The Nursing Profession A profession as defined has five distinct characteristics that separate it from a job. Those characteristic include; an extended education, a theoretical body of knowledge leading to defined skills and abilities, provision of a specific service, autonomy in decision making and practice, and a code of ethics for practice. Nursing as a profession demonstrates each of these characteristics on all levels. These characteristics are up held by nursing organizations such as ANA, HIPAA, and JCAHO or joint commission. Each organization has its own domain to uphold, and expanding the standards of nursing for the good of patients. First, an advanced education role of nurse could expand into many fields such as a nurse educator, clinical nurse specialist, or a nurse practitioner. Each of these would require a degree beyond an associates’ such as a bachelors, master, or even a doctorate degree. The purpose for this higher education is to perfect and or improve upon skills as a nurse and to further educate one’s self on the reasoning behind why certain techniques and methods work. There are also roles for a nurse in a clinical practice that expands on categories that are ever developing such as informatics, the influential presence of nursing in public policy and health care planning. However, most of the continued education nurses are required to obtain is through case studies and conferences. Registered nurses are required to have fifteen continued education
Since the 1900s the Nursing Profession has continued to grow and change tremendously. Nursing has become of the most sought after jobs today for its glorified assumptions. Al though Nursing has changed one thing remains they same, Nursing is all about the well being of patients.
As people’s life expectancy increases, the nursing field needs to keep pace with the rapid changes. There’s increased needs for nurses in many different field as well such as nursing home, hospitals, ambulatory cares, palliative care, and hospices. Therefore, an expectation of a role as a nurse has been rise. Nursing skills and knowledge cannot remain limited, but need to utilize in more various setting. In order to provide better care in various nursing field, continuing education is essential. For example, as population and their lifespan increases there’s also new diseases and new treatment has been developed. A competence nurse must embrace old and new skills and thorough knowledge to achieve best quality of care and optimum patient’s overall outcome. The quality of patient care heavily depends on nurses’ level of education. One research proves that nurses who received higher level of education showed lower mortality rate, less medical errors, and higher patient satisfaction. This outcome is related to higher education which prepared nurses to handle various circumstances with appropriate answers. Nurses are people who spend most of time with ill individuals at the bed side. Nursing education will provide new demanding roles of nurses’ requirement such as seeing the patient as a whole, providing appropriate response to patient’s condition, and integrating knowledge and skills accordingly.
(2004) stated that, “motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under
Nursing as a profession is often portrayed by the media in demeaning ways. “Nurses have often been unfairly and unrealistically portrayed as “battle axes” or psychologically compromised. And that’s if they are written into the script at all.” (Berkowitz, 2014). “They are often portrayed as physician helpers, not the highly skilled independent clinicians that we know they are.” (Berkowitz, 2014).
The health care field is ever changing, the article The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health (2010), explains all the changes that need to happen in the health care system (Institute of Medicine, 2010). The recommendations that the Institute of Medicine has for the health care field are ones that are important for the workers as well as the patients. This report applies to my career because being in the master’s program I am furthering my education, which is one of the messages that this article has to the readers (Institute of Medicine, 2010, p. 4). Message one is also relevant to my career because it talks about nurse residency program and I have been in a program for a little over a year (Institute of Medicine, 2010, p. 5). As a nurse doing continuing education is a way of following new trends and developments in information.
Attaining a high level of education will improve the healthcare system only if nurses are fully utilizing their knowledge and abilities. Many times nurses face challenges in exercising their abilities and knowledge due to institutional policies or government regulations,
they also receive on the job training as education through trial and error while working
Throughout history, society has considered women to be the natural caregivers of children, family, and community. Women were naturally thought of as nurses because the act was said to be an extension of their role in the home. They were called in to homes to help deliver babies or as wet nurses to breastfeed. In the 1800’s, women began taking care of soldiers. It was then that Florence Nightingale cared for soldiers in the Crimean War. During this time she revolutionized the role by setting standards of cleanliness and reducing infection. The legacy of nursing continues to be enriched by those who continue to follow the example of nursing pioneers. They refuse to be bound by others’ views
Nursing is one of the most popular professions in healthcare. To become a professional nurse, one must acquire certain level of education, whether it is at associate or baccalaureate degree level. Once becoming a nurse a number of professional standards must be maintained to stay abreast with the profession. In that respect, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in its 2010 report had suggested many recommendations focusing on the future of nursing. The aim of the report is to put forth recommendations that allow nurses to “(1) ensure that nurses can practice to the full extent of their education and training (2) improve nursing education, (3) provide opportunities for nurses to assume leadership positions and to serve as full
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.
One of the mottos that motivated me throughout my quest to pick a major last year was the following from Cy Coleman: “I 'm lucky to be in a profession where you can keep getting better” (Propst, 2015, p. 37). This passage struck me as exactly what I was looking to accomplish with my future, but as it turns out, is nursing really a profession? There are an infinite number of ways to define what a profession is based on personal beliefs, but scholarly articles, such as one by Dr. Burke Christensen (1994), compress the criteria into five requirements, as followed:
Nursing is a very complex career that at many times requires one to be a leader. Nurses can be leaders in formal roles and also on the unit during any given shift. Nursing is a career that truly tests the character and attributes of those who choose to enter this career. Leadership in nursing is vital in creating a successful environment for patients. According to Stichler (2006), “effective leadership is essential to transforming organizations into environments that are safe for both patients and staff” (p. 422). Therefore, it is vital that as new nurses start out his or her careers that they learn from great leaders who are already in the profession. There are several great leaders working in the field who have a plethora of
As a brand new nurse coming out of nursing school, you may be thinking that you have completed your education and that you are ready to start practicing as a Registered Nurse. As a new professional this is partially correct, but you still have many years of continuing education. There are two different aspects of continuing education for a nurse: advanced educational programs or specific continuing education courses. Throughout this discussion I will be focusing on the importance of continuing education for nurses. The American Nurses Association defines continuing education (CE) as “learning activities designed to augment the knowledge, skill and attitudes of nurses and therefore enrich the nurses’ contributions to quality healthcare” (as cited in Schaeffer, 2015, p. 13). Continuing education courses are not only important for the individual nurses competences and professionalism, but it is also important in regards to the care delivered to patients and the patient outcomes. Throughout this discussion I will explain the importance of CE, how it is beneficial to the nurse, and how it effects the patients we are giving care to.
Nursing achievements and requirements today vary within education. There are three entry levels in nursing, the Associate Nursing, (ADN), Bachelorette of Nursing, (BSN) and the Diploma in Nursing (DN). On the contrary, other professions have a greater amount of educational requirements such as law, engineering and medicine. When entering into specified careers, it is essential as well as required to further one’s knowledge base to a graduate level. However, in the nursing career there are no specific requirements which create a barrier for the profession by means of fewer achievements towards success in the nursing profession.
Nursing is a profession that blends the rich traditions of the past with the ever changing realities of today's health care industry. Nursing is not simply an assortment of special skills and the nurse is not simply a person proficient in performing these specific tasks. Nursing is a profession. I believe this statement to be true because of several factors. The Title 19 Code for Nurses is titled "Standards for Professional Nursing Practice". The status of nursing as a profession reflects the values that society places on the work of nurses and how central nursing is to the good of society. "By being a professional we imply that the person is conscientious in actions, knowledgeable in the subject and