Category: Nursing

General Overview

A significant increase in the technological use of observes in higher education because educational technology has an impact on the ways nurses could learn and take care of patients (Merrill, 2015). Technological tools could help students with patient-centered care including self-directing, time-saving, and cost-saving details, skill-building, and increased proficiency. However, educational technologies could dehumanize patient care and replace such skills as critical thinking and problem-solving. Therefore, nurses have to understand the essence of every educational technology. In this paper, mobile learning technology in the form of smartphones will be discussed.

Background Information

Brief Description

Nowadays, a variety of devices could be used to deliver tasks and assessments for students. Test takers could find the required portion of information via such devices as desktop computers, laptop computers, tablets, or smartphones (Popp, Tuzinski, & Fetzer, 2016). Smartphones introduce a new type of educational technology with several expanded functions including the possibilities to use the Internet at any time (Phillippi & Wyatt, 2011).

Billions of people use smartphones around the whole world. Many institutions do not find it necessary to use smartphones as the main educational technology in classrooms. Some tutors do not appreciate the idea of using smartphones by students because of the inabilities to think critically and analyze the required portion of material independently. Still, smartphones have several positive outcomes of nursing education. Therefore, several discussions on the topic of smartphones in nursing education occur today.

Creation

Many people believe that the first smartphones appeared at the beginning of the 2000s and were offered in the form they have today. The history of smartphones is longer than the majority of people think. Simon, the first smartphone, combined the features of personal digital assistants and cellular devices and was offered by BellSouth in 1994 (Krajci & Cummings, 2013). However, the idea of smartphones had even deeper roots and was discussed by the developers in the 1970s. In 1996, the first Nokia communicators appeared. In the early 2000s, several smartphone models were introduced to consumers.

Nowadays, thousands of smartphone models are available to people worldwide, and many of them are used in education and nursing education, in particular. Blackberry devices were introduced to the field of nursing in 2002 so that the era of smartphones in nursing education began that year (Doswell, Braxter, Dabbs, Nilsen, & Klem, 2013).

Mobile Learning in Nursing Education

Mobile learning is frequently used in nursing education because it is cheaper and more universal than the idea to use PDAs (Zhan, 2014). Students use smartphones to get quick access to a variety of educational materials and guidelines offered and updated by tutors in a short period. A learning process could be facilitated considerably with the help of numerous downloadable applications and subscriptions (Zhan, 2014).

It does not take much time to find an e-book and read it via a smartphone. Students and tutors could exchange important information for several minutes. Sometimes, people do not have enough time or do have some personal reasons for why they cannot meet each other, share the required portion of information, ask questions, or make some clarifications. Smartphones could be used from anywhere where access to the Internet is present.

Parker (2014) points out that, in the sphere of health care, the use of smartphones has grown considerably, and bring-your-own-device policies are supported by many organizations in different states. Nursing education could benefit a lot with smartphones in case tutors and students are provided with the information about how to use smartphones, how to avoid risks, and how to develop personal skills with the chosen educational technology.

Mobile Learning as a Benefit or Detriment to Nursing Education

Several organizations and institutions try to re-visit their policies and standards to clarify the role of smartphones. Some students cannot define the boundaries when it is beneficial to use smartphones and when it is unnecessary or even harmful to use smartphones. There are many ethical and security considerations that students pay no attention to. For example, one two out of five people use some security precautions to avoid criminal hackers or other threats available online (Parker, 2014). Several tutors, students, and other users of smartphones, who are involved in health care and nursing, admit that face-to-face interactions and communication have been considerably changed and worsened when people started using smartphones (Doswell et al., 2013).

However, mobile learning in the form of smartphones has several benefits that cannot be neglected by people. First, access to the Internet is a very helpful option. In case students ask some questions that cannot be answered by tutors or just want to check the correctness of the answer, they could surf the web with ease and get the answer in several seconds. Smartphones also replace the necessity of huge screens and unnecessary techniques to observe the video.

Each student can turn on the video and watch it in the most comfortable position. Finally, social learning via smartphone is one of the latest achievements of students. Nursing education could be improved in case students, tutors, and nursing experts could share their experience, ask questions, and get answers on a required subject.

Evaluation

People, who try to evaluate the worth of smartphones in nursing education, could find several options to consider. On the one hand, there are many challenges and concerns about the ways of how students could use smartphones in classrooms. On the other hand, tutors have to spend much time to clarify how to use smartphones and control students activities in classrooms. To evaluate the impact of smartphones in nursing education, it is possible to interview students and tutors, create questionnaires, and develop special topics on forums online. Such activities could help to gather opinions from different parts of the world and clarify how smartphones are or could be used in nursing education.

Conclusion

In general, mobile learning is widely spread in nursing education. Many students and tutors find it interesting and effective to use smartphones in the classrooms and benefit from the opportunities available. Though there are some concerns and challenges for people to deal with, the benefits prevail and make developers focus on new functions of smartphones that could be used by nursing students and educators.

References

Doswell, W., Braxter, B., Dabbs, A.D., Nilsen, W., & Klem, M.L. (2013). mHealth: Technology for nursing practice, education, and research. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 3(10), 99-109.

Krajci, I., & Cummings, D. (2013). Android on X86: An introduction to optimizing for Intel ® architecture. New York, NY: Apress.

Merrill, E.B. (2015). Integrating technology into nursing education. ABNF Journal, 26(4), 72-73.

Parker, C.D. (2014). Evolution or revolution? Smartphone use in nursing practice. American Nurse Today. Web.

Phillippi, J.C., & Wyatt, T.H. (2011). Smartphones in nursing education. Computer, Informatics, Nursing: CIN, 29(8), 449-454.

Popp, E.C., Tuzinski, K., & Fetzer, M. (2016). Actor or avatar? Considerations in selecting appropriate formats for assessment content. In F. Drasgow (Ed.), Technology and testing: Improving educational and psychological measurement (pp. 79-103).New York, NY: Routledge.

Zhan, J. (2014). Evaluating and designing smartphone applications for nursing education. International Conference on Computer, Communications and Information Technology: Advances in Intelligent Systems Research, 87, 209-212.

Introduction

It could be hardly doubted that the development of new technologies vastly influences nearly every aspect of contemporary life. It is possible to say that this technological impact is evidently present in the sphere of public health and nursing. Since science has always contributed to the development and improvement of healthcare tools, it is not surprising that new supercomputers and robot technologies are gradually integrated into modern medicine. However, the development of technologies could not always have an only positive impact since the employment of such tools also imposes challenges and implications for the healthcare system. This paper aims to investigate the benefits and disadvantages of new computer technologies in the context of nursing science and practice.

Benefits

First of all, it is essential to discuss the advantages of current technological advancement. For example, there is a possibility of creating a robot that would feel emotions, learn, and think similarly to people, in a relatively near future (Human robot getting closer, 2018). It is obvious that such a breakthrough would be highly beneficial for nursing practice. Firstly, it would significantly increase the amount of clinical staff, which would be capable of delivering care for a greater amount of people. If such robots were created, it would be possible to decrease the waiting time in clinics since robots would take part in receptionists responsibilities. Therefore, the quality of care in clinics will be improved.

It is also possible to mention that the learning function, which is promised by iCub, would be a significantly positive factor, contributing to the facilitation of robots integration into the nursing process (Human robot getting closer, 2018). The developers of this technology additionally claim that the robot would have a sense of touch and strength, which will be even more developed compared to human senses (Human robot getting closer, 2018). Therefore, such robots could be engaged in nursing activities related to the physical treatment of patients. Additionally, as it is mentioned by Racine (2016), the robots would positively contribute to the development of nursing education.

Disadvantages

However, the difficulties of such rapid technological development are also evident. First of all, it should be stated that the integration of robots similar to what is designed by iCub will vastly impact the presence of human personnel in a clinical environment. It is apparent that the introduction of new technologies into nearly any working sphere causes the reduction of work which is done by people. Therefore, since the iCub robot would be capable of doing the majority of tasks, which are performed by registered nurses, it is evident that there would be great diminutions of human personnel.

Also, it is essential to mention the ethical aspect of the question. It is apparent that the discussion of the similarities and differences between the human brain and computer processor is a very prolonged conversation, which involves numerous fundamental philosophical questions (Kuo, Sahama, Kushniruk, Borycki, & Grunwell, 2014). However, it should be suggested that many patients would reject the healthcare provided by robots since they would not feel the emotional connections, or they even might fear it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, one can assume that the development of computing technologies, due to its inevitability, should be considered to be an integral part of everyday life. It is evident that these technologies significantly benefit various aspects of contemporary life. However, it is also important to consider the possible implications of their use.

References

Human robot getting closer: iCub robot must learn from its experiences. (2013). Web.

Kuo, M. H., Sahama, T., Kushniruk, A. W., Borycki, E. M., & Grunwell, D. K. (2014). Health big data analytics: Current perspectives, challenges and potential solutions. International Journal of Big Data Intelligence, 1(1-2), 114-126.

Racine, L. (2016). A critical analysis of the use of remote presence robots in nursing education. Aporia, 8(1), 7-18.

Introduction

The article chosen for this assignment as the example of quantitative nursing research was written by Rejnö, Nordin, Forsgren, Sundell, and Rudolfsson (2017). There are several reasons why this study is rendered as quantitative. First, the researchers, who are educators and health care research professionals, identify their study as quantitative. The second reason is the aim of the article, which was to assess the effects of a specific phenomenon on a large group of participants in a certain aspect. The third reason is the use of several variables such as attendance, pass/fail ratio, and age group (Rejnö et al., 2017). The fourth reason is the use of descriptive statistics that is a typical tool for analysis and interpretation of quantitative data. The fifth characteristic feature of the article that speaks to its quantitative design is a large number of participants.

This particular article was selected due to the perceived high significance of the results. The researchers analysis indicates that high attendance in nursing students leads to success on exams. Additionally, non-mandatory learning activities increase the chance of getting a pass. What was only perceived to be true due to personal authors observations has now achieved reliable scientific proof. The journal, which has been published since 1981, is peer-reviewed and has a partnership with Elsevier. Additionally, its impact factor is 2.533 which is considerable.

A Qualitative Article

The qualitative article under analysis, which is a study of nursing students experiences in relation to their professors, was written by Mikkonen, Kyngäs, and Kääriäinen in 2015. The authors themselves identified their research methods as qualitative. The weight of their judgments is rather considerable as all of the authors have a Ph.D. in Medicine and Health Sciences. In addition to that, there are several characteristic features of the article that help to classify it as a qualitative one. Firstly, the goal of the study was to explore nursing students experiences, which is a broad goal typical for this kind of research. The second characteristic feature of the qualitative research is data collection method, which is presented by means of face-to-face interviews. The research also used a small sample of participants, which also points to qualitative research. Lastly, content analysis, specified as the main data analysis tool is also characteristic of this type of studies.

The article was also chosen due to the significance of the findings. Mikkonen et al. (2015) revealed that empathy between the student and the professor has a positive impact on the learning outcomes of the former. Additionally, the research data is rather new. The journal has a high impact factor, is peer-reviewed and published by a reputable agency such as Springer.

References

Mikkonen, K., Kyngäs, H., & Kääriäinen, M. (2015). Nursing students experiences of the empathy of their teachers: A qualitative study. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 20(3), 669682.

Rejnö, Å., Nordin, P., Forsgren, S., Sundell, Y., & Rudolfsson, G. (2017). Nursing students attendance at learning activities in relation to attainment and passing courses: A prospective quantitative study. Nurse Education Today, 50, 3641.

The use of both qualitative and quantitative research designs is critical for different professionals, including nurses. This paper is aimed at discussing the primary strengths and weaknesses of each approach. This discussion can be important for medical workers who need to know how to examine the most important problems affecting healthcare.

On the whole, qualitative designs are useful for understanding the way in which people perceive a certain issue. In contrast, quantitative research methods are helpful for understanding the relations between different variables. This knowledge can be vital for the decisions of different healthcare professionals. These are the main questions that should be discussed in greater detail.

In many cases, healthcare professionals choose to use qualitative research design. In many cases, this approach is suitable for understanding the experiences of different stakeholders who are affected by a certain issue. In this way, a researcher can identify certain themes that are relevant to a group of people such as nurses or patients (Polit & Beck, 2012).

Moreover, this method facilitates in-depth exploration of a specific problem. For instance, one can speak about understanding of various aspects of employee turnover or job burnout. Nevertheless, the main weakness of this approach is that it cannot be used for the generalization of findings.

The results derived in this way cannot be applied in different settings. This is the main limitation that should be taken into consideration. For instance, the experiences of nurses in a certain medical organization may not be relevant to other medical organizations that have different labor practices. Therefore, this shortcoming should not be disregarded by medical workers.

In contrast, quantitative research design is also widely applied by medical professionals. The main advantage of this approach is that it can demonstrate to what extent different variables can influence one another. For instance, it can demonstrate if a clinical intervention can benefit patients suffering from a certain disease such as asthma (Gudnadottir & Kolbrun, 2014, p. 1).

Moreover, such findings can be generalized, and on their basis, one can develop evidence-based practices (Gudnadottir & Kolbrun, 2014). Nevertheless, this approach has a certain important weakness. In particular, a researcher can overlook the influence of a certain independent variable. For instance, a scholar can assume that the turnover of nurses is dependent only on the compensation that these medical workers receive. Nevertheless, this scholar may disregard the influence of other factors such as job design (Dawson et al., 2014, p. 3).

Therefore, the findings derived in this way may not be accurate. Overall, quantitative designs can be effective only if a researcher can accurately identify dependent and independent variables. This is the main limitation that should be considered by nursing professionals who often rely on quantitative methodology. These are the main elements that should be identified.

These examples indicate that researchers should be able to determine which approach is most suitable under certain circumstances. This choice is important for making informed decisions about certain issues that affect the work of healthcare organizations and the quality of patient care. Overall, qualitative design can be useful when a researcher wants to explore the opinions of many people about a certain issue. This information can be used for formulating a hypothesis. In contrast, quantitative designs can be beneficial for testing a certain assumption. These are the main aspects that can be singled out.

Reference List

Dawson, A. J., Stasa, H., Roche, M. A., Homer, C. S., & Duffield, C. (2014). Nursing churn and turnover in Australian hospitals: nurses perceptions and suggestions for supportive strategies. BMC Nursing, 13(1), 1-20.

Gudnadottir, M., & Kolbrun S. (2014). Advanced Nursing Intervention for Families of Children and Adolescents with Asthma: The Fathers Perspective. Nordic Journal Of Nursing Research & Clinical Studies, 34(2), 49-52.

Polit, D., & Beck, C. (2012). Nursing Research: Generating and Assessing Evidence for Nursing Practice. New York, NY: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Introduction

Research papers are complex scientific works that require intense mental labor at all stages in order to produce meaningful results. Early planning stage at which a researcher decides what he or she will work on sets the tone for the consequent paper and has to be carefully considered from all possible angles. The researchers often formulate a problem and proceed with explaining it using a self-produced theory or ones existing in the scientific literature. Such an approach contains certain bias and negative side-effects which will be discussed here.

Disadvantages of Proposing a Research Problem and Seeking Theory for It

There are several disadvantages of searching theory in support of a certain research problem identified by the author. One of them is the fact that such an approach creates a confirmation bias. In this scenario, a researcher who produced a certain statement or a problem obviously needs to find a solution for it and will apply anything that can even partly assist him or her in this endeavor. Researchers may become determined to produce a positive result, which may undermine the quality of the procedures and lead to even further biases.

In addition to that, there can be a plethora of factors many of which cannot be controlled. It is often the case when the research problem is defined overly broadly, and there is a multitude of factors that arise during the implementation phase. Certain variables may remain hidden until the very last moment. In the explorative experimental research, this consideration is of utmost significance. Furthermore, the paradigm of problem statement-description-hypothesis can also lead to a wrong cause-effect relationship. Researchers who use such a method can be prone to seek a relationship between variables where it cannot exist or use overreaching evidence to support a correlation between them. In such circumstances, the conclusion and implications of the final paper might be incorrect. A researcher might also encounter a time problem and might be unable to study the subject properly due to the wide scope or other issues.

Methods to Address Possible Problems

According to Polit and Beck (2016), there is a need for a data-driven approach to identifying a proper research problem. A researcher may uncover a problem in his or her professional practice environment, which imbues him or her with the knowledge of possible factors that influence it. The latter can help clearly state independent and dependent variables and narrow down the list of possible impacting factors. Prior to stating the identified problem officially, it might be of use to discuss it with colleagues and find confirmation in peer-reviewed sources (Polit & Beck, 2016).

It can also be of essence not to make overreaching conclusions from identifying patterns and correlations. It is often the case that there is a need for further research into all possible factor correlation before cause-effect relationships can be established with a high degree of certainty. In order to address time limitation, the researcher needs to state realistic goals for the study that he or she will be able to reach within the reasonable timeframe (Polit & Beck, 2016).

Conclusion

All things considered, the problem statement is a significant stage in research planning. Should the problem be stated carelessly, the researcher might face confirmation bias, time insufficiency, incorrect cause-effect relationships, and other issues. Therefore, it is of the essence to carefully plan, discuss, and narrow down the research problem before advancing to a next stage.

Reference

Polit, D. F., & Beck, C. T. (2016). Nursing research: Generating and assessing evidence for nursing practice (10th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.

Data is a crucial element in all decision making processes in the healthcare industry. Similarly, nursing is a science field, and therefore, the success of all related activities relies on the process of information collection and its application. However, the gathered data can only be classified as authentic and reliable if a proper analysis approach is used. Consequently, inferential analysis, descriptive analysis, and qualitative analysis are examples of approaches, which can be applied to effectively conduct studies in nursing. Understanding the different methods gives a researcher the necessary skills to obtain substantial results.

Throughout my interactions with the class materials, I learned a few things about the various approaches to data analysis. Descriptive statistics are important in improving our understanding and description of various aspects of the collected information by giving precise observations and summaries in form of patterns. Inferential analysis, on the other hand, seeks to draw more findings from the collected sample besides observation and is essential in formulating predictions and theories on a population (Schober et al., 2018). Qualitative studies are different from the other two because they are more detailed and are concerned with why and how a certain phenomenon occurs and not just the description. All these data analysis methods are necessary for conducting successful nursing studies.

Furthermore, a data analysis process leads to findings or results which are applied in making accurate research conclusions. However, before using them it is important to understand their statistical and clinical significance. The former is used to illustrate that an event never happened by chance while the latter is used to justify the extent to which it occurred by proving a positive (Schober et al., 2018). Whereas both aspects are instrumental in nursing decision-making processes, clinical significance is more meaningful to me because statistical evidence might not always be accurate considering sample sizes can be too large or too small. Data analysis is an integral part of nursing studies and it is imperative to learn all related concepts.

References

Schober, P., Bossers, S., & Schwarte, L. (2018). Statistical significance versus clinical importance of observed effect sizes. Anesthesia & Analgesia, 126(3), 1068-1072. Web.

The shortage of nursing personnel is an urgent problem in world healthcare. There are several reasons for this issue, such as the aging and retirement of medical workers, or their transition to higher-paid jobs, after which their positions remain vacant for a long time. At the same time, not enough young people want to devote their lives to medicine (Mar et al., 2019). The increase in labor demand in the health sector is also due to the increase in the number of people in the world, which increases the risk of developing diseases. Internal and international migration of health workers also exacerbates imbalances between regions.

To fill the gap in health care providers, countries must develop human resources policies over the long term. Collecting data, creating, and maintaining databases in the area of human resources in the healthcare sector is also important. It is necessary to maximize the role of both professionals and individual health communities in ensuring the availability of primary health care. For countries with the most severe shortages, measures must be taken to retain health workers and distribute them more evenly geographically (Park & Yu, 2019). Another solution to this problem is to provide mechanisms for health professionals to influence the design and implementation of policies and strategies for achieving universal health coverage.

The current pace of training for healthcare professionals lags far behind current and projected demand. It may be even more difficult for patients to receive the basic medical services they need in the future. Therefore, the organization of disease prevention may suffer as well. To prevent this problem, it is necessary to rethink and improve the training, distribution, and remuneration of health workers to make their work more efficient. The positive results from addressing this problem should increase the number of countries where the health workforce is nearing baseline.

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was the first attempt to reform the US medical system since the mid-1960s. The Obama administrations proposed reform was based on one fundamental principle: health insurance is mandatory for all citizens and businesses with more than fifty employees (Buehler et al., 2018). At the same time, citizens with a high level of income had to pay an additional insurance tax. In this way, there was a balance: at the expense of wealthy people, access to quality medicine for poor patients or patients with chronic diseases was provided.

The primary goal of Obamacare was compulsory health insurance for uninsured Americans. Also, it initiated reforms that helped move towards a system based on health promotion. It has laid the foundation for laws and reforms to ensure disease prevention and healthy living. Immunoprophylaxis of infectious diseases was actively carried out, as well as the prevention of the spread of the disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, tuberculosis, and other infectious and non-infectious diseases (Luquis & Kensinger, 2019). Moreover, the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, physical culture, and anti-drug campaigns were carried out.

Reforms of the healthcare system have helped to protect the rights of the poor. It provided medical care to large families and disabled people, including medical consultations, hospital stays, vaccinations, prescription medications, and preventive care for children. Obamacare was designed to make healthcare more accessible to more American citizens. These reforms have made a focus on disease prevention, health promotion, and improvement of the quality of life.

References

Buehler, J. W., Snyder, R. L., Freeman, S. L., Carson, S. R., & Ortega, A. N. (2018). Its not just insurance: the Affordable Care Act and population health. Public Health Reports, 133(1), 34-38.

Luquis, R. R., & Kensinger, W. S. (2019). Applying the health belief model to assess prevention services among young adults. International Journal of Health Promotion and Education, 57(1), 37-47.

Mar, M., Bartosiewicz, A., BurzyDska, J., Chmiel, Z., & Januszewicz, P. (2019). A nursing shortage  A prospect of global and local policies. International Nursing Review, 66(1), 9-16.

Park, H., & Yu, S. (2019). Effective policies for eliminating nursing workforce shortages: A systematic review. Health Policy and Technology, 8(3), 296-303.

How do I define and employ the four basic meta-paradigms of nursing theory in my professional practice?

Nursing involves more than book guidelines in taking care of the sick. A personal nursing philosophy is necessary to act as a guide to individual actions during practice. Nursing practice involves compassionate care, knowledge-based practice, love, respect, commitment and lack of prejudice. As a matter of fact, nursing practice should embrace different cultures and accept diversity factors within work environment. The four meta-paradigms of the nursing theory include health, environment, people, and nursing.

Environment informs a lot of nursing decisions. Environment can either be internal and external. Conventionally, external and internal variables constitute a nursing environment. Nonetheless, nursing environment is dynamic and its maintenance requires a symbiotic relationship between the general environment and individuals within the environment. There is always a choice to redefine the environment or maintain. It is important to note that the prime objective of nursing extends beyond curative purpose. As a matter of fact, the primary objective is to restore the bodys homeostatic state through external factors adjustment and further maintain the desired state.

A healthy state is the summation of a state of holistic physical, social and mental, well-being and it goes beyond mere absence of disease. This definition fully covers the concept of health and helps nurses to appropriately respond to emerging health issues within the society. However, it should be noted that each of the health components bear varied weights and are subject to individual interpretations. It is however important to emphasize that mental component of health bears a lot of weight and is the key driver to holistic well-being. However, physical health and social well-being are as well important.

The four nursing meta-paradigm elements do not exist independently. Inappropriate self-perception/stress is a barrier to recovery and hence a patient will need a calm and serene environment, in addition to holistic nursing care. As a matter of fact, in a nursing care scenario it is important to consider all elements. It is important to evaluate a patients needs based on health, environment, person and nursing care which constitute the four nursing meta-paradigms. In essence, I find it incumbent to assess a patient based in his/her individual settings. This entails provision of care while maintaining respect for each persons uniqueness and individuality as well as their reactions to life and environment (George et al., 1996).

As a practitioner in hospice care, I would apply my understanding of the four nursing meta-paradigm elements of health, environment, person and nursing care by ensuring that the propositions of hospice care are factored in my practice. The first proposition requires that hospice care be made universally available. This will ensure that all persons desiring to have access to hospice care can access the care. The second proposition touches on matters to do with the value that hospice care affords the patients and their families. As a hospice practitioner, it will be my preoccupation to ensure that patients and their families are benefitted by the services offered by the hospice unit.

What are the major concepts I employ that are unique to my professional practice?

My personal philosophy is premised on the four paradigms. It is my belief that the four meta-paradigms work hand in hand to promote nursing care. Two of the most important concepts that I can derive from the four nursing meta-paradigm elements are those of tender loving care and improving value of care. As a hospice practitioner, my primary concern will be to ensure that both the patient and their family members are kept as comfortable as possible. This will help the patients live a more quality life amidst the pain that accompanies the terminal diseases that they suffer from. Additionally, by designing the care program around the four nursing meta-paradigm elements, I will be able to ensure that the patients and their families enjoy the value of hospice care, which will in turn afford them more comfortable lives.

What philosophies and theories from the literature of nursing and other disciplines/domains are consistent with these concepts?

My philosophy is mainly drawn from transpersonal caring relationship proposed by Watson and focuses on 4 care factors. Two of the care factors are highlighted from nurses perspective and are important to nurse-patient relationship. Faith-hope theory seeks to integrate mind, and spirit in nursing practice. It fosters faith and hope from the patients perspective. Nursing care cannot be prescribed. It is responsibility of the nurse to come up with appropriate responses to suit their desired outcomes. Responses can be highly varied and so are outcomes.

Nursing care differs from regular care in that they can be described and valued. As a matter of fact, nursing care can be termed as altruistic, or rather an expression of love and care. Additionally, nursing is intentional and an embodied recognition of the need as well as willingness to respond to that need (Draper, LaDou, & Dan, 2011). Nursing care is of paramount importance in the hospice wing. As a hospice specialist, I appreciate the need of ensuring that my patients receive the best kind of care possible.

How are the concepts of transcultural nursing, the health promotion model, skill acquisition, role theory, and change theory specifically integrated into my philosophy and practice?

Nurses meet people from different cultures. Conventionally, people from different cultures have different healthcare demands and needs. Coupled with the fact that people have a right to freely express their cultures, it is essentially that a nursing setting takes into consideration these elements. This is the basis of transcultural nursing. Transcultural nursing models act as a guide to helping nurses get acquainted by the societys culture and evaluate it with the aim offering the best care. According to Leininger (1997) transcultural nurses view care as a universal concept surpassing cultural boundaries with an aim of integrating cultural considerations into nursing practice.

What research supports these theories and concepts?

Nightingale proposed a basic environmental theory which emphasizes the role of the environment in an individuals health/well-being (Cribbin, 2011). According to Nightingale, the major of elements constituting a nursing care environment include fresh air, clean water, sufficient ventilation, excellent hygienic conditions, and adequate light (Cribbin, 2011). Nightingale held the belief that people hold control of their health based on how they manipulate the environmental factors. A nurses role, from Nightingales point of view is to avail a conducive and healthy environment to the patient. This includes provision of fresh air, clean water, well-lit room, excellent hygiene, warmth, and an environment free from noise. As a matter of fact, his position holds that a nurse should promote a healthy environment by manipulating environmental factors (Creasia & Friberg, 2011).

It is my belief that the intention a nurse develops acts as a guide to nursing practice. Intention further forms the basis for formulating knowledge-based practical approaching to management of nursing care scenarios. As a matter of fact Draper, LaDou, & Dan (2011) points out that intention forms basis for formulation of unique and un-folding nursing scenarios relevant to unique and non-unique cases. Nursing care produces a unique need to respond to natures call on the need to maintain good health.

How do I integrate role and change theory into my professional practice and how may these theories be applied to the organization in which I practice?

Evidently, the environmental meta-paradigm philosophy proposed by Nightingale resembles Neumanns systems model in many ways. According to Neumann, an environment has external and internal components, both of which an individual maintains by creating a certain level of harmony (Creasia & Friberg, 2011). The model proposed by Neumann focuses on a holistic approach to nursing. This is a position I agree with; both external and internal aspects of the environment are important in ensuring health is achieved. In reality, nursing care is premised on the basic assumption that humans need care to be well and that nursing activities coalesce in getting to know people and caring/nurturing them in order to better their health. There is strong evidence to suggest that nursing care approach directly influences the outcome of healthcare initiatives (Draper, LaDou, & Dan, 2011). Further, it is important that nursing practice be based on practical approach to conceptual/theoretical model.

References

Creasia, J, & Friberg, E. (2011). Conceptual foundations: the bridge to professional nursing practices. St. Louis: Elsevier Mosby.

Cribbin, N. (2011). Philosophy of nursing: Improving the environment, improving myself. Nevada RNformation, 20(2), pp.15.

Draper, E., LaDou, J., & Dan, J. (2011). Occupational Health Nursing and the Quest for Professional Authority. New Solutions, 21(1), pp.5788.

George, J.B. (1996). Nursing Theories: The base of professional nursing practice. Connecticut: Appleton and Lange.

From the very genesis of active policymaking in healthcare settings, the process has been facing a variety of severe challenges in the way towards successful implementation. The major issue, however, concerns the fact that central decision-makers in terms of the existing policies have nothing to do with healthcare, being rather related to the aspect of legislation and organizational peculiarities. As a result, most of the actual outcomes are not as beneficial as they should be in order to produce visible results (Adam et al., 2018). Hence, the modern patterns of healthcare management require nurses intervention, as they are the ones who obtain considerable amount of primary data required to assess policies structure.

Nowadays, nurses participation in the policymaking process might be divided into two major groups of opportunities: explicit intervention and implicit influence on the process. While the latter option is a safer one in terms of job security and workload, it is the former one that brings tangible results to the system. Thus, the first opportunity for RNs and APRNs in terms of the policy review is to participate in public health endeavors such as the Sigma Nursing Association, which contributes to the development of major community health policies among nurses (Sigma organizational fact sheet, n.d.). In terms of the membership, nurses have the opportunity to obtain proper education on the existing policymaking regularities and establish patterns of strategic nursing management.

Another way is to take an active part through direct collaboration with policymakers, providing them with ready-made ideas and fact sheets that might potentially affect the process (Burke, 2016). While being relatively different, both these opportunities contain a specific challenge for the nurses  public ignorance of healthcare policies and nurses inability to convey relevant information with desired outcomes. The only way to overcome this issue in both situations is to engage with the public in order to raise awareness to such an extent that policymakers would no longer be able to ignore the matter. Some of the most beneficial strategies for these interventions included individual-based strategy of mentoring and group-based strategy of control (Wichaikhum et al., 2020). Thus, taking everything into consideration, it might be concluded that nurses participation in policymaking, while being performed in a variety of forms and approaches, remain a primary resource of change implementation in the healthcare field.

References

Adam, C., Steinebach, Y., & Knill, C. (2018). Neglected challenges to evidence-based policymaking: the problem of policy accumulation. Policy Sciences, 51(3), 269-290.

Burke, S. A. (2016). Influence through policy: nurses have a unique role. Web.

Sigma organizational fact sheet. (n.d.). Web.

Wichaikhum, O., Abhicharttibutra, K., Nantsupawat, A., Kowitlawakul, Y., & Kunaviktikul, W. (2020). Developing a strategic model of participation in policy development for nurses. International Nursing Review, 67(1), 11-18.

Social media has helped me significantly during the pandemic. First, it assisted in locating those in need, especially during isolation, quarantine, and lockdowns. Most people could not access shopping centers to purchase supplies. Such individuals could air their grievances on social media, asking for help. Also, it facilitated the coordination in the distribution of medical supplies. Many COVID19 patients and patients suffering from terminal illnesses such as diabetes, cancer, and others could not get well their medical supplies (Li & Liu, 2020). This implies that surveys through social media could help map out such vulnerable cases. In so doing, I believe social does an important job in saving peoples lives.

Google Scholar is an application that provides scholars and others interested in academia with literature and other related materials. It offers scholarly materials and literature and also full text or metadata used during research. It is, therefore, a one-stop-shop for everything regarding scholarly literature, specifically books.

The application appeals to me because of its convenience while searching for literature. The literature it contains is on all topics of human interest. It also offers online academic journal articles, books, case studies, theses and dissertations, abstracts, technical reports, court opinions, patents, and others. The sites friendliness makes it easy for me to use. It also has a lot of documents, totaling 389 million documents.

The benefits I get from it in nursing are its research engine being much diversified thus can be customized for each specific topic. The app is not only focused non one topic but on every field. Google Scholar makes it easy for a student, researcher, or anyone interested in such a literature database on any topic.

Reference

Li, X., & Liu, Q. (2020). Social media use, ehealth literacy, disease knowledge, and preventive behaviors in the COVID-19 pandemic: cross-sectional study on Chinese netizens. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(10) 112-128.