Contemporary Nursing Practice

Nurses have different roles in ensuring that they offer the best patient care to their patients. However, the primary role of a nurse is to advocate and care for their patients in whatever role they take in the healthcare delivery industry. The nursing profession has, however, experienced some changes since it started.  There have been critical changes in the role of nurses in the healthcare team. There have been changes in the curriculum, and there have been different scopes of practices for different nurses. There are advanced practitioner nurses, BSN nurses, and LPNs, among others.

Evolution of Nursing Practice

The nursing profession has undergone numerous changes since it started. Nursing started as a profession in the mid-19^th century. Florence Nightingale has been credited with being the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale believed that nurses could use their knowledge to enhance patient care (McDonald, 2020). She was a nurse in the Crimean War who reduced infections among soldiers significantly. During the American Civil War, women volunteered to take care of soldiers (Texas Woman’s University, 2019). One major change in the nursing profession was the formalization of nursing education, with training programs that started in hospitals in the late 19^th century (Texas Woman’s University, 2019). Students were taught clinical knowledge in exchange for offering care to patients. Patient needs became more complex during the mid-20th century, and hospitals needed skilled nurses to help with inpatient care. The training was transferred to universities (Texas Woman’s University, 2019). Nursing training is currently evolving with patient needs.  Education is emphasized on advanced training. Nurses work in multidisciplinary teams, and they can specialize as advanced practitioner nurses.

Comparison of Differentiated Practice Competencies of ADN and BSN

Even though both AND and BSN are routes to becoming nurses, there are significant differences between these two. ADN nurses offer simple patient care, such as patient education and recording medical history and patient symptoms, while BSN nurses are trained to offer complex patient care and can supervise other nursing staff (Nightingale College, 2021). BSN nurses can make a diagnosis and implement nursing interventions. They can advance into other fields like public health. ADN nurses are trained on clinical skills, while BSN nurses training focuses on clinical skills, leadership, and nursing research. The length of education is also different. BSN nurses’ training takes four years, while AND training takes two years (Nightingale College, 2021).

Identification of a Patient Care Situation

Nurses are trained to handle several situations. One such situation is a patient with hypertension who is non-compliant with medication. The AND and BSN would approach this patient differently due to their different scopes of practice and training. An ADN nurse would measure the patient’s blood pressure reading and document the patient’s non-compliance. They will also offer bedside care by administering medications. They would not assess the patient for reasons of non-compliance. A BSN nurse would consider the cultural and social reasons as to why the patient is non-compliant. They will determine the patient’s needs and implement holistic patient-centered care.

Application of Evidence-Based Practice

The evidence-based practice integrates research evidence, patient needs, and clinical expertise to solve clinical problems to help in implementing patient-centered care (Abou Hashish & Alsayed, 2020). Integration of EBP allows nurses to conduct scientific research to make rational clinical decisions. Through EBP, nurses can be current with new clinical protocols used in nursing care. Nurses can locate evidence that is patient-specific, which improves patient outcomes (Abou Hashish & Alsayed, 2020). EBP also allows nurses to assess nursing research and understand the effectiveness or risks of interventions they tend to implement. Evidence-based practice allows for the inclusion of patients in the care plan (Abou Hashish & Alsayed, 2020). Patients take a proactive role in their healthcare since they can air their concerns, share their preferences and needs, and suggest treatments.

In RN-BSN nurses’ education, they are taught about evidence-based practice, which helps them pinpoint nursing care strategies that can be beneficial to their patients. EBP has been incorporated into nursing education and patient care in recent years.

Communication and Collaboration

Nurses can act as care managers in a multidisciplinary healthcare team. Nurses act as care coordinators for diagnosing and treating healthcare conditions (Ferrero et al., 2021). They also coordinate communication between the multidisciplinary team and patients. Nurses can be responsible for booking patient visits, booking x-rays and diagnostic tests, monitoring medical procedures,  liaising communication between different specialists, and updating patient information (Ferrero et al., 2021). Nurses also play an important role in patient education and the passing of healthcare information to patients. Nurses are important players in the multidisciplinary healthcare team; their role goes beyond providing patient care and extends to coordinating care.

Conclusion

Nurses play an important role in offering care to patients. Further, there are different routes to becoming nurses, including ADN and BSN. The nursing profession has evolved over the years. The role of nurses was to nurse for the patient and care for patients during war. Along the way, the nursing profession became formalized, and training was done in training schools. Currently, there are many nursing institutions that offer entry-level and advanced training for nurses. The core competencies and scopes of practice of AND and BSN nurses are different. BSN nurses are trained to offer complex patient care, while ADN nurses are trained in clinical skills. EBP is critical in nursing since it ensures the integration of the best evidence to enhance patient outcomes.

References

Abou Hashish, E. A., & Alsayed, S. (2020). Evidence-based practice and its relationship to quality improvement: A cross-sectional study among ‎Egyptian nurses. The Open Nursing Journal, 14(1), 254-262. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874434602014010254

Ferrero, E., Brigo, P., Tartara, D., Riccio, C., Fasciolo, A., & Fusco, V. (2021). Role of nurses in a multidisciplinary team managing patients at risk for osteonecrosis of the jaw (Onj): A fifteen-year experience. Qeios. https://doi.org/10.32388/b2v21b

McDonald, L. (2020). Florence Nightingale: The making of a hospital reformer. HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal, 13(2), 25-31. https://doi.org/10.1177/1937586720918239

Nightingale College. (2021, April 14). ADN vs BSN: The real differences between ADN & BSN nurses. https://nightingale.edu/blog/adn-vs-bsn-differences/

Texas Woman’s University. (2019). Evolution of the nursing profession. Online Nurse Practitioner Programs | Texas Woman’s University. https://onlinenursing.twu.edu/blog/evolution-of-nursing-profession

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The field of Nursing has changed overtime. In a 750 – 1500 word paper, discuss Nursing practice today by addressing the following:

1. Explain how nursing practice has been changed over time and how this evolution changed the scope practice and the approach to treating the individual.

Contemporary Nursing Practice

2. Compare and contrast the differentiated practice competencies between associate and baccalaureate education in nursing. Explain how scope of practice changes between an associate and baccalaureate nurse.

3. Identify a patient care situation and describe how nursing care, or approaches to decision making,differ between the BSN prepared nurse and the ADN nurse.

4. Discuss the significance of applying evidence – based practice to nursing care and explain how the academic preparation of RN – BSN supports its application.

5. Discuss how nurses today communicate and collaborate with interdisciplinary teams and how this supports safer and more effective patient outcomes.

Instruction: Please prepare in APA format and provide the information about citation and references.