NSG 511 Contemporary Nursing Practice

Answer

In modern times, the nursing practice has changed. According to Djukic, Stimpfel, & Kovner, (2018)These changes has been enhanced by new technological advancements in healthcare, emergent models of care and the rising demands of healthcare in the population. The rising care demands in the population has been caused by increase in diseases, increasing life expectancy and increase in population. Serious challenges such as nursing shortages have also led to changes in the field. This paper focuses on the changes in nursing practice, comparisons between associate and baccalaureate nursing and different communication trends in modern interdisciplinary nursing communication.

Changes in nursing practice

Nursing training has shifted towards being more demanding and also more formal as emphasis is not only put on teaching the skills but also the theoretical background that demands learning of the skills. In addition, there are more nursing degrees such as an associate degree, masters and bachelors. There has also been an increase in responsibility that nurses have over patients. Today as opposed to previous years, advanced nursing practices includes making diagnoses and prescriptions in some instances.

According to Boswell, & Cannon, (2018), technological advancements have also changes the way nurses do their job. Just to mention a few, nurses no longer file data manually but they use electronic health records. There are also mobile apps that help nurses to conduct research, administer medicines and provide better monitoring on the patient. Lastly, there are more specializations and positions in the field for the registered nurse in positions such as forensic nursing, geriatric and bioinformatics. Flexibility in the field has increased as nurses today can also work in different environments such as nursing homes, educational institutions, and correctional centers, travel nursing and medical offices.

Compare contrast between ADN and BSN practice competency

There are several similarities and differences between the ADN and the BSN nurse based on their practice competency. The differences in the competency between the ADN and the BSN mainly emerge from the differences in training whereby the BSN has more training to meet national patient demands and improve on quality and efficiency than that of the ADN. The BSN therefore performs more complicated tasks than the ADN. In many circumstances, the BSN nurses are also assigned leadership roles such as supervising other nursing staff. As opposed to the ADN the BSN has more career options. This makes the BSN nurses who wish to advance their knowledge to acquire more leadership roles and improved competency which puts them above the ADN nurse.

Dang, & Dearholt, (2017) explains that one basic similarity is that both ADN and BSN nurses is that both are trained to provide high quality patient care. This makes the quality of care as a bare minimum for all nurses that gradually improves with experience. However, there is still an observable difference in the level of skills and proficiency as the ADN nurses are trained more on technical skills while the BSN are trained more on proficiency.

Nursing care approach to decision making

The approaches to care and decision making also differ between the ADN and the BSN. Decision making in nursing environment is influenced by skills and experience. For instance, in a situation where there are nursing shortages, an ADN nurse is likely to be inclined more towards hiring new workers whereas the BSN is likely to explore leadership possibilities and potentials such as changing the management models, the type of leadership and the organizational set up of care. This is because the ADN nurse focuses on problems as bits whereas the BSN nurse is able to view a problem as a whole (Muller, & Bester, 2016).

Significance of evidence based practice

Evidence based practice in nursing involves integrating evidence in clinical operations by conducting research to inform decisions and justifications for actions argues Matthias, & Kim-Godwin, (2016). It is important to base practice on evidence because it helps to improve the quality of care and patient safety. Basing practice on evidence allows nurses to make effective decisions that are centered on the best interests of the patient. In addition, it helps to increase the pool of knowledge that nurses have in the field. The overall effect is that it helps to improve efficiency at the work place.

The RN-BSN preparation for practice prepares students to make evidence based judgments by educating nurses on the steps of evidence based practice. These steps includes asking questions in areas of uncertainty, searching for information to answer questions, critical examination and analysis of evidence and information, integrating all the knowledge acquired in the day to day activities to improve expertise and finally conducting evaluation to assess the impact of the informed decisions (DiCenso, Guyatt, & Ciliska, 2014). .

Communication among interdisciplinary teams

Modern healthcare approaches demands a patient centered holistic approach towards care. This is achieved through effective communication and collaboration among various healthcare providers that impact the patient’s health. These include the hospital care, the home care providers, the drug sellers and the clinics that a patient visits for regular checkups. It is important for all these healthcare providers to have patient history and to keep updated on the patient’s progress. With the advancement of health information technology, nurses use the electronic health records to update information.

According to Moran, Burson, & Conrad, (2016), nurses also develop certain other applications and integrated data systems depending on their respective departments within the healthcare organization. The use of efficient forms of communication improves safety and efficiency in various ways. Efficient communication and storage of information minimizes errors, arbitrary deletion of important information and malicious distortion of patient files ad information. In addition, electronic storage and communication increases ease of access to information and it as well optimizes on space which increases the holding capacity of the organization.

In conclusion, it is important to point out that nursing practice has changes over time due to various technological advancements, challenges facing the health sector such as workforce deficits, increased chances of specialization and also the advancement of new ideas relating to practice. In addition, it is also important to point out that it is important for nurse to make evidence based conclusions as well as utilize modern tools of effective communication to enhance the efficiency, patience safety and the quality of care.

References

Boswell, C., & Cannon, S. (2018). Introduction to nursing research: Incorporating evidence-based practice. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Dang, D., & Dearholt, S. L. (2017). Johns Hopkins nursing evidence-based practice: Model and guidelines. Sigma Theta Tau.

DiCenso, A., Guyatt, G., & Ciliska, D. (2014). Evidence-Based Nursing-E-Book: A Guide to Clinical Practice. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Djukic, M., Stimpfel, A. W., & Kovner, C. (2018). Bachelor’s Degree Nurse Graduates Report Better Quality and Safety Educational Preparedness than Associate Degree Graduates. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety.

Matthias, A. D., & Kim-Godwin, Y. S. (2016). RN-BSN students’ perceptions of the differences in practice of the ADN-and BSN-prepared RN. Nurse educator, 41(4), 208-211.

Moran, K. J., Burson, R., & Conrad, D. (2016). The doctor of nursing practice scholarly project. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Muller, M. E., & Bester, P. (2016). Nursing dynamics. Pearson Southern Africa (Pty) Limited.