THE FUTURE OF NURSING

THE FUTURE OF NURSING

Running head: THE FUTURE OF NURSING 1

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Abstract

The US is on the verge of transforming its healthcare system to meet the contemporary realities. The country provides seamlessly affordable and quality care which is accessible to the public and more patients centered. The nursing practice recommended is one that understands the patient challenge and seeks to offer better interventions that meet the patient outcome. Furthermore, the article delves into contemporary challenges which nurses experience in the place of work such as burnout, lateral violence as well as the need for education to be able to understand the changes in the profession. The paper tackles the issues of the roles and responsibilities of professional nurses in healthcare delivery by examining the huge influence the nurse has on the patient’s outcome. Further, the paper acknowledges the need for the nurses to continue with their education in line with ION recommendation due to the shift in the demographics.

The Future of Nursing

Healthcare delivery to the population is experiencing radical changes across the world due to the changes experienced in the fields of human health. Strange diseases are discovered everyday which affects human lives, therefore calling for extensive research into the field to improve the lives of humans (Grossman & Valiga, 2016). The US, for example, is transforming its health sector with an intention to offer high-quality, affordable healthcare to her citizen, a concept that professionals have established to require a series of remodelling both from the patient, government, and the healthcare providers. Precisely, the nurses need to be engaged actively at a professional level to develop measures that will establish future developments within the sector to match the demand and supply of nurses towards the realization of change through effective leadership (Masters, 2018). The paper explores the future of nursing in relation to the health changes and the role of nurses in meeting the patient needs.

Nursing Influence on patients outcomes

Nurses are at the center of caregiving. However, there is a world shortage of nursing which has impacted on the level of services in most health facilities. Hospitals with supportive nursing environment have registered improved service deliveries and remarkable patient response to health. In the US, studies have attributed reduced death rates in the hospital to experience and reliable medical interventions towards infections which contributed to major hospital deaths (Bleich, 2011). Before, it was established that the hospital environment consists of many invasive actions which increase the chances of getting infected. These are issues such as administering medications which need close vigilance by an experienced nurse. Also, the contact and lack of proper seclusion practices which brings patients with varied conditions including contact and airborne condition s together leads to infecting other patients. However, with increased knowledge of caregiving and limiting the medical errors, nurses have reduced a greater deal the available preventable deaths.

Roles and Responsibility of Registered Nurses

The contemporary transformative changes in the healthcare partly affect the roles and responsibility of the registered nurses. It is due to their position in the transformation, the respect they have earned as well as their education level. A professional nurse today is charged with a number of responsibilities which includes; first, they are holistic caregivers, where they address the patient’s cultural, mental, and spiritual needs. The ever-increasing diversity in the patient population requires that the nurse be conscious of the culture of the patient and be sensitive to their feelings including their religious beliefs (Bleich, 2011). Secondly, they are communicators who should effectively perform recommended treatment procedures hence manage the patients care as well as enhance cohesion and coordination in the care system to achieve positive patient outcomes. Thirdly, a nurse is an instructor. It implies that with the advent of technology, they need to instruct patients in Medicare apps which can enhance traditional care and use the apps to monitor their blood pressure, glucose level and other helpful information (Susskind & Susskind, 2015). Finally, they are specialists, hence address complications related to diabetes, dementia, kidney, lungs, and heart. They rely on research to deliver these care plans for effective outcomes.

Adapting to health changes and meeting patients’ needs

In contemporary society, nurses are increasingly preoccupied with efforts to improve the patient’s experience, lowering costs, and minimizing professional errors. Besides, they also diversify into new fields such as health coaching about healthy living, giving patients life tips (Bleich, 2011). The health changes come in the areas such as genetics, genomics, informatics, as well as telehealth. Many nursing schools are embracing the 2010 report on the future of nursing regarding leading change through advance health practice. Nurses have opted for research and sought to go back to school since these areas require specialised skills (Jeffreys, 2015). They carry extensive research to ensure they are up-to-date with the evolving changes to meet the patient needs.

Nurses Burnout

The ever emerging number of patients visiting a health facility, American nurses is stressed out, with the burnout epidemic sweeping the country. Many nurses have in the past registered nurses’ exhaustion, also known as burnout, which is the feeling of anxiety, sicken and fatigue. The burnout has an influence how they do their job because is inadequate standards of patient care, as they are likely to make many mistakes (Sarmiento, Laschinger, Iwasiw, 2014). Also, in the coming years, if the issues are not resolved, it might lead to consequences such as low competencies and many nurses leaving the profession. The government needs to address the plight of nurses or they risk shortage in the future.

Lateral Violence

Lateral violence in nursing is the overtly or covertly directing dissatisfaction towards each other or towards those that are less powerful. The rising discord of power imbalance between physicians and nurses has made nurses feel less valued in the hierarchical hospital system. This feeling of powerlessness and fear projects itself to self and colleagues. Workplace cohesion is necessary for the maximum concentration (Chu & Evans, 2016). Utilizing research-based evidence collected about nurse-to-nurse violence is necessary to help curb the rising dissatisfactions in the work environment and focus on transforming the organization climate to achieve patient outcomes.

The violence should be met with appropriate remedies and interventions by treating family the oppressed groups, training on internalizing feelings such as rage and anger towards colleagues as well as learning to display the disaffections through other channels instead of jealousy, gossip, or blame games which only derails the work output in a field that require so much concentration (Chu & Evans, 2016). Lateral violence maybe manifested verbally or non-verbally through withholding inflammation necessary for treatment, sabotage, fighting, and backstabbing. All these are not healthy in an organization (Chu & Evans, 2016). Though there are limited studies on the same, the future of nursing relies on a free healthcare facility which cultivates mutual respect, dignity and cooperation to yield maximum output in service delivery for positive patient outcomes.

Further education

The future of nursing profession solely rests on adv anced education for the professional nurse. The health challenges facing the nation are shifting, and it is expected that by 2020, the population will have 20% of those with 65-years of age. It means nurses with advanced education are retiring living slots which must be filled (Young, Shillam, & Reinhard, 2014). Moreover, the shift in the nation’s demographics calls for a shift in respective Medicare needs. It also implies that the kind of training previously received is inadequate to address the contemporary challenges in the field, which calls for improving one’s education for better patient action and response (Young, Shillam, & Reinhard, 2014). IOM also recommends that nurses achieve education in the new ways that better prepare them for contemporary challenges

References

Bleich, M. R. (2011). IOM report, the future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health: Milestones and challenges in expanding nursing science. Research in Nursing & Health, 34(3), 169-170. doi:10.1002/nur.20433

Chu, R. Z., & Evans, M. M. (2016). Lateral violence in nursing. MedSurg Nursing, 25(6), S4-S4.

Grossman, S., & Valiga, T. M. (2016). The new leadership challenge: Creating the future of nursing. FA Davis.

Jeffreys, M. R. (2015). Teaching cultural competence in nursing and health care: Inquiry, action, and innovation. Springer Publishing Company.

Masters, K. (2018). Role Development Professional Nursing Practice. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Sarmiento, T. P., Laschinger, H. K. S., & Iwasiw, C. (2014). Nurse educators’ workplace empowerment, burnout, and job satisfaction: testing Kanter’s theory. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 46(2), 134-143.

Susskind, R. E., & Susskind, D. (2015). The future of the professions: How technology will transform the work of human experts. Oxford University Press, USA.