The Importance Of Professional Nursing Image For Safe And Competent Nursing Practice

Why is demonstrating a professional nursing image important for nursing students in the delivery of safe, competent nursing practice?

Why is demonstrating a professional nursing image important?

The nursing image is very significant for the nursing profession. The nursing image represents the profession. Their image is influenced by the conduct of the nurses themselves, they care for the patients and even the way they dress at the time of providing care. The nurses can view their profession clearly by redefining their image. The nursing image rests decisive for the profession. The way nurses sight their profession has an impression on the self-esteem of their profession. Nursing professionals can experience feedbacks if their image is not optimistic. Every time a nurse says to family, friends or public, every time she represents her profession. The nurses are required to develop the skills of demonstrating themselves and take the accountability of moving from silence to voice. The nurses are regarded as helpers of the doctors (Zhao, Lei, He, Gu & Li, 2015). The nurses are knowledgeable, intellectual and analytical.

The nurses are health care professionals and possess a great deal of knowledge. The role of the nurses depends on the need of the patients such as caregiver, communicator, decision-maker, advocator or mentor. At the same period of time nurses play their professional role like pharmacist roles. The nurses contain a good self-assurance in taking care of the patients and collaborate with other health occupations. There are different perspectives which are alleged by the nurses. The role of the nurses is to be beside of the patients and fulfill the needs on the basis of interpersonal skills and caring practices. Some nurses have more sureness in taking care of the patients. Though, some feel less confidence due to the low level of education. The confidence can be increased with the on-going education and experience. There are various levels of education in nursing like diploma III, diploma IV, bachelor nurse, and a nurse specialist. The levels of nurses keep on upgrading nurses. The nurses need to hold at least one year of bachelor degree. The degrees behind the role of the nursing are baccalaureate, master and doctoral degree programmes. The nursing has become more scholarly (Odell, 2015). The awareness of the nurses towards patient’s health helps to empower the nurse students. There should be effective communication skills towards the perception of the public. The nurses should work harder to represent themselves more clearly to the nurse students and the public. The nurses are required to work in a challenging work environment in order to attain an opportunity to break the daily routine (Wang & Liu, 2015).

The role of the nurses is to advocate and care for the patients and support them through illness. The nurses keep a record of medical history and symptoms. They monitor the health of the patients and perform required diagnostic tests. They guide the patients regarding illness along with the treatment. The support and advice are equally provided to the patients. The nurse is a caregiver and manages the physical needs of the patients, prevent illness and treat health conditions. The nurses are required to follow and update the progress of the patients and act in the best interest of the patients. The patients are the first priority of the nurse and their role is to advocate them. It is the role of the nurses to support patients and represent their interest especially when the decision is supposed to be made for their treatment (McGilton, Bowers, Heath, Shannon, Dellefield, Prentice & Boscart, 2016). The nurses are directly involved in the treatment of the patients. They are capable of identifying the potential problems and make appropriate recommendations. Although the doctors and specialists are liable to take the final decisions the information is communicated by the patients regarding the health of the patients. The nurses are most familiar with the condition of the patients. They can easily collaborate with the symptoms of on-going disease and promote the best health outcomes. The nurses are also liable to ensure patients understand their disease, medications, and treatment. They should also support individuals if they seek to attain additional information (Laschinger, Nosko, Wilk & Finegan, 2014). It should also be noticed that the patients are liable to control their treatment by own once they are discharged from the hospital. These duties of the nurses clearly reflect their role in the delivery of safe and competent nursing practice.

The significance of nursing image for the profession

The nurse managers are also required to clarify how a multigenerational nursing workforce led. It is because everyone has a difference in attitude, belief and working habits. The nurses’ head needs to ease announcement between senior and new nurses to endorse and define the job. When there is mix staff working collected then nursing staff skill mix models needs to be addressed in order to convey the best nursing care. It has been also observed that a mixed nurse staff model is linked to lower rates of medication errors and wound infection. It also ensures safety outcomes (Keyko, Cummings, Yonge & Wong, 2016).

The nursing image is important for the delivery of safe nursing practices. The nursing practice understands a person, health and the environment and cares for them. The knowledge and caring are associated with the scope of nursing. The principles like ethical guides’ patient advocacy and the facility of end-of-life care. The nurses also provide clarity to the patients in the case of the complex healthcare setting. The nurses can also take action in the absence of the senior medical representatives. The nurses also use their knowledge to empower others and drive system change (Ironside, McNelis & Ebright, 2014). The new image of nurses has been created. According to this, the nurses must:

• Asses nursing and develop that image daily.
• The nurses are required to take themselves seriously and dress the part.
• Identify the value which is done by them.
• Believe in themselves and colleagues.

The nurses represent how they contribute to health care as a profession. The nurses are required to work with the nurse students in order to promote the image of nursing. The leaders are also needed to identify the daily impact on the perceptions of the staff nurses, patients, and caregivers. The nurses have appreciated the importance of how they are alleged by the patients and the care givers (Boyko, Carter & Bryant?Lukosius, 2016). The nurses are required to work harder to communicate their profession to the nurse students and the public. The social media is effective in representing the image of the nurses. Internet and YouTube are an effective media of social media. The nurses can attain a stronger image in the healthcare organizations and enhance their visibility. The nurses can even make use of nurse educator or specialist to show the nurse students and the public what their work really necessitates (Lima, Newall, Jordan, Hamilton & Kinney, 2016).

The image of the nurses as assistants still exists but it can be influenced by the value, respect, and seniority. Therefore, the changes in the image of the nurses still remain critical. The nurses are required to reject the tasks which are not associated with their positions and patient’s health. The senior managers are needed to develop nurse competence and upgrade skills of the nurses through professional and educational development. The skill- mixed model can also be used to address the nurses for the clinical practice.

References

Boyko, J. A., Carter, N., & Bryant?Lukosius, D. (2016). Assessing the spread and uptake of a framework for introducing and evaluating advanced practice nursing roles. Worldviews on Evidence?Based Nursing, 13(4), 277-284.

Ironside, P. M., McNelis, A. M., & Ebright, P. (2014). Clinical education in nursing: Rethinking learning in practice settings. Nursing Outlook, 62(3), 185-191.

Keyko, K., Cummings, G. G., Yonge, O., & Wong, C. A. (2016). Work engagement in professional nursing practice: A systematic review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 61, 142-164.

Laschinger, H. K. S., Nosko, A., Wilk, P., & Finegan, J. (2014). Effects of unit empowerment and perceived support for professional nursing practice on unit effectiveness and individual nurse well-being: A time-lagged study. International journal of nursing studies, 51(12), 1615-1623.

Lima, S., Newall, F., Jordan, H. L., Hamilton, B., & Kinney, S. (2016). Development of competence in the first year of graduate nursing practice: a longitudinal study. Journal of advanced nursing, 72(4), 878-888.

Mackey, A., & Bassendowski, S. (2017). The history of evidence-based practice in nursing education and practice. Journal of Professional Nursing, 33(1), 51-55.

McGilton, K. S., Bowers, B. J., Heath, H., Shannon, K., Dellefield, M. E., Prentice, D., ... & Boscart, V. M. (2016). Recommendations from the international consortium on professional nursing practice in long-term care homes. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 17(2), 99-103.

Odell, M. (2015). Detection and management of the deteriorating ward patient: an evaluation of nursing practice. Journal of clinical nursing, 24(1-2), 173-182.

Wang, S., & Liu, Y. (2015). Impact of professional nursing practice environment and psychological empowerment on nurses' work engagement: test of structural equation modelling. Journal of Nursing Management, 23(3), 287-296.

Zhao, F. F., Lei, X. L., He, W., Gu, Y. H., & Li, D. W. (2015). The study of perceived stress, coping strategy and self?efficacy of C hinese undergraduate nursing students in clinical practice. International journal of nursing practice, 21(4), 401-409.