NURS 8001 Foundations of Nursing Assignment Paper

NURS 8001 Foundations of Nursing Assignment Paper

The skills you learn in this course will provide the foundation for the many nursing responsibilities you will assume throughout your career as both a nurse and a student. As you review the syllabus for this course, you might say to yourself, “OMG, how on earth am I supposed to learn all of this in a semester.” Stay calm and take it one day (and one section) at a time. It will take some time to adjust to the demands of the nursing program. Over time, you will develop study skills and confidence, and before you know it, you will be a pro at studying.

21st Century nursing is the glue that holds a patient’s health care journey together. Across the entire patient experience, and wherever there is someone in need of care, nurses work tirelessly to identify and protect the needs of the individual.NURS 8001 Foundations of Nursing Assignment Paper

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Beyond the time-honored reputation for compassion and dedication lies a highly specialized profession, which is constantly evolving to address the needs of society. From ensuring the most accurate diagnoses to the ongoing education of the public about critical health issues; nurses are indispensable in safeguarding public health.

Nursing can be described as both an art and a science; a heart and a mind. At its heart, lies a fundamental respect for human dignity and an intuition for a patient’s needs. This is supported by the mind, in the form of rigorous core learning. Due to the vast range of specialisms and complex skills in the nursing profession, each nurse will have specific strengths, passions, and expertise.

However, nursing has a unifying ethos: In assessing a patient, nurses do not just consider test results. Through the critical thinking exemplified in the nursing process (see below), nurses use their judgment to integrate objective data with subjective experience of a patient’s biological, physical and behavioral needs. This ensures that every patient, from city hospital to community health center; state prison to summer camp, receives the best possible care regardless of who they are, or where they may be.

What exactly do nurses do?
In a field as varied as nursing, there is no typical answer. Responsibilities can range from making acute treatment decisions to providing inoculations in schools. The key unifying characteristic in every role is the skill and drive that it takes to be a nurse. Through long-term monitoring of patients’ behavior and knowledge-based expertise, nurses are best placed to take an all-encompassing view of a patient’s wellbeing.NURS 8001 Foundations of Nursing Assignment Paper

What types of nurses are there?
All nurses complete a rigorous program of extensive education and study, and work directly with patients, families, and communities using the core values of the nursing process. In the United States today, nursing roles can be divided into three categories by the specific responsibilities they undertake.

Registered Nurses
Registered nurses (RN) form the backbone of health care provision in the United States. RNs provide critical health care to the public wherever it is needed.

Key Responsibilities
Perform physical exams and health histories before making critical decisions
Provide health promotion, counseling and education
Administer medications and other personalized interventions
Coordinate care, in collaboration with a wide array of health care professionals
Advanced Practice Registered Nurses
Advance Practice Registered Nurses (APRN) hold at least a Master’s degree, in addition to the initial nursing education and licensing required for all RNs. The responsibilities of an APRN include, but are not limited to, providing invaluable primary and preventative health care to the public. APRNs treat and diagnose illnesses, advise the public on health issues, manage chronic disease and engage in continuous education to remain at the very forefront of any technological, methodological, or other developments in the field.NURS 8001 Foundations of Nursing Assignment Paper

APRNs Practice Specialist Roles
Nurse Practitioners prescribe medication, diagnose and treat minor illnesses and injuries
Certified Nurse-Midwives provide gynecological and low-risk obstetrical care
Clinical Nurse Specialists handle a wide range of physical and mental health problems
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists administer more than 65 percent of all anesthetics
Licensed Practical Nurses
Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN), also known as Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVNs), support the core health care team and work under the supervision of an RN, APRN or MD. By providing basic and routine care, they ensure the wellbeing of patients throughout the whole of the health care journey

Key Responsibilities
Check vital signs and look for signs that health is deteriorating or improving
Perform basic nursing functions such as changing bandages and wound dressings
Ensure patients are comfortable, well-fed and hydrated
May administer medications in some settings
What is the nursing process?
No matter what their field or specialty, all nurses utilize the same nursing process; a scientific method designed to deliver the very best in patient care, through five simple steps.NURS 8001 Foundations of Nursing Assignment Paper

Assessment – Nurses assess patients on an in-depth physiological, economic, social and lifestyle basis.
Diagnosis – Through careful consideration of both physical symptoms and patient behavior, the nurse forms a diagnosis.
Outcomes / Planning – The nurse uses their expertise to set realistic goals for the patient’s recovery. These objectives are then closely monitored.
Implementation – By accurately implementing the care plan, nurses guarantee consistency of care for the patient whilst meticulously documenting their progress.
Evaluation – By closely analyzing the effectiveness of the care plan and studying patient response, the nurse hones the plan to achieve the very best patient outcomes.
Nurses are Key to the Health of the Nation
There are over 4 million registered nurses in the United States today.
That means that one in every 100 people is a registered nurse.
Nurses are in every community – large and small – providing expert care from birth to the end of life.
According to the January 2012 “United States Registered Nurse Workforce Report Card and Shortage Forecast” in the American Journal of Medical Quality, a shortage of registered nurses is projected to spread across the country between 2009 and 2030. In this state-by-state analysis, the authors forecast the RN shortage to be most intense in the South and the West
Nurses’ roles range from direct patient care and case management to establishing nursing practice standards, developing quality assurance procedures, and directing complex nursing care systems.NURS 8001 Foundations of Nursing Assignment Paper

The common thread uniting different types of nurses who work in varied areas is the nursing process—the essential core of practice for the registered nurse to deliver holistic, patient-focused care.

Assessment
An RN uses a systematic, dynamic way to collect and analyze data about a client, the first step in delivering nursing care. Assessment includes not only physiological data, but also psychological, sociocultural, spiritual, economic, and life-style factors as well. For example, a nurse’s assessment of a hospitalized patient in pain includes not only the physical causes and manifestations of pain, but the patient’s response—an inability to get out of bed, refusal to eat, withdrawal from family members, anger directed at hospital staff, fear, or request for more pain mediation.

Diagnosis
The nursing diagnosis is the nurse’s clinical judgment about the client’s response to actual or potential health conditions or needs. The diagnosis reflects not only that the patient is in pain, but that the pain has caused other problems such as anxiety, poor nutrition, and conflict within the family, or has the potential to cause complications—for example, respiratory infection is a potential hazard to an immobilized patient. The diagnosis is the basis for the nurse’s care plan.

Outcomes / Planning
Based on the assessment and diagnosis, the nurse sets measurable and achievable short- and long-range goals for this patient that might include moving from bed to chair at least three times per day; maintaining adequate nutrition by eating smaller, more frequent meals; resolving conflict through counseling, or managing pain through adequate medication. Assessment data, diagnosis, and goals are written in the patient’s care plan so that nurses as well as other health professionals caring for the patient have access to it.NURS 8001 Foundations of Nursing Assignment Paper

Implementation
Nursing care is implemented according to the care plan, so continuity of care for the patient during hospitalization and in preparation for discharge needs to be assured. Care is documented in the patient’s record.

Integrates the science of self-care with other nursing and multidisciplinary perspectives

This is the first text for the Professional Nursing Practice course in RN to BSN curriculum to present a conceptual framework for contemporary nursing practice based on the science of self-care that also incorporates other nursing and multidisciplinary perspectives. Built upon the premise that nursing is both a caring and a knowledge-based profession, this cutting-edge text illustrates how to attain and integrate knowledge from nursing theory and theories of related disciplines to achieve optimal evidence-based nursing practice. Using case studies to demonstrate the relationship between nursing theory and practice, the text underscores the importance of having a deep understanding and conceptual model of the unique role of nursing in society and its practice domain.NURS 8001 Foundations of Nursing Assignment Paper

The text instills a foundational understanding of the science of self-care and its contribution to contemporary nursing. It describes how this paradigm is gaining recognition as an effective anti-burnout strategy and demonstrates how it can be applied. Case examples from a variety of clinical situationsintegrated with nursing theory demonstrate the variables needed to achieve optimal nursing practice. The book illustrates what data to collect, how to analyze that data, how to design and implement intervention strategies, and how to determine their effectiveness. Key concept boxes, measurable objectives with critical thinking questions, and learning activities reinforce content. Additionally, more complex cases included at the end of the text and frequent links to nursing literature provide fodder for more in-depth analysis.

Nursing encompasses autonomous and collaborative care of individuals of all ages, families, groups and communities, sick or well and in all settings. Nursing includes the promotion of health, prevention of illness, and the care of ill, disabled and dying people. Advocacy, promotion of a safe environment, research, participation in shaping health policy and in patient and health systems management, and education are also key nursing roles. (ICN, 2002)

Long definition

Nursing, as an integral part of the health care system, encompasses the promotion of health, prevention of illness, and care of physically ill, mentally ill, and disabled people of all ages, in all health care and other community settings. Within this broad spectrum of health care, the phenomena of particular concern to nurses are individual, family, and group “responses to actual or potential health problems” (ANA, 1980, P.9). These human responses range broadly from health restoring reactions to an individual episode of illness to the development of policy in promoting the long-term health of a population.NURS 8001 Foundations of Nursing Assignment Paper

The unique function of nurses in caring for individuals, sick or well, is to assess their responses to their health status and to assist them in the performance of those activities contributing to health or recovery or to dignified death that they would perform unaided if they had the necessary strength, will, or knowledge and to do this in such a way as to help them gain full of partial independence as rapidly as possible (Henderson, 1977, p.4). Within the total health care environment, nurses share with other health professionals and those in other sectors of public service the functions of planning, implementation, and evaluation to ensure the adequacy of the health system for promoting health, preventing illness, and caring for ill and disabled people. (ICN, 1987)

Definition of a Nurse

The nurse is a person who has completed a program of basic, generalized nursing education and is authorized by the appropriate regulatory authority to practice nursing in his/her country. Basic nursing education is a formally recognised programme of study providing a broad and sound foundation in the behavioural, life, and nursing sciences for the general practice of nursing, for a leadership role, and for post-basic education for specialty or advanced nursing practice. The nurse is prepared and authorized (1) to engage in the general scope of nursing practice, including the promotion of health, prevention of illness, and care of physically ill, mentally ill, and disabled people of all ages and in all health care and other community settings; (2) to carry out health care teaching; (3) to participate fully as a member of the health care team; (4) to supervise and train nursing and health care auxiliaries; and (5) to be involved in research.NURS 8001 Foundations of Nursing Assignment Paper

Let’s chat a little about what this course is all about. Fundamentals of nursing introduces you to the thorough assessment of patients, the nursing process, communication between nurse and patient, cultural differences, functional health patterns, and the overall framework of nursing practice. Think of it this way: When you build a house, you start with the foundation and then move to the framework, walls, and so on. I think you get the point. This class is the foundation for nursing, the beginning point. It gives you an overview of what to expect when working as a nurse.

It will take some time to learn the skills needed to assess patients; do not feel discouraged if you do not grasp the concepts right away. I found myself struggling at the beginning of the course. I felt overwhelmed, my mind was on overload from all the information, and I was nervous about performing the assessments in front of my classmates. I was not one for failure, but boy, did I feel like one at the beginning of this class. My test scores were poor, and my nervousness was undermining my assessment skills.

I began to change my thinking. I studied day and night, went to study groups, and my grades began to improve. It is like the old saying: “Hard work does pay off.” I developed my study skills during this course, which helped me through the other courses, as well. You, too, will develop and improve your study skills as you progress through the course. So let’s jump to it and get started! We will begin with the history of nursing. NURS 8001 Foundations of Nursing Assignment Paper