Recent changes and impact on roles and responsibilities of RN

Running head: NURSING PROFESSION
Nursing Profession
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1NURSING PROFESSION
Recent changes and their impact on the roles and responsibilities of RN
The nursing profession is changing in response to transforming health care domains and
increasing demands of the patients’ healthcare requirements. Over the years, the health care has
transformed to provide patient-centered quality care; this is accompanied with evolution of the
nursing professionals. The nurses now handle more number of patients at a time; therefore they
have a greater responsibility in caring and managing more patients simultaneously.
Technological advancements and their inputs inn health care domains have helped in reshaping
and restructuring the nursing roles in health care (Biernacki et al. 2015). Handling advanced
technological instruments and analyzing the digitalized data requires strong knowledge; this is
possible through educational learning and training. The nursing education has become more
intense and comprehensive. With changing healthcare, the registered nursing roles and
responsibilities are varying and evolving (Biernacki et al. 2015). Registered nurses are integral to
health care in providing patient-centered quality care; their roles go beyond only care provision.
Registered nurses promote patient wellness through care and educating them and their families
about disease, diagnosis, faster recovery and prevention of diseases. Health care transformations
have impacted the nursing profession in that, the registered nurses create a healthful working
environment and apply their nursing practice to speed up the nursing innovations and yield
quality patient care (Salmond and Echevarria 2017). Roles of registered nurses are now
extending beyond primary care; they are providing community health services to promote
community wellness. Registered nurses are now intervening patient diagnosis through
intervention models; they help patients in setting goals of recovery and achieving those goals
through evidence based nursing practice (Salmond and Echevarria 2017). Registered nurses work
through innovative designing of screening programs and enable patients to understand the risk

2NURSING PROFESSION
factors and help them manage the disease prevention. Transforming health care opens new
practice areas for registered nurses; they act vas care coordinators and help patients to navigate
through multiple health care providers (Biernacki et al. 2015). Registered nurses work in a
multidisciplinary health team; they are focused on hospital care provision and even extend their
care for home-based care provision and also for discharged patient care.
Role of nursing and midwifery council as a professional body for nurses
The Nursing and Midwifery Council is defined as the regulatory council which maintains
a list of nurses, midwives and community health nurses who are eligible for nursing practice
within the UK region. The regulatory council sets and provides a review of nursing standards of
practice, education, nursing training and conduct. The council has a role in investigating to check
where the nursing standards are not met. The regulatory council ensures that the nursing
professionals work in compliance with the nursing legislations within nursing standards of
practice (Garside and Nhemachena 2013). This regulatory council keeps a check that the nursing
officials have their professional and educational skills up to date to provide quality patient
centered care. The nursing regulatory council allows for setting nursing standards and help to
shape and design the nursing programs; it facilitates the meeting of requirements for every nurse
so as to develop them capable of taking up registered nursing roles. This council approves the
nursing programs to be conducted by various nursing institutions and provides approval of those
nursing students to practice as registered nurses and midwives in health care institutions
(Mitchell 2013). It lays out a nursing code of conduct which suggests that performance as a
nursing professional involves maintaining nursing standards of practice and commitment to these
standards are central to nursing profession. The Nursing and Midwifery council lays out
regulatory legislations that are aimed to provide support and integrity to the nurses who are