Discussion Week 12

Nurses should be involved in their professional organizations in order to stay updated on the current and emerging trends and issues in nursing in general and their specialty areas (Eyles, 2013). The knowledge of the emerging trends and opportunities helps nurses to position themselves for professional growth. 

Q 2:

The main benefit of ObamaCare is that it has expanded health insurance coverage for low-income Americans to give them access to essential preventive and treatment interventions (Kim, 2015). On the other hand, the main drawback of ObamaCare is that high health insurance premiums have caused many people to remain uninsured or underinsured.

Q 3:

My vision of the nursing future is a profession in which practitioners assume leadership and decision-making roles in order to practice to the full extent of their education and training. I plan to contribute to the nursing future by pursuing advanced education and training and participating in lobbying for health care reforms in my specialty area.

Q 4:

Mrs. Johnson is a diploma nurse who has worked in both inpatient and outpatient settings in the past 20 years. Her education differs from mine in that her training focused mainly on the provision of direct bedside care. The program did not emphasize research, informatics, leadership and administrative skills for the nurse. On the other hand, my training has not only equipped me with direct bed-side care skills but also advanced research, problem-solving, informatics, leadership and administrative skills.

Q 5:

AACN is a professional nursing organization that provides acute and critical care nurses with the professional support relevant to the delivery of wholesome patient care. The organization’s mission is to provide expert knowledge and support to enable nurses to fulfill their duty to patients and their families. One should be a nursing student or a licensed registered nurse with interest in acute or critical care in order to qualify for AACN membership. An annual membership fee of $78 applies (AACN, 2018). The organization’s standards of practice emphasize scientific knowledge, innovation, accountability, leadership and collaborative care delivery.

Q 6:

The majority of the respondents who do not work in the healthcare settings think that nurses are physicians’ assistants who perform simple tasks such as giving drugs and cleaning the patient. This perception shows that most people do not understand what nurses do. Nurses are highly trained professionals who partner with physicians and other medical personnel to provide wholesome care to patients. The responses by most of the people who do not work in the healthcare settings were unrealistic. The respondents underestimated the responsibilities and capabilities of nurses. They failed to recognize that nurses are not physicians’ handmaids but professionals capable of assessing, diagnosing and treating patients. The differences in the perceptions of nursing did not vary by age or gender. The survey results demonstrate that the public has a demeaning perception of nursing. I think that the lack of recognition of nursing as a profession had influenced the perceptions about nurses. I believe that the boundaries between nursing and medicine are unclear, especially in areas of authority and decision making. Therefore, many people assume that nurses must work under doctors’ authority and instructions.

Q 7:

The nurse of the future is highly educated, intelligent, tech-savvy, innovative, creative, a leader, manager and partner in health reforms. She assumes responsibility and accountability for patient care and develops creative and evidence-based strategies to promote desirable patient outcomes. I believe that the future nurse will become a more powerful force in healthcare in comparison to the current nurse. The ongoing changes in the nursing curricular are preparing nurses to take control over most aspects of patient care and assume many of the roles performed traditionally by physicians. Furthermore, the ongoing healthcare reforms such as the Full Practice Authority for APRNs will give nurses the authority to exercise more control over patient care.