The past eight weeks have influenced my understanding of the nursing practice and helped me improve my skills and knowledge considerably. I have learned the worth of leading and promoting quality improvements and safety in healthcare delivery. The point is that organizational leadership is vital for patient care, and every nurse has to know what skills should be developed, how critical decisions should be made, and which core competencies matter. Because medical errors and patient harm still take place, nurse educators and practical nurses try to offer new improved strategies and ideas on how students can ensure their skills and use their knowledge in practice (DeBourgh, 2012).
This practice and clinical rotation with an internal medicine doctor have proved the fact that many people suffer from such diseases as diabetes, anemia, back and cervical pain, pneumonia, pharyngitis, etc. Patients need to be diagnosed and treated carefully in regards to the requirements set and the expectations developed. At the same time, people have to realize that there is a connection between cost, quality, and safety of the care they can get. Therefore, nurses have to know exactly how to benefit from a properly established organizational structure, introduce care processes, explain the financing details, and make appropriate policy decisions. My observations help to conclude that even if there is a perfect structure and a properly trained staff, some problems may take place. There can be a need for quality improvements in healthcare delivery or explanations of communication modalities that are applied in advanced nursing roles. Besides, nurses should be trained on how to work with different patients, distinguish the needs of aging people from the needs of family patients, and regard various legal and ethical principles of care.
I believe that the success of healthcare depends on how well nurses can combine patient-centered care with the responsibilities of the team. In other words, nurses should be ready to share their experiences and knowledge, and their leaders should know how to deliver different pieces of information to every employee. Safety and quality are the two basic concepts that should be considered by every nurse. Still, it is not enough to know the basics and follow the rules. Nurses need to exemplify their commitment to their roles as nurses in a team and be a helpful guide for patients and an informative source for other members of the working team. The use of teams is one of the latest achievements practiced in healthcare organizations (Valentine, Nembhard, & Edmondson, 2015). One team representative may have an interesting approach to be applied in a particular situation, and another team member has no idea about the possibility. Therefore, a good leader must promote the exchange of information in a short period and utilize improvement strategies. Nurses are also able to invent their approaches to treat patients with diabetes or pneumonia. These approaches should influence the quality of clinical care because it is the task of doctors to diagnose and prescribe medications. Nurses should communicate to their patients, follow the changes in their health, and report to doctors in cases of emergency. At the same, the quality of health care is also in the hands of nurses, and good leaders know how nurses influence the promotion of health care, safety, and quality in hospitals and other special organizations.
In general, the experience gained during the last weeks does not have a price because it helps to realize the true worth of nursing and the role of nurses in hospitals and for patients.
References
DeBourgh, G. A. (2012). Synergy for patient safety and quality: academic and service partnerships to promote effective nurse education and clinical practice. Journal of Professional Nursing, 28(1), 48-61.
Valentine, M. A., Nembhard, I. M., & Edmondson, A. C. (2015). Measuring teamwork in health care settings: A review of survey instruments. Medical Care, 53(4), e16-e30.