Quality Nursing in Healthcare; Nursing is a profession that focuses on provision of care to the sick. Nursing entails activities tailored towards prevention of illnesses, care of the sick, and health education. The nursing profession is responsible for providing care to the sick, the injured, the disabled, and even those with terminal illnesses. It is worth noting that nursing is the largest and most effective profession in the health care sector. Traditional nursing dates back in 1854 and is associated with Florence Nightingale, a British nurse, tactician, and social reformer. Nightingale first practiced nursing during the Crimean war when she was asked by the British government to take care of the wounded soldiers. Among the key skills necessary in the nursing profession include critical thinking, time management, attention to detail, compassion, and cultural awareness to mention a few. The requirements of practicing nursing differ between countries, states, and provinces. Nursing is the most crucial healthcare practice that determines the quality of patients’ recovery, and should, therefore, embody high ethical standards, quality improvement, and leadership development. Read
Nursing entails respect for human dignity and an intuition for a patient’s needs. Nurses show respect for patients by involving them in decisions relating to their care, addressing them in the correct manner, and regarding their autonomy. Nurses also have a responsibility of informing patients concerning various treatment approaches and respecting their preferences in treatment. This goes a long way in increasing satisfaction of patients in the treatment process. Quality Nursing in Healthcare;
According to a research done by Gallup, nursing is the most trusted medical professions in the world. Nursing has maintained the first position among other professions in the world for 18 years in a raw. This is because nurses are honest and ethical in their practice. Additionally, nurses spend more time with patients more than doctors and family do in a health care facility. Nurses work in a variety of specialties, such as medical assessment, diagnosis, counseling, and coordination of healthcare, to address potential health problems (Mockler, 2014). In other words, nurses are involved in the visual and physical examination of patients, identifying the nature of an illness, recommending a course of action for patients, and organizing care activities.
Nursing ethics
Nursing ethics are principles and standards that guide the nursing practice. The ethical principles and standards are established to help nurses make the right decision when faced with an ethical dilemma, practice with professionalism, and promote ethical practice. There are seven ethical principles in nursing. The first is the principle of justice, which posits that nurses have a duty to promote fairness in provision of care to different patients. In other words, health care provided in a health facility should be just, fair, and equitably distributed among all clients or patients. The second principle is beneficence and states that nurses should do the right thing for the patient. The third principle is Nonmaleficence, which provides that nurses should not engage in any practice that can harm patients. This means that the care provided by nurses should by no means cause harm to patients. Quality Nursing in Healthcare;
The fourth ethical principle is accountability and holds that nurses should take responsibility for their actions. Nurses must, therefore, be careful as their actions may result in personal or professional consequences. Fidelity is the fifth principle, which requires that nurses should keep their promises. The promises of nurses include providing quality services, ensuring safety of patients, and respecting autonomy of patients. The sixth ethical principle is autonomy and self-determination of patients. This means that nurses must appreciate the fact that patients have the right to be treated as per their wishes, perspectives, values, and beliefs. In simpler terms, patients should make mistakes without being coerced by nurses. The seventh and last ethical principle is veracity. The principle provides that nurses have a responsibility to provide full information to patients even when it may have negative effects on them.
Nursing ethics
Nursing requires nurses to adhere to high standards of ethics in their decision-making processes problems (Mockler, 2014). Nurses need to consider some of the principles discussed above including justice, autonomy, and beneficence to ensure that they make ethical decisions. Other guidelines used in decision-making by nurses are highlighted by the American Nursing Association (ANA) and the National Code of Ethics for Nurses. The code of ethics ensure that nurses make decisions based on professionalism, integrity, and safety.
Nurses’ actions should always reflect the patients’ preferences, psychological realities, and the profession’s ethical code of conduct. The patients; preferences are important in care as they provide nurses with a sense of direction regarding the treatment options as well as other interventions. Additionally, patients’ preferences help to inform the clinical decisions taken by nurses in situations where science is yet to provide solutions. Psychological realities help nurses to better understand an individual as well as their skills, thoughts, behavior, and personality. The profession’s ethical code of conduct help in ensuring that the rights of patients and their families are respected. Quality Nursing in Healthcare;
Quality improvement
Quality improvement is the use of data to monitor care outcomes and using improvements methods to continuously improve the quality of health care. Nurses have the mandate to provide services that meet the set-out standards (Mockler, 2014). In other words, the nursing practice should be consistent with the quality standards and regulations established. The nurses who offer direct health care services to patients are in an excellent position to identify the need for change. This means that the nurses involved in the day-to-day provision of care should note the quality gaps. They should, thereafter, come up with strategies and methods of bridging the quality gaps. Such nurses should also focus on quality improvement forums to help in facilitating constructive action for improving the quality of health care. Attending quality improvement forums can help nurses to optimize care for patients and this minimizes nursing mistakes. Additionally, nurses should provide their services in good faith to help protect the reputation of the healthcare system. Quality improvement facilitate cost-effective health care processes and enhances patient outcome.
Leadership development
Leadership development in nursing entails influencing point-of-care innovation and improvement to achieve better healthcare outcomes (Joseph & Huber, 2015). During training, leaders gain a wide understanding of different dynamics between nurses and patients. The nurse managers have a responsibility to empower the staff to improve access and quality of healthcare. In other words, effective leaders take the leadership development opportunity to develop individuals who are competent and can deliver quality. Lastly, the nursing leadership, should provide a vision to the nurses and avail the necessary resources crucial for healthcare quality improvement (Joseph & Huber, 2015). This means that the leaders should set a good example to the practicing nurses. Quality Nursing in Healthcare;
Conclusion
In conclusion, nursing is the most crucial healthcare practice that determines the quality of patients’ recovery, and should, therefore, embody high ethical standards, quality improvement, and leadership development. Nursing is the largest and most effective profession in the health care sector. Simply put, patients hold the nursing profession with high-esteem. This is because nurses are honest, ethical, and spend more time with patients than doctors. For this reason, the staff ought to live up to the public’s expectations by embracing healthcare’s fundamental ethics. The nursing profession is guided by principles including beneficence, justice, accountability, and fidelity. The profession is also guided by ethical standards such as the American Nursing Association (ANA) and the National Code of Ethics for Nurses. Nurses have the mandate to provide services that meet the set-out standards. Attending quality improvement forums can help nurses to optimize care for patients and this minimizes nursing mistakes. Leadership development provides an opportunity for the nurses to understand different dynamics between themselves and patients. Innovation emanating from quality improvement and leadership development will go a long way in improving healthcare delivery. Quality Nursing in Healthcare;