Continuing Education is Fundemental to Competent Nursing Essay

This course focuses on transition from technical nursing to professional nursing. The course addresses the scope and standards of nursing practice, ethical and legal components of practice, information management and application of patient technology, and inter- and intra-professional communication and collaboration for improving patient health outcomes.

Due to innovations in technological tools and information management systems while collaborating and coordinating care with other health professionals, nurses have been called upon by the IOM committee to acquire higher levels of education to help them meet the needs of the population. The educational systems to prepare nurses for the work force today, needs to be geared towards community settings like primary care, public health, and long-term care. Nursing curricula in schools, need to be reviewed, updated, and adaptive enough in science, technology, research, and rich fundamental concepts that will enhance decision making skills, involving dynamic clinical situations in all settings to meet the ever changing needs in health care according to the IOM committee.

Nursing is a dynamic profession and life long learning is essential for nurses to stay current with the increased complexity of the healthcare needs of today and into the future. In other words, the needs of our patients are changing, as we must change in order to be prepared to better serve that need.

The report shows that the part of nursing must be expanded so that nurses are able to practice to the fullest degree of their education and training. Currently, advanced practice nurses (APRNs) work according to the scope of practice guidelines set forth by their individual state, meaning these highly educated nurses may not be working to the extent of their training but to the individual state laws. The report offers recommendations to streamline these idiosyncrasies and get rid of the red tape so that nurses can work in their appropriate manner and deliver safe quality care to some 32 million Americans who will before long gain access to health care services (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2012). The report correspondingly finds that nurses need to attain advanced levels of education and training through an enhanced education structure which encourages a cohesive academic progression as to safeguard the delivery of quality health care services. Patients are becoming progressively more complex and nurses need to attain the proper skills to care for these persons. Nursing education must embrace the continuous move towards a streamline approach to higher degree programs (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2010, p. 2). Nurse residency programs

One of the major changes or growth of this profession is the demand for nurses as the health care delivery scheme is shifting contributing to the demand for nurses, especially those with higher education. The demand in nurses will be accompanied by the expansion of the nursing role since nurses are moving to an increasingly growing role of health instructor and provision of more direct care to patients (Main, 2011). The expansion of the nursing role is mainly attributed to the fact that physicians are spending less time with patients despite of the rising healthcare costs.

Nursing education has progressed throughout history from one of uneducated lay persons to the current standards we know today. As the career has progressed it has become apparent that there is a need for a skilled labor forced trained to deal with the sick and dying, “the provision of nursing care by American women…demonstrated the effectiveness of skilled nursing on improving outcomes for sick and injured soldiers” (Creasia & Friberg, 2011, p. 4). However, as the career progresses so does the need for more specialized training amongst nurses to help them deal with the changing atmosphere of patient care. The future

Nursing is one of the most popular professions in healthcare. To become a professional nurse, one must acquire certain level of education, whether it is at associate or baccalaureate degree level. Once becoming a nurse a number of professional standards must be maintained to stay abreast with the profession. In that respect, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in its 2010 report had suggested many recommendations focusing on the future of nursing. The aim of the report is to put forth recommendations that allow nurses to “(1) ensure that nurses can practice to the full extent of their education and training (2) improve nursing education, (3) provide opportunities for nurses to assume leadership positions and to serve as full

It is difficult to meet the challenge of advancing in your profession when a structured or well-defined professional development for the nursing staff is non-existent. There is positive news, however, outside of hospital facilities. According to a survey conducted by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) in 2015, from the year 2010 to 2014, it shows that there has been a steady increase of baccalaureate degree educated graduates (The National Academies Press, 2016). Furthermore, students who enrolled and completed baccalaureate–level education increased by 69 percent in the same study time period (The National Academies Press, 2016). Certainly, students and prospective nurses have taken

The need for continuing education in nursing has been accentuated in response to rapidly changing health care environment. Expanding knowledge by pursuing higher education allows nurses to enlarge one’s practice. Furthermore, higher education in nursing has been shown that a nurse’s level of education can become a critical factor to the patient-centered quality of care. This essay describes increased demand for higher education in nursing and emphasizes the necessity of continuing education to provide optimum patient care in various setting.

Indeed, the world of medicine never stands still and continuously changes. Filled with new breakthroughs in cures, better patient care, and improved treatment plans, nurses must keep up to date on the new breakthroughs to provide the best care for their patients; however, just being aware of the breakthroughs is not the extent of their work. Nurses frequently research the effects the side effects of medication so that patients and families can make educated decisions as to whether the treatment is worth it. In fact, registered nurse Farrah Agnone stated that “part of my continued education requirement every month we do different types of research on diseases and drugs. This month we researched diabetes, urinary foley care and three trauma cases with the associated care.” As Agnone mentioned, registered nurses are required to continuously learn new information, even after passing their nursing license boards. Including lifesaving protocol certifications, such as ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) and TNCC (Trauma Nursing Core Course) constantly need to be recertified (Sparks). In addition, nurses in the state of Michigan must maintain a minimum of “15 contact hours of CE

Example, some nurse practitioners continue education by applying in special programs. Continuing education is beneficial to nurses because it enhances their understanding about nursing and more job opportunities can be offered. Their education level also increases; thus, allowing them to apply in special fields in medicine like pediatrics. With added learning, nurses are competent and patients

Thus, advanced nursing practice and education is scrupulously indispensable to boost and augment the figure of eligible, highly trained and skilled nursing staff and educators. Having adequate and sufficient education indicates guarantee of having enough nurses to care for patients and families, not only for today but also for the next generation. Above all, nurses must have the compassion to give hands-on and practical care to patients and its relatives and the society, as a whole be it in a hospital setting and in the community.

T., 2014). In one study, researchers asked nurses what their opinions were with continuing education (Arungwa, O. T., 2014). There were more positive than negative responses to the study (Arungwa, O. T., 2014). Some of the responses ranged from really liking more learning because there was more growth in the knowledge gained and abilities were strengthened (Arungwa, O. T., 2014). Additional responses included nurses feeling more competent within the job, loved having the opportunity to grow, and it was beneficial towards future successes (Arungwa, O. T., 2014). Others were against continuing education because the medical facility did not require the training. (Arungwa, O. T.,

As a brand new nurse coming out of nursing school, you may be thinking that you have completed your education and that you are ready to start practicing as a Registered Nurse. As a new professional this is partially correct, but you still have many years of continuing education. There are two different aspects of continuing education for a nurse: advanced educational programs or specific continuing education courses. Throughout this discussion I will be focusing on the importance of continuing education for nurses. The American Nurses Association defines continuing education (CE) as “learning activities designed to augment the knowledge, skill and attitudes of nurses and therefore enrich the nurses’ contributions to quality healthcare” (as cited in Schaeffer, 2015, p. 13). Continuing education courses are not only important for the individual nurses competences and professionalism, but it is also important in regards to the care delivered to patients and the patient outcomes. Throughout this discussion I will explain the importance of CE, how it is beneficial to the nurse, and how it effects the patients we are giving care to.

Like many other careers education is crucial. It takes years of studying and dedication. Without proper knowledge and education, someone’s life could be at stake. All careers in the medical field have different educational requisites that have to be met. Each level of nursing