Clarifying Nursing Roles

There are many different roles and values within the profession of nursing. Each of these roles and values has a different job description and purpose, yet they all contain one common link. The link that connects the different roles in the nursing profession is the fact that they each rely on nursing research, theories, and evidence based practice to provide safe, quality care to patients. Without nursing research, theories, and evidence based practice, nursing care would be based on trial and error methods that often cause more harm than good to the patient.

“Nursing encompasses autonomous and collaborative care of individuals of all ages, families, groups and communities, sick or well and in all settings. Nursing includes the promotion of health, prevention of illness, and the care of ill, disabled and dying people. Advocacy, promotion of a safe environment, research, participation in shaping health policy and in patient and health systems management, and education are also key nursing roles” (ICN 2010)

This assignment will explore and critically evaluate the role of the registered nurse in the development of a plan of care that is patient centred. This will involve examining and critically analysing the chosen nursing model in a holistic assessment of the patient and the use of the nursing framework ASPIRE (Barrett, Wilson and Wollands, 2012).

The State of Tennessee Board of Nursing’s Rules and Regulations of Registered Nurses, Rule # 1000-01-.13-1r states that unprofessional conduct is defined in part by "failing to take appropriate action in safeguarding the patient from incompetent health care practices" (State of Tennessee, 2011). There are a number of arguments in this case study that incompetent health care practices are being performed, from the decision to place a patient on a ventilator for an oxygen saturation of 88%, circumventing the patient’s written and verbal advanced directives, utilizing an unauthorized family member to get consent for

Nursing encompasses various roles, inclusive of providing beneficial care, supporting patient autonomy and patient advocacy. Patients are capable of designating the direction of their medical care, possessing rights to refuse and accept proposed procedures according to the Patient Self Determination Act of 1990 which mandates patients be given information regarding their rights and abilities to prepare Advance Directives.

Through the manner in which the case scenario is presented, Mr. Y is not involved in Mr. E’s life decisions even though he is entrusted with Mr. E’s final life decisions.

As the health care system continues to change and the population of patient with chronic conditions transforms in the health care industry, the leaders of nursing much be able to adapt and change as well. Advance practice nurses are on the forefront and leaders of the patient health care. In addition to the challenges being faced with the current Affordable Health Care Act, the advance practice nurse must be willing to lead and take a stand for the betterment of the patient overall health and condition. As this writer reflects on the personal strengths, positivity, self-assurance, and relator are personality traits needed as an advance practice nurse. In the personal strength positivity, there is encouragement with individuals to believe within themselves and attempts to pull out their inner strength. This personal strength can be utilized with patients who are struggling to lose weight or being newly diagnosed with an illness, This writer can encourage the patient to believe within themselves and help create health care plans to assist the patient with changing their lifestyle.

effectiveness (Cioffi & Ferguson, 2009). Therefore, it is important to ensure that nurses who assume leader roles have the skills to manage and delegate tasks as required. There must be clearly defined roles and responsibilities for each team member that take into account the levels of expertise among the members. It can be troublesome when team members do not carry their share of the work. When this occurs, other team members take on an additional work burden to address the shortfalls in patient care. If the team leader is unable to provide clarity and direction for the team, the model will not be effective.

According to the American Nurses Association (ANA), nurses are great team players because of their adaptability, commitment,

In team nursing the responsibilities usually divided in between the personnel, so that everyone’s has its own role in patient’s care.

The team model allows the utility of nonprofessional nursing personnel such as LPNs and nursing assistants, through delegation and observation by an RN while holding a team leader accountable.( Tiedeman&Lookinland,2004) The focus is to work collaboratively and cooperatively with shared responsibilities, and to some extent accountabilities, for assessment, planning, delivering, and evaluation of patient care. ( Tiedeman&Lookinland,

Nurses work as members of a team because one person is not able to provide the care that an individual needs during their stay in a hospital. The team generally consists of Certified Nursing Aides who provide immediate comfort care for the patients, possibly Licensed Professional Nurses who are able to pass meds and perform many of the less-skilled jobs that are required, a Registered Nurse acts as care supervisor and provides the skilled care for the patient. The patient also likely has a team of doctors, technicians (radiological,

American Nurses Association defines 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 population”( Potter,P.,& Perry, A. 2005,1-5). Thus making nursing dynamic and ever changing. However, when nursing

With the changing healthcare environment, the roles of nurses have also increased. Because nursing is becoming an independent profession, nurses also gained authority, autonomy and accountability in their practice. The increase of their practice role also means that they also carry a huge responsibility and accountability to patients. Furthermore, the increasing practice roles are putting nurses at high risk of being sued (Marquis & Huston, 2015). The National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) reported that the malpractice claims filed against nurses demonstrated an increase from 483 in 2003 to 711 in 2012 (Cooper, 2016).

Nursing today is mainly dominated by woman, making it the number one career choice for woman. For men, nursing is a profession that doesn’t usually come to mind when thinking of a major in college. However, in the nursing field today men are in a much greater need. Nursing is one of the fastest growing professions in the medical field today, making RN’s the most promising professions to pursue. In the nursing profession females have been the majority making males the minority, but in today’s society, the need for more physical nurses is in great demand making nursing a good career choice for the next generation of young men.