Moving From Proficiency To Excellence: A Case Study
Nursing: Moving from Proficiency to Excellence
Grand Canyon University
Professional dynamics
NRS-430V
September 14, 2014
Nursing: Moving from Proficiency to Excellence
Nurses are here to provide a safe and healthy environment so that a person(s) may begin, and hopefully continue to live in good health. How we as nurses, with diverging levels of education, approach that may be different. With advancements in technology making patient care more complex, the rise of chronic illnesses, and the level in which nurses are expected to perform has increased dramatically. This has made a strong argument for raising the minimum education level for all nurses from associate degree to at least a baccalaureate degree. By creating …show more content…
This ensures at least a basic understanding and proficiency in nursing practice but does not encompass all that is required of today’s nurse. Any registered nurse should be able to adequately perform standard nursing duties. They chart patient symptoms and vital signs in a medical record, report any changes in their patient’s condition, operate medical equipment, perform patient education, create a care plan, and work as part of a team. It’s when we need to go a step beyond the basic that the difference between the two degrees is more apparent. “Quality patient care hinges on having a well-educated nursing workforce. Research has shown that lower mortality rates, …show more content…
It has increased patient safety and achieved better outcomes. Nurses have been a big part of the research behind evidence based practice. Baccalaureate programs place more focus on recognizing and performing quality research than Associate programs do. “Nurses must be valued and committed partners in making
policy, directing and evaluating clinical care, and leading organizational operations.”(Alspach, 2005, p. 12)
For instance in the clinical setting, an ADN receives report from a coworker at shift change. On her initial rounds she finds one of her patients without compression devices on their legs. The patient is recently out of surgery and there is an order for the device to have been placed immediately upon return to the unit. The hospital had recently made this a standard order as it is widely accepted that their use reduces risk of blood clots, especially after surgery. This has been an ongoing problem on her unit. Nurses either forget to put them on, the patients won’t keep them on, or there are not enough of the devices for all the patients. She will fix the immediate problem and put them on her patient and maybe take it so far as to tell her charge nurse that this has been happening frequently. A BSN nurse might go a little
Grand Canyon University
Professional dynamics
NRS-430V
September 14, 2014
Nursing: Moving from Proficiency to Excellence
Nurses are here to provide a safe and healthy environment so that a person(s) may begin, and hopefully continue to live in good health. How we as nurses, with diverging levels of education, approach that may be different. With advancements in technology making patient care more complex, the rise of chronic illnesses, and the level in which nurses are expected to perform has increased dramatically. This has made a strong argument for raising the minimum education level for all nurses from associate degree to at least a baccalaureate degree. By creating …show more content…
This ensures at least a basic understanding and proficiency in nursing practice but does not encompass all that is required of today’s nurse. Any registered nurse should be able to adequately perform standard nursing duties. They chart patient symptoms and vital signs in a medical record, report any changes in their patient’s condition, operate medical equipment, perform patient education, create a care plan, and work as part of a team. It’s when we need to go a step beyond the basic that the difference between the two degrees is more apparent. “Quality patient care hinges on having a well-educated nursing workforce. Research has shown that lower mortality rates, …show more content…
It has increased patient safety and achieved better outcomes. Nurses have been a big part of the research behind evidence based practice. Baccalaureate programs place more focus on recognizing and performing quality research than Associate programs do. “Nurses must be valued and committed partners in making
policy, directing and evaluating clinical care, and leading organizational operations.”(Alspach, 2005, p. 12)
For instance in the clinical setting, an ADN receives report from a coworker at shift change. On her initial rounds she finds one of her patients without compression devices on their legs. The patient is recently out of surgery and there is an order for the device to have been placed immediately upon return to the unit. The hospital had recently made this a standard order as it is widely accepted that their use reduces risk of blood clots, especially after surgery. This has been an ongoing problem on her unit. Nurses either forget to put them on, the patients won’t keep them on, or there are not enough of the devices for all the patients. She will fix the immediate problem and put them on her patient and maybe take it so far as to tell her charge nurse that this has been happening frequently. A BSN nurse might go a little