This portfolio shows the educational journey through the BSN program at Western Governors University(WGU). The curriculum at WGU was very challenging, nonetheless it prepared me to become a safe and effective nurse. The BSN curriculum provided avenues to keep me up to date with safe practices and learn how to master therapeutic communication. WGU also helped me sharpen my critical thinking skills in order to make decisions quickly and provide safe and effective care to patients. As the result of my training, I am ready to embark in the field of nursing and do my best to make a difference in my patients lives.
Moreover, several studies have been conducted to examine the effects of low nurse staffing on patients hospitalization experiences, as well as its effect on nurse careers in the long run. A recent study by Frith, Anderson, Tseng, and Fong (2012) to explore the relationship between nurse staffing and medication errors, demonstrated that medication errors were higher in a cardiac care unit and non-cardiac care unit when staffing levels were lower. In addition, Frith et al. (2012) pointed out that medication errors increase by 18% for every 20% decrease in nurse staffing below the average due to failure to follow medication administration protocol As mentioned earlier, nurses perform the last and the most important step of medication administration. Thus, having adequate time to assess each patient efficiently and following the medication rights is critical to provide safe patient care and prevent errors.
What roles does the nurse play in ensuring the implementation of quality and safety initiatives?
In my opinion, the other second shift RNs I am not include in this situation, except for continue precepting Amy at the end of the oriented period. I will propose one of the second shift RNs preceptor assignment who has most nurse preceptor skills to help Amy accomplish her goal in Emergency
I agree with you Walter. Nursing is a teamwork. In an acute hospital setting, an RN is assigned a set of patient to deliver care that means RN has full responsibility about these patients. In this case, RN who is the primary care nurse can complete her task by herself or delegate some of the task to the nursing assistant according to their scope of practice. The abilities to delegate, and supervise other healthcare workers is not an easy job. Delegation is one of the most complex nursing skill. It takes clinical judgment and practice. RNs are required to assess and evaluate the needs of the patient and then utilize the appropriate caregivers in order to achieve desired patient outcomes. For an example a post-op elderly patient is receiving IV antibiotic and PRN IV pain medicine. In addition, she can take a PRN pain medicine by mouth for break through pain. The
Josepha is working on a medical surgical unit with three other RNs and one LPN. There is also a male and a female patient care tech. Josepha has been a nurse for four months, and after completing two months of orientation she takes a full assignment as a registered nurse. Josepha feels that the assignments she receives are not always fair, as she tends to get the most challenging clients. In addition, she is most frequently assigned any change of shift admissions. While she understands that she is part of a team, she often feels that the consistency of the inequity of these assignments is not fair. She is self-aware of how this is affecting her. As she starts her shift today she is again assigned to the
This essay will be focused on delegation and how it is linked to decision making. Delegation and decision making are both essential in the life of a nurse. To explain how delegation and decision making are important, this essay will be looking at the clinical experience of student nurse Kingston. He has had a bad clinical experience because of the failure of proper delegation.
With each passing year, the mantle of accountability grows heavier on the shoulders of registered nurses worldwide. In a profession whose roots date back to Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War, no time in nursing’s history has the word accountability meant so much. As the profession assumes more and more power, the burden of liability becomes heavier. However, few individuals know the true meaning of accountability. For many, accountability and responsibility have the same meaning and carry the same weight. Yet, this is far from true. Accountability binds all levels of healthcare together. Accountability, as opposed to responsibility, separates an average nurse from that of an exceptional nurse because it makes nurses answerable for their
Shared governance is an innovative model used to provide direction for the professional practice of nursing. This model is used to direct nurses to participate in unit-based decision making that allow nurses to demonstrate accountability and ownership for their practices. The goal of the model is to improve quality patient care contain costs, and retain nursing staff. According to Marquis and Houston (2012), “In shared governance, the organization’s governance is shared among board members, nurses, physicians, and management” (p. 270-271). Shared governance is imperative in the healthcare institutions. “Shared governance, which gives nurses control over their professional practices, is an essential element of a professional practice nursing model, providing structure and context for health care delivery” (cite shared governance article). This allows each healthcare worker to have a voice in the decision making and encourage input that will expand the business and healthcare.
Delegation is part of healthcare clinicians’ everyday life. It is important for us a nurses to be careful when we chose to delegate to be sure not to compromise our patient’s safety. There are several mechanisms in place to ensure patient safety for example hospital policy and procedure manuals. As nurses when we provide patient care it is imperative that we remain in our scope of practice. Throughout my nursing career, I have learned when delegating one must remain accountable and responsible.
Nurses play an essential role in the healthcare industry. The nurse workforce is made up of licensed nurses: registered nurses (RNs), licensed vocational nurses (LVNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs), along with nurse aides. Registered nurses are responsible for assessments of patients’ needs, development of care plans, medication administration, and treatments, while licensed vocational nurses perform specific care under the delegation of the registered nurses and supervisions. Nursing aides perform activities of daily living (unskilled attention) to the patient. Adequate nursing staffing is essential to both patient care and outcomes, also to the retention of nurses while inadequate staffing creates problems for both the patients and
Teamwork, communication and delegation in nursing are variables dependent on one another in order to be successful. This post is the first in a series on nursing delegation in which we will discuss the team nursing model, the RN 's role in delegation, and how effective communication fosters successful teamwork which leads to better outcomes for patients and employees.
When delegating tasks it is important to look at the specific situation. In this scenario the charge nurse Sherry is responsible for making sure that the task delegated to another nurse or nursing assistant is appropriate for his or her scope of practice (Mueller & Vogelsmeier, 2013). Even though a task is delegated, the nurse is still responsible for it to be completed correctly and safely (Ohio Board of Nursing, 2015). Sherry should also be familiar with the experience of her staff for the day, as well as the responsibilities of each job title. According to Huber (2014), The Five Rights of Delegation should be used. These include, the correct job, circumstance, patient, instructions, and supervision.
RNs are responsible and accountable for their own actions in the therapeutic nurseclient relationship, including actions which result in outcomes that may have been unintended, but should have been foreseen.
As mentioned earlier, members of the team were put together to take over the idea of Nurse –Led Discharge which was the brainchild of Tracey Burns. It was the pivotal roles played by the matrons personally and as a group which helped in taking the task forward. All of them had to use their personal power sources to motivate their subordinates to reach the initiative i.e., to have steady patient flows in the overcrowded waiting areas of A/E and the wards.