Clinical Nurse Educator Assignments: Preparing Student Nurses for Acutely Ill Patients - Essay Sample

Introduction

An academic clinical nurse educator is responsible for selecting the patient assignments and planning the activities that the student nurse undertakes in support of their clinical experience. In preparing a clinical student nurse, the academic clinical nurse educator has to develop objectives that ensure the students learn effectively. For instance, the educator is allocated a 1st- year medical-surgical student in a medical-surgical unit. The patient is acutely ill and possesses a vast number of surrounding medical issues.

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Objective

The objective developed for the 1st-year medical-surgical student nurse in a medical-surgical unit was to expand the knowledge and skills base through the provision of patient-centered care and treatment to the suffering patients. Thus, the objective would entail trying to understand the patient's underlying conditions, identify the patient's needs, the underlying risk factors, and the writing of reports that ensure proper record keeping.

Activities

Several activities take place at the medical-surgical unit, and the student nurse has to comprehend all of them for adequate medical care. Activities for a critically ill patient and a medical-surgical unit include assessing the condition of the patient, keep records of medications and progress, offer support and education, taking tests, administer medicines and keep monitoring the development of vital signs.

Benefits of Activities

Taking a test is beneficial because it helps to elucidate the possible problems facing the patient. Although the patent might have said specific clinical issues that enable the nurse to identify the problems of the patient, the aid of the test in confirming the speculations. The medication is beneficial as they help to manage the illnesses suffered by the patient, and further helps in the management of pain. Keeping records helps the next nurse in the shift to understanding that medicines administered to the patients and at what time and the progress expected (Nehring, 2019). Other records kept include blood pressure, weight, and additional vital clinical information about the patient. In case the patient is to go to the theater then the records act as a reference to check for possible risks that the patient is exposed to and which could have an influence on the procedure. Patient in a medical-surgical unit requires support and specifically when preparing to go under surgical operation. Hence, the support care helps to give the patient hope and prepare adequately for the activity yet to come.

Core Competencies of the Clinical Nurse Educator

The core competencies of a clinical nurse educator, as evident in the patient assignment is to facilitate learning and ensure the student nurse assimilate knowledge (Nehring, 2019). The educator also develops a learning objective that will provide that the student nurse acquire the skills and knowledge required to become a professional nurse. The second competency evident from the assignment is facilitating the learner development and socialization. The educator ensures that the student nurse learns appropriately and adequately. The third competency is to use assessment and evaluation strategies to check whether the students are assimilating the teachings.

Legal and Ethical Issues for Academic Nurse Educator

Ethics guide actions and the practice of a professional. An academic Nurse educator has to adhere to specific ethical guidelines for effective knowledge transmission and safe care to the patient. In this regard, an educator acts ethically by being responsible and accountable. Responsibility is terms that denote taking up one's duties and obligations seriously to deliver practical training to the nurse who, in turn, offers coordinated care to patients (Wilkinson, 2018). Accountability entails utilizing the professional skills to develop effective nursing care decisions in the interest of patients (Wilkinson, 2018). Two ethical aspects help in preventing the occurrence of medical errors and careless omissions that may arise during practice. In this regard, the academic educator has to be responsible and accountable to equip the student nurses with apt knowledge and skills pertaining to their studies.

The academic nurse educator has to educate the student nurses within the strict confines of laws. The laws governing the operations and activities of the Academic Nurse Educator are provided for under the tort law. Tort law refers to the civil laws that govern the behavior of a person against another (Patton & Lewallen, 2015). An academic nurse educator is expected to act reasonably towards guiding the student nurse without negligence. The tort law provides that the nurse educator must not act in negligence towards a patient even fail to accomplish what is reasonable. A nursing educator can be negligent for failing to instruct and supervise the student properly during a surgical operation that went wrong (Patton & Lewallen, 2015). The tort law, therefore, provides that the nurse educator develops a curriculum with precise instructions that would reduce any risk of harm to the patient and the nurse students. The instructions must reduce any possible injury to the students or the patient being treated. In this regard, the other legal issue that can befall an academic nurse educator is on the safety of the patient.

The Objective of the Clinical Experience

I would discuss the objectives of the clinical experience by reviewing the activities that were covered during the lessons at the medical-surgical unit and then drawing them to the reason why the activities were done. Such an explanation would lead to the objective o the clinical experience.

Patient Assignment and Students' Activities

I would link their assessment and evaluation results to the activities the student nurse performed in the medical-surgical unit. The student nurse's passing of the evaluation implies that the activities were carried out effectively, leading to the achievement of the objective. The other aspect would be the change noted in the patients. The improvements observed in patients would be linked to the adequate performance of the planned activities. For instance, the

Application of Theory to Practice

The practical in a surgical unit allows the students to connect the theory learned to reality. Meeting the patient brings the nursing students to appreciate the theory leaned to the practice in the real world. Hence, the performance of the set-out activities aids in effectively transition from theory to practice. The student nurse learns how to do the injections.

Interpersonal Communication

Communication helps in building trust, and this can be developed through the maintenance of a positive attitude. I would also set up boundaries to outline the communication between the student and the patient and the communication between the student and the educator. Demonst5arting the difference aids in establishing the clinical relationship.

Legal and Ethical Issues for Student Nurse

When working as a nursing student in a clinical environment, the student is governed by several legal and ethical issues, one of which includes maintaining secrecy about patient information. The student has to maintain the privacy of the patient and not share the information with the public or even through social media platforms. Secondly, the student has to ensure that the patient consent to the surgical procedure. The patient accepts to undergo the procedure, and as such, the patient has to explain to the patient about the incidence the befall him. Once the patient agrees with the need for the surgical procedure, the student nurse goes ahead to ensure that the patient signs the consent form. If the patient is not in a position, then the family representative has to do so.Legal issues in the surgical operation rooms follow set guidelines defined by the Nursing Practice Act. The nurse student must have a good understanding of the legal risk that comes along with engaging in certain practices that goes against the act (Patton & Lewallen, 2015). Every state has a Nursing Practice Act, which can be used in a court of law to guide on the standard of practice that the nurse ought to comply with. For instance, the student nurse can be delegated some tasks to accomplish. Still, he/she has the responsibility to determine the availability of the necessary skills and abilities to carry out the job. If the student accepts the delegated task, it implies he/she possesses the required skills and abilities, and the law becomes abiding such that in case of anything, the student becomes legally responsible (Patton & Lewallen, 2015). The second example of the legal aspect biding to the student nurse is negligence. Negligence arises out of a failure to perform the intended tasks. Through neglect, medication errors occur, or patients get abandoned, or wrong medication is given. This implies that understanding the Nursing Practice Act is essential so that no students are exposed to actions against the law.

References

Nehring, P. (2019). Guideline Development for an Adjunct Faculty Orientation in Prelicensure Nursing Programs (Ph.D.). Walden University.

Patton, C., & Lewallen, L. (2015). Legal Issues in Clinical Nursing Education. Nurse Educator, 40(3), 124-128. doi: 10.1097/nne.0000000000000122

Wilkinson, K. (2018). Ethical/Legal Considerations for Nurse Preceptors and Preceptees. In M. G. Harper & S. Holy. (Eds.). Legal aspects of nursing professional development practice (pp. 91-118). Chicago, IL: Association for Nursing Professional Development