Author Interviews, Education, Nursing / 12.05.2024
How to Write a Nursing Essay
In academic writing, it's essential to acknowledge and address potential counterarguments or opposing viewpoints....
In academic writing, it's essential to acknowledge and address potential counterarguments or opposing viewpoints....
The seminal Institute of Medicine's “To Err Is Human” publication sounded alarms in 1999 about the silent epidemic of American medical errors contributing to nearly 98,000 annual deaths. With time, the stakes intensified for systemic improvement. Nurse leadership emerged, accelerating cultural transformations and pioneering processes that saved countless lives.
Take Children’s Hospital Solutions for Patient Safety Network (SPS), for example. Founded by nurse scientist Marlene Miller in 2001, it aims to unite children’s hospitals to develop evidence-based harm reduction tactics and tools.
By adopting the best practices across their network, their hospitals are making significant strides in preventing serious harm. As of November 2023, this nationwide network of child healthcare has spared over 25,000 children from harm, resulting in an estimated cost savings of $500 million.
Similarly, medical experts around the world credit ICU nurses’ relentless systems analysis and testing of solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic for lifting outcomes.
Nurse practitioners (NPs) contribute boundless compassion with their specialized expertise across healthcare fields. However, have you wondered what an average day looks like for a women’s health NP compared to an acute care specialist? Or have you pondered distinctions in clinical environments between mental health and pediatric NPs coordinating youth care teams?
In this blog post, we will shed light on four distinct NP specialties by peeking into realistic scenarios covering typical patients, evolving roles, and meaningful differences impacting their daily rounds.
There is no doubt that nursing is a promising and rewarding career. Registered Nurses earned a median salary of $81,220 in 2022, as reported by US News. The top 25% earned $101,100, while the bottom 25% earned $66,680.
But, before committing to a nursing major, consider if it resonates with your passions and values. Nursing entails dedication, empathy, and resilience beyond academic excellence to address patient care's challenges and rewards effectively. Assessing alignment with your aspirations is pivotal for a fulfilling nursing career.
Consider your innate qualities and personal motivations. Are you genuinely drawn to helping others in their times of need? Do you thrive in dynamic, fast-paced environments where critical thinking and problem-solving skills are paramount? Reflecting on these aspects can offer invaluable insight into whether nursing is the right path for you.
The importance of external support systems becomes even more crucial as the number of children with disabilities and other developmental disorders continues to surge. This trend is apparent in academic settings, where there is a rising number of students with disabilities. According to the Pew Research Center, nearly 7.3 million students with disabilities receive education from public K-12 schools in the U.S.
In the midst of this growing trend, pediatric nurses play a vital role in empowering children with disabilities. In this blog, we'll explore the vital support these professionals offer to empower children with disabilities.
In today's fast-paced medical scene, have you heard about the tech-savvy guardians of health information? Say hello to informatics nurses. These professionals stand at the crossroads where nursing, computer know-how, and data crunching meet. They're the folks who make sure patient info is spot-on, easy to get to, and as safe as a treasure in a vault. But it's not just about keeping records; they're all about making the day-to-day in hospitals and clinics run smoother. With their expertise, every piece of vital data is organized and used the right way to help the medical team do their thing efficiently.
Good mental health means you are more likely to take control of your day. Whether you have an early shift or a long one, with a more positive mindset, you are sure to show up and get the work done to the best of your ability.
It also means that those that choose their shifts (such as locum pharmacists, GPs, or nurses) will take on more work because they feel like they can manage it. So if you’re a locum healthcare worker, even using a shift-scheduling platform such as Workflare can help you gain more control over your day and, in turn, feel less stressed.
Compassion fatigue is when you are exposed to suffering, trauma, or similar negative emotional states in others so much that you become desensitized and indifferent to it. You may also hear it referred to as secondary trauma or vicarious trauma, with many arguing that it’s an inevitable response.
Whichever name you use, it’s a condition in which you feel physically and psychologically exhausted, resulting in a diminished capacity for empathy. This, in turn, has a negative impact on your ability to do your job as a nurse.
Sadly, compassion fatigue is not uncommon in the healthcare field, which is why it’s so important to be alert to the symptoms and understand how to respond when they arise.
As a specialized healthcare position where you will be responsible for the health and wellbeing of patients, nurses are required to hold a degree and a license before they can begin work. To qualify as a registered nurse, you will need to obtain a BSN degree, which typically takes around four years when studying full-time. However, if you already have a bachelor’s degree in another subject, there is an option that will allow you to become a nurse in half the time; accelerated nursing programs are designed for those who already have a bachelor’s degree and want a quick career change into nursing. The top accelerated nursing programs can be found via this link.
Nursing is a job like no other and you need to have a specific set of skills to succeed. You might have all the best intentions in the world, but it takes a special kind of person to be a nurse, so you have to assess your personal and professional skills before making the jump.
For one, this is a job where you will routinely have to deal with loss and grief, so if you don't have a strong enough disposition, you won't be able to make it in this field. However, you still need to be compassionate to help patients and their loved ones get through a tough diagnosis and death. Nurses have to be able to juggle between being human and emotionally available, and being able to separate their work from their personal lives.
As well as this, you will need to be a good communicator. If you're not a people person or are introverted, you might have to look at either another field or positions where you won't have to interact as much. But, in most cases, jobs will require that you give direct assistance to patients. As a matter of fact, you will have a much closer relationship with patients than they may have with their doctor.
You will need to be able to deal with people coming from different social, economic, religious, and cultural backgrounds. You will need to respect their wishes and beliefs. You also have to be able to offer equal care to all.
Also, you need to know how to work as part of a team. You also have to accept hierarchy and be able to take orders. You might disagree with what someone higher than you is saying, but you have to follow through no matter what. Teamwork is especially important in this business, and you have to think of the unit first and not yourself.
Lastly, you need to be very organized and be able to perform under pressure. You might have to deal with a whole floor full of patients on a double short-handed shift and have to keep track of everything. Your decisions could literally mean life or death, and unless you can deal with that kind of pressure, nursing is not a field you should be pursuing.
Lone elderly living has proven to hasten the onset of age-related dementia and increases the chance of severe falls....
For many years now, professional nursing has held a unique place in the American health care system. Nurses make up one of the largest health care professions in the U.S. with more than 3.1 million nurses working in diverse fields and settings.
Although most nurses work in health care settings like hospitals, a nurse’s expertise expands well beyond the hospital walls. Working on their own and alongside other healthcare professionals, nurses promote the health of families, individuals, and communities.
Nurses have always played an important role in healthcare settings. However, their role has changed a lot over the years. In the past, nurses had extraordinarily little formal medical training. In fact, nurses learned the medical skills they needed from their mothers or other women in the nursing profession.
Today, the nursing profession has changed for the better. Not only are there extensive training programs available for nurses, but this role now comes with a level of prestige that was not there before. And this is not the only thing that has altered. Technology has also played a huge role in changing this profession for the better. Keep reading below to find out about the history of nursing and how technology has changed the role of nursing. For those seeking additional assistance or support in navigating the complexities of nursing education or academic tasks, exploring resources from reputable nursing paper writing services can offer valuable expertise and assistance in achieving success in the field.
Nurse Practitioners are registered nurses who have carried out extra training, which means that they have more authority than registered nurses and share a similar responsibility level to doctors.
They are able to prescribe medications, order diagnostic tests and provide treatments much as a physician would. Also like a physician, they will have undertaken their training to specialize in a particular area of medicine.
Nurse Practitioners begin their careers as registered nurses, which means that they are used to approaching medicine in a patient-centric way. They will often work with an idea of patient comfort at the forefront of their minds, whereas a doctor can operate with an idea of medical treatment at the forefront of theirs. This means that a combination of doctors and Nurse Practitioners within a healthcare facility can lead to a more rounded care experience.
In some states, Nurse Practitioners are able to operate without the supervision of a doctor. However, in others, they do need to get a sign off for any treatments that they provide. There is a general movement towards allowing Nurse Practitioners more agency as this is helping to relieve strain on the healthcare system.
If you’re currently working as a nurse, you are probably well aware of just how rewarding and fulfilling a job role it can be. You get to help patients from all walks of life every single day and make a real difference to not only people’s health but their lives more generally. It’s also a career in which there is a lot of scope for progression. There are so many different spheres within the field of nursing that you can choose to specialize in, whether it’s a particular age group (like pediatrics or gerontology) or a particular health condition (like oncology or emergency care).
Some of these paths involve training on the job, whereas others require you to return to college to study and obtain a postgraduate qualification. Among these, one of the highest possible qualifications you can aim for is the DNP, or Doctor of Nursing Practice. DNP online programs and campus courses prepare you for a wide range of advanced nursing roles, including both direct patient care and indirect patient care positions. As such, they are a fantastic choice for nurses who want to reach the top levels in their field.
This article will cover everything you need to know about the DNP qualification to help you decide whether it is a degree program that you would like to pursue. This includes more detail about the course itself, the advantages it can bring you, as well as information about eligibility and how to apply.
MedicalResearch.com: What are DNP online programs?
DNP stands for Doctor of Nursing Practice, and it is a doctoral-level qualification in the field of nursing. It’s also a terminal degree, meaning that it is the highest level certification you can achieve in clinical nursing education. The idea of the program is to prepare registered nurses (RNs) for top career positions in areas such as advanced practice nursing, nursing education, healthcare administration, and healthcare policy.
DNP online programs and on-campus courses are becoming more popular, partly because the American Association of Colleges of Nursing has called for the qualification to become a requirement in order to work in advanced practice nursing. Although, in many cases, a Master’s qualification in nursing is sufficient, for those who wish to boost their clinical skills and knowledge to the highest level, a DNP is preferable.
Dr. Fouragnan[/caption]
Elsa F. Fouragnan PhD
School of Psychology
(Faculty of Health and Human Sciences)
University of Plymouth
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Counterfactual thinking is a psychological process that involves the tendency to create possible alternatives to life events that are currently happening.
It is very important because it gives us the ability to switch away from uninteresting activities if better ones become available. For example, if you are working or doing the housework, you may be thinking about gardening or watching a movie later. As soon as your duties are finished, you may engage in these more exciting activities.
In our study, macaque monkeys were tasked to find treats under several colored cups (on a screen). Some of these cups were better than others but were not always available, thus the animals had to retain what they had learnt about the good cups in case they became available again. We found that a frontal part of the brain called the anterior cingulate cortex was responsible for tracking which cups were the best in order to efficiently switch to them if the opportunity arose. If this part of the brain was not functioning properly, then animals were stuck in non-optimal choices.
To reveal the causal role of the anterior cingulate cortex, we used a new neurostimulation method called low-intensity repetitive ultrasound to modulates activity in this part of the brain with millimetre accuracy.
Dr. Weiss[/caption]
Marianne Weiss DNSc RN
READI study Principal Investigator
Professor of Nursing and
Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare / Sister Rosalie Klein Professor of Women’s Health
Marquette University College of Nursing
Milwaukee Wi, 53201-1881
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Our team of researchers has been studying the association of patient readiness for discharge and readmission for several years. We have previously documented that patients who had ‘low readiness’ on our Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale were more likely to be readmitted. In this study we added structured protocols for discharge readiness assessment and nurse actions to usual discharge care practices to determine the optimal protocol configuration to achieve improved post-discharge utilization outcomes.
In our primary analysis that included patients from a broad range of patient diagnoses, we did not find a significant effect on readmission from adding any of the discharge readiness assessment protocols. The patient sample came from Magnet hospitals, known for high quality care, and the average all-cause readmission rates were low (11.3%).
In patients discharged from high-readmission units (>11.3%), one of the protocols was effective in reducing the likelihood of readmission. In this protocol, the nurse obtained the patients self-report of discharge readiness to inform the nurse’s discharge readiness assessment and actions in finalizing preparations for discharge. This patient-informed discharge readiness assessment protocol produced a nearly 2 percentage point reduction in readmissions. Not unexpectedly, in lower readmission settings, we did not see a reduction in readmission; not all readmissions are preventable.
In the last phase of study, we informed nurses of a cut-off score for ‘low readiness’ and added a prescription for nurse action only in cases of ‘low readiness’; this addition to the protocol added burden to the nurses’ daily work and eliminated the beneficial effects, perhaps because it limited the nurse’s attention to only a subset of patients.
Dr. Ray[/caption]
Kristin Ray, MD, MS
Assistant Professor
Health Policy Institute
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: We were interested in understanding how nurse practitioners and physician assistants are working with specialist physicians to provide specialty care. Much has been described and studied about nurse practitioners and physician assistants providing primary care, but the literature about their role in specialty care is more sparse. There have been many concerns over time about the supply of specialist physicians, heightening our interest in the role of nurse practitioners and physician assistants in working with specialist physicians.
We focused on examining whether care to physician specialist's patients by nurse practitioners and physician assistants has increased over time as well as examining characteristics of patients seen by nurse practitioners and physician assistants.
We found that visits with NPs and PAs for specialty care have increased over time, but remains a small fraction of specialty care overall.
Dr. Raines[/caption]
Deborah A. Raines PhD, EdS, RN, ANEF
School of Nursing
University at Buffalo
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: This research grew from my experience as a neonatal nurse. I have worked with many families preparing to take their baby home and have seen the anxiety they experience wondering if they will be able to take care of their baby’s medical needs at home.
Parents are usually most anxious about emergency situations that may occur. Majority of these parents are able to state what they should do, but have never experienced the actual situation with their baby. This study was designed to see if a simulation experience would fill this gap in parents’ preparation for the discharge of their baby from the NICU. This study had parents participated in a customized simulation to have them experience the care needed by their baby at home following discharge from the NICU.
The findings revealed that parents reported a nearly 30 percent increase in confidence in their abilities to care for their baby after participating in the simulation.
Dr. Catherine Pound[/caption]
Catherine M. Pound MD
The Ottawa Children’s Treatment Centre
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood and contributes to a large portion of Canadian hospital pediatric admissions. Once patients are admitted to hospitals, they receive salbutamol, a medication used for acute asthma exacerbations, at a pre-determined frequency. In most hospitals, physicians are the ones to decide of the frequency of administration of the salbutamol, and they decide when to wean patients off it. However, children whose salbutamol treatment administration can be decreased are usually considered stable, and often do not require immediate medical attention, which may results in delays in reassessments as well as administration of unneeded salbutamol treatments, particularly if physicians are busy looking after other sicker patients. Additionally, physicians’ assessments of children with asthma and their decisions to wean salbutamol frequency are not standardized, and vary among physicians. Therefore, in order to improve efficiency and standardize patient assessments, we developed a clinical pathway allowing nurses to wean salbutamol for children hospitalized with asthma based on a validated asthma scoring system.
Dr Linda H Aiken[/caption]
Dr Linda H Aiken PhD, FAAN, FRCN, RN
Claire M. Fagin Leadership Professor in Nursing
Professor of Sociology, School of Arts & Sciences
Director, Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research
Philadelphia, PA 19104
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The idea that adding lower skilled and lower wage caregivers to hospitals instead of increasing the number of professional nurses could save money without adversely affecting care outcomes is intuitively appealing to mangers and policymakers but evidence is lacking on whether this strategy is safe or saves money.