Introduction
This reflection paper explores how nurses are making nursing history and applying such an account in nursing today. The verbal communication between the selected nurse, Idris Akintan, and a student nurse provided insights into nursing history in shaping the current and future practice. Idris Akintan is currently a nurse at VCU Community Memorial Hospital in the operating rooms.
Learning from Nurse’s Answers
The conversation was a learning experience, where the answers were provided; it was clear that nursing professionalism is developed out of adventures and passion for caring for other individuals’ health needs. Indris provides a clear indication of how nursing practice can grow out of power, care, and love. He points out his nursing school experiences, whereby as a first-timer student, he struggled with nursing vocabularies, which neither he nor his friends could understand. However, through combined effort as students, they helped each other by holding discussions together and asking each other questions, and together, they were able to succeed in mastering the content.
In comparing the first year as a student and the modern practice, Indris, points out that the sphere of nursing has changed. He asserted that the nursing profession was confined behold clinical settings in the past years, but in the modern days, the practice has become dynamic, multidimensional, and multifaceted.
In other words, over the recent times, the nursing profession has become a profession and a vocation where one is out to serve and serve diligently without looking at how much one is gaining or attending forego. The modern nursing practice has changed due to globalization and technology since there is a sharing of information, experiences, research, and motivations.
Comparing his first year of experience, Indris pointed out that a lot has been changed. He provides various examples where such changes can now be witnessed. For instance, according to Indris, the operating equipment and the emergency department’s waiting time have changed considerably due to technology.
He also identified dynamism in the provision of care that has the emergence of lifestyle diseases even to young people like diabetes, who require more appropriate nursing actions rather than just medical related. Gives the reason why in modern days, learning programs such as a healthy lifestyle, nutrition, physical exercises, cultural competence, among others, have been incorporated in the nursing practice.
According to Indris, some of then nursing practices are highly becoming dynamic. He pointed out that some skills are no longer operational because they have been reinstated with the new ones. Such changes have been attributed to the changing needs of a patient, the growing technology, and the research and development. For example, he pointed out where a nurse was used to get blood pressure readings through palpation, but nurses’ work has been simplified, accurate, and time-saving with digital BP apps.
Leadership, Provision of Care, and Evidence-Based Practice
Indris point out the role of leadership and evidence-based practice in the nursing practice. Leadership in the provision of care ensures safe delivery of care that intimately lines up with the nursing profession’s safety standards and protocols and that of health care facilities.
On the other hand, evidence-based practice is important for any nurse. Indris points out that a nurse should ensure evidence-based practice by constantly updating skills and knowledge of various nursing practices. He asserted that this could be possible by reading up to date publications and health notices. Evidence-based research has also been important in informing the choices one is supposed to undertake during patient care.
Impact of Nursing History on Professional Practice Today and in the Future
Indris pointed out that the major challenge facing nursing in the modern days is meeting the patient expectations though he was quick to observe that the problem was there even in his first days. This has always been attributed to low budgetary and staff cuts; thus, the few nurses left become unable to meet the patient’s expectations. Therefore, to meet this challenge, Indris recommended that the government should increase the budgetary allocation in the hospitals so as hospitals can as well be able to employ more nurses.
Indris acknowledged that Nursing is a dynamic profession and requires a dynamic approach first to be relevant and to meet the patient’s emotional expectations within a unique environment of care-giving. He further recommended that Nurses should learn to practice evidence-based care, as this would require nurses to keep on updating their skills to meet the current demand for nursing care. Th can be achieved through research, training, and information sharing. New nurses should look forward to fulfilling all this, if at all, needs to be relevant.
Conclusion
Based on the analysis of this reflection paper, Idris has been journeying with nurses, step by step, listening to their stories, sharing the experience with them, guiding them in practice, mentoring them, and more so, instilling confidence in them. Evidence-based practice has been important to him in keeping himself up to date and well informed on various nursing practices. Therefore, This has been possible by reading up to date publications and health notices. Evidence-based research has also been important to him in proclaiming the choices of patient care. Indris pointed out that nursing today’s major challenges are meeting nurses’ expectations, workplace violence, and personal safety when handling patients. Further, he advises new nurses to practice evidence-based care to keep updating their skills to meet the current demand for nursing care.