Nurses and Public Policies

The National League for Nursing (NLN) is dreaming of more complete nurses under their wing. That is why they are also offering programs that deal with issues outside of the nursing field. Issues such as public policies. This is a subject that is unheard of during the earlier days of nursing. It is a topic that finds its discussions only with civil servants and politicians, not with nurses. But NLN is striving to put the subject of public policy to their nurses.

Making a Difference
Inserting public policy as one of the subjects for nursing courses is raising the level of care to their patients. This is all in place since taking care of your patients is one way of initiating change, which is the desired effect why public policies are instituted.

Coming Together
The spirit of camaraderie is also at work with public policies. This is somehow closely related to the work nurses are doing. Sometimes nurses work not just the concern of a single patient, but the concern of an entire community also.

The Power to Change
Taking care of your patient has its own power. Public policies can change not just laws, but lives as well. That is what NLN wanted their nurses to have. If they can connect their calling as a medical practitioner into something nobler like extending their care to their immediate community, then change is possible.

A Democratic Right
NLN acknowledges that it is a democratic right of every individual to have an accessible health care. And their nurses should be at the forefront of this right. Every person should be entitled to a medical attention regardless of his or her station in life.

Highest Paying Nurses

In accordance with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), over 2.5 million nurses are exercising across the country, making nursing the biggest labor force within the health care industry. There are plenty of different types and degrees of nurses; it may be mind-boggling to determine which nursing field to select.

If settlement and tons of employment opportunities are at the very top of your list of selecting factors, this list will let you slim the selections for you. Listed here are the top three nursing fields, according to yearly salary, and industry demand. Since they’re the highest paid, these nursing functions also require the most education and learning and training when compared with some other kinds of nurses. This list includes clinically practicing nurses, and doesn’t include of roles which mainly consist of management or managing obligations.

All listed here are advanced practice nurses, which mean they are highly customized and qualified at a graduate level.

Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) 

Having an average yearly salary of $100,000 or even more, CRNAs have one of the largest salaries on the list of nursing field. In case you are already a licensed registered nurse (RN), you might be allowed to enter a graduate education program to turn into a CRNA.

Nurse Practitioner (NP)

Nurse practitioner, known as “mid-level provider,” offers immediate patient care. Several states require NPs to operate within the supervision of a licensed physician, while other states allow NPs to practice relatively independently. NPs are certified and authorized to do patient exams plus some minor procedures and tests and may fulfill many of the same responsibilities as a physician.

Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS)

A clinical nurse specialist is a superior practice nurse who also aids with customized study, education, advocacy, and quite often management. Clinical Nurse Specialists also hold a Master’s of Science degree in Nursing (MSN) and they’ve finished the extra CNS certification for their particular specialization.

The Characteristics of a Good Nurse

Nurses are respected and highly valued professionals for their services and what they offer to their patients. However, they are not all the same. They are just like us with different characteristics, skills and attitudes. Nursing is really a much greater spiritual calling than basically an occupation. It requires dedication and love for serving people. An excellent nurse lives these values and clearly views themselves as professionals who perform duties for people’s health and welfare.

good nurseAn excellent nurse is compassionate which means they have good sympathy for other people. They have to keep in mind that their patients are not in the hospital because they like it. They’re fearful and vulnerable to losing their own health, possibly their lives, and at the same time, the patient’s family and friends are fearful in losing precious family members. This requires nurses to have a great understanding of whatever situation.

An excellent nurse understands. They must have the readiness to talk about the feelings of others and be open to suggestions and ideas.  The more a nurse understands the patient, the more he or she can provide the right services, treatment and medication to the patient.

Lastly, an excellent nurse is non selfish. They must be willing to offer to the patients the services needed even if it takes much of their time and beyond their limitations. Nurses are often placed into situations where they must work graveyard shifts, on holidays, on emergency situations etc. They ensure that whenever a patient needs their services, they are ready and available.

Nurses are among the most decent profession. They are able to provide quality services while being compensated. More than the earnings, they are satisfied with what they are able to do and provide to the people.

Psychological Nurse Job

BrainNurses can have specific specialties and expertise depending on the field that they want to study or to master. Psychological nurses are advanced practice registered nurses or nurse practitioners who provide psychology health care to groups or individuals. They are also called psychological or mental health nurses. They may be found working in a number of places including hospitals, treatment centers, rehab centers, and senior living facilities. Psychological nurses are required to hold a masters degree having a concentration in mental health.

Based on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the general employment of registered nurses is likely to rise by 26% between 2010 and 2020. The BLS notes that due to the greater quantity of duties now being assigned from doctors to nurses, demand in just about all areas is anticipated to increase throughout the country.

Psychological nurses provide care and help people, families, and groups coping with mental health problems. Some nurses within this area decide to focus on a subgroup, like geriatric or child mental health. These professionals are educated to identify mental health disorders and supply treatments, including giving appropriate medicines and providing counseling. Typically, these nurses operate in hospitals or treatment centers; however, many can be employed in rehab treatment centers, hospice care facilities, or senior living centers.

Being a mental nurse first requires finishing a nursing degree program, which prepares students in getting a license in nursing. In addition, individuals thinking about concentrating on mental health usually acquire a graduate degree program; an advanced practice nurse (APN) or nurse practitioner (NP). Nurses within this area frequently hold a Master of Science in Nursing, having a concentration or niche in psychological and mental health nursing. Almost all graduate programs typically require prospective students to carry a nursing license; in addition, they need to possess a minimum professional experience, ideally in the mental health area.

Distance Learning for Nurses

To become a nurse, you are usually required to finish the program in the classroom. But today, there are already nursing programs offered online which allows you to finish most of your classes online while you are at home. The program sets internet and interactive classroom for students and is offered only by accredited colleges and universities. This program is known as the distance learning program and is now offered for nursing. The program is one of the strategies used by the government to answer the problem with the nursing shortage. This effort strives to invite more students to enroll with the nursing program, since it is more affordable and will no longer take long hours in the classroom.

DLSThe distance learning programs allows flexibility for the students. They can have their classes everywhere since it’s online, they can be at home or anywhere as long as it’s quiet and free from distractions. Students can also do their homework and tasks anytime they want as long as it meets the deadline. The students who are very far from colleges and universities are now more interested to enroll since it is more convenient. This is also suitable for those who are already working and want to have another degree in nursing.

If you are in the distance learning program, you save more money since you will no longer have to pay for transportation, rooms, dining and other expenses. You will no longer require dealing with the daily transportation which takes a lot of your time and energy; making the program very convenient and stress free.

The universities and colleges who offer this program usually hire the same professors they have in the campus, thus making it competitive with the classroom settings. You can connect with them through the internet as well as with your classmates. For those who are interested with the nursing program but want it more affordable and online, then try the distance learning program. Distance learning becomes viable today and more practical.  You can inquire about this program via online or visit the nearest university that offers the program. It may be the program suited to your needs.

Patient Safety and Quality Care

It is the utmost goal of healthcare providers to give their patients the quality care they need to recover from their illnesses or injuries. There are a lot of components to make the services or approaches in healthcare safe for patients. Any healthcare provider must be able to prevent errors in any procedure conducted with the patient, as well as learn from the errors that may occur and make sure that it will not happen again.

patient carePatient care must be focused on reducing risk of adverse events related to contact to medical care starting from diagnoses until medication. There are still many procedures that are not effective and safe for patient. This calls for further studies to determine its effectiveness in preventing or reducing harm.

There are patient safety practices that may be used to avoid possible errors. These are the use of simulators, doing bar coding, programmed physician order entry and proper crew resource management. There are more and more research done to explore areas that could improve healthcare procedures and many more that need attention and further studies.

The safety of the patient is the keystone of the quality of health care. Nurses or other healthcare professionals must be at watch and observant to the most effective approach that will make the patient more secure and safe. They are more connected and in contact with the patient so they have the bird’s eye view on what are the things occurring with the patient during medication. There are still many things to be done to make the patent care perfect. In the mean time, making the patient well served and properly medicated will make them feel better and reach recovery faster.

Patient Care Quality

Many view quality health care as the overarching umbrella under which patient safety resides.  Quality patient care, dedication to patient satisfaction and rigorous attention to patient safety are the best services a healthcare institution can offer. Because we believe that people can make better decisions about their healthcare if they have accurate information, there is an organization that made a commitment to report publicly how hospitals rank on a range of quality standards and benchmarks.

patientcare1Maintaining and improving the quality of the Nation’s health care system is an important part of keeping patients safe. The aim of every healthcare institution must be to improve patient safety and health care quality in many areas of health care, reduce health care-associated infections and the adverse drug events

Patient or consumer centered care is health care that is respectful of, and responsive to, the preferences, needs and values of patients and consumers. Different definitions and terminology have been used to describe the concepts in this area, but key principles of patient centered approaches. Treating patients, consumers, care providers and families with dignity and respect is a must in a quality care.

The participation of the patient and family is encouraged in the decision making in every decision about healthcare. Communicating and sharing information with patients, consumers, and families is also a must.

The collaboration with patients, consumers, carers, families and health professionals in program and policy development and in health service design, delivery and evaluation is highly needed to upgrade the services of the institution.

Patient or consumer centered care is increasingly being recognized as a dimension of high quality health care in its own right and there is strong evidence that a patient centered focus can lead to improvements in health care quality and outcomes by increasing safety, cost effectiveness and patient, family and staff satisfaction.

Internationally, healthcare services use a range of strategies to promote patient centered care and partnerships with patients and their families. A range of organizations provide frameworks and tools to help implement these strategies.

 

Psychology in Nursing Practice

Psychology is a study that includes the human mind, which is primarily concerned with behavior factors. This is an important part in improving nursing practices within the health industry. It includes the understanding of both spoken and non spoken interaction which is often used by sufferers. Performance and Work Delegation Nursing as a career is a profession that suits the population with capability to practice both sympathy and goodness in order to accomplish their responsibilities with passion. However, in nursing, it is enough to reiterate that an individual would not be able to carry out all the tasks effectively without psychological understanding of the individual’s conditions in regards to the nursing care and practice required.

psychologyIf the nursing staff is not well versed with particular emotional perception of the individual, it is skilled to assign or seek assistance from another health professional with capability to completely understand how to deal with the behavior factors of the sufferers, especially the psychological sufferers. At times, a health professional would assign some responsibilities through supply of sufficient details, since the focus is to enhance, as well as save patients’ lives.

In this respect, information performs a great role in improving work efficiency in the health industry. Nursing staff are supposed to obtain info from the particular specialists and doctors, when there is no sufficient details in respect to work plan, the nurses would not perform their function as allocated. In addition, the human life is not renewable and should be handled very carefully. Hence it is correct to reiterate that interaction and psychology are important factors in nursing as a career. Patient care in most cases, nurses are not only required to manage individual care, but also assist in performing particular processes within the particular areas of specialized health institutions to which they are connected. For example, a health professional connected to the theater should adhere to the physician’s guidelines so that the process may be accomplished within the quickest time possible, as per the regulations that regulate the theater and particular process as scheduled.

Humanities and Medical Professionals

The actual dogma is that learning the humanities makes physicians human. It appears to be good. It might even sound naturally right. But the “common” in common sense is often the unprocessed variety. Hiding within the medical humanities’ manifesto is a way of associative thinking, a kind of causal fallacy: it is the idea that fictional or philosophical consumption and sympathy for a one’s fellow beings, adhere to a simple straight line direction.

humanitiesAnd herein can be found the problem. There is no efficient proof that learning literary works enhances stages of sympathy among doctors. This is not to say the dogma won’t yet be vindicated. And it is not to say educating or enhancing stages of concern among medical care learners and physicians is an insignificant process. In fact, the very opposite is the case: sympathy and concern form an important part of the doctor-patient connection. Doctors need to be aware of the variety of experiences that diseases and personal conditions can bring. Empathy is also essential in developing the kind of environment where sufferers can connect successfully and when sufferers aren’t forth-coming about signs, physicians skip a significant item of the challenge.

The point is that nobody, least of all medical care educationalists, can manage to be glib about how this aspect of medical care professionalism and reliability can best be found or obtained. And what about other medical care professionals? Exponents of the fictional medical care humanities appear less desperate to ingratiate themselves among nurses, for example. Couldn’t our nurses, home health aides and other medical care employees use some of this (purported) fictional elixir? An educational Google search located one book suggesting the use of (specifically) “popular literature” among nurses. According to this thinking, we should recommend Danielle Steele to our medical staff, while providing Dostoyevsky to the medics.

Cause of Hospitalization from Nursing Homes

A primary cause of hospitalizations from nursing homes, discussed in industry literature for more than 20 years, is the inadequate health professional employment levels in nursing homes. Last fall, the Kaiser Family Foundation released two studies about the hospital stay of elderly care facility citizens. Their findings about why elderly care facility citizens are hospitalized confirm earlier research in this field and point to the need to increase health professional employment in nursing homes as a way to improve quality of care in assisted living features and reduce hospital stay and re-hospitalization of patients.

Nursing-HomesThe Kaiser study, “Financial Incentives in the Long-Term Care Context: A First Look at Relevant Information” determined the economical incentives that encourage hospital stay of elderly care facility citizens.[6]  These incentives include Medicare payment policies for doctors, skilled assisted living features, and hospice services as well as the dual roles of healthcare director and attending physician frequently being held by the same individual.

A companion study, based on interviews with doctors, nurses, social workers, and close relatives of residents, determined 10 factors that encourage hospital stay of elderly care facility residents: the limited capacity of assisted living features to address healthcare issues; physicians’ preference for inpatient settings; concerns with liability for not hospitalizing; economical incentives for doctors and facilities; inability of assisted living features to address residents’ healthcare needs; lack of relationship between facility staff, doctor, and family; lack of advance care planning; family preference; and behavioral health problems. Although several factors impact a decision to hospitalize an elderly care facility resident, a key factor determined in the Kaiser reviews and other studies mentioned is the lack of sufficient professional and paraprofessional medical staff in nursing homes.  The insufficient employment in assisted living features has been recognized for a long period.