How could the career planning process help you to be successful in an advanced nurse role?

/in /by

In this unit you will learn about the importance of creating a career plan for yourself. Nursing is a universal profession which touches human life from conception to death in so many ways. The nursing shortage has received a great deal of interest by the nation in response to concerns about safe and effective healthcare delivery. Too few registered nurses are moving into graduate education despite the need for advanced practice nurse practitioners researchers educators administrators and so on. (But you all are YEAH HOO!!)
1. Discussion Boards Please make sure that your discussion board initial answer is submitted to BOTH boards by Saturday at 11:59pm EST.
2. For your week 4 journal you will need to discuss:
Refer to the Institute of Medicine: Future of Nursing Report (2010) regarding professional nursing practice and the elimination of barriers for all professionals. Reference: http://iom.edu/Reports/2010/The-Future-of-Nursing-Leading-Change-Advancing-Health.aspx Write about what you think about the report as this has not been clarified too well in the journal assignment
3. Finally you have an assignment due this week on day 7 in which you must complete the Curriculum Vitae Assignment. There is a template for you to use for your CV in the Unit 4 assignment tab
Have a wonderful week and please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns
Topic >1
Using Donner and Wheelers (2004) or McNeese-Smiths (2000) career stage descriptions explain the following:
At which stage is your career?
In what ways might knowing the stage of your career influence your personal career development plan?
How could the career planning process help you to be successful in an advanced nurse role?
Are there disadvantages to having a detailed career development plan?
What are some advantages to planning your career as opposed to not having a specific plan for achieving your goals?
Nurses enter their career with ideals of service and a desire to improve the lives and health of patients (McNeese-Smith 2000 p. 140).
1. At what stage is your career?
I believe my career is at a stage 4 as described by Donner ( 2001). Donner explains how our career is a process that over time becomes part of a nurses repertoire of skills and experiences and enables the nurse to develop as a professional and achieve the objective he or she has met (Donner Donner G.J. & Wheeler 2001 p. 81).

Describe a department or unit within a health care organization using systems theory terminology. Include a description of inputs, throughput, output, cycles of events, and negative feedback.

/in /by

To prepare:
• Review the Meyer article, “Nursing Services Delivery Theory: An Open System Approach,” in this week’s Learning Resources. Focus especially on the information presented in Table 1 (p. 2831) and Figure 2 (p. 2833).
• Reflect on your organization or one with which you are familiar. Within a particular department or unit in this organization, identify a problem the staff is encountering.
• Using Table 1 in the Meyer article as a guide, analyze the department or unit, identifying inputs, throughput, output, cycles of events, and negative feedback. Consider whether the problem you have selected relates to input, throughput, output, cycles of events, and/or negative feedback.
• Think about how you could address the problem: Consider what a desired outcome would be, then formulate related goals and objectives, and translate those goals into policies and procedures.
• Research professional standards that are pertinent to your identified problem.
• Reflect on the organization’s mission statement and values. In addition, consider how addressing this problem would uphold the mission and values, while improving the organizational culture and climate. (Depending on the organization you have selected, you may have explored these in the Week 1 Discussion.)
To complete:
By Day 7
Write a 3- to 5-page paper (page count does not include title and reference page) that addresses the following:
• Describe a department or unit within a health care organization using systems theory terminology. Include a description of inputs, throughput, output, cycles of events, and negative feedback.
• Describe the problem you identified within the department or unit using an open- systems approach, and state where the problem exists using the systems theory model (input, throughput, output, cycles of events, or negative feedback).
• Based on this information, explain how you would address the problem as follows:
o Formulate a desired outcome.
o Identify goals and objectives that would facilitate that outcome.
o Translate those goals and objectives into policies and procedures for the department or unit.
o Describe relevant professional standards.
• Explain how your proposed resolution to the problem would uphold the organization’s mission and values and imp

What are the most important elements of the Affordable Care Act in relation to community and public health? What is the role of the nurse in implementing this law?

/in /by

The Affordable Care Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama in March 2010. Many of the provisions of the law directly affect health care providers. Review the following online resources:
1. Key Features of the Affordable Care Act: http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/facts/timeline/index.html
2. Health Care Transformation: the Affordable Care Act and More: http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/Policy-Advocacy/HealthSystemReform/AffordableCareAct.pdf
What are the most important elements of the Affordable Care Act in relation to community and public health? What is the role of the nurse in implementing this law?

What is the nature of nursing practice? • What is the social purpose of nursing?

/in /by

As the demand for knowledge, technical savvy, compassion, and leadership increases in the field of nursing, it is important to determine what is fundamentally important to you in delivering the best nursing care. By reflecting on your values, morals, and what brought you to the profession originally, you should be able to articulate your own personal philosophy. Develop your own nursing philosophy. Consider the following questions. From your viewpoint: • What is nursing? • What is the nature of human caring? • What is the nature of nursing practice? • What is the social purpose of nursing? Explain how the philosophy you developed relates to your current or interested practice area. Format your philosophy in a way that you feel adequately conveys your ideas. You may find that writing a brief philosophy of nursing helps clarify your beliefs and values. This exercise can be done using the headings of person, environment, health, and nursing or other concepts that come to mind when you consider nursing and why you chose the nursing profession. The thought process of writing a philosophy compels you to recognize beliefs and values you hold true. Once your beliefs are clarified, surveying the definitions of person, environment, health, and nursing in the nursing theoretical works leads you to particular theoretical works to consider. Reviewing the assumptions of the philosophy, model, or theory in comparison with statements in your philosophy helps you identify an association between a theoretical work and your values and beliefs. This process may be undertaken by considering whether the concepts in the theoretical work you have selected focus on ideas similar to the values expressed in your philosophy about the patient, environment, health, and nursing. Certain framework ideas may resonate with your ideas. Chapter 4 may be helpful in this process as Pam Grace discusses values in nursing works. Guidelines for Selecting a Framework for Nursing Practice 1. Consider values and beliefs personally held about nursing. 2. Develop a philosophy statement about persons, environment, health, and nursing. 3. Survey meaning of person, environment, health, and nursing in nursing frameworks. 4. Identify two or three frameworks that resonate best with your values and definitions. 5. Review the assumptions of the frameworks you have selected. 6. Apply the frameworks in your nursing practice (try them in actual practice situations). 7. Compare the frameworks with attention to client focus, nursing action, and client outcome. 8. Review nursing literature written by persons who use the frameworks in their practice. 9. Select a framework and begin to develop its use in your nursing practice.