NUR 4153-Deliverable 6-Lifelong Learning is Part of Nursing Practice

NUR 4153-Deliverable 6-Lifelong Learning is Part of Nursing Practice

The need for professional nurses is steadily on the rise. In the United States, nursing is a unique profession with various educational pathways that lead to an entry-level license to practice. The diversity in the United States health care system and practice environment requires nurses to have profound changes in nurses education both before and after receiving their license to ensure that nurses’ current and future generations can deliver safe, quality, patient-centered care across all settings and improved education system is necessary [CITATION FTi13 \l 1033 ]. Hire our assignment writing services if your assignment is devastating you.

The various education levels in nursing aim to support and provide a better knowledge of dealing with issues in care management and improving aspects related to system-level changes within the reformed healthcare system. Lifelong learning ensures that nurses increase their knowledge of different new aspects of care, reducing the care gap left when older nurses quit the nursing profession (Institute of Medicine, 2011). Lifelong learning in nursing positively impacts healthcare because they will be able to retain nurses who are well-versed in their areas of expertise and education; nurses will be able to support their ability to offer a broader range of services safely and effectively in the healthcare industry. Continuing education has been shown to positively improve patient outcomes, less errors, and decrease the risk of patient deaths.

Lifelong learning in nursing contributes to the development of knowledge and nursing skills, which ultimately results in better health outcomes—defining lifelong learning in nursing as a dynamic process that encompasses personal and professional life. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has created eight initiatives to prepare for new practice changes, leadership roles, and educational needs.

The first recommendation entails nurses taking on more leadership roles. In doing so, nurses would have to further their education past an associate in nursing degree. The (IOM) would like to see an increase in nurse ratio with a baccalaureate degree up to 80 percent by 2020. In nursing education, the IOM report emphasizes the importance of more nurses having an education at the Baccalaureate degree level and doctorate level (IOM, 2011). Empirical evidence indicates that nurses with a BSN degree report improved patient health outcomes.

NUR 4153-Deliverable 6-Lifelong Learning is Part of Nursing Practice

Professional nurses’ perception of nursing care lies in the clinical judgment essential in assessment, diagnosis, implementation, and evaluation. Knowledge creates the basis of the patient needs assessment and defines the action to meet these needs, professional accountability for decisions and actions, including the decision to delegate to co-workers, and the structured nurse-patient relationship.

Furthermore, it states that the current nursing education system’s responsibility is to create programs that allow nurses to progress through their nursing degrees with seamless ease. With such a high demand for nurses, what are the drawbacks that prevent nurses from furthering their education? How can we encourage lifelong learning with no real incentives for nurses when obtaining their second or third degree?

The Institute of Medicine has cited some barriers hindering nurses from furthering their careers, from tuition and difficulty with admission to programs to family and life commitments. When nurses choose to further their education, they are faced with financial burdens to cover undergraduate degrees. As they further their degree brings some salary increase, they no longer qualify for financial assistance.

Therefore, leaving the nurse to take out personal loans with little tuition reimbursement, loan forgiveness, or scholarships available to assist with the financial burden. To overcome these barriers, nursing schools collaborate with the private and public sectors to help find and even provide nursing students with affordable education loans (IOM, 2011). Another recommendation was for accrediting bodies, private and public funders, and employers to help fund nursing education. Moreso, providing more online educational courses allows nurses who may have family obligations and demanding schedules that make it hard to attend live classrooms.

Overall, learning is a constant aspect of life, and lifelong learning is essential to nursing practice. It should be encouraged in healthcare because lifelong learning will significantly improve clinical reasoning and clinical judgment. Nurses and other healthcare professionals should urge lifelong learning within the various settings to ensure that nursing needs are attained across all care settings, attaining up-to-date information.

References

 Alfarp-Lefevre, R. (2013). Critical Thinking, clinical reasoning, clinical judgment. Journal of Education.

Institute of Medicine. (, 2011). The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing-Health. Retrieved from http://doi:10.17226/12956.

Timmins, F. (2013). Nursing Research Generating & Assessing Evidence for Nursing Practice. Nursing Education in Practice. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2013.04.001

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NUR 4153-Deliverable 6-Lifelong Learning is Part of Nursing Practice

Evaluate the importance of personal and professional lifelong learning, including the interrelationships of clinical reasoning and clinical judgment.

Scenario

As a BSN-prepared Registered Nurse, you are due to renew your license for the first time. You and your manager overhear other nurses complaining about the continuing education requirement. Your manager suggests you create a handout for the staff lounge bulletin board regarding the importance of lifelong learning as it pertains to clinical reasoning and judgment. To help you get started, she suggests you read the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report titled The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health (2010) so that you will understand “why” it is so important. Instructions

Read Section 4 of the IOM report (2010) titled Transforming Education here and respond to the following questions in a Word document.

Describe an initiative that resulted from the IOM report.

Discuss the impact of the identified initiative.

Summarize the interrelationships that exist between lifelong learning, clinical reasoning, and clinical judgment.