Mode of learning as well as the skills attained from a baccalaureate course develops through innovation and application of social justice in the nursing field. There is a direct connection between personal skills and attitude as applied in healthcare. The link is determined by the willingness of a nurse to learn from better professionals through observatory and practical approach to tackling healthcare issues. Following this link, learning is taken as a process that develops and nurtures invention through liberal education, organizational and systems leadership, scholarship for evidence based practice and professionalism and professional values.
Through a descriptive and analytical approach of learning of the field of nursing through baccalaureate, an appraisal for measuring competency is achieved. In this paper, my description of learning is given to put into context essentials of baccalaureate relative to experience, personal skill and attitude towards the field.
Baccalaureate graduates expect to gain experience in the nursing and healthcare setting using baccalaureate essentials. These essentials involve character, attitude, ethics, and willingness to provide healthcare in accordance to the requirements of social justice. Within different settings of liberal education, basic organizational and systems leadership, scholarship for evidence based practice and professionalism and professional values. Through liberal education, the program prepares one to connect theories and concepts from the educational system to the nursing practice. Synthesis of theories and concepts helps the practitioners to understand human experience, to use inquiry skills and analysis literally to address the issues at hand in the professional field of healthcare under the care setting (Marion, Donna & Douglas, 2010).
Basic organizational organization and systems leadership fosters the practitioner or the baccalaureate to graduate to under the values of organizing oneself for the good for the entire health care providing fraternity. The organizational basics teach the practitioners on the right way of applying leadership concepts, expertise and decision-making in the provision of quality care within the nursing setting (pp. 34-38). As an organization, the healthcare environment is a complex structure that demands for the understanding and demonstration of awareness of the activities related to the system. Systems leadership is implemented to ensure and environment that puts the safety and the welfare of patients first and takes it as a top priority. Through this leadership, promotion of factors that foster and guarantee safety and caring to patients is achieved, hence, providing an environment that makes the relationship between nurses and patients more personal (p. 121).
Scholarship for evidence-based practice requires that baccalaureate graduates are able to investigate and diagnose patients appropriately using the right methods and approaches. Evidence based practice is a form of nursing or healthcare ethic that requires evidence-use in every situation involving service rendering from the nurse to the patient. By doing so, the nurse should be able to explain the connection between theory, practice and research as applying to a given patient. Protection of human subjects is advocated in regards to the application of research, therefore, giving credibility to the practice of nursing.
Professionalism and professional values connect mastery of essential values in the patient-nurse setting with accuracy of practice to deal with the issues at hand. Demonstration of skills for patient professional standards is a fundamental requirement within which the use of information systems and telecommunication technologies aids in effective communication and channels of interaction. Through professionalism and professional values, evaluation of data from all relevant sources gives a concise and precise importance to data as well as its application in the field of nursing (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008).
I graduated from Edison State College in 2008 and qualified for internship on medicine, surgery and infectious diseases unit for one year. Currently am working in pre-op holding surgical service as in-charge nurse. In pursuit of my education, I will be going back to school to take a course on managerial opportunities.
Essentials of Baccalaureate
• Liberal Education for Baccalaureate Generalist Nursing Practice
The baccalaureate program in this stage prepares a graduate to formulate a way and method for integrating theories from liberal education into the practice of nursing. The theories and concepts from liberal education are synthesized to create an understanding with the moment of application to human experience. It is using inquiry skills that analysis of information is drawn to reflect on the issues addressing the nursing practice. Communication is a natural requirement within the nursing practice that calls for the use of verbal, non-verbal, written and embracing new technologies to effect communication. Through learning, a baccalaureate graduate develops this essential through assessing the modes of application of theories and concepts, therefore, linking them with communication channels to pass the knowledge to colleagues and relevant information to patients.
Diverse populations require diverse knowledge in social and cultural settings to ensure quality service delivery that satisfies the needs of the masses with the least possible of risks. To achieve success in satisfying the needs of the masses, this essential demands one to engage in ethical reasoning and acting in a manner aimed at providing leadership advocating for social justice as an element of responsibility as a citizen. Responsibility in this case is exercised through the integration of knowhow of various disciplines to aid in making informed decisions. In the process of making decisions, tolerance should be exercised as a means of putting up with the unpredictability of the world and its effect on the system of healthcare. In putting up with the challenges involved within the practice, essential one of baccalaureate directs practitioners to value the ideal lifelong learning in order to polish skill and success in nursing practice. The essentials of baccalaureate within the context of scholars are achievable through open mindedness and endurance to learn and gain experience during times of challenges and normal times (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008).
• Basic Organizational and Systems Leadership for Quality Care and Patient Safety
To achieve the necessary and most required safety for patients, leadership skills, concepts and decision-making in the process of providing quality care to patients, attaining healthcare team coordination and a means of appraising accountability when giving healthcare in various settings. Patient safety should be prioritized through the installment of effective communication channels and means to coordinate operations of different team members (Sarah, 2010). In relation to implementing a reliable means of communication, effective communication skills are required as well as unsurpassed level of awareness in the event of complex organizational systems. Through this, a demonstration of understanding in terms of organizational structure, purpose of the mission, values and philosophies would result (p. 87). This level of achievement can be realized if one engages in initiatives that promote and quality of service and safety of patient. For professionals, it is in their minds that application of quality and patient safety by using process, structure, and outcome predication measures are crucial requirements for nursing. For baccalaureate graduates, the above point is an installment into the essentials of baccalaureate that fosters quality service delivery with safety of patients as the top priority (p. 99).
The nursing profession depends and prioritizes safety and care, therefore, practitioners are required to promote factors that create a culture of care and safety. For diverse populations as discussed under essential one of baccalaureate, diversity in the nursing field should be exercised in order to realize quality and safe outcomes of care. Within microsystems of care performance measures should be monitored through the implementation of a mechanism that appraises and improves processes within the nursing practice (pp. 103-105). Improvement of processes is weighed through testing of changes by keeping track of model designs, outcomes of care and level of quality and safety are realized. Employment of principles for the improvement of quality, policy of healthcare and cost-effective levels are essential in the creation of reliable plans in the microsystem improvements of quality and safety (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008).
• Scholarship for Evidence-Based Practice
In the third installment of baccalaureate essentials is a set of requirements that prepares graduates to explain the connection and relationship of theory, research and practice. The importance of establishing this relationship is to demonstrate a form of understanding in respect to the basic elements of study process and mechanisms of relating evidence to nursing practice. In medical research, study of different aspects involving patients requires their use as research subjects. In this case, the third essential requires one to advocate for the protection of human subjects if they are to be involved in any stage of the research. Within the context of research, an evaluation of the credibility of research information not only on databases but also on the internet, guarantees more effective and reliable research. Relating the credibility of research sources to the expected patient outcomes, a practitioner is required to involve him/herself in the processes of acquisition, evaluation and synthesis of evidence together with other healthcare members.
The evaluation of outcomes of care depends on the integration of evidence, judgment in the clinical setting, professional perspectives and planning with respect to the patient preferences. This helps to implement reliable models for the evaluation of care in the practice of nursing. Acquisition of understanding is required for understanding how nursing processes are related with healthcare quality and measures for appraising safety are established, legalized and certified. A descriptive mechanism should be developed to resolve identified incongruities between implemented standards and practices whose effects may negatively affect patient outcomes (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008).
• Professionalism and Professional Values
A practitioner should demonstrate his professional standards of morality, ethics and legal conduct. The use of professional standards aids and facilitates effective mode of relationship in a number of healthcare settings. In the establishment, implementation and use of patient professional standards should apply precautionary measures to safeguard information systems to support safe environment for nursing practice. One way to make sure that precautionary measures are observed is through understanding the CIS system to document related interventions to the achievement of nurse sensitive outcomes. Use of standardized terminology is one way of achieving this level of outcome reflecting on the nurses’ contribution to interventional measures. As a way of ensuring that standardized terminology is used, recognition of the importance of information, evaluation of data and data security ensure a safe environment for care respecting clients’ right to privacy and their confidentiality.
Appropriation of patient professional standards to cover diverse populations requires a baccalaureate graduate to diversify his/her knowledge on how to use them. In addition, advocacy for the use of new technologies is required in the nursing field. This improves the ability and accountability of the nurse in relation to the dynamic nature of technology. When anticipating for the implementation of new patient care technologies, redesigning of workflow and provision of care should be taken care of prior to the implementation. This improves the performance of the nurse because new technologies would mean a higher level of sophistication, therefore, preplanning improves innovation preservation of time (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008).
Description and Analysis of My Learning
My learning as opposed to the baccalaureate essentials has involved theoretical and practical approaches in learning about nursing. Through class concepts and practical application in the field of nursing as nurtured professionalism and professional values in that, I respect the guideline of the profession, patients’ choices and seniors in nursing. Through the knowledge I acquired within the period of one year of internship, organizational and systems leadership for patient care and safety is an essential whose full potential I have not gained regarding the use of complex systems for the provision of care. To cover for this, I will be heading back to school to take a course of managerial opportunities where I am determined to learn complex systems and apply them in nursing. The skills required for the attaining of baccalaureate essentials concern life, physical, social and mathematical sciences whose potential for attaining will be defined by learning, practicing and taking a keen interest on the elements that make up these sciences.