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The medical field is continuously work on to improve technology and to educate individuals that provide direct patient care. Nursing is one of the oldest professions, and it has changed dramatically over time. It won’t be wrong to say that nursing existed way back into ancient times. There have been many transformations from nursing of today than earlier time. In olden days, nursing was look upon as an act of kindness and charity work. Nurses back then were not well trained or educated, moreover, they relied more on home-remedies.
Hospitals start building during Civil War and that was the time when nursing profession grew dramatically. “Those nurses were wives or mistresses who were following their solider men”. (Papandrea, 2016) During Civil war, nursing profession was considered a lower-class job. In mid-1800’s, Florence Nightingale came along and histrionically changed nursing field. She laid the foundation for nursing profession, believed in education and scientific principles.
Compare and Contrast
ADN and BSN graduates become registered nurses after passing NCLEX. The capability between ADN and BSN looks same, yet there are differences in various levels.
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With ADN, nursing duties include simple nursing care, recording patient history and symptoms, educating patients on diseases, supporting patient & family and consult with doctors. They provide patient care by administering medication, manage airway, monitor vital signs, blood transfusion, wound care etc. ADN nurses are responsible for family central patient care. ADN training focus on clinical skills and consider technical nurses.
But nurses with BSN can work directly under doctor’s supervision on more complicated procedures. Nurses with BSN are more skilled and trained to deliver safe and effective patient care. With BSN, nurse can have administrative and leadership position or nursing specialties like nurse research, public health nurse, case nurse managers, nurse education. BSN is considered more of a professional nurse, it’s training focus more on nursing research, decision making, management and leadership and clinical skills. They are capable to make quick, sometimes life and death decisions.
Hospital settings want less patient mortality and with BSN, nurses have better outcomes with fewer complications. The nursing field is constantly growing. “To keep up with these growing trends, hospital administrators are changing the way nurses interact with their patients”. (Salmond 2017) BSN program’s curriculum broad flexibility can make the difference in helping nurses succeed against the continuous challenges involved in patient care. According to recent studies, it is strongly recommended for nurses to have higher education. “The Institutes of Medicine recommends that 80 percent of all nurses should hold a BSN degree by 2020”.
Patient Care sSituation
A patient care situation between ADN and BSN is rely mostly on critical thinking. Patient have hx of hypertension, but he’s been managing with exercise and diet. Post hip surgery, patient has had elevated blood pressure. Doctor have written PRN order for elevated blood pressure. ADN nurse would notice elevated blood pressure and administer PRN blood pressure medication. On the other hand, BSN nurse would assess for pain and labs for any hemorrhage. Pain medication can help decrease the blood pressure. With pain medication and alternating the environment, BSN nurse can avoid giving unnecessary blood pressure medication.
Significance of EBP
In ancient nursing, it was perfectly alright not to wear gloves during surgical procedures and it was alright to milk the chest tubes. Though at that time, it may seem normal, but with evidence-based practice (EBP) it’s proven unsafe. Florence Nightingale was among the historians that use EBP. She “connected poor sanitary condition and death rate of wounded soldiers.” (Stevens, 2013) As healthcare continues to change EBP is becoming even more crucial. With BSN, nurses are expected to use EBP for better and safer patient outcomes. They can apply critical-thinking skills, professional responsibility and clinical skills to bedside care. The use of EBP benefits BSN nursing because it provides safety and success to healthcare.
EBP is considered vital to nursing care and has been applied from hand hygiene to patient education. It links clinical decision-making to the best existing evidence, clinical proficiency and patient preference. The purpose of EBP is to cut down on variations in practice and regulate healthcare.
Communication and Collaboration
Communication in healthcare field is very important. Any missed information can jeopardize patient’s life. Effective, precise, and timely communication is essential for quality health care and is strongly linked to health care staff job satisfaction. “Developing ways to improve communication is key to increasing quality of care, and interdisciplinary care teams allow for improved communication among health care professionals”. (Dingley, 2015) Including SBAR, team huddles and multidisciplinary rounds using Daily Goals Sheet can support more safe and effective patient outcomes.
Huddles involves all department staff, face-to-face communication, brief discuss of specific issues and reminders on how to avoid errors. Huddle can last anywhere from 5-10 minutes, beginning of each shift and it’s usually led by a supervisor.
SBAR is a communication format guidance for a staff and provider. S is for a situation, what is going on with patient? Background is medical history of the patient. Assessment is what nurse think is wrong with the patient. Recommendation is what nurse would like to be done for the patient. SBAR provides communication, can be used in any clinical setting, and has been used in ICU, ED, rapid response teams, telemetry and other areas. SBAR provide important guidelines before contacting another team member.
Conclusion
In conclusion, nursing profession continues to be a growing field. Historically, it has proven its ability to adapt to the culture around it. In olden days, nursing profession was looked down and it was not consider a respectful job. With advances in healthcare field and more education, nurses are getting respect that they deserve. The changes in health care setting, growing responsibilities, more training, and safe patient care have saved many lives and helped it earned the respected field that it is today.
