Standards of Professional Nursing
December 23, 2008 by Rn2b
Filed under General Nurse Information, Medical Assistant (MA)
Standards of Professional Nursing
Historically, nursing has been there and will continue to be there not only to meet the needs of the client, but also to assist in meeting the needs of friends and families. This means that a professional nurse learns to deliver care artfully with compassion, caring and a respect for people. No one factor differentiates a job from a profession, but the difference is important in terms of how professional nursing is practiced.
As a science, nursing is based upon a body of knowledge that is always changing with new discoveries and innovations. It is an exciting time to become a nurse. Registered nurses in a nursing role specialty, work to influence decision-making bodies to improve patient care, health services and policies.
Professional nursing provides leadership in the practice setting and profession. Professional nurses work to create and maintain healthy work environments in local, regional, national or international communities. They display the ability to define a clear vision, associated goals and a plan to implement and measure progress. Interaction with peers and colleagues to enhance one’s professional nursing practice and performance is encouraged.
The standards of this profession describe a competent level of behavior in activities related to quality of care, performance appraisal, education, ethics, collaboration, research and resource utilization. They provide a method to assure clients that they are receiving high-quality care, that the nurses know exactly what is necessary to provide nursing care, and that the measures are in place to determine whether the care meets the standards.
Psychiatric Nursing Practice
December 23, 2008 by Rn2b
Filed under Clinical Nurse (CNS), General Nurse Information
Psychiatric Nursing Practice
John Hopkins was the first school of nursing to include a course in psychiatric nursing in its curriculum. The first psychiatric nursing practice was primarily custodial and focused on nutrition, hygiene and activity.
The role of psychiatric nurses expanded as physical therapies for the treatment of mental disorders were developed. Treatments such as insulin shock therapy, psychosurgery and electroconvulsive therapy required nurses to use their medical-surgical skills more extensively.
Psychiatric nursing practice’s areas of concern pertaining to actual or potential mental health problems are some of the following – problems related to emotions such as anxiety, anger, loneliness and grief and behaviors and mental states that indicate that the client is a danger to self or others.
To sum it all, a psychiatric-mental health nurse collects client health data, analyzes the data, develops a plan of care that prescribes interventions to attain outcomes and implements them in the plan of care. Other responsibilities involve counseling interventions to assist clients in improving or regaining their coping abilities, fosters mental health and preventing mental illness and disability.
Psychiatric nurses as therapists are particularly suited to working with those with severe mental illness in the context of daily activities, focusing on the here and now to meet each person’s psychosocial needs. In time, psychiatric nursing practice was institutionalized and added to nursing curricula. Standards of care of clients were developed and practiced.
When legal problems arise, these professional standards are used to determine safe and acceptable practice and to assess the quality of care.
Professional Registered Nurse Education
December 23, 2008 by Rn2b
Filed under Becoming a Nurse, General Nurse Information, Nurse Salary Information, Registered Nurse (RN)
There are various educational routes for becoming a professional registered nurse (RN). Initially, hospital schools of nursing were developed to educate nurses to work within those institutions. As nursing increasingly defined its own body of knowledge, formalized education processes were introduced to ensure a consistent level of education in institutions. Such consistency was also necessary for RN licensure.
Currently, the most frequent route you can choose to become a licensed nurse is through completion of an associate degree or baccalaureate degree program. Graduates of both programs are eligible to take the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) to become registered nurses in the state in which they will practice.
The associate degree program is a two-year program that is usually offered by a university or junior college. It focuses on the basic sciences and theoretical and clinical courses related to the practice of nursing. Graduates of this program take the state board examination for RN licensure.
The baccalaureate degree program usually encompasses four years of study in a college or university. The program focuses on the basic sciences and on theoretical and clinical courses, as well as courses in the social sciences, arts and humanities to support nursing theory.
The four-year degree program prepares you for essential knowledge, practice and values, personal qualities and professional behavior for the baccalaureate-educated nurse. A professional registered nurse agrees that nursing education is important to practice and that it must respond to changes in health care provided by scientific and technological advances.