...Teresa Nabors Southern Nazarene University Nursing Attributes, Leadership and Critical Thinking As many have found over the years, nursing is not a profession cut out for just anyone. The average person cannot juggle twenty things at once, expertly handle emergencies that would send anyone else in a panic frenzy, and all the while remain calm and composed, as an experienced nurse does on a daily basis. What many do not know is that this smooth performance is driven by the nursing attributes, skills, and concepts that are necessary components integrated in the nursing profession of great nurses today. I believe the values of critical thinking, flexibility, strong communication skills, emotional stability, interpersonal communication and advocacy are the hallmark ingredients that distinguish the great nurses from the rest. Nursing is about going beyond the task given and a successful nurse encompasses a degree of these core attributes, as well as understanding the essential knowledge of the necessary concepts of leadership and critical thinking. This paper will discuss the attributes and concepts that I think are necessary in setting nursing apart from just any profession and will reflect on the values and practices that I believe makes me the nurse that I am today . Being a nurse can be tremendously rewarding to the soul, but it also demands much of those who pursue it. Nursing is a highly honored, trusted profession that has been steeped in rich values based on the...
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...Registered Nurses The profession of nursing has a long history dating back to the ancient days. Formal education of nursing, using Florence Nightingale’s model, began in the United States after the Civil War. (Scope of Practice and Differentiated Practice Competencies) Nursing education took place in the hospital setting that used nursing students to care for patients. The students mainly learned the skills necessary to care for patients, but were deficient in curriculum learning. Later, some hospital nursing programs began a curriculum based program that issued students diplomas upon completion of the program. (Scope of Practice and Differentiated Practice Competencies) Nursing education began moving into the university settings in 1909 with the University of Minnesota opening a bachelor degree program. (Friberg, 2011 p.25) Many other universities began offering bachelor degree programs in nursing. However, hospital based programs were still the popular choice. After World War II, a nursing shortage began in the United States. Dr. Mildred Montag suggested training of registered nurses in the community college setting, which the graduating nurse would receive an associate’s degree. The program was intended to prepare nurses in a shorter amount of time to cover the growing need for nurses. At the time, this training was only supposed to be temporary. (Scope of Practice and Differentiated Practice Competencies) The associate’s degree nursing program became very...
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...Critical Thinking Concept Analysis During exposition of the nursing theory, there is a general understanding that concepts are the ones which are building blocks explaining a phenomenon and providing structure to science. Moreover, concepts contribute to theory development and strengthen nursing practice through research, plus via concept analysis, many vague terms gain a valuable meaning at the same time improving a quality of care (Bousso, Poles, Cruz, 2013). Therefore, one of the crucial concepts in nursing, in my opinion, is critical thinking which Facione (2013) is identified as cognitive skills which include interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation, and self-regulation. Consequently, those presumptively acquired attributes...
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...Based on Nursing Education Jessica Phelps Grand Canyon University: NRS-430V November 3, 2013 Competencies Based on Nursing Education The profession of nursing is different from other healthcare professions because there are multiple levels of entry into the profession. One may enter the career with an Associate’s Degree in Nursing (ADN) or a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing (BSN). An ADN is a two year program that is obtained at a community college, while a BSN is a four year program earned at a university. One may question why there are two different levels of education to get to the same position in nursing. While an Associate’s Degree (AD) prepared nurse has the necessary skills to provide patient care, they may lack critical thinking, leadership, and professionalism. A BSN prepared nurse has gained more knowledge, which may lead to better patient outcomes. Nursing does not meet the standards of professionalism in respect to education with multiple points of entry and a lack of differentiation among educational levels with regard to acknowledgement and salary (Lane and Kohlenberg, 2010). Not as much time is spent during the ADN programs to teach critical thinking, research, professionalism and leadership. In the two year program, most of the time is focused on patient care. The competencies of the different levels of education of the Registered Nurse (RN) will be explored to show a BSN prepared nurse is more proficient in providing patient care, due to better critical thinking...
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...What is your view of “Professional Nursing”? Nursing is a profession that has its depth and breadth in meeting different health care needs of the population (American Nurses Association (ANA), 2010). What is it that makes a professional nurse? Is it caring for the patient with compassion and devotion? Based on the interviews conducted among the three categories of staff, it was echoed that professional nursing takes a lot more than just attending to the needs of patients. From a professional perspective, nursing has a complex natural history of identification as a vocation with aspiration of being a profession from a long time (Brown & Libberton, 2007). In the past, the image of a nurse was as clear as, “the nurse is one whose studies give him or her just enough knowledge to follow and apply the decisions taken by the doctor or surgeon” (Gordon, 2000, p.218 cited in Harmer, 2010, p.295). Today, with the diversity of the nursing profession and the extension of the role of the nurse, defining a professional nurse is becoming complex. The identity of nursing is becoming blurred while trying to advance the profession (Harmer, 2010). According to Styles (2005) cited in Allen (2007), the attributes that are expected in professional nursing are higher academic education, a research based specialized body of knowledge, distinct service to society, a code of ethics, autonomy, accountability and authority over work. Be this as it may, the International Labor...
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...Baccalaureate-Degree Nursing Competencies Starting as a profession that was reserved for the bottommost members of the social order, nursing has risen to the stature of an exceedingly regarded profession. There is an intertwining connection between the increasing regard for the nursing profession and the quality of education required of nurses. In the early nineteenth century there was no formal education required or provided for nurses and the profession was considered one for the “undesirables” (Canyon Connect Timeline, 2013). Since the establishment of nursing schools, graduate nurses, and a registry for educated nurses, the nursing profession has become one of the most respected professions of all. Currently in the United States, to become a registered nurse, one must complete one of three different types of formal education followed by the completion of the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) with a score of passing. These three types of formal education are baccalaureate-degree nursing (BSN), associate-degree nursing (ADN), and the diploma in nursing. Curriculum standards for all three types of formal education are set and regulated by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) or Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). Although curriculums vary between the three, the standards set are equivalent for all, requiring education and training of elementary nursing skills in the areas of mental-health nursing, surgical nursing, maternal-newborn...
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...Changing Healthcare Professional nursing practice models enable nurses to control the delivery of care and the environments in which that care occurs. Nurses have input into decision making and can design innovations specific to a particular care setting. (Professional Nursing, 2011) Today the nursing profession is increasingly in complexity and versatility. The current healthcare reform is adding a broader scope of practice for nurses. The current standards of practice continue to evolve allowing nurse to practice at higher functioning than what was previously expected. This has caused a shift to a higher complexity and more advanced level to the profession. Advancement in science and technology has added to the complexity in the nursing practice during the past 20 years. Technology savvy nurses are required to meet the standard of practice as we continue to advance into a paperless world. These issues are raising the bar on the practice of medical care for all healthcare workers across the board. There is a wide spectrum of nursing expertise, education, and credentialing that is now necessary for the ever changing profession. Differentiated models of practice are supported by a clinical "ladder" or defined steps for advancement within the organization based on experience in nursing, additional education, specialty certification, or other indicators of professional excellence. (Erickson, 1998) Much higher expectations are placed on registered nurse new graduate. ...
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...Nursing has been struggling to be recognized as an academic discipline ever since the 1960s, when the American Nurses Association published a position paper that supported baccalaureate education as the entry level to practice (McCance & McKenna 1999). Previously, most nursing education took place in hospital schools (diploma programs), and the profession was very much under the control of medicine. Now, there's a lot to be said in favor of diploma programs, mostly the fact that diploma graduates usually have much more clinical experience, and are therefore more technically skilled than other entry-level graduates. However, the biggest disadvantage of these schools was that they did not teach nursing theory. Florence Nightengale was incorporated somewhat but the majority of the curricula were medically based. Nurses depended heavily on physiology, sociology, psychology, and medicine to provide academic standing and to inform practice (McEwan and Mills 2014). Some of the nursing classes were taught by the physicians, namely physiology and pathophysiology, and anatomy. Therefore, nurses were taught and trained to be the handmaidens of the physicians. In many circumstances, they were taught precisely what their doctors wanted, and how to anticipate and execute their doctors’ orders. They were also taught how to care for their doctors' patients. The regulatory and professional organizations in nursing education have required that critical thinking be essential to all nursing...
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...To begin with, the test taking process for nursing is totally unique in relation to typical tests, subsequently diverse methodologies and systems need to be utilized, keeping in mind the end goal to better learn and breeze through the numerous nursing tests for the profession. Hence, the most ideal method for approaching these questions, would be to utilize the Bloom’s Taxonomy, which gives an higher order of critical thinking for professional nursing tests. In other words, this higher order request proposes that while gaining knowledge, it is vital to move higher up in the critical thinking levels and end with evaluating every test question and situations provided to a nursing student, such as myself. As an illustration, a bit of knowledge to know would be Florence Nightingale is the founder of Nursing. Nonetheless, when thinking fundamentally, I would want to know why or why not is nursing considered a profession thus this is restricted of...
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...ADN and BSN NRS- 430 V Grand Canyon University Michael Jones December/02/2012 DIFFERENCIES IN COMPETENCIES BETWEEN ADN AND BSN Nursing professions is undergoing rapid changes and are inevitable. Nurses should be able to adapt and practice these changes in order to provide quality health care to the society. Nurses are the vital part of the evolving health care arena, since our profession is getting more complex and demanding it is our responsibly to be competent in the profession for the better outcome. As there are differences in curriculum, there are visible differences in competencies. Both programs provide essential education for the students in order to practice whereas baccalaureate program is broad base which also includes teaching in critical thinking, leadership and management (Differentiated Essential Competencies ,2010). Nurses who possess baccalaureate degree have the capability to meet the complex and unpredictable needs of the divers population even in an unstructured environment. Studies show that there are decreased rate in medication errors, death rates when patients are cared by baccalaureate degree nurses (AACN, 2011). Majority of the task and responsibilities remains same for both the associate degree nurses and baccalaureate nurses. The associate degree nurses are very proficient in bedside nursing as they acquire knowledge through hands-on practice, whereas the baccalaureate nurses are able to provide evidence based care. Also by utilizing...
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...Bachelor degree nurse and Associate degree nurse Nursing is a profession that involved within the healthcare system which is concentrated towards the care of individual, family and community. The primary goal of a nurse whether BSN or ADN is the same when it comes to patient care. When we look at nursing history, Mildred Montag started nursing education by the creation of the first ADN program as there was a huge shortage of nurses after the World War 2 and they found it successful.(2011) Hence the nursing profession became more advanced and pushed forward in innovating and accelerator ting the process of change. Today one of the major questions that one can ask is who is better a nurse? nurse with bachelor’s degree or a nurse with associate degree. Although there aren’t many differences between the two; I would say that being a BSN nurse definitely has its perks due to the fact that BSN nurses have much better knowledge of decision making, communication skills and leadership skills that could be beneficial to both the patient and the nurse. Thus, would bring one back to the question Are BSN nurses better than ADN nurses. One of the major differences between BSN and ADN nurses are the amount of time spend at education. A normal ADN degree will only take 2 years; while a BSN degree takes an average student about 4 years or more. BSN deals with theories and research based and focuses on the entire nursing profession; thus helping the nurse to be exposed to different...
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...Impact of 2010 iom report on future of nursing The nursing profession is a vast expanding profession that is based on new researches and innovations. In this profession attention is directed to the patient rather than on healthcare professionals.it is important for nursing profession to have more educated,skilled,trained nurses in order to provide best care to patients that is changing with more developed technologies .To meet the basic needs of advancing healthcare system some transformations are needed-practice,education,leadership.In 2010 The IOM and the Robert Wood Foundation brought the new report -The Future of Nursing Leading change,Advancing Health to address some changes in healthcare system in order to meet high demands of future nursing. Impact of iom report on nursing education Education is essential for nurses to work efficiently in their field. Nurses with higher Education become able to use Critical Thinking,Knowledge,skills.Based on IOM report it is required to change the education format as now BSN are in more demand.It is addressed in IOM report to have 80% BSN nurses by 2020 and to meet this target it is necessary to increase education level- by Having low cost, high level education available for Public-for which Providing funds by states and federal agencies is a helpful step.As seen today Many ADN degree nurses moving further for BSN degree by going back to studies. By this change more nurses will be...
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...A Comparison of Critical Thinking Skills between Associate, Baccalaureate, and RN-to-BSN Nurses A Comparison of Critical Thinking Skills between Associate, Baccalaureate, and RN-to-BSN Nurses There are many differences in the competencies between associate and baccalaureate level nurses. Associate level nursing programs tend to concentrate on the more technical aspects of nursing which allows students once they graduate to provide appropriate care to patients and families, especially during times of illness. They may practice on a more restricted level, making their nursing skills limited to more direct patient care in nursing homes and hospitals. Baccalaureate nursing programs improve on these skills by teaching more critical thinking to allow a more thorough approach to caring for their patients. RN-to-BSN programs allow ADN nurses that have grown confident in their hands-on skills and want to gain more critical thinking skills the ability to build on their education and "prepare...for a broader scope of practice" (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2014). The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) notes multiple research studies linking fewer medication errors, lower mortality rates and more positive patient outcomes to nursing education received at the baccalaureate level (2014). BSN programs also help teach the leadership needed for nursing supervision and prepare their nurses for graduate studies. Critical thinking competency is key...
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...of Science Nurse The nursing profession is unlike other health care professions. It has multiple education levels of entry into the nursing field. Many states have recently started to propose legislation to make registered nurses obtain their bachelor of science in nursing within ten years of becoming licensed registered nurses. This proposed legislation is aware of the associate degree nurses level of education and offers solutions for continued pursuit of furthering their education to the bachelor of science nurse. It is believed with the combination of the associate degree nurse furthering her education to a baccalaureate education, nursing will become a stronger profession and thus improve patient care outcomes and quality of care.(Lane, 2010) North Dakota became the first state to require the bachelor of science be obtained within the first tens years of obtaining the registered license. For many years the nursing leaders have discussed the idea of advancing the nurses education to the bachelor of science degree. North Dakota, New York and New Jersey were the first states to propose legislation for this to occur. North Dakota overturned their legislation and New York and New Jersey did not pass this legislation. According to the ANA many states have passed legislation to mandate required continuing education for all registered nurses.(Lane, 2010) Some recommendations want the bachelor of science for nursing as the entry level for the profession. They than propose obtaining...
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...routes end with the graduates of each program sitting for the same licensing exam, the NCLEX-RN. The baccalaureate nursing program is a 4-year degree offered at senior colleges and universities. It includes a more in-depth study of the physical and social sciences, nursing research, public and community health, nursing management and the humanities. BSN educated nurses are believed to be the most well-prepared of the three programs to meet the demands of the nation’s changing and more challenging healthcare needs.(“Fact Sheet: The Impact of Education on Nursing Practice”,2012) A study of the history of the available programs: the 3-year diploma usually provided by a hospital, the 3-year associate degree typically obtained at a community college, and the 4-year baccalaureate degree available at a senior college or university sheds light on the differences in competencies each educational path produces. To begin, is interesting to note that the diploma and associate degree programs were a result of hospital needs and a shortage of nurses available to meet those needs. Those programs were never intended to produce professional nurses capable of filling complex decision making and leadership roles. (Creasia&Freeburg, 2011, p.27).Their intent was to produce a technical bedside nurse quickly and efficiently. They balanced a general education platform with clinical nursing courses. Nurses from those programs have rose and stepped into leadership roles, oftentimes not pursuing additional...
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