Professional Roles and Values
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Professional Roles and Values
Task 1
A. Identify a nursing theory that has influenced your values and goals.
Environment theory of nursing
1. Explain how nurses apply the identified theory from part A to implement excellent nursing practices.
The Environment theory of nursing, which was formulated by Florence Nightingale remains relevant in contemporary nursing practice by directing and encouraging nurses to attend to their most basic mandate, that of making the patients confortable by creating an conduce environment for facilitating healing (Sher & Akhtar, 2018). Nurses implement excellent nursing practices in healthcare settings by ensuring that the environment the patient in is clean and devoid of pathogens, which may cause opportunistic in-hospital infections, is well lit and aired, and devoid of noise. The nurse also ensures that the patient has a balanced diet, drinks clean water, and observes personal hygiene.
2. Discuss how the identified theory from part A fits your professional practice.
As a pediatric nurse, the environmental theory of nursing suits my nursing practice by informing me how I can promote the recovery of children by realizing that the environment around the child has a significant influence on the healing process (Cardoso et al., 2021). However, although children cannot always verbalize their discomfort or emotions, I need to look out to the tell-tale signs of their discomfort and emotional distress, which would adversely affect their return to health wellness. Therefore, I am tasked with interpreting the children’s body language to correct any discomfort they may be experiencing while ensuring that their diet is safe and balanced and environment is safe, peaceful, pleasant, affectionate, and confortable.
B. Identify the contributions of two historical nursing figures in the nineteenth or twentieth century.
I select Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale
1. Compare the differences in contributions of the two historical figures identified in part B.
Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton are renowned nurses that made significant contributions to the contemporary nursing practice. Coincidentally, both were born one year apart in the1800, and became nurses by accident rather than design, based on their early experiences. Florence Nightingale formulated the environmental theory of nursing while attending to war patients during the Crimean war, while Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross during the American Civil War (Curry, 2020; Maryville University, 2022). Although both of them were motivated to become nurses following their experiences with injured soldiers and spent most of their time caring for them, end even remained unmarried their entire lives, Nightingale cites a divine calling while Barton was inspired by an unfortunate event with her brother.
2. Describe how the contributions of the two historical figures influence your professional nursing practice.
Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton influence my professional nursing practice by being my role models. Both nurses were driven by a deep compassion for human life and especially suffering soldiers that when harmed when fighting in and for the United States (Curry, 2020; Maryville University, 2022). Equally, I have developed compassion for children and feel inspired to relieve their suffering if only to make them more comfortable as they return to health wellness. I am also empathetic to the parents of the sick children who have to bear immense emotional burden as they watch their children in pain due to ailments or injury. I feel motivated to also relieve the parents of their pain as their children recover their healthy status.
C. Explain the functional differences between the State Board of Nursing and the American Nurses Association (ANA).
1. Define the roles of these two organizations.
The State Board of Nursing is concerned with the licensing of nurses, with each state having its own board to oversee the administrative issues related to the licensing of nurses in the states. There are over 50 state boards of nursing, which are overseen at the national level by the National Council of the State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN). In addition, the boards administered the nursing licensure examinations under the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) (Kooienga & Wilkinson, 2017). Contrastingly, the American Nurses Association (ANA) support and promotes nursing as a profession (ANA, n.d.). It formulates the code of ethics that guides the professional conduct of nurses.
2. Explain how these two organizations influence your nursing practice.
The State Board of Nursing and the American Nurses Association have been instrumental to professional growth and career progression as nursing practitioner. The State Board of Nursing administered the examinations I took to be licensed as a registered nurse in Florida, thus allowing me to practice legally. Similarly, the American Nurses Association has set the operational boundaries I need to perform my nursing duties in an ethically-responsible manner.
3. Explain the requirements for professional license renewal in your state.
Nursing professionals must renew their licenses every two years (biennially). Before renewing the practice licenses, the nurses are required to demonstrate evidence of continuing education (CE), paying requisite fees, and launching an application 90 days before the license expiry date.
a. Discuss the consequences of failure to maintain license requirements in your state.
Failure to maintain license requirement in Florida can cause a nurse to be deregistered and barred from practicing nursing in the Florida. Readmission might require a fine to be paid and an examination to be undertaken.
4. Compare the differences between registered nursing license requirements in a compact state versus a non-compact state.
Nursing licensure compact (NLC) is an agreement between different states in the US allowing nurses to utilize one license to operate across the states. In turn, there are compact and non-compact states depending on whether they have an interstate nursing licensing agreement or nor, respectively. However, nurses with a practice license from a compact state cannot practice in a non-compact state because the license it not recognized there since that state is not party to the Nursing licensure compact.
D. Discuss the functional differences between the Food and Drug Administration and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The Food and Drug Administration addresses issues related to medical products and their marketing and availability in the United States. Contrastingly, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services is about the health coverage of Americans and is concerned with reimbursing healthcare facilities and practitioners for the healthcare products and services they have administered to eligible Americans.
1. Discuss how the two regulatory agencies influence your professional nursing practice.
Both agencies facilitate patient advocacy and promote patient safety by regulating and directing the attention of nursing practice towards these issues. They provide information that nurses use to raise the awareness of patients, relating to alternative therapies, self-care approaches, and good health and safety practices.
However, the approach employed by each agency to promote patient safety and wellness differs slightly from the others. On the one hand, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regularly publishes the current data on drugs and foods that are safe and unsafe for human administration and consumption. By regulating the quality of products used in the healthcare sector, the FDA ensures patient and nurse safety. In this regard, the FDA ensures that nursing practice remains safe to the nurses and patients as well. On the other hand, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services provides information that enables nurses to advice patients on how to reduce the cost of healthcare by reduced hospitalization and testing costs. It also provides information that nurses can use to help patients make therapeutic decisions based on the options their have depending in their health coverage.
a. Describe your role as a patient advocate in promoting safety when a patient has requested to use an alternative therapy.
As a patient advocate, by role is to provide the patients with sufficient relevant information about the alternative therapies available. The patient may request for alternative therapies because they are uncomfortable with the current one, yet they may not be aware of the benefits and detriments of the alternative. In this regard, my role would be to furnish the patient will all the information about the available alternative therapies, including their benefits and risks so that the patient can make an informed choice.
E. Discuss the purposes of the Nurse Practice Act in your state and its impact on your professional practice.
The Nurse Practice Act is part of the Florida statutes and is found in Title XXXII about the regulation of professions and occupations, chapter 464. The legislation aims at establishing the Florida State Board of Nursing which regulates nursing practice in the state of Florida. Specifically, the statute ensures that nurses practicing in Florida meet the minimum requirements for safe practice through minimum competency standards, licensure, and continuous improvement of capacity.
1. Discuss the scope of practice for a RN in your state.
The scope of practice for a registered nurse in Florida includes performing tasks requiring significant specialized knowledge nursing skills and judgment. These include medication administration and treatment, providing care, supervising, and teaching. The scope of practice is confined to being directed by the clinician the nurse is under.
2. Discuss how your state defines delegation for the RN.
In Florida, delegation is transferring the authority to perform selected activities or tasks from a qualified nurse to a competent individual. The delegation afforded by a registered nurse in Florida is mainly confined to educational matters as stipulated in Florida Nurse Practice Act.
F. Apply each of the following roles to your professional practice:
• A scientist
As a registered nurse, I am expected to participate in research seeking to confirm or augment existing practice to reinforce professionalism. I am also expected to progress professionally by contributing to new knowledge in the learning profession, most of which is generated through research.
• A detective
I may perform detective work of investigating health-related issues afflicting my patients so as to help them return to wellness much faster. This includes addressing patients’ concerns and complains by first ensuring that they are legitimate enough to warrant further investigation. Superior decision making abilities are needed by nurses investigating practice-related issues to avoid reliance on unreliable sources.
• A manager of the healing environment
For a healing environment to be nurturing and therapeutic to the patients, it should be well managed to ensure that it addresses the physical, economic, and social wellbeing of patients and colleagues. As a manager, the registered nurse should ensure that the patients’ environment is free from stress and anxiety triggers to accelerate recovery from ailment, reduce medication use, pain, and hospitalization period, while promoting a sense of wellbeing.
G. Identify two provisions from the American Nurses Association (ANA) Code of Ethics
I select provision 3 and 5
1. Analyze how the two provisions identified in part G influence your professional nursing practice.
Provision 3 is about the nurse’s role in promoting, advocating, and protecting the rights, safety, and health of the patient. This influences my nursing practice y making me always conscious of my obligations to the patients, related with their health, safety, and rights as individuals.
Similarly, provision 5 is about the duty of care that nurses owes others within and beyond their profession, as they owe to themselves as individual professional practitioners. This provision influences my nursing practice by making me always conscious of the effects of my practice on others and how that can promote or undermine the promotion of safety and health, integrity and character wholeness, professional competence, and professional and personal growth.
2. Describe a nursing error that may occur in a clinical practice.
Medication administration error is a common error in nursing practice. Medication administrations errors are several, ranging from administering medication to the wring patient, to administering the wrong dosage of a drug due to calculation errors. Wring medication, wring dosage and missing doses are the most commonly reported medication administration errors in nursing practice.
- Explain how the ANA provisions identified in part G can be applied to the error discussed in part G2.
The ANA Provision 3 can help eliminate or reduce medication administration errors by promoting patient safety. Medication administration errors endanger the patient and can lead to adverse health outcomes such as severe disease and even death. By endeavoring to promote the health and safety of patients, nurses can ensure that medication is administered correctly to the patients to avoid risking their health.
Similarly, Provision 5 highlights the role of nurses as being responsible for the health and safety of others based on their professional mandate, capabilities, and experience. Therefore, concern for other is a critical consideration when aiming at reducing medication administration errors because it means that the nurses mean no harm to their patients and therefore, will endeavor to administer medications correctly to present such harm.
H. Identify four leadership qualities or traits that represent excellence in nursing.
I select emotional intelligence, critical thinking capabilities, communication skills, and motivation.
1. Discuss the significance of the four leadership qualities identified in part H in the nurse’s role as each of the following:
• A leader at the bedside
Beside the bed, the nurse employs emotional intelligence to understand the patients’ concerns and predicaments. The nurse needs to be a critical thinker to help make the right decision when presented by compound problems or with alternative solutions. Also, the nurse needs to be a good communicator at the bedside to enable the patient to understand the therapeutic options available so that the patient can make an informed decision. In the same vein, the nurse should be a good motivator at the bedside by assuring the patients that they would return to health wellness when they adhere to the instructions. In other words, the nurse should encourage adherence to therapeutic requirements by patients that have been prescribed to them by the physician.
• Within a nursing team or interdisciplinary team
Teams bring together individuals of diverse knowledge and experiences, which of tapped, can lead to synergies that deliver outstanding performance compared to that of the individual team member. Emotional intelligence, critical thinking capabilities, communication skills, and motivation are importance leadership qualities in a team setting. Specifically, the nurse needs to understand the emotions of other members to avoid and resolve conflicts within the team. Similarly, the nurse should be a critical thinker to contribute effectively to the team by enriching the perspectives and presentations of the other team members. Similarly, the nurse needs to be an effective communicate to share his or her thoughts, perceptions, and knowledge. Finally, the nurse should motivate other team members to persist with their solution-finding endeavors, particularly when the team confronts a difficult and complex challenge.
2. Identify how your work environment impacts the following:
• Nursing leadership
My pediatric nursing work environment provides numerous opportunities to develop nursing leadership. Children rely on adults for support, more so when they are sick and hospitalized. Therefore, my work environment provides opportunities to demonstrate my leadership abilities and development them further as I influence children and their parents and caregivers regarding healthcare related issues.
• Decision making
My pediatric setting at work presents critical decision-making opportunities involving children and their parents.
• Professional development
The pediatric setting changes quickly because the health challenges faced by children are increasing exponentially and pediatric technologies are evolving fast. Similarly, pediatric research has increased as researchers learn how to conduct safe studies involving children. Consequently, there is much information about children and their health that nurses need to keep abreast with and technologies that nurses need to familiarize themselves with. In turn, continuous learning is unavoidable in the nursing profession because nurses need to adopt the rapidly emerging best practices at the first opportune moment.
Task 2
A. Summarize how the principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice apply to the scenario by doing the following:
1. Describe how you would respond to Mr. Newcomb’s request.
I would respectfully decline Mr. Newcomb’s request and assure him of his privacy. I would inform Mr. Newcomb that agreeing to his request would require lying to his wife, making me compromise the truthfulness as a moral principle. I would inform the nurse that I have a moral obligation to him and his family to provide ethical care that avoids adverse outcomes from deceitful actions. However, I would also assure the patient that such information would remain confidential to avoid aggravating the situation with his wife.
2. Evaluate how you applied the principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice to the scenario.
I invoked the principle of beneficence when I gave Mr. Newcomb my attention regarding a very personal matter that is not related to his ailment and treatment, yet it is of grave concern. I was kind to the patient by empathizing with him although I did not grant his wish. I also demonstrated non-maleficence when I decided not to lie to Mrs. Newcomb by granting his dying husband his wish. Disclosing Mr. Newcomb’s desires to his wife would have aggravated an already dire and devastating condition, thus causing her harm, which is against the non-maleficence principle. Similarly, I was just to the Newcomb family by considering the consequences of Mr. Newcomb’s request to himself and his wife. I attempted to balance the outcomes by selecting options that were most just to all the parties. However, I was unable to respect the wishes of Mr. Newcomb and thus denied him his autonomy because his request was not related to his medical condition, which was in my ambit. .
3. Examine how personal beliefs and values influenced your response to the scenario.
I feel that although my first obligation is to Mr. Newcomb’s health wellbeing, I also regard marriage highly. However, I realize that the patients’ health wellbeing is intertwined with that of his family, especially his wife. In this regard, the need to safeguard the wellness of Mr. Newcomb’s marriage and protect his wife from additional suffering outweighed the option of granting Mr. Newcomb his wishes to see his mistress.
4. Describe three strategies to promote self-care.
Self-care can be promoted through strategies like patient training, access to information, and support networks. Patient training empowers patient with self-care techniques such that the patients can care for themselves when the caregiver is absent. Enhancing the patients’ access to information equips them with the knowledge needed for self-care. Patients require sufficient relevant information that convinces them about the importance of self-care and how to implement it. In addition, support networks are critical for the overall wellbeing of patients because they promote a sense of belonging and eliminate loneliness and the associated mental stresses. The support network encourages the patient to adopt and utilized the self-care skills gained from the nurse.
Task 3
B. Define and briefly describe each of the following sections by drawing on your clinical experiences.
• Quality and Safety
Quality in healthcare is related to providing the highest level of health services to yield the best possible outcomes. Although quality is relative based on ones experiences, high quality care should be effective, timely, accessible, and cost-effective. Nurses need to be intentional in deciding to provide the highest quality of care to those that need it the most. In the same vein, safety in a healthcare setting is the prevention of adverse effects on patients emanating from intentional and unintentional activities and actions. Patient safety is critical in a clinical setting because healthcare facilities are believed to the stalwarts of security in health-related matters.
• Evidence-Based Practice
This is nursing practice that is based on the evidence drawn from studies by nursing professionals. Such studies investigate the viability of various aspects for nursing practice and yield valuable evidence supporting or negating their adoption by unearthing the advantages and limitations. When I am armed with all that evidence, I can make an informed decision based on verifiable and reliable information obtained from research evidence.
• Applied Leadership
Applied leadership is the purposeful application of leadership skills to yield intended outcomes. In nursing practice, nurses consciously select the leadership styles and skills to apply to deliver the best care to patients and promote teamwork. The selected approaches in applied leadership should have elements of critical thinking, effective communication, specific goals and objectives, sustained effort, and measurable outcomes.
• Community and Population Health
Communities are groups of people living in the same location and sharing a common identity and several social resources. Population health is the collective health outcomes of a community, which are characteristic of that community. Therefore, communities and population health are closely linked. However, population health is best promoted when the health challenges facing the most vulnerable members in the community are addressed.
References
ANA (n.d.). About ANA. Retrieved from https://www.nursingworld.org/ana/about-ana/
Cardoso, S. B., Oliveira, I. C. D. S., Souza, T. V. D., & Carmo, S. A. D. (2021). Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: reflection in the light of Florence Nightingale’s Environmental Theory. Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem, 74, 1-5.
Curry, D. M. (2020). Nightingale 2020: A Contemporary Reflection. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 53, 91-92.
Kooienga, S., & Wilkinson, J. (2017). RN prescribing: an expanded role for nursing. In Nursing forum (Vol. 52, No. 1, pp. 3-11).
Maryville University (2022). Famous nurse: Clara Barton. Retrieved 20 march 2022 from https://online.maryville.edu/online-doctorate-degrees/doctor-nursing-practice/clara-barton/
Sher, A. N. A., & Akhtar, A. (2018). Clinical application of nightingale’s theory. Journal of Clinical Research & Bioethics, 9(4), 1-3.