Essential I-III
Essential I-III
Essential I: Liberal Education for Baccalaureate Generalist Nursing Practice
Liberal education is emphasized in the first essential, it includes the study of life sciences (e, g., biology, and genetics), physical sciences (e, g., physics and chemistry), as well as life sciences (e, g., physiology and sociology). Other study areas include social sciences and mathematical sciences. Arts are also studied under liberal education, including humanities, performing arts, and fine arts. Nurses with adequate liberal education can practice proper clinical judgment and understand the meaning behind standards and policies. Nurses also benefit by learning to accept responsibility for the ongoing development of their careers as well as the nursing discipline at large. Baccalaureate nurses with liberal education can also integrate skills, values, and knowledge from sciences and arts to give safe quality care, advocate for individuals, communities, and groups, and support social justice healthcare.
Example of Essential
I managed to learn about the ANA Code of Ethics and its implementation in nursing practice thanks to the Nursing Synthesis Theory class. This knowledge built my nursing practice as I was able to understand which values were essential and necessary during my clinical rotations. I also realized my role as a nurse in advocating for patients as well as the nursing profession. As a class, we also wrote a Contemporary Issues Reflection Paper on the importance of lifelong learning among nurses. We learned about the constant improvement of the healthcare field and the benefits of life-long learning in improving the quality of care in the future.
Outcomes Met:
- Integrate into nursing practice the concepts and theories gained from a liberal education.
- Address practical issues using skills of analysis, inquiry, and information literacy.
- Communicate effectively using verbal, written, non-verbal, and emerging technology methods.
- Value continuous learning to support excellence in nursing practice.
Essential II: Basic Organizational and Systems Leadership for Quality Care and Patient
Safety
Nursing leadership calls for knowledge in complex systems and an understanding of how policies, power, politics, and regulatory guidelines affect healthcare systems. The second essential equips nurses with skills necessary in nursing practice to elaborate critical and ethical decision-making as well as establishing working relationships in the healthcare environment. Nursing leaders should be creative and should understand how to use practical communication skills that can improve productivity in the healthcare settings and within inter-professional teams as well. I have learned about the importance of safety in healthcare throughout my nursing education and have learned how to embrace it as I practice nursing. Nurses with baccalaureate knowledge can take part in basic quality and safety investigations to help in the development of improved action plans. During my clinical rotations, I effectively communicated with other nurses and healthcare professionals in the institution, especially during the change of shift.
Example of Essential
During our clinical experiences, we were able to communicate with nurses and patients to provide effective and safe care to all patients. I also participated in the Leadership and Professional Role Development course that taught us about different leadership skills that can be used in healthcare. We did the Leadership Theory Paper to demonstrate our knowledge in the course, and I discussed about transformational leadership and its usefulness in working with others emotionally.
Outcomes Met:
- Apply leadership skills, concepts, and decision-making to improve the quality of nursing care, team coordination, and accountability in care delivery across healthcare settings.
- Demonstrate understanding of organizational vision, mission, structure, values, and philosophy.
- Promote factors that enhance the culture of caring and safety,
- Engage in developing and implementing creative and imaginative strategies to facilitate change of systems.
- Demonstrate awareness of complicated organizational systems.
Essential III: Scholarship for EvidenceBased Practice (EBP)
The third essential emphasizes the use of evidence-based practices in the healthcare environment to improve patient outcomes and quality care. Nurse who successfully take part in the baccalaureate program are able to stay up-to-date on best practices and research concerning healthcare. Moreover, nurses can also understand the development of evidence, including research, inter-professional perspectives, clinical judgment, and patient preference as applicable to nursing practice. Nurses can collaborate with professionals from other fields to document and interpret evidence to improve patient outcomes. During my clinical rotations, I managed to embrace EBP as I treated patients by keeping a clean hospital environment and wearing gloves and protective clothing. This EBP was effective in infection control since no patient wants to visit the hospital and contract an infection during their stay. EBP is vital in improving the quality of care and all nurses should embrace it in their practice.
Example of Essential
The EBP course equipped me basic understanding of evidence-based research elements and the models used to apply the research into practice. We also did the EBP paper during our course work and reviewed each other’s papers to evaluate the credibility and evidence support used in each paper. Through this practice, we enhanced our skills and knowledge in evidence-based research and learned how we can apply it in our nursing practice to improve healthcare.
Outcomes Met:
- Explain the correlation among theory, research, and practice.
- Advocate for human rights during research involving humans.
- Take part in collection, dissemination, and documentation of evidence.
- Integrate clinical judgment, evidence, patient preferences, and inter-professional perspectives in planning, evaluating, and implementing outcomes of care.
- Evaluate the credibility of information sources, including those from the Internet and databases.
References
American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). (2008). The essentials of baccalaureate education for professional nursing practice. Retrieved from https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/42/Publications/BaccEssentials08.pdf