Nursing is a profession in which the professional need to assure patient’s holistic well being by exploring nursing skills, effective communication and empathy towards the patient. Nursing professionals are liable for patient’s satisfaction, while providing a quality care service to the patients as well as patient’s family. Thus, nurses must develop essential skills and competencies for ensuring the quality of care service they are providing to the patients. Nurses should ensure that their activities are aligning with the national and international standards of nursing (Jeffreys, 2015). In this essay, the key focus is upon the nursing professional standards, based on which the therapeutic value of nursing care is determined.
Based on the key requirements for the nursing professionals, some key indicators have been identified, which determines the skills and competencies a nursing professional should have, in order to deliver adequate care to the patient. In Australia, the board of nursing, i.e. ‘Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia’ has set standards, addressing these key indicators of professionalism. Nurses need to meet all of these standards in order to ensure their key competencies in nursing (Adam, Osborne & Welch, 2017).
The indicators of professionalism in nursing are such parameters, which indicates how much a nursing staff is efficient or capable of undertaking their sole responsibility for the health care service users. These indicators include:
Communication- Communication skill is a key indicator of professionalism for nursing staff, as effective communication is crucial for nurse in order to express and delivers adequate nursing care to the patient, while promoting patient’s satisfaction. In addition, communication skills are also important for professional communication with physicians and other colleagues (Riley, 2015).
Therapeutic relationship- A nurse should be able to develop a positive relationship with the patient, in order to ensure highest satisfaction of the patient as well as the adherence of the patient with the therapeutic approach. Nowadays, the person-centred approach of treatment is common, the basis of which the therapeutic relationship, thus it is a significant indicator of nurse’s professionalism.
Empathy- While working with different kinds of patients, nurses need to understand patient’s current needs and communicate these with the care team, in order to develop the positive care environment, where the maximum health benefits as well as satisfaction of the patient would be ensured. In order to do this, nurse must show empathy towards the patient and family (Douglas et al., 2014). Showing empathy help patients to believe that their concerns, needs and opinions are being valid in the care framework, which enhances the level of satisfaction of the patients.
Critical thinking- While dealing with different types of patients, nurses need to address their unique health issues through medical and manual assessment, based on which they need to develop care plan for each patient, with the help of other members in the multidisciplinary team. In several cases, nurses have to deal with complex patient, where they need to undertake emergency action, where critical thinking is must. Nurses may need thorough training for developing critical thinking and problem solving skills (Kitson et al., 2013).
Team work and delegation- Health care is a domain, where health care staffs do not work alone, rather always work as a team, where every team members are liable to meet the goals of their own responsibility. In a care team, patient and his family member also take part as crucial member, where nurse also play the role of an active member by sharing information and opinion for the best health outcomes for the patient. The registered nurses also have the responsibility to delegate work according to the expertise of her fellow staff (Weber & Farrell, 2016).
Evaluation skill- The evaluation skills are also significant indicators of nurse’s professionalism, as nurses need to evaluate their own performance, other care team member’s performance as well as the patient’s outcomes. In addition, while planning care practices for the patients, they need to evaluate the applicability of the particular intervention in the context of the pre-existing evidences supporting the interventions implemented for the patient (Hessels et al., 2015).
In the context of professionalism for nursing staffs, it is important to develop the standards aligning with the professional scope of practice in the nursing field. The professional scope of nursing practice includes the full spectrum of roles, responsibilities, functions, activities which they nursing staffs are competent and authorised to perform. The nursing standards are developed based on the scope of practice, available in the health care context. In the nursing field, the scope of practice include registered nurse, enrolled nurse, nurse practitioner, assistant nurse, midwives, aboriginal health care nurse etc. All of these practice area consist some common as well as some unique professional attributes, based on which their professional standards and professional boundaries have been set. Here, in the next section, three nursing standards from nursing general practice area would be demonstrated (Arnold & Boggs, 2015).
As regulated health professionals, nurses are responsible and accountable to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA). Addressing the NMBA standards, professional and ethical codes and guidelines, the nursing standards are developed in such a way that the standards are evident in current practice as well as inform the development of scopes of practice in the nursing context (Tobiano et al., 2015). Nurses are responsible for autonomous practice within dynamic systems, and in relationships with other health care professionals. There are seven key nursing standards set by NMBA, which nurses registered nurses need to align with their practice successfully.
According to standard 1, “nurses should think critically and analyses nursing practice”. In the previous section, it has been demonstrated that critical thinking skill is the key indicator of professionalism in nursing profession. Therefore, nurses need to develop critical thinking and analysis skills, in order to become competent in their profession. Being a critical thinker, a nurse is able to deal with complex patient’s cases with efficiency, thereby enhancing the success rate, while maximizing the patient’s positive health outcomes. Nurses need to undergo a thorough research regarding the previous evidences, prior implementing a particular health intervention (Ross, Barr & Stevens, 2013). They need to maintain accurate, comprehensive and timely documentation of assessments, planning, decision-making and every action they are undergoing. The analysis and critical thinking skills help to reduce adverse effects in practice, improve their knowledge skills, patient’s satisfaction. Therefore, ultimately meeting this standard, the nurses become able to improve the quality of overall nursing service.
According to standard 2, “nurses should engage in therapeutic and professional relationships”. As discussed above, therapeutic relationship as well as professional relationship building is crucial for nursing practice. It is because; relationship building includes collegial generosity in the context of mutual trust and respect in professional relationships. Nurses need to show respect, dignity and empathy towards people with whom they work, including patients as well as other professionals. As depicted before, nursing profession is performed through collaborative work. Nurses work with multidisciplinary care team, where other professionals also play significant role in patient’s care service. Thus, the nurse should work in collaborative manner, to ensure that every member’s opinions are valued, including the patient and patient’s family (Nursing & Council, 2012). For this, nurses need to use proper supervision, delegation, consultation coordination and referrals in professional relationships to achieve improved health outcomes. However, establishing therapeutic relationship with the patient needs effective communication, positive interaction and empathy towards the patient; all of which help to enhance patients’ trust towards the therapeutic activities, thereby ensuring the improved therapeutic value. On the other hand, while working collaboratively with other professionals, nurses become able to provide support and guide fellows to resources in order to optimise health-related decisions. The standard also helps nursing staffs to engage themselves with the ethical legal framework with nursing (Ross, Barr & Stevens, 2013).
Standard 7 demonstrates that “nurses should evaluate outcomes to inform nursing practice”. In the previous section, it has been demonstrated that evaluation skill is a key indicator of nursing professionalism. It is because, nurses are responsible for evaluating their practice on the basis of patient’s assessment, health priority, current needs of the patients, goals developed for patient’s care plan, expected outcomes as well as adherence of the patients with the care framework (Ralph, Birks & Chapman, 2015). Continuous monitoring and evaluation of patient’s vital signs and health status help to eliminate the chance of medical error and ensure the best quality of nursing care. Continuous self evaluation help nursing staffs to improve the professional capabilities, critical thinking skills as well as problem solving approach. It helps to identify limitations of plan and revise it accordingly, thereby ensuring high therapeutic value of their practice.
In conclusion, it can be said that nurses are responsible to meet the goals of their own roles and responsibilities. Nursing staffs are responsible for aligning physician’s recommendation with her own nursing knowledge, to put the best health care practice in the patient’s health care plan, thereby ensuring the best health outcomes of the patients. In this essay, the key indicators and professional standards of nursing have been demonstrated, in order to evaluate how these standards are increasing the therapeutic value of nursing.
References
Adam, S., Osborne, S., & Welch, J. (Eds.). (2017). Critical care nursing: science and practice. Oxford University Press.
Arnold, E. C., & Boggs, K. U. (2015). Interpersonal Relationships-E-Book: Professional Communication Skills for Nurses. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Douglas, M. K., Rosenkoetter, M., Pacquiao, D. F., Callister, L. C., Hattar-Pollara, M., Lauderdale, J., … & Purnell, L. (2014). Guidelines for implementing culturally competent nursing care. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 25(2), 109-121.
Hessels, A. J., Flynn, L., Cimiotti, J. P., Cadmus, E., & Gershon, R. R. (2015). The impact of the nursing practice environment on missed nursing care. Clinical nursing studies, 3(4), 60.
Jeffreys, M. R. (2015). Teaching cultural competence in nursing and health care: Inquiry, action, and innovation. Springer Publishing Company.
Kitson, A., Marshall, A., Bassett, K., & Zeitz, K. (2013). What are the core elements of patient?centred care? A narrative review and synthesis of the literature from health policy, medicine and nursing. Journal of advanced nursing, 69(1), 4-15.
Nursing, A., & Council, M. A. (2012). National guidelines for the accreditation of nursing and midwifery programs leading to registration and endorsement in Australia.
Ralph, N., Birks, M., & Chapman, Y. (2015). The accreditation of nursing education in Australia. Collegian, 22(1), 3-7.
Riley, J. B. (2015). Communication in nursing. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Ross, K., Barr, J., & Stevens, J. (2013). Mandatory continuing professional development requirements: what does this mean for Australian nurses. BMC nursing, 12(1), 9.
Tobiano, G., Marshall, A., Bucknall, T., & Chaboyer, W. (2015). Patient participation in nursing care on medical wards: an integrative review. International journal of nursing studies, 52(6), 1107-1120.
Weber, K., & Farrell, T. (2016). Developing Therapeutic Communication Skills: Integration of Standardized Client Simulation in an Associate Degree Nursing Program.
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