Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper
Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to describe the documents and activities of nursing’s multipurpose, professional nursing association, the American Nurses Association, that promote patient safety. The roles of the professional nursing association in promoting the safety of the recipient of nursing care are numerous. These roles include developing and disseminating foundation documents, lobbying for legislation and regulations that protect and serve users of nursing services, and advocating for patients and issues which affect a nurse’s ability to deliver safe care. Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper Although the professional associations’ usual purpose is to work for the welfare of the public, at times this can conflict with the association’s need to advocate for its members. The professional association must balance the needs and interests of the association, the profession, and the public so as to promote the safety of patients receiving care.Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper
Citation: Rowell, P. (September 30, 2003). “The Professional Nursing Association’s Role in Patient Safety”. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. Vol. 8 No. 3, Manuscript 3. Available: www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Volume82003/No3Sept2003/AssociationsRole.aspx Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper
Key words: professional association, professional responsibilities, professional advocacy, nursing standards, nursing and public accountability, nursing care safety, nursing quality, patient care, quality of care, professional regulation Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper
The Professional Nursing Association’s Role in Patient Safety
For the last 10 to 15 years concerns relative to the safety of patients and staff in the health care setting have been a major topic in the national health care arena. The restructuring of hospitals and the implementation of new policies and procedures to contain costs and manage care have exacerbated concerns about the industry’s abilities to assure safe, quality care (Lohr, 1990; Wunderlick, Sloan, & Davis, 1996). By the end of the 20thcentury, cost-saving cuts in funding and organizational reactions to lower funding caused great concern among registered nurses (RNs) about patient safety. Such concerns were due to the decreasing nursing skill mix and decreasing number of registered nurses providing direct care to patients and clients. Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper Such decreases in the number of RNs who provide direct patient care and supervise support staff, in relation to other nursing providers, can lead to fewer opportunities for patients to receive the appropriate assessments and interventions that can facilitate their recovery and even save their lives. The shift from a patient-focused environment to one dominated by monetary considerations has presented a dilemma – how do RNs maintain patient safety and strive for quality of care when the health care drivers are focused on medically-oriented technology, income generation, and cost shifting?Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper
Judge Elbert Tuttle, in a speech given at Emory University in 1981 stated:
The professional man is in essence one who provides service. He has no goods to sell, no land to till. His only asset is himself. It turns out there is no right price for service, for what is a share of a man’s worth? If he does not contain the quality of integrity, he is worthless. If he does, he is priceless. The value is either nothing or it is infinite (as quoted by Patterson in The Washington Post, 1996, C1).Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper
Merton (1958) has explained the essence of a professional association in stating: “The professional association is an organization of practitioners who judge one another as professionally competent and who have banded together to perform social functions which they cannot perform in their separate capacity as individuals” (Merton, p. 50).Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper
There are many professional nursing associations in the United States, most of which have smaller, specialty-focused memberships. The American Nurses Association (ANA) differs from the specialty-focused associations in that it is a broad-based, multipurpose nursing organization. ANA members come from all nursing specialties, all practice sites, and all educational levels. It is generally recognized as the only all-purpose organization, and the largest representative of RNs in the United States.Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper
Baszanger (1985) has stated that professional characteristics of any discipline include:
- A social mandate for the discipline.
- A professional society that maintains control over the standards of practice.
- A defined scope of practice and body of specialized knowledge.
- The ability to control entry into the discipline.
- Group members’ acceptance of a common ideology or societal mission.Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper
One of the goals of the ANA is to promote patient safety.
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…the ANA works to balance the needs an interests of the association, the profession, and the public so as to promote patient care. |
This article describes the roles and activities of the ANA in this endeavor. However, nursing is faced with a multitude of forces, which, at times, place nursing associations in a position where what may be best for the public is not the best for the profession. In promoting safety, as in all of its activities, the ANA works to balance the needs and interests of the association, the profession, and the public so as to promote patient care. This article will discuss three specific roles of the ANA in promoting patient safety, specifically the roles of developing and disseminating foundation documents; lobbying and regulating; and advocating for patients and issues. Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper
Developing and Disseminating Foundational Documents
The profession has given to ANA the tasks of articulating nursing’s commitment to society through its charge to serve as developer and guardian of the profession’s social policy statement, the standards and scope of nursing practice statement, and an ethical code. ANA serves as the guardian of these three foundational documents, but all RNs can contribute to the periodic revision of each. Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper Thus, they are truly documents speaking with the voices of registered nurses in the United States. Merton (1958) has observed that it is the professional association’s manifest and latent social functions, rather than the structure designed to put these functions into effect, that give the profession reason to exist. He adds that professional associations usually state as their purpose an affirmation that they are designed to use their competencies for the welfare of the community in general and their specific clients in particular. The documents listed above, along with other policy and position statements developed by professional associations, articulate the profession’s beliefs on issues important to the public and the profession.Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper
Nursing’s Social Policy Statement
The nursing profession’s commitment to society is articulated in Nursing’s Social Policy Statement (ANA, 2003b), a document maintained by ANA. The ANA states: “[this]…is a document that nurses can use as a framework for understanding nursing’s relationship with society and nursing’s obligation to those who receive nursing care” (ANA, 2003b, p.1). In addition it states: “…the authority for the practice of nursing is based on a social contract that acknowledges professional rights and responsibilities as well as mechanisms for public accountability” (ANA, 2003b, p. 3).Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper
Society and the profession have evolved a series of understandings, which allow self-regulation to the profession with the expectation that the good of the public will be the principle goal of the profession. Donebedian (1976) writes:Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper
Society grants the professions authority over functions vital to itself and permits them considerable autonomy in the conduct of their affairs. In return, the professions are expected to act responsibly, always mindful of the public trust. Self-regulation to assure quality in performance is at the heart of this relationship. It is the authentic hallmark of a mature profession. (p. 8).Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper
With society’s imprimatur to self-regulate, the profession is challenged to ensure that its members honor that basic trust. Nursing, through its professional association, the ANA, addresses this trust.Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper
Nursing’s Scope and Standards of Practice
This current (2003) scope and standards of practice statement, and its predecessor document, Standards of Clinical Nursing Practice (ANA, 1996), are the pivotal documents developed by the profession, claiming the areas of practice for RNs and establishing clear professional and clinical standards for RNs. This document describes the dimensions of the RN role in society. It is an articulation of the who, what, where, when, and why of nursing practice. As nursing, both as a profession and a discipline, matures and the health environment changes, scope statements can become outdated. They must be reviewed for possible revision at least every five years. Specialty associations also write their own scope statements, which describe their focused or specialty area of practice.Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper
The scope and standards of practice statement includes the standards that guide patient care and professional behavior. The standards of care are authoritative statements that describe a competent level of clinical nursing practice demonstrated through assessment, diagnosis, outcomes identification, planning, and implementation of care. The standards of care are articulated through measurable criteria, which delineate the required clinical behaviors for all RNs in all places, at all times, and for all patients. The format and content of these standards were agreed upon by the various nursing professional associations. Specialty associations may add criteria to the standards and, occasionally, set a specific standard for their particular area.Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper
Professional Organization Nursing context:Identify a professional organization and then complete the following tasks:
- Analyze and discuss the selected organization’s aim and activities.
- Explain how the organization meets, supports, or advocates the EBP standards and concepts of professional nursing.Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper
In addition, explain the concepts of professional nursing—caring, communication, critical thinking, professionalism, and holism.
Professional Organization Nursing context
Make sure the turnitin is less than 24%
Use APA 6th Edition when formatting your assignment. Professional Organization Nursing Context Assignment Paper