Nursing: Professional Roles, Values, and Application in Healthcare

This essay examines professional roles and values within the context of healthcare, focusing on quality and safety, evidence-based practice, applied leadership, and community and population health. The author shares personal experiences from clinical rotations, such as calming an agitated dementia patient and implementing glue application during catheterization to reduce failures. The importance of evidence-based practice is highlighted through the application of research data and critical thinking in nursing, referencing the American Nurses Association Standards of Practice. Leadership is explored through interdisciplinary teamwork and mentorship experiences, emphasizing the impact of effective leadership on professional development. The essay concludes by discussing community and population health, illustrating the significance of interventions like educating parents on immunization schedules to improve health outcomes. The author emphasizes the integration of these values and roles for effective and safe nursing practice.

Professional Roles and Values
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Quality and safety:
During my visit round to the psychiatry ward, I experienced a patient with dementia. He
became aggressive and it was disturbing other patients in the ward. I calmed down through
talking to him instead of becoming angry on him. I gave him assurance to him that nurses and
other healthcare providers are for the well-being of the patients and not harm them. It resulted
in calming him and preventing harm to others.
Hands on experience in error prevention and error reporting in clinical rotation helped in
improving quality and safety. Implementation of performance measures proved helpful in
measuring quality and safety. Personal experience exhibited that medical knowledge,
interaction and communication skills, professionalism, practice-based learning and
improvement and system-based practice are important aspects for the provision of nursing
practice with quality and safety (Johnson et al., 2016).
Evidence-based practice:
Nursing practice in the United States follows American Nurses Association Standards of
Practice which is based on utilization of research data and critical thinking. Clinical
experiences exhibited that evidence-based practice is helpful in searching, assessing, applying
and communicating newer knowledge and skills in the clinical rotation. Reference data from
the literature proved useful in monitoring patient charts to solve patient problems, to prepare
for the next clinical round and provide quality care to the patient during clinical rotations in
different clinical departments (Ferwana et al., 2012).
Evidence demonstrated that application of glue during catheterisation is helpful in reducing
failure of catheterisation. I proposed to apply glue during catheterisation. It was made
mandatory to apply glue and it was instructed to all the wards. After that glue was applied for
two months to the patients. It resulted in the significant reduction in the failure of
catheterisation after application of glue.
Applied leadership:
In clinical rotation, nurse need to work in the interdisciplinary team. Personal experience
exhibited that applied leadership proved helpful in communicating in more professional and
effective manner in different clinical rotations. Clinical rotations help in building key
behaviours related to leadership in the nurses which help in strong foundation for effective
nursing practice. It helps in improving knowledge and experiences which are useful in
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delivery of safe and effective nursing practice in different clinical departments (Stanley &
Stanley, 2018).
During my first year of nursing practice, I was highly influenced by mentor and leader. She
was having more than 10 yrs experience. She taught me all the theoretical and practical
aspects of nursing practice. It helped in improving my clinical competence. I am sure, my rise
to professional nursing is mainly due to her effective leadership quality.
Community health and population health:
Community health is based on integrated efforts of individuals for the promotion of health in
geographically or culturally specific population. Population health is an outcome-based
approach directed towards management of health of specific group of people. Intervention to
diverse group of individuals proved effective through provision of community health and
population health. Personal experience exhibited that identification of health and social
indicators proved helpful in improving community and public health. In community and
population health, even though implementation of strategies differs from each other, health
outcomes are similar (Barrett et al., 2016).
During my posting in the paediatric ward, I educated parents about the importance of
scheduled immunization. It helped in significant improvement in the adherence to the
immunization schedule by these parents.
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References:
Barrett, A., Terry, D.R., Lê, Q., & Hoang, H. (2016). Factors influencing community nursing
roles and health service provision in rural areas: a review of literature. Contemporary
Nurse, 52(1), 119-35.
Ferwana, M., Alwan, I. A., Moamary, M. A., Magzoub, M.E., & Tamim, H. M. (2012).
Integration of evidence-based medicine into the clinical years of a medical
curriculum. Journal of Family and Community Medicine, 19(2), 136–140.
Johnson, F. L., Mate, K.S., & Moses, J.M. (2016). Leveraging Trainees to Improve Quality
and Safety at the Point of Care: Three Models for Engagement. Academic Medicine,
91(4):503-9.
Stanley, D., & Stanley, K. (2018). Clinical leadership and nursing explored: A literature
search. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27(9-10), 1730-1743.
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