enables nurses to update themselves on what is being done and discovered continually. Hence, they can apply new learning materials in their own practice the best of what others are utilizing and developing (Abbott 1993). It is a pity that many modern nurses are still reluctant to utilize research findings into their daily practice. So, the following discussion will firstly illustrate why nurses do not utilize research findings to improve their practice. Corresponding recommendations for overcoming those obstacles will be made to enhance personal and professional development of nursing practitioners. Reasons that Nurses do not Utilize Research in their Practice   Historically, Florence Nightingale did not only train her followers in the context of Victorian public hospitals. She also encouraged her student nurses to develop critical skills in delivering their nursing care services. Nursing demanded professional status from a world that should value altruistic ladies. This traditional was inherited by contemporary nursing practitioners in their strike for professional status among various healthcare professionals (Godden, 1995). Unfortunately, her followers have not inherited such a creative and informative assertion widely. There are a plethora of reasons exist that can explain why clinicians are reluctant to adopt research-based findings. Fundamentally, the issue relates to management of change and the nature of the individuals involved. Probably, large organizations are inherently difficult to change when sizes of their daily routines and operations are concerned (Robertson-Malt, Chapman, and Ingram, 2006). The reasons that nurses do not utilize research in their daily practice can be reviewed further from the following three different perspectives.   (1) Lack of Relevant Training in Integrating Research Findings into Practice   Concerning training courses conducted by previous nurse schools in Hong Kong, nearly all efforts were actually paid to generate groups of graduates who can carry out routine works effectively. The curriculum of most nursing courses conducted by the nurse schools concentrated on teaching of skills for delivering care services (Lee, Tiwari, Hui Choi, Yuen, and Wong, 2005). It is no surprise as former nurse schools were requested to produce a team of semi-skilled professional for carrying out most routine duties within the clinical areas. Even at the present days, local nurses are still expected to execute their instructions sent by the physicians and look for variations associated with patients on behalf of those physicians. Whenever there are issues relating to patients, nurses are usually not encouraged to express their professional opinions. Obviously, all training courses that enhance critical thinking skills are seldom provided for local nursing practitioners. As they do not have chance to perform duties independently, many nurses also feel that it is not necessary to acquire corresponding competences.   Moreover, local nurses usually do not possess critical thinking skills as good as their Western counterparts due to differences in their experiences gained from their learning. It is clear that critical thinking is cited as a desirable professional attribute and a highly valued educational outcome. When nurse students in Hong Kong are being measured, they usually fail to show a positive disposition toward critical thinking (Tiwari, Avery, and Lai, 2003). Without strong critical thinking skills, no one can differentiate meaning research findings from those non-relevant ones successfully. Even when a great deal of valuable nursing researches is available, one simply cannot derive any useful perspective from them. Furthermore, they cannot find out the way about integrating new insights into their daily practice without making mistakes. (2) Lack of Local Research Findings   The development of nursing science as an academic discipline in local universities has just a very short period of time. Medical scholars carry out most local healthcare researches. Of course, their concerns are rather different from those of nursing practitioners. Certainly, successful application of any nursing model to practice requires three conditions: the model’s congruence with practice requirements, its comprehensive development in relation to practice requirements, and its specificity in relation to practice requirements (Derdiarian, 1993). Since only research findings oriented from foreign countries are available, local nurses often find that those developed models and attained insights may not be equally useful at clinical settings with different cultural and social backgrounds. If those research findings cannot be directly applied in their workplaces, it is not unreasonable that local nurses do not make use of them.   More than anything else, a small amount of local researches have been conducted and published in the recent years. They do present some important insights and advices for our colleagues. However, size and scope of those researches are still too limited. A lot of daily encountered nursing problems are still left not attempted. Even though some colleagues want to acquire new skills from the latest research findings, their efforts will only be awarded in a very limited manner.   (3) Lack of Confidence in Putting Research Findings into Force   Due to the dominant role of medical staffs in the health care team, the biomedical model was once observed strictly. In fact, the model shared the emphasis of logical empiricism on reliability and validity, value neutral observation, objectivity, experimentation, measurement and the accumulation of facts (Cull-Wilby and Pepin, 1987). Without her own body of professional knowledge, nearly all former nursing staffs were obliged to adopt the biomedical model which was developed and supported by medical staffs. Furthermore, nursing practice was once regarded as a non-professional practice because scholars of other major fields could not understand daily practice of previous practitioners. As preceding nursing practitioners did not have any nursing model for guiding their delivery of care, nursing practitioners usually were not allowed to devise their daily practice or make independent decisions.   Moreover, real-life clinical settings are lack of supportive atmosphere as expected by most student nurses. Since clinical practice is a vital component of the nursing curriculum, differences between students’ perceptions of the actual clinical learning environment and the ideal clinical learning environment they desired will discourage them to make trial there (Ip and Chan, 2005). Whenever a nurse tries to utilize certain research findings in her workplace, she will be afraid of bearing all the responsibilities associated with her choice. Lack of managerial supports implies that nursing staffs are still in a disadvantaged situation about putting research findings into practice. Evidenced-base Recommendations for Future Nursing Practice   A life-long learning mode is a basic feature of all kinds of professionals. Among nursing staffs, evidence-based practice can enhance care services for patients and families by guiding nurses. Nursing leaders, health care administrators and policymakers are increasingly requiring that nursing practice be based on the best available evidence. Clearly, a review and synthesis of existing research is essential to identify the best available evidence. There is a need to learn skills and gain confidence. Then, they can identify the best available evidence frequently motivates staff nurses and clinicians to learn more about critical appraisal of the research literature (Laizner, 2005). Moreover, practicing an evidence-based practice can enhance patient satisfaction associated at different clinical settings (Reimanis, Cohen, and Redman, 2001). Therefore, nursing practitioners must over those obstacles that prevent them from getting their professional status. With reference to the obstacles mentioned in the previous section, some corresponding recommendations are made to enhance personal and professional development of local nursing staffs.     (1) Upgrading Academic Qualification of Nursing Staffs   Nurses need to update and upgrade their professional knowledge and skills on a continual base. In this sense, Hong Kong nurses participate actively in continuing education out of a sense of professional responsibility and personal interest (Lee et. al., 2005). In the last few years, Hong Kong Hospital Authority has urged their nursing employees to attain higher academic qualifications. At present, many local nurses have been studying in a part-time baccalaureate course in nursing science. Quite a lot of them have already attained their degrees. Anyway, they ought to integrate their newly acquired knowledge into their daily practice (Chan, Chung, Lee, Wong, Lee, Lau, Lau, Hung, Liu, and Ng, 2006). The practice can be utilized as a means for encouraging evidence-based practice among local nurses. Simply, skills for making use of research findings into daily practice cannot be thought as some kinds of basic instinct. Since most local nursing practitioners did not acquire the concerned skills and theoretical knowledge, it is not fair to blame them for their reluctance in working the scheme out. Local nurses may take advantage of their chances in continual education and equip themselves with skills to integrate research findings into their daily practice.   (2) Generating New Insights form Foreign Studies by Literature Review   As a team of professional practitioners who claim to be founded on a knowledge base, doing literature review critically is a very effective means for deriving new insights from foreign nursing studies. When local healthcare practitioners carry out the process, they may probably acquire an understanding of the research process and develop the ability to retrieve and critically access foreign research findings and literature. Furthermore, nursing practitioners can locate and summarize the findings of research on a given topic. With reference to nursing science, literature review can be applied as a research method in its own right. The method enables researchers to carry out critical analysis and summary of existing research on a particular topic of interest. After systematically identifying published materials, a coherent and logical review of the literature can then be synthesized. The above processes should result in the development of new knowledge for solving particular problems (Bell, 1998). Thus, nursing practitioners can incorporate findings of Western nursing researches into local clinical settings by this new technique.     (3) Forming Active Learning Groups   Not until nursing staffs can gain some successful experiences about generating new solutions to existing problems form research findings, they will not develop proper confidence towards their own capability. Self-assurance can be built up when evidence-based practice has become the desired aim behind organized health care. If managerial staffs can facilitate their subordinates to establish and implement an evidence-based process for the systematic review and revision of nursing clinical standards, policies, procedures and protocols, nurses can be highly motivated to modify their daily practice (Robertson-Malt, Chapman, and Ingram, 2006). Colleagues must support one another so that new insights from the latest research findings can be tried at clinical settings. When more experiences are gained, they will become more capable about making successful attempts. Conclusion   As a member of modern healthcare professional team, nursing team must have its fellow upgraded standards of their daily practice on a continual basis. Integrating research findings into one’s practice is a very promising way to achieve relevant goals. Nonetheless, there are many barriers that may block frontline nursing practitioners to put their new learning from nursing researches into their daily operations. Considering local healthcare circumstances, most nursing staffs have not received mush training relevant to integration of research findings into their practice. Besides, there is only a small amount of local nursing researches. Also, there has not a supportive environment that enables frontline nurses to try out the practice. To meet the challenges encountered by local healthcare system, nurses must carry out evidence-based practice. First of all, nurses must attain a better academic qualification. After learning new skills, they may derive new insights from foreign studies through execution of literature review. Colleagues may also form learning groups to support one another to try out those useful research findings at their clinical wards. Hence, more nurses can achieve upgrade standards of their delivered healthcare services with the use of the latest research findings.           References:   Bell F (1998) Reviewing the literature: a student’s perspective. Journal of Child Health, 2 (3), 122-127.   Chan MF, Chung LY, LeeAS, Wong WK, Lee GS, Lau CY, Lau WZ, Hung TT, Liu ML, and Ng JW (2006) Investigating spiritual care perceptions and practice patterns in Hong Kong nurses: results of a cluster analysis. Nurse Education Today, 26(2), 139-150.   Cull-Wilby B & Pepin J (1987) Towards a co-existence of paradigms in nursing knowledge development, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 12, 515-521.   Derdiarian A K (1993) The Johnson Behavioral System Model In M. E. Parker (Ed.), Patterns of Nursing Theories in Practice. New York: National League for Nursing Press.   Godden J (1995) Victorian influences on the development of nursing. In G. G. Gray and Pratt, R. (eds) Scholarship in the Discipline of Nursing. Churchill Livingstone: Melbourne.   Ip WY and Kit Chan DS (2005) Hong Kong nursing students’ perception of the clinical environment: a questionnaire survey. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 42(6), 665-672.   Johnson JL & Ratner PA (1997) The Nature of the Knowledge Used in Nursing Practice. In.Thorne, S.E. & Hayes, V.E. Nursing Praxis: Knowledge and Action. Sage: New Delhi.   Laizner AM (2005) A research course to promote evidence-based nursing practice. Canadian Oncology Nursing Journal, 15(4), 256-257.   Lee AC, Tiwari AF, Ho Choi EW, Yuen KH, and Wong A (2005) Hong Kong nurses’ perceptions of and participation in continuing nursing education. Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 36 (5), 205-212.     Reimanis CL, Cohen EL, and Redman R (2001) Nurse case manager role attributes: fifteen years of evidence-based literature. Lippincotts’ Case Manager, 6(6), 230-239.   Robertson-Malt S, Chapman Y, and Ingram G (2006) Putting the evidence into practice: the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre experience. International Journal of Nursing Practice, 12(1), 35-41.    Tiwari A, Avery A, and Lai P (2003) Critical thinking disposition of Hong Kong Chinese and Australian nursing students. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 44(3), 298-307.   Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Nursing Science Case Study

Introduction Nursing knowledge was once regarded as subjective, contextually bound, and developed through experience with the context ...

The Nursing Care

The aim of this essay is to describe and discuss the nursing care given to an eighty-four year old lady who is placed under percutaneous endoscope gastrostomy (PEG) tube for a long term enthral nutrition. Valentine also has moderate impairment and is dependent to maintain her personal cleansing and dressing. This study focuses on the care and monitoring of the tube and keeping the wound site free from infection. This study will also discuss the nursing interventions addressing her dependency on personal cleansing and dressing. A study by Lumen et al (2001) among the patients in nursing home who received Pegs revealed that the incidence of wound infection was the most commonly reported complication. Lynch and Fang (2004) also reported that site leakage and skin irritation occur frequently as a result of poor management of the PEG site. Reflecting from this study, the quality of care to be administered to Valentine is crucial considering her present status of which she has limited mobility. The conclusion of this study will focus on the effectiveness of nursing management administered in maintaining PEG tubes and incision site and the aspect of care given to Valentine.             In writing this essay, permission was requested and obtained from the patient provided that this study will be use for academic purposes only. A pseudonym Valentine was used to maintain confidentiality in compliance with the MNC Code of Conduct (2004).             The nursing model applied to plan Valentine’s care was the Roper Logan and Tierney based on activities of living. This model offers a framework for nurses to take into account the individuality of every patient in delivering nursing care (Roper et al, 2003).  Further, this model is also inclined with the National Service Framework for Older People (2001) taking into consideration that older people should be treated as individuals and enables them to make choices about their own care. Based on the Roper-Logan-Tierney model, the twelve activities of daily living have interconnectedness and impact with one another. However, only two aspect of care will be discuss in this study.             Mrs Valentine was referred to a general hospital five years ago due to food refusal. She was also reported of experiencing regurgitation after eating. For weeks her condition was investigated and different textures of food and supplements were tried to see which Valentine could tolerate. Eventually she managed to take a combination of porridge mixed with supplements and fortified pudding. Still, she finds it very hard to take most solid foods. She was then discharged to a nursing home but her condition worsened which led to re-admission at the same hospital. She was then diagnosed of having oesophageal stricture and oesophagi is. Oesophageal stricture is a narrowing of the oesophagus. In order for her to achieve the best possible nourishment, a PEG was intended for a long term enthral nutrition. Since her discharge back to a nursing home, she has managed much better.             Valentine is a cheerful and happy lady. She was a choir member during her younger years and today, when she is in her room, she sometimes likes to sing at the top of her voice. Her singing at night occasionally does annoy other residents.  She can express her needs and she likes to dress and look smart. She loves to join every tour the home provides and she is fond of wearing beautiful hats every time she goes out.  She likes to converse and she is alert, retains and response to information, however she is forgetful and vague at times. Football is her favourite game to watch whenever there is a scheduled program in the television. She even received autographed pictures of the whole Arsenal team through the facilitation by the nursing home’s activity lady. A divorcee with no children, Valentine is looked after by her younger sister who is only her remaining relative. Valentine is still just weight bearing and can stand but is no longer able to use a frame safely. She uses a wheelchair to run about and has two carers to help with all transfers and all her aspects of personal care. She is regularly checked as she is doubly incontinent. She is able to reposition herself in the chair and uses an air mattress to prevent pressure sores. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

The Nursing Care

The aim of this essay is to describe and discuss the nursing care given to an eighty-four year old lady who is placed under ...

Nursing Career

Nursing Career   Nursing as a science means that it is a body of knowledge systematically organized, and like all bodies of knowledge is dynamic and subject to change. New perspectives in health and illness appear. Nursing as an art pertains to the aspects of knowing in nursing that are not discovered by scientific investigation. Nursing is thus considered as both a science and an art. Nursing practice is directed and guided by an understanding of the definition of health and the factors that impact a client’s health framework. In the relationship between the nurse and the client, nurses respect the client’s unique psychosocial, spiritual, and cultural needs and advocate for their health choices and decisions. Nurses support client participation in the process of actualizing a defined image of health and do not negate the ability of clients to form their own image of health. Over the years nurses have responded to the frustrations of hospital work with a variety of revised and expanded forms of nursing practice. The development of a theory and practice of primary care has emphasized the need for continuity, and one nurse may now coordinate with all aspects of care for an individual patient.             Nursing has responded to and always will continue to respond to the needs of the clients. In times of war, nursing has responded by meeting the needs of those who are wounded in the combat zones and in military hospitals in some countries abroad. When communities face health care crises, such as those that occur from infectious diseases or a lack of health care resources, nursing is there to establish community-based immunization and screening programs, treatment clinics, and health promotion activities (Potter & Perry, 2004). In today’s health care work environments, nursing roles are shifting dramatically in response to profound changes at system, organization, and individual levels. These changes may be influential to nurses’ quality of work life and intent to remain with their employers and in nursing. Professional autonomy is a highly desirable nursing role characteristic (Fox, 2003). In this transformational time in health care here at the outset of the 21st century, the primary role of the nurse is to live fully aware of the unfolding potential of this journey. It is the skill sets of awareness, availability, and anticipation which now most defines the character of clinical leadership and calls the nurses’ understanding of the application of the role into a new arena for it (Porter-O’Grady, 2003).             The changing patterns of health care delivery have increased complexity in all practice environments. Evidenced-based practice models have intensified rather than simplified nursing care delivery because they have been inserted into traditional practice patterns. Nursing lacks systems to plot its patterns of care delivery. Consequently, except in limited circumstances, nurses are unable to predict what activities make a difference in the outcomes and satisfaction levels of their patients. The inability to identify and control the processes, protocols, patterns, rituals, and tasks related to safe, compassionate care delivery and better health outcomes does not assure professional practice (Donley, 2005). In response to change in health care delivery, how nurses perform their roles is open for interpretation. Although nurses’ roles still involve traditional bedside responsibilities for patient care, increasing numbers of RNs are enacting new roles that emphasize collaboration. Nurses’ scope of responsibilities is broadened as they coordinate care across the health care continuum, lead health care teams, and participate in health care decisions (Fox, 2003). It is essential that nurses be knowledgeable regarding health promotion and disease or illness prevention. When the nurse is providing total care, he or she should think beyond current health problems to the client’s general well-being and future risks for illness and injury (Black & Hawks, 2004). Nurses have an ethical responsibility to teach not only their clients but also other health care workers. The nurse has the responsibility to teach the information that other health care workers need. The nurse also often clarifies information provided by physicians and other health care providers and may become the primary source of information needed for adjusting to health problems (Potter & Perry, 2004). Nursing today emphasizes specialized education to support the work in health care. Nurses teach preventive care and health maintenance, assist medical treatment, aid rehabilitation, and attend the dying. Most nurses work in hospitals and nursing homes, with others in public health agencies, offices, schools, and industries. Nurses are also educators, supervisors, administrators, and independent practitioners. Assessing and adapting educational information and approaches to the needs and preferences of the health care support workers enhances the success of educational efforts. Not all individuals are comfortable in class settings or in support groups. Educational programs that use these methods should have other educational opportunities available to the health care support workers that needed to be educated. Nurses must at all time also remain creative and responsive to other health care workers when providing education. Nurses are responsible for making accurate and appropriate clinical decisions. Critical thinking is very important as no two clients have the same needs. The nurse after assessment and diagnosis has to employ critical thinking skills for a client’s particular condition. Intuition is simply a result of common experiences and applied to new ones. After a nurse has been exposed to a certain situation and is exposed to another similar situation, the nurse uses her intuition along with her critical thinking skills to develop an approach for the client. Intuition in nursing thus develops as a nurse’s clinical experience increases. A nurse is always challenged to observe each of his or her clients closely, search for and examine ideas and judgments about the problems that the clients face. Additionally the nurse has to consider scientific principles that he/she have learned and relate this to the clients’ problem, recognize the problems, and develop the right approach to nursing care as appropriate to the situation and problem of the client. Intuition is thus considered by authors as a trigger which brings about in the nurse an analytical process that leads them in a search to acquire data that confirms what they have sensed in the client or in a particular situation. Intuition thus triggers the nurse to apply his/her critical thinking skills in a situation in order to come up with the right thing to do or the right answer to a problem being presented. Nurses must not make snap judgments just by their intuition alone. This could jeopardize the client’s situation and perhaps affect the nursing quality of care for the patient. As a student nurse, knowing and understanding what critical thinking is and its importance very important.  (1995) points out that a student nurse has to develop this skill. Critical thinking begins for a student when the student seriously asks questions, and in continuing way attempts to answer questions like “what do I really know about this nursing care situation?” or “how do I know it?” This is actually a process which is developed within the student nurse with the aid of other individuals like the educators. Students in nursing must learn nursing by consciously practicing reasoning skills needed in nursing. Students in nursing must also critically reason their way through nursing principles, concepts and theories as much as possible so that appropriate and accurate application of knowledge occurs naturally in clinical practice. According to  (1995), the purpose of reflective, critical thinking is to ensure that the nurse has the depth of knowledge necessary to immediately comprehend the practice situation so that safe, effective, quality nursing care is provided to the clients. Intuitive practice and critical thinking can significantly affect the quality of care delivered by the nurses to their patients. It is important to remember that the quality of nursing practice depends on the nurse’s ability to use all types of cognitive and emotional cues associated with a situation to trigger critical thinking and then to select effective nursing interventions. A nurse cannot safely act on intuition alone that is why critical thinking and intuition both have to go together in order to achieve expertise in the nursing profession. Intuition requires critical thinking as much as critical thinking needs intuition. Practicality-wise, the recent increase in demands for nurses here and abroad and the prospect of financial gains are motivating factors why I took up nursing. But it is not only about the money and being “in.” Being a nurse entails a lot of patience, dedication and responsibility. To succeed in the nursing profession, one must love what he or she does. It counts a lot. The opportunity to help and influence the lives of other people is something worth cherishing and something to be proud of. The nursing program will require a lot of hard work and patience. A nursing student must go through these and all other obstacles and challenges. Student nurses must also strive hard and do their best to succeed in the nursing program. This paper has emphasized that nursing is not a static, unchanging profession but is continuously growing and evolving as society changes, as health care emphases and methods change, as lifestyles change – and as the nurses themselves change. Nursing at present continuously draws on the social sciences and other fields as the focus of nursing care expands. In conclusion, the nurse therefore has various responsibilities and roles. Aside from providing care and comfort to the patient, they also carry out other nursing functions. Over the years, the nursing profession has evolved to include many functions. Nurses are active in social policy and political arenas. Nurses and their professional organizations lobby for health care legislations to meet the needs of the clients, particularly those who are medically underserved. Nurses are also active in local government planning to ensure that health care resources are available in all client communities. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Nursing Career

Nursing Career Nursing as a science means that it is a body of knowledge systematically organized, and like all bodies of knowledge is...

Nursing Career

Nursing Career   Nursing as a science means that it is a body of knowledge systematically organized, and like all bodies of knowledge is dynamic and subject to change. New perspectives in health and illness appear. Nursing as an art pertains to the aspects of knowing in nursing that are not discovered by scientific investigation. Nursing is thus considered as both a science and an art. Reflective and lifelong learning are integral components of professional nursing practice. They have been introduced successfully in nursing as part of academic study programmes, but nurses have been less keen to embrace the facilitated reflection on practice known as clinical supervision, despite professional requirements to do so (2003). Proponents of lifelong learning argue that people need to be empowered to self-direct their educational development throughout life, not just in school years, to cope with and adapt to a changing world. This empowerment should be inclusive rather than exclusive (1992). Therefore, clinical supervision should be available to all practitioners, not just the selected few. Various authors identify the need for organizational factors to be considered to enable staff to access clinical supervision. (2002). It could be suggested that ensuring representation from all grades of staff on any implementation group is likely to help ensure that resultant work and strategy is inclusive rather than exclusive, and empowers those groups by offering a forum for their views. Certainly, (2002) recommend such collaboration. Lack of time represents a threat to lifelong learning activity, and is cited as a common reason for not implementing or accessing clinical supervision (Wallace 1999). Staff are often expected to undertake such activity in their own time, possibly contradicting the ethos of a learning organization, and due to high work demands are reluctant to do so. As no funding is being provided it is difficult to determine how this will be delivered in a system already chronically short-staffed and underfunded (2003). Motivation is also important in order for one to succeed in the field of nursing as a career. According to (2000), motivation is built on three basic elements. First, motivation starts with a need, vision, dream, or desire to achieve the seemingly impossible. Second, a person should develop a love-to-learn mentality, accept risk, and continually seek new opportunities. Finally, a person can learn from failures and discover how to bounce back; he willing to start over and overcome barriers. Ideas, visions, and goals are the common denominators of motivation (2004). We are all in search of something, and I believe it is significance. Everyone is important and has something to offer, and it is up to each of us to find out what that is–both in our personal and professional lives. It is essential that nurses be knowledgeable regarding health promotion and disease or illness prevention. When the nurse is providing total care, he or she should think beyond current health problems to the client’s general well-being and future risks for illness and injury ( 2004). Thus a nurse should be able to see ways that he/she can influence the work environment. A nurse should be aware of his or her own self so that he or she can change for the benefit not only of the clients and co-workers but for himself or herself also. Student nurses’ as well as practicing nurses’ personal growth and self-awareness are the foundation blocks for their confidence in their role. It is through such growth that they learn to question and build expertise about clinical situations. Working with international nurses exposes them to new ways of working and broadens the student’s personal and experiential growth and knowledge by redefining their understanding. This could relate to patient care issues or ethical considerations, which are often deep-rooted in different cultures (Woods, 2003). Nurses have an ethical responsibility to teach not only their clients but also other health care workers. The nurse has the responsibility to teach the information that other health care workers need. The nurse also often clarifies information provided by physicians and other health care providers and may become the primary source of information needed for adjusting to health problems (2004). Nursing today emphasizes specialized education to support the work in health care. Nurses teach preventive care and health maintenance, assist medical treatment, aid rehabilitation, and attend the dying. Most nurses work in hospitals and nursing homes, with others in public health agencies, offices, schools, and industries. Nurses are also educators, supervisors, administrators, and independent practitioners. Assessing and adapting educational information and approaches to the needs and preferences of the health care support workers enhances the success of educational efforts. Not all individuals are comfortable in class settings or in support groups. Educational programs that use these methods should have other educational opportunities available to the health care support workers that needed to be educated. Nurses must at all time also remain creative and responsive to other health care workers when providing education. Nurses are responsible for making accurate and appropriate clinical decisions. Critical thinking is very important as no two clients have the same needs. The nurse after assessment and diagnosis has to employ critical thinking skills for a client’s particular condition. Intuition is simply a result of common experiences and applied to new ones. After a nurse has been exposed to a certain situation and is exposed to another similar situation, the nurse uses her intuition along with her critical thinking skills to develop an approach for the client. Intuition in nursing thus develops as a nurse’s clinical experience increases. A nurse is always challenged to observe each of his or her clients closely, search for and examine ideas and judgments about the problems that the clients face. Additionally the nurse has to consider scientific principles that he/she have learned and relate this to the clients’ problem, recognize the problems, and develop the right approach to nursing care as appropriate to the situation and problem of the client. Intuition is thus considered by authors as a trigger which brings about in the nurse an analytical process that leads them in a search to acquire data that confirms what they have sensed in the client or in a particular situation. Intuition thus triggers the nurse to apply his/her critical thinking skills in a situation in order to come up with the right thing to do or the right answer to a problem being presented. Nurses must not make snap judgments just by their intuition alone. This could jeopardize the client’s situation and perhaps affect the nursing quality of care for the patient. As a student nurse, knowing and understanding what critical thinking is and its importance very important.  (1995) points out that a student nurse has to develop this skill. Critical thinking begins for a student when the student seriously asks questions, and in continuing way attempts to answer questions like “what do I really know about this nursing care situation?” or “how do I know it?” This is actually a process which is developed within the student nurse with the aid of other individuals like the educators. Students in nursing must learn nursing by consciously practicing reasoning skills needed in nursing. Students in nursing must also critically reason their way through nursing principles, concepts and theories as much as possible so that appropriate and accurate application of knowledge occurs naturally in clinical practice. According to  (1995), the purpose of reflective, critical thinking is to ensure that the nurse has the depth of knowledge necessary to immediately comprehend the practice situation so that safe, effective, quality nursing care is provided to the clients. Intuitive practice and critical thinking can significantly affect the quality of care delivered by the nurses to their patients. It is important to remember that the quality of nursing practice depends on the nurse’s ability to use all types of cognitive and emotional cues associated with a situation to trigger critical thinking and then to select effective nursing interventions. A nurse cannot safely act on intuition alone that is why critical thinking and intuition both have to go together in order to achieve expertise in the nursing profession. Intuition requires critical thinking as much as critical thinking needs intuition. Practicality-wise, the recent increase in demands for nurses here and abroad and the prospect of financial gains are motivating factors why I took up nursing. But it is not only about the money and being “in.” Being a nurse entails a lot of patience, dedication and responsibility. To succeed in the nursing profession, one must love what he or she does. It counts a lot. The opportunity to help and influence the lives of other people is something worth cherishing and something to be proud of. The nursing program will require a lot of hard work and patience. A nursing student must go through these and all other obstacles and challenges. Student nurses must also strive hard and do their best to succeed in the nursing program. This paper has emphasized that nursing is not a static, unchanging profession but is continuously growing and evolving as society changes, as health care emphases and methods change, as lifestyles change – and as the nurses themselves change. Nursing at present continuously draws on the social sciences and other fields as the focus of nursing care expands. Over the years, the nursing profession has evolved to include many functions. Nurses are active in social policy and political arenas. Nurses and their professional organizations lobby for health care legislations to meet the needs of the clients, particularly those who are medically underserved. Nurses are also active in local government planning to ensure that health care resources are available in all client communities. However, with all the changes, the nursing profession still remains to need nurses who exhibit critical thinking, lifelong learning, personal motivation, and self awareness. This should be exhibited not only during nursing student years but more importantly when practicing the nursing career.   Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Nursing Career

Nursing Career Nursing as a science means that it is a body of knowledge systematically organized, and like all bodies of knowledge ...

ASSESSMENT OF THE FACTORS AFFECTING ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENT NURSES

ASSESSMENT OF THE FACTORS AFFECTING ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENT NURSES             Nursing is one of the courses that attract thousands of students in the Philippines hoping to get better paying jobs abroad. Today nursing as a profession has gained a positive reputation due to its promising income and opportunity to work abroad. While the number of enrollees increase each year, nursing schools also proliferate. The concern that the government today has in relation to the volume of students enrolling in the course and the mushrooming of nursing schools is to ensure quality nursing education that will not only benefit the students themselves but will also raise the reputation of the Philippines in the global health profession. It is also important to note that not only are nursing schools expensive, nursing as an academic discipline is also comparatively difficult. Not all students who enroll and study nursing finish their academic requirements and graduate as nurses. One of the reasons of the high attrition rate is academic performance.             There are several factors affecting student academic performance. These are socio-economic status, motivation, intellectual ability, stress, and social factors. The relationship between socio-economic status and academic performance is a saturated research area. Studies have proven that socio-economic status is highly correlated with academic performance, at all levels and in all courses. Some research however suggests that socio-economic status is a determinant of college attendance rather than academic performance (NLSP, n.d.). In a more common sense assessment, self-supporting students are likely to miss classes due to work and the pressure of putting food on the table and the payment of tuition fees. The fact remains however that classroom attendance is necessary for a better understanding of their knowledge and its application. In some schools class attendance is compulsory and has a bearing on the grades of the students. Given the above-mentioned assumptions, the self-supporting student therefore gets lower grades than his classmates who belong to the higher socio-economic status.             Motivation defined as “internal energy which drives a person to do something in order to achieve something” (Romando, nd) is an important factor that is associated with academic performance. There are two types of motivation that affect academic performance, extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation among nursing students may be the desire to earn dollars and go abroad and discover the world. Intrinsic motivators for nursing students may be the genuine desire to become a nurse and not just taking the nursing course because of family or peer pressure or the lure of dollars and or travel abroad.  A study conducted by Chacko and Huba (1991) on academic achievement of undergraduate nursing students revealed that motivation has a direct effect on the academic achievement of nursing students. There are no studies however that differentiate from extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and whether intrinsic motivation positively affects academic performance of nursing students, more than extrinsic motivation. Intellectual ability may determine academic performance. There are no empirical proofs whether very bright students achieve more or average students underachieve. There are other mediating factors such as quality of teaching instruction and a healthy and challenging environment that may put off an average student but encourage the brighter student to excel.             Stress results from any situation or thought that is perceived as negative causing the person to feel angry, frustrated, nervous or anxious, and that which arouses emotional, mental and physical response (Morrow, 2011). There are two types of stress: positive and negative. It is assumed that positive stress positively impacts academic performance and negative stress reduces academic performance.  Stress is an important factor because stress affects health, memory retention, anxiety, judgment, future outlook or ambition, self-esteem and mental health (Kuhn, 2008).             Social factors such as culture, gender, the influence of peers, media, the family, politics and religion are important determinants of academic performance. Social factors affect motivation and are thus considered as mediating variables that affect motivational level whether positively or negatively thereby affecting academic performance.             In conclusion academic achievement of nursing students is affected by socio-economic status, motivation, intellectual ability, stress and social factors. In addition to the abovementioned factors an interesting area in the research of nurses’ academic achievement may focus on emotional quotient and its effect on academic achievement. Another realm of research in nursing academic achievement is to look into emotional intelligence and its effect on the academic achievement of nursing students. This is a very relevant study knowing that the nursing profession requires nurses who are able to deal with a lot of challenges and pressures at work and which requires emotional stability and adaptability.  REFERENCES Chacko, SB., and Huba ME., 1991. Academic achievement among undergraduate nursing students: the development and test of a causal model. Abstract only. [online] Available at: < http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1649277> [Accessed 10 May 2011].   Kuhn, E., 2008. Student Stress and Academic Performance: Seven Ways in Which Too Much Stress Can Affect Your Grades. [online] Available at: < http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/student-stress-and-academic-performance-seven-ways-in-which-too-much-stress-can-affect-your-grades-467673.html> [Accessed 10 May 2011].   Morrow, A., 2011. Stress Definition. [online] Available at: < http://dying.about.com/od/glossary/g/stress.htm> [Accessed 10 may 2011].   NLSP, n.d. College attendance: socioeconomic status outpaces academic achievement. [online] Available at: < http://www.nslp.org/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/03/24/42443a7b2075f> [Accessed 10 May 2011].   Romando, R., n.d. Define Motivation. [online] Available at: < http://ezinearticles.com/?Define-Motivation&id=410696> [Accessed 10 May 2011].       Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

ASSESSMENT OF THE FACTORS AFFECTING ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENT NURSES

ASSESSMENT OF THE FACTORS AFFECTING ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENT NURSES Nursing is one of the courses that attract thous...