Free Essay on Nursing Area of Practice: Quality and Safety

Personal Definition: Quality and safety are the cornerstones of healthcare. In my view quality is doing the right thing at the right time and to the right patient and getting the best results. Basically, quality is attaining the best possible outcomes in healthcare. additionally, I consider safety as the avoidance of harm or injury and prevention of any adverse effects on the patients. Quality and safety go hand in hand as the prevention of harm results in positive outcomes in healthcare.

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Reflection on Quality and Safety

The Bachelor of Science in Nursing prepares students to be future nurses who have the skills, knowledge, and attitudes to continuously foster the quality and safety of healthcare (Hughes, 2008). The program helped me to recognize that all healthcare professions are obliged to use their knowledge, skills, and improvement methods to ensure the quality and safety of the patients. At the end of the program, I realized that the patient’s wellbeing relies on the dedication of the healthcare givers to provide the right and timely treatment. The tests and experiments conducted throughout the program also highlighted the importance of accuracy in the nursing profession (Hughes, 2008). As the program affirms, as a nurse, I am required to not only do the right thing to the right patient but also to ensure that the outcomes of health care offered are the best. As one of the key competencies of nursing, the program also emphasizes ensuring safety to prevent adverse effects of caregiving such as morbidity and mortality.

Additionally, some of the practices taught during the BSN program to ensure the safety of the patients include using sterilized equipment to prevent infection, utilization of pressure-relieving beddings to prevent the occurrence of pressure ulcers, and using real-time ultrasound guidance to prevent complications (Hughes, 2008). Other safety practices learned during the program such as barcoding, simulation, and computerized patient record entry have made it possible to prevent errors and possible negative outcomes of healthcare (Hughes, 2008). Based on the practices I learned during the program, all the safety measures are meant to prevent injury and other negative outcomes of health care, which helped me define safety as the avoidance of harm and prevention of the detrimental results.

Nursing Area of Practice: Evidence-Based Practice

Personal Definition: Evidence-based practice is an idea of using scientifically proven methods and evidence when making a decision. I view that evidence-based practice entails providing care to patients based on the scientifically available evidence, whether from research or experience in the profession. I believe that it involves massive critical reasoning and rational thinking before providing care to a patient. For example, as a nurse or healthcare worker, before offering care to any patient, it is critical to assess the situation and make the best decision about the patient’s conditions based on available information, previous research, and experiences.

Reflection on Evidence-Based Practice

The Bachelor of Science in Nursing is also critical for nurses because it promotes vital competencies such as evidence-based practice (Stevens, 2013). As the program echoes evidence-based practice, it influences my definition and conception of the phenomena. Due to the program, I acknowledge that evidence-based practice is an element to prompt quality improvement and healthcare transformation as nurses and medical practitioners strive to provide safe, effective, and efficient care (Stevens, 2013). The Bachelor of Science in Nursing propelled my understanding of the concepts as it advocates for scientific engagement, model and theory development, and advancement of new research networks. Since patients often expect to receive the most effective care and outcome from a medical engagement with nurses, the evidence-based practice provides a critical platform for nurses not only to provide quality care but also to enlighten the patient by addressing their needs or queries (Stevens, 2013). Possessing a broad pool of information based on training, experience, skills and research-based knowledge provided in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs enhances nurses’ ability to assess situations and integrate the most suitable clinical reasoning (Stevens, 2013). For example, when faced with a unique emergency the program compels that, as a nurse, I must either rely on my previous experience and training or conduct research to make a rational decision backed by valid and current scientific information. Conducting assessments aligned with the BSN program allows an effective and positive outcome (Stevens, 2013). Therefore, as I undertook the course, it made me have a deep conception and comprehension of the evidence-based practice as a critical element in nursing.

Nursing Area of Practice: Applied Leadership

Personal Definition: Applied leadership is a critical process in nursing. In my view, leadership is a process by which an individual influence, and mobilize other people to follow and struggle to attain shared goals and objectives. As a nursing student, I believe leadership is a process of creating a conducive environment to develop, assess and facilitate not only the attainment of goals but also to ensure growth and development of followers through consistent inspiration and motivation.

Reflection on Applied Leadership

Leadership in nursing has continued to be an essential phenomenon in promoting growth and development in the healthcare industry (Al-Dossary, 2017). The Bachelor of Science in Nursing program has increasingly influenced my perception of applied leadership, which is a basic competency element in the nursing profession. As the BSN program upholds that nurses should be able to show and guide followers on how activities are conducted (Al-Dossary, 2017). It affirms that nurses in positions of authority must engage the subordinates to provide direction, support, uphold effective communication, and encourage collaboration spirit (Al-Dossary,2017). The program exposes the complex and sophisticated phenomena that dominate the current nursing profession as nurses struggle to meet the rapidly changing patient needs and rigid need for autonomy, which requires efficient leadership skills (Al-Dossary,2017). Moreover, it denotes the impact that good leadership has on the outcome of patient care as nurses engage with patients with unique medical emergencies and conditions (Al-Dossary,2017). The knowledge the program offer allowed me to discern and adopt a different stance and view on leadership as a process that allows those in authority to propel growth and development of subordinate nurses, which also instigating the attainment of organizational goals. Irrespective of the complicated nature and increasing pressure due to the high demand for nursing care, the BSN program comprehensively equips nurses with adequate knowledge of the fundamental aspects of leadership (Al-Dossary,2017). As I undertook the program, I appreciated the effort of leaders in providing a productive environment for me as a nurse to work and grow while also ensuring the provision of quality healthcare services to patients. Therefore, leadership remains a critical competency element in the nursing profession (Al-Dossary,2017).

Nursing Area of Practice: Community and Population Health

Personal Definition: Community and population health refer to the outcome of the services, programs and activities focused on preventing diseases and promoting the health of the people. The major role of nurses is to protect the populations against disease infections and promote their health using the skills and knowledge acquired during the BSN program. They recognize that health promotion is integral to the responsiveness of people to healthcare. Hence, they adopt strategies and measures to promote the health of the people.

Reflection on Community and Population Health

The Bachelor of Science in Nursing helped me recognize that nurses’ responsibility is to promote the health of the community and the population. The BSN program exposed me to the competency behaviors taught to promote the health of the people in the community, which helped develop my definition. For instance, participation in population-focused interventions and clinical prevention programs facilitate cost-effective health care delivery to the people (Bialek & Amos, 2019). Collaboration with other healthcare professions to develop a population-focused intervention plan promotes the health of the people and helps prevents illness among the population (Bialek & Amos, 2019). Similarly, the examination of the public and global threats to the health of the people and their effect on the people is fundamental to the promotion of the health of the people (Bialek & Amos, 2019). Therefore, community and population health are the result of participation in the activities, services, and programs advocated by the contingencies behavior taught in the BSN program.

Additionally, the BSN program provides students with a basic guideline on how to make the right decision regarding the health of the community members by outline good health practices. To attain a quality community and population health, healthcare givers have to make effective decisions to help in formulating strategic plans. Therefore, the program equips students with the knowledge and skills needed to attain community and population health. It is through the program that I understood that the application of their knowledge and skills in society is central to achieving good health among the people. Although the program offers numerous courses ranging from anatomy, public health, microbiology, and emergency care among others, the aim and the expected outcome good community, and population health. Understanding the role of BSN in community health provided the basis for my definition of community and population health.

References

Al-Dossary, R. N. (2017). Leadership in nursing. Contemporary leadership challenges, 251.https://www.intechopen.com/books/contemporary-leadership-challenges/leadership-in-nursing

Bialek, R. & Amos K. (2019). Competencies for public health professionals. Public health foundation. https://www.astho.org/Programs/Clinical-to-Community-Connections/Population-Health-Forum/Competencies-for-Population-Health-Professionals_PHF_June-2019/

Hughes, R. (Ed.). (2008). Defining patient safety and quality care. Patient safety and quality: An evidence-based handbook for nurses (Vol. 3). Rockville, MD: Agency for healthcare research and quality. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2681/

Stevens, K. (2013). The impact of evidence-based practice in nursing and the next big ideas. The online journal of issues in nursing, 18(2). https://ojin.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol-18-2013/No2-May-2013/Impact-of-Evidence-Based-Practice.html