Nursing is an ever-changing and complex profession. There are things that should not change however; dedication to excellence in nursing. The excellence is achieved through the best practices, ethics and standards. Professional nursing practice hereby involves execution of primary tasks towards the patients. The nurse should be a leader, teacher, collaborator, guide and sentry. For these key roles to be executed efficiently, it requires that nurses have interpersonal and technical skills, ongoing learning, evidence-based practices, and commitment to quality, ethical practice, caring, critical thinking, leadership skills and cultural competence.
Nurses are required to practice in accordance with their professional philosophical underpinnings. This contributes to job satisfaction that eventually contributes in the recruitment and retention of the nursing workforce (Masters, 2012, p.112). In an attempt to create cultures of excellence in this practice, a set of explicit values and expectations in relation to performance are established for which nurses subscribe, and it then influences their behavior in the practice. Hospital settings have missions and visions in place to promote excellence in nursing. In addition, there are professional practices frameworks and theories in place that target to ensure that nurses live up to the expectations (Masters, 2012, p.72).
While nurses have the duties to perform professionally, employers also share in the responsibility in the promotion of environments that would result to support of quality professional nursing. Nurses thus need to exercise control over the deliverance of care for which they bear responsibility. This promotes effectiveness in achieving accountable outcomes.
Nurses are serving leaders. As a result, they recognize that care delivery and caring is the essence for creating a human connection. Such a relationship is therapeutic for patients. The nurse, therefore, has a mandate of changing to families, environments and the patients. The nurse thus continually plans, assesses, implements and evaluates care based on evidence. He or she then makes sound clinical judgment through utilization of critical thinking skills thus providing expert, quality, compassionate and safe care.
Professional Nursing Practice Models
Nursing Practice Regulation
The outcome of an effective professional practice model should be quality, safe and evidence-based nursing practice. Such models require a regulation model. For such a regulation, it should take a pyramid structure. The base of the pyramid involves standards of practice, specialty certification, code of ethics, practice scope as well as the nursing professional scope. This is then followed by the nurse practice act, rules and regulations. On top of this, there should be that institutional procedures and policies. Self-determination falls at the top of the pyramid.
Relationship-Based Care Delivery and the Watson Theory of Caring
Under this, caring is the core value, and the two theories extend beyond caring for the health care, patient, family and workmate triad. There is an additional aspect of caring for the colleagues and self-care. This creates a working environment that is healthy. For this model, therefore, there are three aspects; maintenance of a caring relationship with families and patients, a self-caring relationship and a colleague caring relationship.
For this model to be operational, there should be the commitment towards various elements. The elements include; transformational leadership, teamwork, commitment to professional practice, patient care delivery, resource driven practice, outcomes and quality commitments as well as creation of a caring therapeutic relationship with colleagues, patients and families.
Madeleine Leininger’s Theory of Transcultural Nursing
This theory forms the foundation for the globe that has become very multicultural. There are various ethnic and cultural groups with varying needs in relation to health care. For its implementation, however, it should be congruent with the organization’s values. It is convenient for a diverse employee mix as well as the patient population. The theory unites nursing and anthropology through establishment of nursing which is transcultural in either research, study or practice. In simple terms, transcultural nursing refers to how the concept of culture is interfaced with professional practice.
Group Practice Model
This is a model adopted by different hospitals. It is guided by the organization’s principles and vision. It targets building collaborative relationships that are strong as well as continuity for patient care. These results to appropriate skill mix amongst staff, notable teamwork, transformational leadership, ensuring intellectual discipline in nursing practice as well as establishing excellent relationships between staffs, physicians and the patient or client.
Magnet status for Professional Nursing Practice
Nurses have two key roles to play. One is the provision of care to the ill or prevention of illnesses. The second role is the maintenance and management of their environment for which they deliver care. The second role as in most cases demanded that the nurses coordinate care activities provided by different care providers. The magnet study initiated in 1981 sought to elaborate the factors facilitating or impeding professional nursing practice in various hospitals (Chang & Daly, 2012, p.93). A task force appointed by the American Academy of Nursing conducted it.
Delivery of nursing services has a massive influence on the outcome of patients. Nurses have deep knowledge in relation to internal works of most of the health care institutions. Nursing researchers should strive to develop evidence-based understanding about the profession (Krautscheid, 2014, p.47). The magnet hospital concept explained successful retention and recruitment of nurses when there was a severe shortage thus indicating practice organizational environments supporting excellence in nursing. It thus gives a definitional framework that facilitates professional nursing practice, which has illustrated its effectiveness in attraction of nurses. It also contributes to the optimal outcomes of patients. As a result, therefore, there exists a compelling need for improving methods and measures to research magnetic environments and characteristics. This should be done before the links connecting nurse and patient outcomes to an organizational context can be understood efficiently.
Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing
This is an approach of providing nursing care and making quality decisions with a basis of clinical expertise at personal level and combining all this with the most relevant and current research on the topic at hand. Therefore, there is an implementation of the most up to date provision of care methods. Such methods are proven and have been appraised in high-quality studies that include significant statistical research findings.
Evidence-based nursing seeks to improve safety and health of patients, provide cost-effective care and improve outcomes. It thus improves the outcomes of the patient as well as the healthcare system. This approach is a building block to professional nursing practice as it is a process founded on a collection, interpreting, appraising, validation, clinically signifying and adopted through research that is applicable. In the proper implementation of evidence-based nursing, the preferences of the patient, the nurse’s knowledge and multiple evidence cases have to be utilized to come up with a workable solution. When these skills are taught in professional training and nursing education, there is an improvement on the professionalism in the nursing practice.
Based on the above points, it is possible to conclude that professional nursing practice involves commitment to strong ethical values, caring and compassion. It also integrates continuous development of oneself as well as others. Responsibility and accountability guide the insightful practice. There is also a demonstration of flexibility and collaborative spirits.
References
Chang, E., & Daly, J. (2012). Transitions in Nursing: Preparing For Professional Practice (3rd ed.). Chatswood, N.S.W.: Elsevier Australia.
Krautscheid, L. C. (2014). Defining Professional Nursing Accountability: A Literature Review.Journal of Professional Nursing, 30(1), 43–47. doi:10.1016/j.profnurs.2013.06.008
Masters, K. (2012). Nursing Theories: A Framework for Professional Practice. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
