The Synergy Model For Patient Care

In the article “What Do Nurses Really Do?”, Suzanne Gordon explores what nurses truly do. She concludes that nurses “save lives, prevent complications, prevent suffering, and save money” (Gordon 2006). Nurses provide care for their patients in the physical and emotional sense. Emotionally caring for a patient and being sensitive to his or her needs result from interacting with patients while performing the skills and using the knowledge that nurses learned in school. Nurses grow in their skills, knowledge, and attitudes through practice. Quality and safety education for nursing incorporates competencies that all nurses must use in their practice. These nursing competencies include evidence-based nursing practice, quality improvement, safety, teamwork and collaboration, patient-centered care, and informatics.

With an ever-increasing body of knowledge in the field of nursing, more education is being required to enter the field of nursing. Many healthcare institutions are raising the educational requirements in order to become employed or maintain employment in their facilities. Healthcare organizations are transitioning to hiring registered nurses (RN) who have a higher level of education, such as, a graduate from a Baccalaureate Degree Nursing (BSN) program. The goal of these institutions is to have nurses with a broader array of skills that can meet the growing demands of our patient population. BSN prepared nurses are recognized for their well-rounded skills in critical thinking, management, case management and health promotion versus Associate Degree nurses (ADN)/Diploma nurses that focus on direct patient care.

The Synergy Model for Patient Care was created by American Association of Critical-Care Nurses in the 1990’s. This theory allows nurses to assess different characteristics or patient needs and then list nursing competencies that apply to those needs or characteristics. This theory allows for the patients to be unique individuals and have different characteristics as all patients do. The theory relies on nurses to be competent, knowledgeable, skilled, and have experience in carrying out the competencies to help the patient (McEwen & Wills, 2014). Synergy is the result of the patient’s needs matching the nurse’s competencies (American Association of Critical-Care Nurses [AACN], 2015).

The American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) developed a model that explicates the bedside nurse practice. The goal of this model was to explain what skills or competencies were brought to the overall patient care by nurses when meeting the needs of the patient and their families (Hardin, 2013; McEwen, 2014b). The Synergy Model for Patient Care is a middle range nursing theory.

Nursing care is focused on the assessment, nursing diagnoses, planning, implementation, and evaluation of patients. This nursing process can also be implemented in aspects outside of nursing and on the nursing field as a collective group. The nursing role is evolving, following the process the outcomes have to be evaluated and put into perspective. Research is being completed the conclusions are all the same, the higher education of nursing care the better the patient outcomes.

Advance practice nursing has been applied to variety of roles like Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (ACNP), Nurse Practitioner (NP), Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS), Certified Nurse- Midwife (CNM) and Certified Registered Nurse Anaesthetists (CRNA). Even though clinical expertise is the core ingredient for APN practice, these nurses are expected to demonstrate competencies like use of holistic perspective, initiation relationship with patients, use of expert critical thinking and use of diverse health and illness management (AACN, 2006). Additionally they need to express core competencies like consultation, collaboration, leadership, research and expert coaching (NACNS, 2004). Experienced staff nurses may exhibit these competencies whereas the APN make it visible in their practices and they are believed to be basic components of every APN (Hamric B, 2009 p 84). Furthermore a brief consideration of Benner’s model is required to understand the acquisition of expertise in nursing. Benner defines expertise as a mixture of theoretical and practical knowledge and every APN begins as a novice and ends up with some expertise.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze a specific case study in this Troy University School of Nursing student’s clinical experience with the application of the Synergy Model. Both patient characteristics exhibited and nursing characteristics necessary for optimal care and synergy to occur in this specific case study will be discussed.

Working in a team is an important responsibility by understanding each other’s role which may include doctor, nurse, occupational therapist, physiotherapist and many more. Team members divide the work based on their scope practice such as acute care, metal health care, homecare etc. Interprofessional collaboration practice is decision making and communicating between individuals for their patient’s health based on their knowledge and skills. It helps to promote habits, maximizing health resources, leading care to be safer with patient’s satisfaction and Canada’s health care (Kenaszchuk, Reeves, Nicholas, & Zwarenstein, 2010).

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

It is a less efficient model because of time spent in coordinating, delegating, and supervising leads to a loss of productive work time.” In contrast, the functional nursing care model is more cost-effective. The model defines that fewer RNs with unprofessional workers can deliver care to a large group of patients. In spite of the financial benefits, the functional nursing model has been criticized due to crucial problems such as poor quality of care, low patient satisfaction, increased omissions and errors. Not surprisingly, nurses are enabled to provide a high quality of care to patients in team nursing. Tiedeman and Lookinland (2004) reviewed that “quality of care is higher with the model because the nurses have responsibility and accountability for fewer patients. The nurses know the patients better and can make assignments that best match each patient's needs with staff abilities and skills, and provide more direction, coordination, and supervision.”(p. 294) Each member is able to approach and coordinate patient needs as well as improve continuity of care in team

The standards of practice describe a competent level of nursing care as exhibited by the critical thinking model known as the nursing process. This practice includes the areas of assessment, diagnosis, outcome identification, planning, implementation, and evaluation. The nursing process includes significant actions taken by registered nurses (RN) and forms the foundation of the nurse’s decision-making (“American Nurses Association,” 2010).

Changes in the Health Care System and the Practice of Nursing have become complex. Technological changes, complicated client needs, short hospital length of stay, and departure from acute care to community based care, all these changes have underscore the need for professional nurses to think critically in order to provide safe and effective client care. A better educated nursing workforce can provide good health education to patients and their families. The affordable care of 2010 has required the need for nurses to expand their role of practice to meet complicated patient demands. This has prompted the Institute Of Medicine to review the “Future of Nursing, Leading change and Advancing Health”. {Creasia & Fribery,2011}

As a competent registered nurse, my career goal is to become a healthcare quality improvement leader, a position that would enhance my commitment in promoting patient safety. I not only believe in enhancing the capacity of other care providers, but also in improving the quality of the healing environment for the benefit of both patients and their care providers. This means not only promoting collaboration with the multidisciplinary teams, but also building the necessary healing partnerships with our patients. To enhance the quality of the healing environment, I aspire to continue analyzing researches for evidence based practices and advocating for their actualization. I will continue focusing my time and energy in encouraging other nurses to improve their skills through formal education, so they can empower themselves as advocates of quality improvement for the benefit of their patients and coworkers.

Urgency of acute care varies depending on the situation but can range to anything from emergency surgeries, to injuries, chronic illnesses, and also for the recovery of those procedures. Majority of the patients in acute care settings are critically ill. Nursing responsibilities in acute care settings are vital to patient’s recovery due to the front line position nurses play as well as the wide variety of tasks carried out. Assessments are made during every encounter the nurse has with the patient along with monitoring the patient’s progress. Nurses are responsible for recognizing symptoms the patient may be experiencing due to illness or injury and whether they fall in the spectrum of normal reactions. Vital signs are measured routinely and can be indicators of the patient’s current status. When vitals are questioned diagnostic tests can be arranged to further assess possible comorbidities the patient may have. Care plans are made to plan interventions the health care team can take to help patients through challenges they face, both physical and mental. Nurses administer medications as well as first aid as needed. They are responsible for maintaining special equipment patients may require including monitors and ventilators are well.