The notes nurses take play an important part in their role as health care advocates and affect the quality of care the patients receive. Notes are essential because they prove that the necessary care was ensued upon the patient and can be used as a reference for other nurses who will be caring for the patient. Notes can be used to advocate for the decisions the nurse had previously made in the case of false allegations or complains therefore they should be detailed, unambiguous and comprehensible. Nurses should avoid general statements as they tend to be misguiding or misleading and might cause complications that could have a negative effect on the patient’s comfort and health. Even though it might be difficult nurses should aim to write out full medical terms whenever feasible. If nurses are not able to write out the medical terms then they should use terms that are familiar to other nurses and physicians. The notes that were provided are atrocious, faulty and dangerous because they aren’t objective, the data is not supported by descriptions of specific observations or actions taken and lastly there’s an abundance of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. Subjective descriptions tend to be counterproductive as they don’t provide sufficient information about the patient’s current state, an example from the notes would be “Woke vitals at 10.” To make the notes more objective the nurse should state detailed vital signs and should aim to use measurable and calculable data
Record-keeping and documentation are a hugely important part of nursing practice that unfortunately is often overlooked. Good record-keeping is in fact an essential element of being a good nurse. This assignment will discuss the importance of record-keeping in the healthcare setting. Record-keeping is vital for three main functions of nursing. It facilitates communication, promotes safe and appropriate nursing care and meets professional and legal standards (CRNBC 2008). These purposes and other important functions of record-keeping will be described in this assignment. The professional and legal implications of poor record-keeping will also be outlined. The topics will only be briefly and broadly discussed due to word count
Issues and dilemmas highlighted by this incident Management issues Several management issues where highlighted by the incident. The analysis will focus on record keeping, effective communication, risk management and ethical issues. The day to day management issues affecting nursing practice such as record keeping, effective communication and risk management do not operate in isolation but are frequently interdependent and affect each other. The central focus will be on the observed failure by the night duty nurse to record or pass on information on Mark’s report. The Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust (2009) policy on record keeping states that a record of an event must be made immediately or within 24 hours of the occurrence. The rationale for this requirement is that an immediate record of
Nursing leaders promote individuals to reach their highest potential. They provide guidance and direction to reach goals and visions in healthcare. Advocacy means to support a cause as defined by Merriam-Webster (2015). An advocate supports the interest of a person or patient. A successful advocate uses skills which combine collaboration, influence, problem solving, and communication per the ANA (2015).
Poor communication puts patients in danger because it can lead to medical errors and adverse events. For example, a medication error can occur if a physician’s orders are not updated in time or if the outgoing nurse does not provide the correct time in which a dose was administered last. Thus it is crucial to communicate any recent treatment that has been implemented. In this way, nurses and physicians can facilitate the prevention of errors. Another consequence of ineffective communication is that it can decrease morale and increase work-related stress among members of the healthcare team. If nurses and physicians are not understanding each other’s actions, conflict ensues. It can cause toxic interpersonal relationships. This, in turn, will affect the level of patient care because it is difficult to focus amidst emotional strain and
The focus of this paper is to expatiate on the role of nurse leader in advocacy and their responsibilities in the transformation of the health care in today’s industry. The role of nurse managers has a far-reaching effect on the overall shaping of the health care industry for the future American health system and most especially in fulfilling the expertise needed in the complex and dynamic health care safety environment. This can only be achieved with the help of the nurse leader willing to effect the change.
Documents are vital medico legal necessities for nursing practice, that provides verification of care which the patient received (Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne (RCH) 2014). It contains all nursing care received including assessment, planning ,implementation and evaluation. Documents must also include data about the surgical count and surgical safety checklist, as proof of completion. Ensure all the document are accurate, legible and clear. All documents should be signed and dated by the person who documented it. (ACORN Standard Position Statement documentation). Correct documentation assists in comprehensive clinical communication . Through Operating Room Management System (ORMS), apt reflection of nursing care, condition changes, personnel present during procedure and care plan are collected electronically, enabling to provide great care due to sufficient knowledge (Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne (RCH) 2014).
Significantly, “Nurses play a huge role in illness prevention and health promotion. We, as nurses assume the role of ambassadors of wellness. Yes, I do believe that nurses play just as an important role in caring for the well as they do in caring for the sick. Perhaps caring for the well is the more important role. In this day and age of budget cuts, cost reduction and staffing shortages, health promotion makes sense. If we can preserve wellness, we reduce the number of times a person needs to enter the health-care system, thus reducing costs.” (Hartford, 2009, The role of the nurse in health promotion section, para. 1)
Permission was consented from the patient to use their condition for this essay; the information was accumulated from their admission, assessment and plan of care. The patient authorized usage of information relating to their period of hospitalisation in agreement that any personal information would not be used. This essay will address this matter in accordance with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) confidentiality guidelines set out in the Code of Professional Conduct (NMC, 2004). The pseudonym “David” will be used for this reason throughout this essay.
Very good points you made. I enjoyed reading your discussion clear and concise. I agree with you that we need to be vigilant and watch around us. Some of these reports are unfair with nurses and the job we do. We have to please the patient the moment they arrive to the moment they leave, and sometimes is not good enough. Lately, the focusing in health care became to cost not quality. This make me feel uncomfortable. Patient needs to be discharged “period”!!! Cannot stay more than three days if inpatient and two days if observation.
Advocacy is the act or process of advocating or supporting a cause or proposal but to me it simply means to speak up for those who can not. And I think that is a very important thing to do especially in this era. There are so many people around the world who are not able nor capable of speaking their minds themselves, for example, the young,the elderly, the handicapped and the terminally ill and many more. Everyone may need someone to speak out on their behalf for a specific reason and hopefully someday soon and I can do that for someone. For as long as can remember I’ve always wanted to be a nurse, I always enjoyed helping when they were sick even when I was little. Being a nurse has been I all could think about for so long, so to a nurse,
In the scenario provided, Mr. J was receiving nursing care while he was admitted for treatment of a fractured right hip after falling in his home. The passage reveals shortcomings on the part of the nurse, CNA, dietary staff and nurse supervisor in implementing nursing sensitive indicators that are in-place to provide optimal care to patients such as Mr. J. Understanding of nursing sensitive indicators should have begun with the nurse performing a complete assessment
Write an appropriate actual nursing diagnosis. Be sure to include a “related to” and “as evidenced by”.
It is important to record accurate and complete information as well as knowing and adhering to the agency’s policies and guidelines (Creasia & Parker, 2011, p. 215). This helps inform other providers of the important facts needed for patient care without having to filter out the unnecessary details. Colleagues should be able to look at a nurse’s notes and continue
The completion of health care policy project has truly opened my eyes to how complex and multifaceted the process is in the disease prevention especially when is so prevalent that impacts global wellness. Hence, to be thorough and successful in public health promotion one must focus on essential elements delineated by policy and planning, leadership and advocacy which is followed by professional development with training and concluded by surveillance. With that in mind, as the focus of the assignment was combating widespread of diabetes which leads to the enormous burden on global health related to a myriad of complications associated with the illness as well as the significant strain on care cost. However, it is crucial to remember as Kohl ( 2012) said that "plans are not implementation,
Ineffective nursing documentation compromises patient safety and can result in serious or even fatal errors. Nursing documentation is essential to practice and is defined as everything entered into a patient’s electronic health record or written in a patients’ record (Perry, 2014). The goal of effective nursing documentation to ensure continuity of care, maintain standards and reduce errors (Perry, 2014). Nurses are accountable for their professional practice which requires documentation to effectively reflect the care that clients receive. The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) states that nursing being regulated health care professionals are accountable for ensuring that their documentation is accurate and meets the practice standards (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2009). Effective documentation strategies to reduce errors include; documenting in a timely fashion, using correct abbreviations and spelling, correcting documentation errors appropriately and ensuring that handwriting is legible. The purpose of this paper is to explore these strategies in greater detail with the goal of improving the care nurses provide to their clients to enhance safety.