Discussion Question One:
Expansion of knowledge within the nursing practice is not only important but highly fundamental. There are various ways to expand knowledge within the nursing sector. One of these ways is through receiving more education. This paper intends to look at the role that education plays in expanding the knowledge of the nursing workforce as well as the nursing organization that would supportive of the idea of expanding nursing knowledge through education.
First of all, it is important to note that the nursing field is highly diverse and dynamic. This means that over time there changes that arise within the nursing practice. This means that the art of nursing must change as well in order to conform to the changes that happen within the nursing field. For example, the administration of Chemotherapy has advanced over time. This means that the nurses within any oncology unit have been forced to receive more knowledge and education on the chemotherapy process. Any personnel who would not be willing to receive more educational knowledge over to topic would make the nursing knowledge they already possess obsolete in that it would not be of any use to the oncology unit in that it does not keep up with the technological and educational advancements that this field of nursing is experiences. Since changes and advances within the nursing field will continue to be present, it is worthwhile to inference that the expansion of knowledge through more education is something that should never end (Anema, 2010, p.41) Nurses must be willing to keep on adding more education and experience to their practice if they are to remain within the positions of service for a long time.
Second, the expansion of nursing knowledge through more education makes the nursing work force more competent. This is because education helps nurses improve their general working skills as well as their overall work quality. The increasing of the work quality in nursing facilities like oncology units is the main aim of the nursing sector. Patients need to be put in the hands of people who offer quality service. In this way, they can be assured that they are in the right hands. It is not fair, for nurses to rely on the little knowledge they have to make trials and errors on patients. Patients should not be experimental instruments but should be handled by nurses with expertise, knowledge and experience. This can only be made possible, if nurses agree to have a continued expansion of knowledge through receiving more education.
Third, the expansion of knowledge through education creates opportunities for nurses to occupy professional positions as well as increase their earnings. This is because education has been used by many employers as a way to determine the quality of employees for a long-time not only in the United States but in many other places in the world. Employers tend to allocate positions of leadership to employees that are more educated. This means that employers in nursing facilities tend to grant positions that require a lot of responsibilities to nurses that have more education (Clark, 2009, p.37). Therefore, nurses have to continually receive more education if they would like to be competent enough to occupy higher positions of leadership within their job sectors.
Some of the professional nursing organizations that would be supportive of this idea include the American Nursing Association that has been working tirelessly to make sure that nurses receive additional knowledge in the best way possible so that they can keep up with the dynamism in the nursing sector. Other organizations include the Oncology Nursing Society and the Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation whose administrators have been closely in order to improve the quality of work provided by nurses in oncology units.
Discussion Question Two:
I strongly agree with the new Institute of Medicine Report that “nurses need to be more fully utilized in various health care settings, take leadership in health policy, and be more educated.” This is because nursing facilities should create an environment that benefits the nurses in all areas. By fully utilizing the nurses, nursing facilities will be building more knowledge and experts in their workforce. In this way, the nursing institutions can be assured of nurturing experience and professionalism within their workers. On the other hand, allowing nurses to take up positions of leadership especially when it comes to health policy creates motivation within the labour force. Granting positions of leadership serve as an incentive that prompts workers to work harder to the achieve them (Emerson, 2007, p.69). When the labour force is motivated it is expected that the quality of work delivered by the nursing employees will be higher. This works to the advantage of both the nursing institutions and the workforce as a whole.
Allowing nurses to receive more education expands their knowledge in their respective fields as well as preparing them to face the diverse changes that face the nursing sector. In addition, allowing nurses to gain more education creates more opportunities for them to occupy leadership positions in that education is in most times used by employers as a parameter to dictate how qualified a worker is in order to occupy a given leadership position.
References
Anema, M., G. (2010). Competency-based nursing education: guide to achieving
outstanding learner. New York city, New York: Springer Publishing Company.
Clark, C. C. (2009). Creative Nursing Leadership and Management. Sudbury,
Massachusetts: Jones And Bartlett Publishers.
Emerson, R. J. (2007). Nursing education in the clinical setting. St Louis,
Missouri: Elsevier Publishers.
