Sarah Kacena
University of North Dakota
Professionalism and Nursing in Healthcare
Introduction
Within the United States, the healthcare field is expanding beyond inpatient care. There has been an increased demand for nurses who use higher levels of critical thinking skills to work within the community. As a result, more nurses are continuing their education to achieve their goals within the healthcare field. There is a wide array of views on what professionalism in nursing entails and I will discuss my views on them. Research has shown that effective nurse leaders have led to greater staff and overall client satisfaction.
The significance of baccalaureate prepared nurses …show more content…
There has been a significant increase in community health services that are now being offered to clients that vary from home health care services to outpatient mental health centers (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2014).
Nurses are now working more independently and are required to possess higher levels of critical thinking skills that are necessary to make informed educational decisions (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2014). Not only are nurses expected to effectively communicate with clients, they are expected to have a broader scope of practice that can range from providers, managers and coordinators of care (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2014).
The core of associate degree programs in nursing focus on learning basic assessment skills and the foundations of nursing. Within these types of programs students are encouraged to apply their assessment skills to everyday practice within the healthcare field. Bachelor degree are better prepared to practice in a variety of settings because their core curriculum focuses on working in a variety of settings that vary from critical care, public health, outpatient centers and clinics (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, …show more content…
Nurses become more familiar with incorporating evidence based practice and critical thinking skills through clinicals, essays and group assignments.
I have found that after returning to school for my bachelor’s degree in nursing, I now turn to using evidenced based practice when attempting to gather information that can help me in applying skills to everyday nursing practice. I have also found that over time, it is easier to understand evidenced based practice articles and achieve higher levels of thinking through essays and group discussions.
After I graduated from nursing school many years ago, I found that numerous healthcare organizations with gravitating towards bachelor prepared nurses based on their critical thinking skills and better outcomes with client care. Many hospitals at that time were working on receiving higher levels of accreditation and were requiring that their associate degree nurses to continue on their education for bachelor’s degrees to maintain employment at that facility.
Personal views on nursing