U.S. Govt: Transforming Healthcare With Nursing Profession - Essay Sample

Introduction

It is the responsibility of the government of the United States to develop an efficient healthcare system to meet the changing needs of the patients and growing the population. It has a chance to make the healthcare system affordable, available and provision of quality care services (Institute of Medicine, 2010). However, achieving healthcare transformation requires a collaboration of various elements and stakeholders. The nursing profession has the largest workforce in healthcare (Institute of Medicine, 2010). Therefore, the Institute of Medicine developed a comprehensive report to ensure nurses optimize their education and skills to transform the sector. The essay discusses the impact of lifelong learning in nursing practice.

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An initiative that emerged from the report is lifelong learning. Lifelong learning involves the process of engaging in continues learning. The changing needs of healthcare in the United States require a regular transformation of nursing education to prepare nurses to meet the diversified needs and expectations of patients, and function as leaders (Institute of Medicine, 2010). The essential goal of nursing in education is to enhance the preparedness of nurses to meet the challenging needs of patients. At the same time, nursing education needs to transform so that healthcare providers can work together and collaboratively to meet the changing needs of the patients (Institute of Medicine, 2010). In this regard, the concept of lifelong learning emerged as one of the critical components of the transformation in the sector.

Lifelong learning involves the process of developing and implementing healthcare programs continuously to counter changes in the healthcare sector. The aspect is essential since the growing population and healthcare of people make the process complex. The nature of healthcare professionals is changing, because of the complexities involved in providing the services (Institute of Medicine, 2010). Knowledge is ever-changing, requiring healthcare professionals to develop their skills so that they can keep pace with change. For example, with the adoption of technology in the sector, healthcare professionals should undergo training so that they use technology to optimize the outcome. Therefore, lifelong learning helps to handle the complexities involved in the healthcare sector.

The first impact of lifelong learning is that helps to meet patient and family expectations for quality healthcare. Increasing knowledge among patients enables them to demand answers from nurses. Also, people are likely to educate themselves about nursing concepts and they inquire more based on knowledge gained (Gabra, Sadek, Mohamed, Abdi & Mohamed 2013). Therefore, nurses must acquire knowledge about internal and external factors affecting the outcome of the services so that they respond appropriately to patient needs. In this context, they require lifelong learning that they catch up with the needs and expectations of patients and their families. Nurses can acquire knowledge through community colleges and universities, as well as developing their experience in the workplace.

Another impact of lifelong learning is that it improves the engagement of patients and nurses to work collaboratively to achieve the best outcome. The concept equips nurses with the necessary skills and knowledge that would improve their communication techniques with their patients (Qanbari, Khaghanizadeh & Ebadi 2017). Disengagement happens since healthcare professionals do not understand underlying factors influencing the patient-nurse relationship. For example, cultural and religious practices affect the communication process, leading to disintegration. However, with lifelong learning, nurses engage in relational inquiry to better understand the worldview of patients before commencing medication and this would improve the quality of care services.

Furthermore, lifelong learning is mandatory for career development in the nursing profession. Career progression differs with time and changes in the healthcare profession. It is because decisions nurses made twenty years could not be the same 25 years later. It is because of complexities involved and growing population needs and expectations. For example, patients are increasingly demanding answers from their caregivers and this means that they must be prepared to give accurate answers (Alsop, 2013). Nurses can optimize their professional experience by taking formal education to advance their careers. Experience can earn patients promotions but not career progression. The purpose of continues improvement is to equip nurses with knowledge and skills to offer solutions to patients, problems.

Lifelong learning has a direct relationship with critical thinking in nursing practice. Various universities and colleges have introduced the concept of critical thinking preparing nurses to be creative in their professions so that they find solutions to emerging issues in nursing (Gabra et al., 2013). For example, lifelong learning prepares nurses to apply relational inquiry to balance the interests of care users with the professional ethics of nurses. The concept helps to apply central thinking to solve a problem, threatening the quality of health and social care services (Gabra et al., 2013). The concept helps nurses gain confidence, and improve patient outcome.

Also, lifelong learning has a direct relationship with clinical reasoning in the sense that knowledge acquired through learning helps nurses to gather critical information from patients, process it, understand the needs and situation of the patient and make a clinical judgment. Since signs and symptoms of patients keep changing, nurses should transform their skills so that they can interpret various signs and patient data to improve the outcome of the services (Qanbari et al., 2017). Quality clinical reasoning enhances the nursing outcome since it takes into accounts the needs and expectations of the patients, as well as applying critical judgment. Importantly, lifelong learning enables clinicians and nurses to diagnose patients correctly and accurately to manage patients' medical complications.

Lastly, lifelong learning improves clinical judgments. Through lifelong learning, nurses acquire critical thinking skills, as well as reflection. They apply skills gained to question potential options available to ensure they are fact-based. It is not possible to document all clinical reasoning decisions or programs. It requires nurses to ensure sound clinical reasoning so that they come up with the best decisions. For example, nurses are exposed to various cultural beliefs (Gabra et al., 2013). They require nurses to consider their religious backgrounds before commencing any surgery. In this context, nurses can apply the knowledge they gained from lifelong learning to make a clinical decision that promotes the interest of the nursing profession and cultural backgrounds of the patients. Therefore, lifelong learning helps to make practical clinical judgments.

Conclusion

The nursing profession is transforming because of the changes in the healthcare sector. As the profession changes, so is the educational process. The United States government has the objective of providing quality healthcare services that meet the changing needs of the patients. As a result, various organizations, such as the Institute of Medicine are developing techniques to enhance educational development by developing and implementing lifelong learning. Through continues learning, nurses would develop their knowledge and handle challenges they encounter in service provision, focusing on the needs and expectations of nurses and their families.

References

Alsop, A. (2013). Continuing professional development in health and social care: Strategies for lifelong learning. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.

Gabra, S., Sadek, R., Mohamed, S., Abdi, E., & Mohamed, F. (2013). Critical Thinking and Clinical Judgment Skills for baccalaureate Nursing Students in EL-Minia University. Assiut Scientific Nursing Journal, 1(2), 1-8.

Institute of Medicine. (2010). The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health. Washington: The National Academies Press.

Qanbari, M., Khaghanizadeh, M., & Ebadi, A. (2017). Lifelong learning strategies in nursing: A systematic review. Electronic physician, 9(10): 5541-5550.