Research Paper On Competency In Nursing

To meet competency standard two, registered nurses need to consciously and actively engage in therapeutic and professional relationships (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia [NMBA], 2016); Doherty & Thompson, 2014). Therapeutic nurse-patient relationships are built on trust, where the patient feels safe to be open and honest; enabling a productive relationship with positive patient-centred outcomes (Doherty & Thompson, 2014). A vital principal in delivering patient-centred care is to foster effective communication along with establishing personal and professional relationship boundaries (NMBA, 2016). This fundamental approach to care, ensures

Standing (2011), defines clinical decision-making as a complex process that involves observation, gathering information, critical thinking, evaluating evidence, applying necessary knowledge, reflection and problem-solving skills. Every day nurses make important clinical decisions and these decisions have important implications for patient outcomes and deserve serious consideration. Therefore, it is important for nurses to have a better insight of the decision-making process, be able to deliver holistic care and meet essential and complex physical and mental health needs of the patient.

I am Amanda Selich, 27 years old, and have been living in San Francisco for roughly 10 years. I grew up in the East Bay with my 3 siblings and was raised by a single father. Much of my childhood was spent taking care of my younger siblings. This responsibility was so demanding I was forced to drop out of high school and become their “surrogate mother”. However at the age of 24 I was able to get my GED and finally attend college. In fact this past May I graduated from City College of San Francisco with highest honors in Science and Math.

A nurse is a caregiver, a patient’s advocate, an educator; being a nurse is caring. There are basic components that all nurses should meet or should accomplish. The Mississippi Nursing Competency Model is a model that allows nurses to enhance their education and practice. This model exemplifies what core competencies a nurse of the future should represent, by her skills, attitudes, and knowledge. These core competencies include: patient-centered care, safety, professionalism, systems-based practice, informatics and technology, communication, teamwork and collaboration, leadership, quality improvement and evidence-based practice. Because I am still learning, there are still certain competencies that I was not able to either accomplish or accomplished

Like most other professions, nursing is controlled by government regulatory agencies and professional organizations. For instance, boards of nursing in various states are the government entities mandated to regulate nursing at the state level, while the American Nurses Association is a professional organization that governs nursing at the nation level. Regulatory agencies and professional organizations are guided by the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

Nursing is not just a collection of tasks. To provide safe and effective care to the clients, nurses must integrate knowledge, skills and attitudes to make sound judgement and decisions. This essay describes some of the essential knowledge, skills and attitudes of nursing and discusses why they are essential attributes of a competent nurse.

Advance practice nurses (APNs) are at the forefront of today’s healthcare system. To keep up with the aging population and the demands of complex healthcare needs of this society, APNs need to perform at the highest quality to provide efficient, effective, holistic and improve patient outcome and satisfaction while reducing cost. To provide such care, APNs need to implement the six core competencies as outlined by Hamric. These six core competencies are: direct clinical practice, expert coaching and advice, consultation, research skills, clinical and professional leadership, collaboration, and ethical decision-making. This paper will explore how APNs can implement each of the six core competencies to support the effective improvement of outcomes such as patient satisfaction, readmissions, cost, health status, and complications. In addition, each of the six core competencies of the APN’s role identified by Hamric will be outlined and applied using a fictitious patient case study.

Over the past 30 years nursing has evolved from a task-oriented to a logical and systematic approach to care, using theories and models to guide practice. According to Jasper (2007, p117) theories of decision making in medicine tend to favour logical, precise analytical models which are held to be testable, unambiguous and repeatable, therefore satisfying scientific principles. These represent important ideas of certainty and rationality that are intended to provide a sense of security and reliability. When used correctly a nursing model should give direction to nurses working in a particular area, as it should help them understand more fully the logic behind their actions. It should also act as a guide in decision-making and so reduce conflict within the team of nurses as a whole. This in turn should lead to continuity and consistency of the nursing care received by patients according to Pearson et al (1999,p ).

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has recognized five key core competencies (CCs) that all healthcare professionals should be aware of during practice. The initial competency described concentrates on patient-centered care. Throughout history, the nursing community has continued to evolve, both in the practicing aspect and in level of caring for patients. During this evolution of nursing care, nurses providing hands on care to patients must refer to the Institute of Medicine, peer reviews and/or evidenced-based research to guide them properly as it applies to the core concepts of nursing. The first core competency according to the IOM is patient-centered care.

Write a one-page reflection, 2-4 paragraphs, respond to the following questions in order to analyze your preparation, participation, and nursing competency development.

Within the practice of nursing, situations often arise where nurses are forced to make decisions regardless of their level of experience in the profession. Providing care and following the physician’s orders historically were the nurse’s sole responsibilities. However, social change, changes in health care finances, increasing international perspectives, and demographic population changes, have resulted in a significant evolution of the roles and responsibilities emplaced on today’s nurses (The National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists (NACNS), 2007). Kelly and Crawford (2013) believe budget cuts, higher client acuity and clients with complex needs, mergers of hospital corporations as well as a general shortage of qualified nurses has made it necessary for nurses to play a role in decision making. Decision making is defined as “cognitive process leading to the selection of a course of action among alternatives” (Kelly & Crawford, 2013, p. 352).

As a college student, I am faced with many different situations where making a wrong decision will surely affect my future. It is important that I weigh the dangers and benefits of every decision to avoid making a poor one. This skill is also very important to me as a nurse in the future because, as a Calculator based individual, I am able to clearly organize my thoughts to deliver the best decision in potentially tragic situations. The more I carefully think about my decisions, the more I become confident in executing them. I am the kind of person who likes to know the different risks and benefits of a certain decision before I fully commit to it. As a future nurse, I want to be as confident as possible in all of the decisions I make, since I hold a greater responsibility to my patients and

The development of the nurse’s ability to clinically reason and take appropriate and timely action can, in time, become an instinctive and automatic process. Reflective practice by the nursing professional will highlight the areas in which further improvement is needed. Essentially, it is the responsibility of the individual nurse to identify the need to develop this ability, and the skill to effectively communicate the patient’s condition to the other members of the healthcare team to produce positive patient outcomes.

The helping role domain contains proficiencies associated with starting a healing bond, offering comfort, and including patient in the management of care. The teaching-coaching domain involves education and goal setting at the appropriate time during patient care. The diagnostic and patient monitoring domain concerns competencies of continuous assessment and patient goal setting (Brykczynski, 2014). The effective management of rapidly changing situations domain contains competencies involving rapid response with resources during emergency conditions. The administering and monitoring therapeutic interventions domain concerns competencies associated with avoiding difficulties associated with hospital admissions, wound management, and medicine treatment (Alligood, 2014). Monitoring and ensuring the quality of health care practices domain concerns competencies involving safety, quality, technology, and partnership with physicians (Brykczynski, 2014). The organizational and work-role competencies domain involves competencies in important situations, group development, organizing and delivering care (Brykczynski, 2014). The domains describe competencies that are utilized and intersect during the nursing care for a

Before the NCLEX exam was established, each state created its own nursing regulations and exams to determine the competency of nursing students (“NCLEX-RN® Examination”, 2016). In 1941, the National League of Nursing created a better exam that was adopted by all states, in order to streamline the process, and the test was called the State Board Test Pool Examination (“NCLEX-RN® Examination”, 2016). Locations to take the exam were very limited and had to be big enough to accommodate many people at once, since the test was only offered twice a year, and in order to take it, student nurses had to register about six months in advance by mailing in their approval to test (Johnson & Kappel). The exam was given using paper and pencil, and for every thirty-five students, a retired nurse was hired as a proctor (Johnson & Kappel). The questions were the same for all the students in order to make testing fair, and students had to wait for weeks before their results arrived in the mail (Johnson & Kappel). The test was officially named the NCLEX in 1982 after the National Council of State Boards of Nursing took over the responsibility of the test nationally a few years beforehand (Johnson & Kappel). The total number of questions on the test before 1982 was 720, before being reduced to 480 and then 370 questions (“NCLEX-RN® Examination”, 2016).