Evolution of Nursing Practice

Education

How has nursing evolved since you graduated from your original nursing program? Is nursing today what you expected when you enter nursing education?

• Your initial post should be at least 500 words, formatted and cited in current APA style with support from at least 3 academic sources

 

Answer

1. Changes in Nursing Education

Educational preparation for nursing began as apprenticeships with religious orders and was the original method of educating nurses in the United States. The Nightingale plan was created and had a profound effect on nursing education, by making it more scientifically based, and thus increasing the quality of care provided to patients. This influence is the basis for developing the first educational standard for nursing, which later influenced nursing education today. With the influence of the Nightingale schools of the 1800s and the Farrand Training School in 1893, using the example of the education of other healthcare professions as a high quality of scientifically based education, nursing experts asked the question “Is nursing practice based on external mandate or on the integration of research findings into practice?” This led to the statement of support for the BS as the minimal preparation for professional RNs and thus creating an effort to move all education to higher learning institutions. Today, the recommended entry level into nursing is a Bachelors prepared nurse. This is because research, evidence-based practice, and nursing are taken more seriously. This standard reflects the findings of integrating research findings into practice and serving as evidence that the more education a professional has, the more likely they are to use research in practice. This education standard in the long run will produce safer, more competent, and efficient care across all healthcare disciplines.

The essay describes the changes in nursing practice across the centuries, as well as the evolution of nursing education. It also discusses how these changes affect the delivery of care. The applied experience and accountability to provide safe, high-quality care, just as changes affect nursing education today. Change has been on the forefront of professional nursing, and this is evident in the increasing requirements for nursing education today. This section will discuss the changes that have been made in nursing education, the related effects of these changes, and how they contribute to the improved delivery of healthcare provided by professional nurses.

1.1. Incorporation of Technology in Nursing Education

Distance education is another area where information technology can vastly improve nursing education. Today’s nurses are always on the move and have demanding work schedules. Coordinating education around these schedules can be very difficult. Also, skill and advanced practice education above the level of RN is often situated in areas with few teachers and at widely dispersed locations. Traditional educational methods might require these students to take time off work and lose salary to travel and be at one location for the duration of the course. This is often not feasible for working nurses. A highly feasible alternative is to have the course brought to the students at their homes or at an interactive agency site. This can be done with a blended distance learning approach utilizing internet courseware and relatively short on-site sessions with available experts. Entire courses, or components of courses can be delivered over the internet. Clinical skills can be taught using web-based tutorials and simulation. Information technology can bring education to the students at a time and place that is convenient for them and can provide consistency and quality of education. This is of utmost importance in lowering future nursing error rates.

The use of technology has transformed teaching across the globe. Technology-based teaching at all levels of education is widely accepted as enhancing students’ learning. The use of multimedia has been shown to increase students’ learning. This has helped move United States nursing education from the apprentice and trainee models to a much more professional level of nursing education. Before multimedia technology-based teaching can be effectively used, nursing faculty must be trained, especially in the utilization of information technology. Faculty development is essential in enhancing the integration of information technology into the teaching and learning process. In the past, nurse faculty have historically been slower than the general population in its adoption and utilization of information technologies. This is largely related to the fact that older adults are slower to change and that the average age of a Masters or Doctorate prepared nursing faculty member in the United States is 53 years. Educational offerings aimed at enhancing faculty knowledge and skills in the area of information technology are essential steps. These offerings can be in the form of workshops, graduate level courses, or one-on-one training.

1.2. Emphasis on Evidence-Based Practice

The development of evidence-based practice has also influenced nursing education and has become a phenomenon in nursing education. Evidence-based practice involves making clinical decisions in terms of knowledge gathered from research, and it is considered a problem-solving approach to clinical practice. It is the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of theory-derived, research-based information in making decisions about care delivery to individuals or groups of individuals, and it considers the best available evidence. Nurses are knowledge workers, and their work is informed by many theories from nursing and other disciplines. In recent years, there has been an explosion of nursing and healthcare research. For students to be competent and employable, they must be research literate and be able to base their practice on sound research findings. All pre-registration nursing students need to be research competent, and this competency requirement is usually specified by the national nursing registration body of that country. This means being able to find relevant research, critically appraise it, understand its strengths and weaknesses, understand its relevance to their practice, and finally putting this knowledge into clinical practice. This research competency requirement is a tall order for nursing students. Most nurses or health professionals, for that matter, either don’t engage in research or don’t understand it, and as a result, the academic credibility of these health professionals has been criticized. To meet the research competency requirement, nursing curricula have been reshaped to include research modules and to integrate evidence-based practice throughout the entire course. This will help ensure that nursing graduates will maintain an evidence-based approach to practice throughout their career.

1.3. Increased Focus on Interprofessional Collaboration

This work at the VA has created great opportunity for nursing and other health professions to collaborate, taking advantage of our shared experiences to improve education and ultimately the quality of care for our patients. This effort was most recently realized when nursing was a participant in a 3-year RWJ funded grant for teaching quality and safety in health professions education. This grant provided funding for curriculum development with teams of health professions faculty and implementation of quality and safety competencies in nursing and health professions education.

An excellent example for nursing education is the integration of team training using simulation from other health professions (e.g. medicine, pharmacy, public health, physical/occupational therapy, social work) from the Veterans Administration (VA) Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) funded Interprofessional Initiative. Phase I of this initiative conducted focus groups with team members to identify key elements of effective team collaboration, then using this information to compare it to existing nursing and health professions education. The initiative found that key competencies in team training were similar across all health professions and therefore would have universal application for all health professions training.

In order to work effectively in today’s healthcare environment, nursing education must teach nurses to work in interdisciplinary teams. “Working together” across professions and improving collaboration and team skills are the new mantra in healthcare and an ever-increasing agenda item in the field of nursing and in health professions education. As a result, it is important for today’s nursing student to understand the roles and responsibilities of all the professionals and how their work together affects the quality of care.

2. Advancements in Nursing Specializations

2.1. Introduction of Advanced Practice Nursing Roles

2.2. Expansion of Specialized Nursing Fields

2.3. Integration of Holistic Care Approaches

3. Impact of Technological Advances on Nursing Practice

3.1. Utilization of Electronic Health Records

3.2. Implementation of Telehealth and Telemedicine

3.3. Adoption of Point-of-Care Technology

3.4. Integration of Robotics and Automation in Healthcare

4. Nursing Practice in a Changing Healthcare Landscape

4.1. Shift towards Patient-Centered Care

4.2. Emphasis on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

4.3. Addressing Health Disparities and Social Determinants of Health

5. Ethical and Legal Considerations in Modern Nursing

5.1. Ethical Dilemmas in Healthcare Decision-Making

5.2. Legal Frameworks Guiding Nursing Practice

5.3. Patient Advocacy and Informed Consent

6. Challenges and Opportunities in Contemporary Nursing

6.1. Nursing Workforce Shortages and Staffing Issues

6.2. Integration of Advanced Technologies in Nursing Practice

6.3. Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in the Nursing Profession

6.4. Continuous Professional Development and Lifelong Learning