Continuing Education Activities

Healthcare systems and the way safe, quality health care is delivered are continually changing to better serve patients and communities. Professional nursing practice is a large component in the healthcare system today. Back in the 1960s, professional nursing leaders tried to adopt the bachelor degree programs as the only educational track to become a registered nurse (Creasia & Friberg, 2011). Due to nursing shortages and demands this motive did not hold fast. Individuals entering the nursing profession today must first decide which educational pathway to take to become a Registered Nurse (RN).

The need for continuing education in nursing has been accentuated in response to rapidly changing health care environment. Expanding knowledge by pursuing higher education allows nurses to enlarge one’s practice. Furthermore, higher education in nursing has been shown that a nurse’s level of education can become a critical factor to the patient-centered quality of care. This essay describes increased demand for higher education in nursing and emphasizes the necessity of continuing education to provide optimum patient care in various setting.

The second provision I chose describes the importance of continued education in the nursing field. This education can be through continuing education credits (CEUs), advancements in a degree, or participating part of a work force committee. Advancements are always being made in patient care and safety; for this reason the state of MN requires 24 continuing education credits every two years. This can be completed through online courses, lectures, conferences, and courses that meet requirements. The hospital I work for also provides emails, bulletin boards, and meetings on any changes or updates that will effect and implemented by nursing staff. Besides meeting my employers and state requirements, I am also currently a student to obtain a BSN in nursing.

The Institute of Medicine’s 2010 report on The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health acknowledges the changing healthcare sector in the US and describes future vision of healthcare and the role of nurses to fulfill that vision. The United States always strives to provide affordable and quality healthcare to the entire population of the country. In order to achieve this goal an overall restructuring of the healthcare system was necessitated. Nurses are considered to be the central part of the healthcare system to provide high quality and safe patient care. Nursing in the US is the single largest segment of the healthcare workforce with almost 3 million nurses working in different areas across the county. The changing

Moreover, I realized my future as an RN was not guaranteed to be there, unless I pursued an advanced degree in nursing. Of course, this is not the only reason for continuing my nursing education, it will also enable me to provide more competent care, which leads to better patient outcomes, as well as, quality and safety of patient care (Mason, Leavitt, & Chaffee, 2014, p. 386).

Bachelor degree nursing programs are highly regarded for the skilled, clinical thinking, and professionalism of nurses they provide for the community. Obtaining a baccalaureate in nursing provides the same skills and knowledge encompassed in most associate’s programs, while allowing a broadened look into research, public health, management, and humanities (AACN IENP, 2012). Many facilities are now providing incentives for nursing staff to continue their education; from tuition reimbursement, an increase in pay, and played time off for the sole purpose of education. Research has proven that with a more educated

Nursing is about providing the best possible holistic care for the patient and family. At the same time there’s an imbalance of patient care regarding education and knowledge being provided by nurses. As a nurse I believe we all owe it to ourselves, the profession, and the patient to provide the best possible care. According to American Nurses Association (ANA) online article “Nursing is 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.” In order to better achieve the nursing ideals of the American Nurses Association we must improve patient care by requiring hospital nurses to become BSN nurses.

The report shows that the part of nursing must be expanded so that nurses are able to practice to the fullest degree of their education and training. Currently, advanced practice nurses (APRNs) work according to the scope of practice guidelines set forth by their individual state, meaning these highly educated nurses may not be working to the extent of their training but to the individual state laws. The report offers recommendations to streamline these idiosyncrasies and get rid of the red tape so that nurses can work in their appropriate manner and deliver safe quality care to some 32 million Americans who will before long gain access to health care services (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2012). The report correspondingly finds that nurses need to attain advanced levels of education and training through an enhanced education structure which encourages a cohesive academic progression as to safeguard the delivery of quality health care services. Patients are becoming progressively more complex and nurses need to attain the proper skills to care for these persons. Nursing education must embrace the continuous move towards a streamline approach to higher degree programs (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2010, p. 2). Nurse residency programs

Since the passing of the 2010, Health Care Legislation Laws, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act, were instilled to increase the percentages of Americans having quality, affordable health care insurance coverage and making colleges more affordable and accessible to them. The Institute of Medicine developed a study to see how the nursing profession can be improved and to contribute to build a health care system that

The goal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010 was to expand the assess to care for all American citizens and to reduce the cost of health care in the United States. Therefore, many executives of Health Care Organizations (HCOs) confront with key issues of allocating scarce resources to deliver the care without compromising on qualities and increasing on expenditures (KPMG Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Institute, 2011). With unlicensed supportive personnel and nurses composing the largest percentage of the workforce at any HCOs, it is crucial that advance practice nurses (APNs) be involved in the achievement of financial goals (Goetz, Janney, & Ramsey, 2011). Therefore, the purpose of this

214) “The ACA and the need for APRNs, nurse faculty, and nurse researchers would have increased dramatically under any scenario.” (L R Cronenwett [RWJF Iniative on the Future of Nursing], 2010, table 1). “Not only must schools of nursing build their capacity to prepare more students. Nursing need to focus on fundamental improvements in the delivery of nursing care to improve patient safety and quality is key.” (IOM, 2010, p. 208)

There needs to be more emphasis on community health, long-term care, and coordination of care. In addition, the curriculum should include more leadership, systems thinking, and quality improvement. The IOM also recommends having incentives for nurses who wish to achieve higher levels of education such as tuition reimbursement, expansion of grants and loans, and more scholarships. As the number of students is expected to increase, educational institutions need to hire and retain faculty by creating competitive salaries and benefits. The IOM suggests doubling doctoral level nurses by 2020 (Institute of Medicine, 2010). The committee further encourages life long learning in order for nurses to practice to their fullest potential. The emphasis of improving the education system will produce a highly educated, well-rounded workforce who is equipped to effectively meet the health care needs of Americans today.

Nursing education has progressed throughout history from one of uneducated lay persons to the current standards we know today. As the career has progressed it has become apparent that there is a need for a skilled labor forced trained to deal with the sick and dying, “the provision of nursing care by American women…demonstrated the effectiveness of skilled nursing on improving outcomes for sick and injured soldiers” (Creasia & Friberg, 2011, p. 4). However, as the career progresses so does the need for more specialized training amongst nurses to help them deal with the changing atmosphere of patient care. The future

With a consistent change in modernizing medicine, along with the continuing advancement in technology, continuing education in nursing is essential for a variety of reasons. The nurse’s main concern is providing safe, efficient, and effective patient care with positive patient outcomes. This paper will examine the differences in competencies between nurses prepared at an associate-degree level versus a baccalaureate-degree level, in order to provide an evidenced-based understanding of the variation in the educational preparation of nurses.

In the medical fraternity, nurses make up the largest healthcare profession. The care of patients depends on the well-being of the nurses, and issues affecting them may affect patients, directly or indirectly. As a profession, nursing, can be both an extremely rewarding and challenging activity. A number of problems exist, and most are becoming worse because of lack of lack of mechanisms to address these issues. The three greatest issues affecting nursing today include improving health education, lack of respect for nurses and cost cutting. Although these problems are not clinical, they influence the efficiency of the performance of nurses in their delivery of services.