Nursing Knowledge And Power: A Case Analysis

This author spoke with several nurses to discuss Summa’s shared governance. There were two that had two opposing views of it. One nurse, who was younger, felt that the shared governance was just for show to achieve Magnet status. The cons she found was that the recommendations that staff nurses made were just ignored. Another problem she found was that the work that was put into it was not being reimbursed financially. Problem with shared governance is that it is believed to exist where there is empowerment, but it is has more to do with traditional board governance with some staff input. The result is that it is not founded in the actions of the staff nurse, but the actions of administration (Joseph & Bogue, 2016). The other nurse, who was older, was very excited to discuss shared governance. Her department was the first at Summa to initiate shared governance. Some of the pros were nurses had a voice and a path to follow to institute change. She explained how she

“Nurses are more than caregivers in today’s healthcare settings. They are teachers, advocates and pioneers in improving healthcare. They are stepping out of the old model and taking ownership for changes in healthcare. Nurses are developing their own scientific research programs to improve patient care. They are playing a pivotal role in healthcare reform. Nurses are becoming leaders, not followers in healthcare reform.”

Nurses are at the center of the health care industry, and are in a sole position of power. The academic area of my life involves being a pre-nursing student. In this discourse community we share collective goals such as studying, earning excellent grades, achievement into nursing school, and eventually becoming a nurse. Nurses are very important to society; their remarkable discourse community stands out in the health community. Their work provides trustworthiness to the provided of drugs and information given from doctors. Healthcare will always be needed, and with healthcare we need people who are well train in their field to be on top of their game and be knowledgeable about the healthcare. We might not always trust that our doctor knows what they are prescribing us but we can trust that our nurses have the knowledge of what they distribute. There are general fallacies among the field of nursing and several things to think about before following the path of a

Power as defined by Kelly & Crawford (2008) is the ability to achieve one’s goals by creating, acquiring and using resources to do so. Nurses over time - whether learned, cultural or related to gender-specific characteristics, have not embraced power (Kelly & Crawford, 2008). The public view of nurses as subordinates to physicians, simply “trained” to follow doctors’ orders, an overall lack of understanding as to the level of education and the kind of work nurses actually do (Sullivan, 2004) has lent to this perception. Sullivan (2004) writes about telling

Smalls, H. T. (2014). What Happens When the Board of Nursing Comes Calling: Investigation and Disciplinary Actions. Neonatal Network: The Journal of Neonatal Nursing, 33(2), 106-108.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) strives to address the imperative health care controversies in the United States of America. The foundation endeavors to make coalitions with interested parties of leading health organizations to attain measurable, viable, and appropriate transformations in the health sector. The authorities led to the establishment of the 911 emergency calls, which enhance the care of livelihoods (Malone, 2013).Besides, for over 40 decades, the foundation is conveying commitment, experience, and a stringent balanced approach to the conditions, which compromise the health of the nationals (Malone, 2013).The Institute of Medicine (IOM) is congregating a cabinet of experts to analyze the necessity of incorporating nurses, expanding the nursing care solutions, and promoting dependency, which emerge as crucial solutions to different health challenges.

The most significant is the use of power in all three-system levels. The comprehensive learning on how nurses, leaders, organizations, and various government agencies utilized their power, and the input from other students have revealed to me the benefit of legitimate use of power, and the consequences when power is illegitimately utilized (Ottenberg, et al., 2011). When addressing the power utilization in all the health system levels, the most urgent issue that came to my mind is the advanced practice nurses inability to again full autonomy to practice to their full potentials in some states, despite the institute of medicine (IOM) recommendations. This barrier for the APN is steamed up by the illegitimate expression of power by the physicians to suppress the practices of the

a)      Discuss the work of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Committee Initiative on the Future of Nursing and the Institute of Medicine research that led to the IOM report, “Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health.”

According to Amer (2013), “nursing as a profession accepted the position of deference to physicians” (pg. 151), this allowing for a lack of respect given to nurses or any other healthcare role that deems a similar hierarchal status. This archaic view of nurses as subordinate health professionals is not what IOM’s envisions as the role of nurses for the future of health care. Their expectation of advance nursing education will allow the nursing profession to obtain the status needed to help reform the current health system. Effort to increase the number of competent nurse is by raising the standard education to a baccalaureate degree. In a 2011, IOM report of “Future of Nursing”, the committee recommends that the number of baccalaureate degree nurses be increase to 80% by 2020 and the number of doctorate degree nurse be doubled by the same year (Amer, 2013, pg. 152). This movement for higher educated nurses, will help foster a stronger interdisciplinary team needed to care for a complex geriatric, acute and chronic care population. This approach will also help establish the mutual respect needed from not just physicians but from all healthcare disciplines and fostering a shared governance environment (equal

Since the development of this role during the Vietnam war, now many nurses can increase their skills, experience, and education to become one of the most prominent careers any Registered Nurses can be. Therefore, today in the United States, many Nurse Practioners can study and focus on a certain specialty units in their career such as Pediatric Nurse Practioner who can provide care for babies, young children, and school aged children. With Nurse Practioners on the rise in the nursing field, many patients are receiving more satisfactory care from them because they are taking the time to accurately assess, diagnose, and treat their patients with the proper care possible. Without Nurse Practioners, we would not have had a detailed perspective on healthcare and the patient’s health in general. Therefore, Nurse Practioners set an example for every Registered Nurses since history that they have the possibility of advancing in their careers in the medical field by expanding their skills and clinical experiences; as a result, by doing so they can get a different perspective of healthcare that no one has yet to

The study done by Van Bogaert, Kowalski, Weeks, Van Heusden, and Clark shows “that it is important for clinicians and leaders to consider how nurses are involved in decision-making about care processes and tracking outcomes of care and whether they are able to work with physicians, superiors, peers, and subordinates in a trusting environment based on shared values.” When nurses are involved in their own governance and are able to interact freely with nursing management as well as medical providers, it fosters a low-risk culture in the hospital. Prince George's Hospital Center nursing councils is an excellent way that nurses can be directly involved in the decision-making

The infamous events that took place at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust, reported in the Francis Inquiry, acknowledge that there were serious issues at Mid Staffordshire that were not detected fast enough and resulted in unnecessary loss of lives and suffering. These failings which were mainly attributed to inadequate nursing staffing levels will be explored in more detail in chapter two (Francis 2010).

In October of 2010, the Institute of Medicine released the report “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health”. “The IOM is an independent, nongovernment organization that gives advice to people in decision-making positions… The opinions of the IOM are highly regarded and carry weight in legislative decision” (Grand Canyon University[GCU], n.d., para. 6). This paper will explore the impact on nursing of the IOM report, focusing on the topics of education, nursing practice, and the role of the nurse as a leader.

According to the IOM report, the nursing profession is undergoing fundamental changes within the underlying operations of the field. A new regulatory environment coupled with increased scrutiny of the profession will dramatically impact the nursing profession. As the report indicates nurses, in the near future, will have job requirements that are business oriented. Nurses will need to have a better understanding of quality management methods in addition to overall concepts of management. As the health care system continues its rapid reform nurses must also be cognizant of the effects these changes will have on their overall roles and responsibilities. This involves a transformation of the roles and responsibilities of nurses as they enter the profession. As the health care landscape continues to change, so too must the nurses of the future. A dedication to continual learning is therefore needed to help diminish the influence of antiquated and obsolete knowledge regarding the profession.

“The main questions this study sought to answer included: what is the lived experience of power to hospital clinical nurses; and what is the meaning of power to hospital clinical nurses in the context of their professional role?” (Fackler et al., 2015). Based on the fact that the goal of a phenomenological research is to achieve understanding of an experience from the perspective of the participants (Schmidt & Brown, 2015), I found these