Abstract
Owing to the dynamic nature of the healthcare environment, investment in learning in the nursing practice is an imperative. For this reason, a master’s education in nursing allows practitioners have an expanded view in regards to the diverse needs of patients. The Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing provides a snippet view of the program’s framework, one that advances and encourages imaginative and transformative thinking in regards to addressing healthcare concerns affecting the profession. A master’s education program equips nurses with practical know-how and essential knowledge that is an advancement of the graduate level (American Association of Colleges in Nursing, 2011). Therefore, nurses are exposed to practical situations of which they respond to through proper leadership skills, with the paramount aim of ensuring safe and quality healthcare to every patient. The Essentials guide nurses in understanding their role and equips them with the competencies required to address healthcare challenges and improve healthcare outcomes of every patient.
Introduction
The Essentials of Master’s Education as provided by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) provide the core reference point in all master’s programs in Nursing, regardless of one’s major, focus, or setting. This paper will discuss the essentials at length in order to enhance one’s understanding of their individual role in the practice.
Essential 1: Background for Practice from Sciences and Humanities
The Master’s nursing program builds on the competencies learnt from the baccalaureate nursing program. This allows individuals gain a deeper understanding of the practice and allows them integrate the role played by other related sciences in an effort to improve the design, implementation, and evaluation of nursing care. Therefore, this program allows nurses address the needs of the diverse patient population in the current healthcare environment.
This concept is advances the practice, as nurses are able to complement the knowledge obtained from the baccalaureate level to effectively deal with different patient needs and generally improves health outcomes
Essential 2: Organizational and Systems Leadership
The basic foundation of nursing is premised on the need to provide safe and high quality patient care (Kelly, 2011). For this reason, organizational and systems leadership is imperative to achieve this aim. This concept is complemented by the need to have good leadership skills. This allows nurses develop proper ethical and critical decision-making skills, which are important in the practice.
This aspect is important for every nurse to grasp, as nurses will be required to maintain effective communication and build collaborative relationships with other professionals.
Essential 3: Quality Improvement and Safety
Continuous quality improvement is a concept that is practiced at all levels in healthcare settings. As such, the master’s program allows nurses develop the competency required in proper understanding of methods, performance measures, and tools required to achieve the required standards pertaining to quality and safe healthcare practices.
In this case, it is imperative for nurses to ensure safety and quality standards are enforced to promote patient safety. This means that they should not be subject to risk of accidental injury while at the hospital compared to other settings.
Essential 4: Translating and Integrating Scholarship into Practice
For effective learning educational programs require students to translate what they learn while in class and put it in practice in their respective professions. This concept is especially relevant to nursing, an aspect associated with evidence-based practice. For this reason, the master’s program allows nurses develop an inquisitive attitude in regards to the practice, with an aim of translating theoretical concepts to practice.
The concepts one learns in the classroom should be translated to practice, in order to effectively meet patient needs.
Essential 5: Informatics and Healthcare Technologies
The incorporation of technology in healthcare is motivated by the need to improve patient outcomes by improving the standards and quality of care. This is achieved through proper documentation of patient data, analysis, and management of healthcare education in consideration of evidence-based care. Additionally, the use of healthcare records helps nurses improve care of their patients.
As in the case of other fields, technology has permeated almost every aspect of individuals’ lives, including health. In this case, the integration of technology in healthcare has led to proper management of health records leading to improved patient outcomes.
Essential 6: Health Policy and Advocacy
The healthcare environment is affected by various local or global factors such as political, sociocultural, economic, and technological environments. In light of these forces, nurses are required to be aware of the influence these have on the practice. In this case, master’s degree graduates understand the influence of these forces on the practice, and uphold various causes they deem important in regards to protection of patients’ rights, such as social justice.
Approaches that allow nurses to practice patient advocacy is through policy. This concept is based on evidence linked to economic, cultural, and psychosocial influences on individuals’ health status.
Essential 7: Interprofessional Collaboration for Improving Patient and Population Health Outcomes
The healthcare system has been redesigned to take into consideration collaborative care. This requires health professionals cooperate and ensure effective communication to achieve reliable and continuous care to patients.
This aspect emphasizes interprofessional collaboration in the master’s program and equips nurses pursuing this option the practical knowledge of integrating clinical expertise and research to ensure patient-centered care.
Essential 8: Clinical Prevention and Population Health for Improving Health
On a global scale, healthcare status is one compromised by disparities associated with individuals’ social and economic conditions. This situation is no different in the United States, as these disparities affect individuals from low-income communities and vulnerable populations (Barr, 2014). However, the available prevention measures are under-utilized.
The master’s program equips nurses the essential skills that facilitate the delivery of intervention measures to achieve population health.
Essential 9: Master’s-Level Nursing Practice
Essential 9 is an illustration of the nursing practice following the completion of the master’s level. Since this program is an advancement of the Essentials of Baccalaureate Education in Nursing, nurses who have undertaken the master’s program are equipped with necessary practical skills and knowledge on the nursing profession.
Master’s-level nursing graduates are able to undertake evidence-based practice with the goal of ensuring quality and safe healthcare to individuals with diverse needs.
Conclusion
The master’s level nursing program equips nurses with the requisite skill set required to address the needs of the population in an increasingly diverse society. Therefore, this practical knowledge allows nurses understand theoretical foundations of the practice and implement practical solutions with an aim of ensuring population health as advanced in Healthy People 2020.
References
American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2011). The essentials of master’s education in nursing. Retrieved from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/education-resources/MastersEssentials11.pdf
Barr, D. (2014). Health disparities in the United States: Social class, race, ethnicity, and health. New York: JHU Press.
Kelly, P. (2011). Nursing leadership and management. New York: Cengage Brain Publishers.
