Abstract
The profession of nurses forms one of the united professions in the world because nurses globally speak the same voice. Professionals in this career require more commitment than usual because they deal with saving lives of human beings. The following paper uses three approaches in an effort to understand the profession of nursing.
Vision for nurses in the future: To assist people they serve and those they do not serve in order to take the health care sector to the next level through quality health care practices. In addition, the nurses’ profession aims at improving the quality of care and well-being of people through advanced practices such as the use of technology.
Who is a nursing profession? The analysis provides an in-depth explanation of qualities of the nursing profession. Qualities such as competence, confidence, conscience, commitment, and commitment define a professional nurse.
Impact of evidence-based research in the future of nurses: Evidence-based research has a great impact on the future of the profession of nursing. Evidence-based studies contribute to the advancement of the health care sector and production of more competent nurses equipped with adequate knowledge on dealing with future nursing issues.
Introduction
Defining the word profession helps in understanding the meaning of professionalism in any career field. A person who undergoes a prolonged training and proper qualification in order to achieve a specific qualification of a chosen career and receives payment for services rendered is termed as a profession. Professionals must display skillful and competent behavior that aligns with the profession an individual undertakes. Nursing forms one of the most complex and demanding professions in the world today. The profession embodies many inherent values, with a belief in human dignity, responsibility, honesty, equality for all, and desire to offer quality health care as some of the core values (Gokenbach, 2013). The following discussion analyzes the nursing profession in terms of the vision for nurses in the future, description of a professional nurse, and the role of evidence-based research in shaping the future of nursing professionals.
Becoming a nursing professional
Vision for nurses in the future
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) united all nurses from different places globally making them speak the same voice. ICN plays a significant part in setting objective, mission and vision for the future of the nursing profession. The profession of nursing believes that their services assist people they serve, and those they do not serve because prevention, care, and social justice are the right to every human being. Every nurse has a role of shaping the health care policy and promoting health care progress in all parts of the world where a person performs duties. The experience gained in class and outside, the economic contributions, and the alignment of nursing duties to professional efforts contribute to the future success of the profession of nursing. The biggest mission of nursing professionals is to lead the society towards quality health and individual well-being. In collaboration with ICN, the nurses harness knowledge of the entire nursing profession and promote healthy workplaces, healthy lifestyles, and healthy communities (International Council of Nurses (ICN), 2013).
The nursing profession has a bright future, and the role of nurses in introducing policies that promote the quality of health and well-being of people in the society is pivotal to health care management. Nurses aim at leading in improving health care values, safety, and quality until all regions across the world acquire the expected level of care. The advancement in technology acts as a cornerstone for promoting development in the profession of nursing. The industry is in the forefront in incorporating advanced technology into healthcare while ensuring presence human intervention. According to ICN, science and technology forms the best tool for meeting the emotional and spiritual needs of the society through advanced ethical caring processes. Future nurses should use health care technology and therapies as their normal workmates in promoting quicker healing and ensuring accuracy in the provision of health care services (International Council of Nurses, 2013).
The vision for the future of the nursing profession also aims at producing competent nursing students who have achieved higher levels of learning in nursing education in all parts of the world. Institution offering nursing courses have changed into providing scientifically and liberally based education, culturally sensitive, flexible, and based on core values of the profession of nursing. Future nurses should have more expertise in broad techniques of health care provision, and understand policies that utilize and integrate nursing in a more disciplined manner. Presently, many people complain of the quality of care offered by professional nurses because they lack the basic skilled necessary for dealing with different classes of people. The past education programs for nurses only prepared them for health care practices and ignored other important aspects such as interpersonal relations, ethics, and values. The current education system equips nurses with skills at the point of entry for health care. The skills gained in class enables future profession nurses care for patients and guide them accordingly until they achieve a healthy status.
Who is a professional nurse?
Traditionally, people viewed the profession of nursing as a vocation practice that offered divine services to the sick, and has some roots in religious beliefs. The concept has changed today because the profession of nursing requires a person to attain a specific level of competence and pass many tests in order to offer health care services. A professional nurse must have the competence, caring and trustworthy virtues in order to keep the appealing image. The five core values of a professional nurse include compassion, confidence, competence, commitment, and conscience. All these values define a professional nurse and absence of any value questions the capability of a nurse to offer professional care (Hall and Ritchie, 2013).
Moreover, a profession nurse must be registered with the relevant nursing bodies and should follow the rules and regulations guiding the practice of nursing. In addition, a professional nurse must be capable of winning trust from patients in offering quality services and improving their well-being. As professionals in the health care, nurses should devote efforts into inspiring confidence in their patients, and other people in the society by providing them with professional care. Patients trust nurses who respect their dignity and acts at the best of patient’s interests (Hall and Ritchie, 2013).
According to the National Council of State Boards for nursing (2011), a professional nurse is a person who maintains professional boundaries between the career’s power and patient’s vulnerability. The professional position of a nurse gives them powers to access private patient information concerning the need for care. A professional nurse must establish boundaries and control their powers in order to keep the patient’s information safe and sound. Professional nurses have skills and expertise on how to deal with different patients and save them from the risks of vulnerabilities, especially when vital information leaks to the outside world.
The role of evidence-based research on the future of the nursing profession
The nursing practice, science and education face a significant impact from evidence-based research. Developing effective, safe, and efficient health care practices call for the incorporation of evidence-based practices in nursing. Evidence-based research contributes to the future of the nursing profession in promoting changes that fall in line with the future vision of nursing. In the past, nursing education was studied as an applied science. Institutions were less concerned about other health care practices that promote quality of health such as patient care after diagnosis, or home-based care plans. The production of new knowledge cannot satisfy the health care needs of people in the present environment calling for the need for evidence-based research. Transforming new knowledge into clinically applicable forms, and whose implementation serves every individual globally impacts the patient outcome. Evidence-based research plays a role in preparing the profession of nursing into the future challenges and equipping them with knowledge on how to solve the foreseen problems in the health care industry (Stevens, 2013).
On the other hand, evidence-based research is relevant to the future in nursing profession and practice because of the following reasons. Firstly, a big gap arises between what professional nurses know today and what they do not know on the future. Evidence-based research helps in investigating future practices in the field of nursing and the findings assist in filling this gap. Secondly, the high rate of globalization and technological advancement calls for an immediate change of the nursing practice from tradition-based to science-based. Changes in people’s lifestyles and the presence of many chronic diseases needs professionally trained nurses who possess science-based knowledge. Evidence-based research findings significantly recommend different areas that need advancement in order to improve the quality of health care. The key future vision of professional nurses is leading the society towards access to quality health care. With evidence-based research, future nurses will achieve their vision and offer effective nursing practices that are more informative, judgmental, and skillful (Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses, 2013).
Conclusion
The nursing profession is a more demanding career that requires total commitment in order for a professional to adhere to the rules and regulations of nursing duties. Nurses have unique vision for the future that aim at improving the quality of care offered to the people through producing competent, commitment, confidence, compassion and conscience professional nurses in all regions across the world. The discussion defined a nursing profession as an individual who offers medical services to the people in need and possesses the practical nursing knowledge. The discussion also shows that evidence-based research help in shaping the future of the profession of nursing through recommending areas that require more attention.
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