NUR 411: BSN Nursing Values
Introspective Assignment: Guidelines for the Written Assignment
Purpose
The purpose of this written assignment is to provide the student an opportunity to review The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice that are applicable to the course outcomes for the course on BSN Nursing Values. Introspective Essay Paper
Course Outcomes
This written assignment provides evidence of the student’s ability to meet the following course outcomes:
Discuss historical and contemporary issues in nursing and their impact on current nursing practice. (PO1)
Describe factors that form nursing’s professional identity. (PO2)
Discuss concepts of effective patient-nurse, interprofessional, and intraprofessional (PO5)
Describe state and national statutes, rules, and regulations that authorize and define professional nursing practice. (PO4)
Articulate the value of pursuing practice excellence and educational opportunities to foster professional growth and development. (PO2)
Debate moral/ethical/legal issues that impact nursing practice and the health care delivery system. (PO4)
Describe the interrelatedness between healthcare concepts to assist in developing clinical judgment. (PO6)
Identify the role of the nurse in information management. (PO3)
Apply a systematic problem-solving process for the development of clinical judgment. (PO6)
Describe the effects of culture and diversity on health care practice. (PO1)
Baccalaureate Essentials
The nine Baccalaureate Essentials are:
Essential I: Liberal Education for Baccalaureate Generalist Nursing Practice
o A solid base in liberal education provides the cornerstone for the practice and education of nurses.
Essential II: Basic Organizational and Systems Leadership for Quality Care and Patient Safety
o Knowledge and skills in leadership, quality improvement, and patient safety are necessary to provide high quality healthcare.
Essential III: Scholarship for Evidence Based Practice
o Professional nursing practice is grounded in the translation of current evidence into practice.
Essential IV: Information Management and Application of Patient Care Technology
o Knowledge and skills in information management and patient care technology are critical in the delivery of quality patient care.
Essential V: Healthcare Policy, Finance, and Regulatory Environments
o Healthcare policies, including financial and regulatory, directly and indirectly influence the nature and functioning of the healthcare system and thereby are important considerations in professional nursing practice.
Essential VI: Interprofessional Communication and Collaboration for Improving Patient Health Outcomes
o Communication and collaboration among healthcare professionals are critical to delivering high quality and safe patient care.
Essential VII: Clinical Prevention and Population Health
o Health promotion and disease prevention at the individual and population level are necessary to improve population health and are important components of baccalaureate generalist nursing practice.
Essential VIII: Professionalism and Professional Values
o Professionalism and the inherent values of altruism, autonomy, human dignity, integrity, and social justice are fundamental to nursing.
Essential IX: Baccalaureate Generalist Nursing Practice
o The baccalaureate-graduate nurse is prepared to practice with patients, including individuals, families, groups, communities, and populations across the lifespan and across the continuum of healthcare environments. Introspective Essay Paper
o The baccalaureate graduate understands and respects the variations of care, the increased complexity, and the increased use of healthcare resources inherent in caring for patients. (AACN, 2008) Introspective Essay Paper
Requirements
The Introspective Paperis worth 100 points and will be graded on the incorporation of The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education related to the course objectives as outlined in the grading rubric.
The assignment must be written using Microsoft Word (a part of Microsoft Office) and saved as a MS Word document ending in .docx.
Review the Grading Rubric for each section to be developed.
The length of the paper is to be no less than 3 full pages and no greater than 6 full pages, excluding the title page and reference pages.
APA format is required with both a title page and reference page.
Use the following headings in your paper.
Introduction
Identification ofThe Essentials
Introspective
Conclusion
These headings must be Level 1 headers (upper and lower case, centered and bolded). (See the APA Manual for format of Level 1 headers.)
Please be sure to include the reference for The Essentials on your reference page.
The reference for the Essentials must be listed on the reference page.
American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2008). The essentials of
baccalaureate education for professional nursing practice. Washington, DC.
http://www.aacn.nche.edu/education-resources/BaccEssentials08.pdf (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)
Directions
Introduction (1 paragraph)
In the Introduction, clearly identify the purpose of the paper and write a general paragraph about the topic to be discussed.
Identification of The Essentials (1 paragraph)
Write a well-developed paragraph identifying how The Essentials that were important in this course and provide a brief description of how The Essentials were met in your own words.)
Introspective (5 to 10 paragraphs)
Identify the course objectives and describe what you learned from this course based on these course objectives and how they relate to The Essentials. Please review the course objectives, discussions, readings and The Essentials to help complete the assignment.
Conclusion (1 paragraph)
Briefly and succinctly summarize your main points including the purpose of the paper. (Please do not introduce new information into your conclusion.)
Template for Assignment
Please use the template for this assignment. (Please remove any wording highlighted in yellow before submitting your assignment.)
Additional information:
Course Description
In this course, students examine concepts germane to the professional practice of nursing. Students
survey topics areas relevant to BSN practice focusing on topics that include: professionalism and transformational practice; communication, teamwork and interpersonal relationships; nursing education pathways; effects of culture and diversity on health-care practice; critical thinking and clinical decision making; and ethics and legal considerations of practice. Introspective Essay Paper
Course Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to do the following:
1. Discuss historical and contemporary issues in nursing and their impact on current nursing practice. (PO1)
2. Describe the theoretical frameworks that impact current nursing practice. (PO2)
3. Discuss concepts of effective patient-nurse, interprofessional, and intraprofessional communication. (PO5)
4. Describe state and national statutes, rules, and regulations that authorize and define professional nursing practice. (PO4)
5. Articulate the value of pursuing practice excellence and educational opportunities to foster professional growth and development. (PO2)
6. Debate moral/ethical/legal issues that impact nursing practice and the health care delivery system. (PO4)
7. Describe the interrelatedness between healthcare concepts to assist in developing clinical judgment. (PO6)
8. Identify the role of the nurse in information management. (PO3)
9. Apply a systematic problem-solving process for the development of clinical judgment. (PO6)
10. Describe the effects of culture and diversity on health care practice. (PO1)
Program Outcomes
The expected outcomes for graduates of the BSN program will:
1. Engage in culturally responsive patient-centered evidenced-based care for professional nursing practice based on foundational and advanced nursing science, current evidence, application of research and other knowledge from other disciplines. (Essentials I, III, & VIII)
2. Apply organizational, leadership and management concepts in practice in order to effect change, identify threats to safety, teach others, and improve healthcare quality and patient outcomes. (Essentials II, IV, & VI)
3. Use health information systems and technology resources to demonstrate integration of knowledge, support lifelong learning, ensure safe practice environments, implement quality improvement initiatives, optimize healthcare outcomes and promote patient self-management. (Essentials IV & VI)
4. Use concepts of leadership, autonomy and management to identify effective strategies in policy and regulatory processes to promote health, prevent disease and injury, and improve the healthcare delivery system, the health of the public, and the profession of nursing. (Essentials V, VII, & VIII)
5. Communicate and collaborate effectively respecting dignity, worth, and uniqueness of self and others to improve systems care and optimize patient and population health outcomes. (Essential VI)
6. Integrate research findings to provide evidenced-based care, support decision making, and promote safe and ethical nursing practice. (Essentials I, VII & IX)
Introspective Paper
Introduction
The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice provide the syllabus for the appropriate nursing education and the core skills and knowledge needed by nursing professionals to facilitate effective patient care, personalized care, teamwork, patient safety, evidence-based practices, informatics, clinical reasoning, and quality improvement (AACN, 2008). This ensures by the end of the baccalaureate program; the nursing graduates have the knowledge and skills to function and provide care within the dynamic and complex healthcare system. This paper provides an introspective review of the essentials of Baccalaureate Education and how they shape and influence nursing practice.
Identification of the Essentials
The essentials help graduate nurses to succinctly identify and understand the link between the theory, practice, and research. Nursing students are also able to understand the key research process and the research models that guide nurses when applying the research evidence into practice. Through the essentials, nursing students recognize and understand ethical issues and how they can be addressed. Additionally, the program helps nurses to learn how to retrieve, appraise, and synthesize evidence and integrate the evidence in practice to improve patient outcomes (AACN, 2008). The essentials also allow baccalaureate graduates to understand the spirit of collaboration and teamwork while working with different interprofessional. Similarly, through the essentials, nursing students acquire a high understanding of the nursing process and the pertinent safe and quality healthcare measures. Similarly, the essentials provide nurse graduates with an opportunity to set the mechanisms through which practice and values can influence care provision and patient outcomes (O’Neill, 2016). Introspective Essay Paper
Introspective
The overall objective of the course is to equip nursing students with the skills, knowledge, and antidotes to effectively function within the dynamic and complex healthcare system (AACN, 2008). Accordingly, some key objectives of the course are to enable nursing students to acquire the appropriate skills to promote high-quality care and patient safety. The course also focuses to equip nursing graduates with the skills to translate evidence into practice. Nursing graduates also gain knowledge and skills on how to handle patient information and use patient care technology to provide efficient and quality patient care (AACN, 2008). The course also aims to help nursing graduate to acquire effective interpersonal and communication skills to conduct health promotion and disease prevention programs. The course also aims to equip students with the appropriate management skills, knowledge, and attitudes. The objective of the program is also to familiarize nursing students with the relevant professional codes of practice and values and at the same time improve the interpersonal skills of students to enable them to acquire teamwork attributes, gain clinical reasoning skills, evaluation skills, and management skills (AACN, 2008).
First, through the essentials, I can effectively practice within the accepted scope and professional standards. For instance, essentials have helped me understand what is required regarding the ethics of scholarly work and research. Accordingly, this understanding will enable me to engage professionally during nursing practice and uphold ethical practices. The essentials also assist a nursing graduate to know the various healthcare practice dynamics (Joseph & Huber, 2015). Therefore, during practice, I will be able to know my roles and practice within my scope.
Through the baccalaureate program, I have understood how research evidence, multidisciplinary perspectives, clinical decisions, and patient preferences are integrated into practice. The essentials have equipped me with the skills to research the healthcare setting and in accordance with the appropriate legal and ethical principles (O’Neill, 2016). As a result, during practice, I will be able to protect patient rights, avoid conflicts, or any patient harm. The professional nursing practice seeks to transfer the latest research findings into practice and to assess outcomes. Therefore, through the essentials, I will be able to effectively monitor the patient outcomes and relate the outcomes to the issues in nursing practice. The research evidence and findings are then disseminated as evidence of the best practice.
The baccalaureate program adequately prepared me to utilize skills and knowledge in information and patient care technology during the provision of high-quality patient care. Consequently, I was equipped with the technical skills to utilize different technologies, like patient care technologies and data-collection equipment for various purposes. The technological skills are also useful during the provision of support services like collecting evidence (Joseph & Huber, 2015). Therefore, this program has prepared me to utilize technical applications competently and comfortably. As a baccalaureate graduate, I can effectively manage data, knowledge, information, and use technology for effective communication to ensure patient safety and positive health outcomes. Introspective Essay Paper
Moreover, the baccalaureate course has enabled me to understand various healthcare policies, as well as the regulatory and financial regulatory policies that influence the healthcare system and nursing practice (O’Neill, 2016). I have gained an adequate understanding of organizations involved in developing and changing healthcare services. Therefore, I can now effectively work in collaboration with nursing professionals and advocacy groups that might impact the nursing practice (Eggenberger et al., 2019). Moreover, I have understood how healthcare policies influence the quality, nature, and safety of the nursing settings, as well as the roles of various stakeholders. Through the training, I can advocate for minority groups and other vulnerable groups.
Finally, through the course, I have gained communication, collaboration, and teamwork skills. I can effectively collaborate with nurses, nurse leaders, other interprofessional care providers to improve care coordination and promote quality care and patient safety (Mansour et al., 2018). Additionally, I can effectively collaborate with other stakeholders during the collection, documentation, and dissemination of research evidence.
Conclusion
The paper has provided an introspective review of the essentials of Baccalaureate Education and how the essentials influence and impact my nursing practice. Through this program I have gained various skills such as collaboration and teamwork skills; the ability to conduct research and integrate findings into practice; how to monitor patient outcomes; use technology to improve care delivery and patient outcomes; as well as gain knowledge on healthcare policy, among other competencies.
References
American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). (2008). The essentials of baccalaureate education for professional nursing practice. American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
Eggenberger, T., Millender, E., Drowos, J., & France, N. E. (2019). Interprofessional education and practice guide: Developing interprofessional community-based clinical experiences. Cogent Medicine, 6(1), 1676582.
Joseph, M. L., & Huber, D. L. (2015). Clinical leadership development and education for nurses: prospects and opportunities. Journal of healthcare leadership, 7, 55–64. https://doi.org/10.2147/JHL.S68071
Mansour, M. J., Al Shadafan, S. F., Abu-Sneineh, F. T., & AlAmer, M. M. (2018). Integrating patient safety education in the undergraduate nursing curriculum: a discussion paper. The Open Nursing Journal, 12, 125.
O’Neill, M. (2016). Policy-focused service-learning as a capstone: Teaching essentials of baccalaureate nursing education. Journal of Nursing Education, 55(10), 583-586.