Professional Nursing Practice Essay

It is important to integrate the concept professionalism into your nursing career because it allows you to flourish personally as a nurse but more importantly allows the patient to receive the care they deserve. Throughout the course of one’s nursing career there will be many slips and falls. Mistakes will happen but we as nurses are able to reflect and learn from them in a

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 &

Nurses must display a knowledge of skills by portraying a functional ability to assess, treat, and prevent illness in the clinical setting. “The nurses are obliged to gain specialized knowledge, skills and training through the rigorous study of biological, physical and behavioral sciences and then use this knowledge to diagnose and treat patients suffering from different ailments. The patients treated must be under the supervision of skilled medical practitioners and the nurse must be equally directed by the expert medical practitioner. The prevention and management of illnesses, injury and ailments also forms some of the major tasks that have to be carried out by nurses. Politeness in expression, compassion for patients and proper uniform are also some of the main parts of professionalism in nursing.” (professonalism in nursing http://www.buzzle.com/articles/professionalism-in-nursing.html)

This assignment will reflect on and critically analyse my personal and professional development in the domain of care management over the last three years. It will additionally outline how I plan to continue to develop in this domain once I have qualified as a registered nurse. My development so far will be analysed from the perspective of the skills, knowledge and values required of a registered nurse. Through this reflection I hope to confirm that my practice meets the standards for entry onto the nursing register as outlined by the nursing and midwifery council ((NMC) 2008).

The purpose of this paper is to explore the transitional shift from practical nurse to professional nurse. We have utilized several resources detailing the scope of practice for the professional nurse, and explain in detail the new types of roles we will encounter as RN’s.

Nurses develop professional skills through a process called “Professionalization.” Ghadirian uses four factors to describe this; cognitive dimension, attitudinal dimension and psychomotor dimension. They then further describe the cognitive dimension as the “professional knowledge” a nurse must have (2014). Without knowledge of illness or the human body, a nurse can not practice professionally. Ghadirian then suggests that even with extensive professional knowledge, a nurse can not be professional without the ideals and ethics of a nurse, or the ability to provide care (2014). A nurse can not be professional without all the dimensions. A nurse must have the values of a nurse, knowledge of a nurse and the ability to provide care.

Mary considers “Competencies for registered nurses” is affecting her career the most. It helps her to maintain the high standards as a nurse. This document has been implemented by Nursing Council of New Zealand (NCNZ) to ensure the on-going education and compliance with standards for nursing care. It consists of four main parts. They are competences in professional responsibility, management of nursing care, interpersonal relationships and interprofessional care and quality improvement. It requires ability to show knowledge and judgment, and being responsible for own actions and decisions, while assuring safety of the patients, their independence and quality of life and health. Also it requires competences in client assessment and managing the care. The clients care should be sensitive to his/her needs. It is supported by nursing knowledge and evidence based research. Besides to comply with “Competences for registered nurses” the patient care should be cultural sensitive (Nursing Council of New Zealand, 2007). Every 3

The need for expansion in their roles for higher levels of education and an improved system of education are required for nurses now for meeting the diverse needs of the patients and to provide better care. Improving the education system and achieving a more educated work force is increasing with nurses having baccalaureate degrees , that is, a traditional Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Nursing program or a traditional 4 year Bachelor of Nursing program or a program that allows seamless transition from Associate in Diploma Nursing to Bachelor of Nursing.

This assignment describes my own Professional Development Plan (PDP) for the first six months of my nurse registration. Following a PDP will show my commitment to Continuing Professional Development (CPD), otherwise known as PREP (CPD). PREP stands for Post-Registration Education and Practice and is a set of Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) standards and guidance that help nurses give the best possible care (NMC PREP Handbook 2006 p3); part of which is a commitment to CPD. CPD is a process of learning activities designed for individuals to reach their full potential, so they provide the highest possible standards of patients care (NMC PREP Handbook 2006 p9). By following a PDP I will develop my knowledge, understanding

Professional practice models can help guides nursing practice in any healthcare setting. Nursing care models are commonly adopted by Magnet organizations because they promote staff autonomy, shared decision making, patient-centeredness, and quality care. Nurses most often develop PPMs which reflect not only nursing values but the organization’s values as well. This paper will explore several elements of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s (BWH) Professional Practice Model (PPM). First, the model’s fundamental nursing framework will be identified. Next, a brief discussion on how the model promotes patient-centeredness, evidence-based practice, and interdisciplinary collaboration will be presented. Lastly, a summary of how the model fosters quality, safety, informatics, shared governance and leadership will be reviewed.

The professional development plan for nursing graduates is a program that was started by the government with the aims of creating a smooth transition from the student experience to workplace experience. Despite having learnt several ethical and professional contents, the professional development plan ensures that, all the graduate nurses have a smooth transition that ensures they deliver quality and standard services as expected of them (Gordon & Franklin, 2003). Under the nursing professional plan, the nurses are supposed to bring together personal and professional skills in order to improve the quality of the nursing practice in the country.

In a highly respected profession such as nursing, professionalism is an important element to staying employed and setting one’s self apart from the rest of the applicants when competing for a potential job. By definition professionalism are the qualities and traits that describe a professional. While knowledge is crucial in any profession, according to an article published by the University of Kansas (2012), “all medical professionals must strive to retain those humanistic qualities integrity, respect, and compassion that constitute the essence of professionalism.” Whether you work in a hospital or administration these three qualities encompass the core of nursing and exemplify what it means to be a professional.

A professional nurse is one who puts the needs and importance of patient care above all others. While striving for professionalism, nurses need compassion, patience, empathy, strong moral and ethics, accountability and the commitment to always act in the best interest of their patients. Nurses are held accountable for providing quality, safe, and effective nursing care (Hood, 2014). A professional nurse has the responsibility to continually improve and implement nursing standards while maintaining integrity by involving themselves in various tasks. Regular involvement in reading professional literature and sharing of evidence- based research with other healthcare personal helps increase knowledge and skills. This nursing ability can be used to encourage the actions of others in the healthcare team resulting in improved patient care. Nurses should encourage each other to become involved in hospital committees, provide an environment to encourage the discussions of ethical dilemmas, promote professional growth of nurses to voice their concerns and share viewpoints to address issues. “A professional nurse should expect to commit to a life of continuous learning growth and development”. (Hood, 2014, pp. 29). Nurses choose this profession to help others. As professional nurses we must maintain our ethics, values, characteristics, and commitment to drive our profession forward (CCN, 2015). Nurses must be autonomous, accountable, and be able to delegate to unlicensed assistive personnel. Being autonomous as a nurse means having control over their practice (Hood, 2014). It allows a nurse to take risks while being held accountable for ones’ actions (Hood, 2014).

In today’s world, it is essential to incorporate nursing theory into practice. Patricia Benner, through her work, “has provided essential understanding of how knowledge and skills are acquired and directly applied to nursing practice, education, research and administration” (Altmann, 2007, p. 114). According to Benner’s model of skill acquisition, “the nurse passes through five stages of career development, novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient and expert” (English, 1993, p.387). Specific patterns of behavior, thinking, and performance is present in each stage. The most experience is associated with the expert nurse and the least experience is possessed by the novice nurse (Benjamin, 2007). This model is based on ascending level of proficiency and the key concepts of this model are: competence, skill attainment, experience, clinical knowledge and practical knowledge

"Brenner (1984) described the 5 stages of development for the professional nurse. The stages are (1) Novice (2) Advance Beginner (3) Competent practitioner (4) Proficient practitioner (5) Expert Practitioner. The stages progress from a nursing student to the professional practitioner through growth and knowledge." (Lopez-Boyd, 1997, p. 41) Nursing is a profession. Look around you, you see competent, caring individuals