Nursing practice is an essential part of providing safe, high-quality healthcare. Nurses use their expertise and advanced knowledge to ensure that patients get the care they need in a professional, ethical way. They use evidence-based science and research to make decisions and follow the rules set out by professional organizations such as the United States Nursing Association.
Here is a closer look at the role nursing practice plays in patient safety.
Understanding nursing practice
Nurses work in a variety of settings, including hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities. They are responsible for ensuring that the care provided is safe, ethical and informed by evidence-based practices.
Nurses combine scientific knowledge with advanced problem-solving skills to create individualized plans of care for each patient. This may include providing support and education on various health topics, taking vital signs, or administering medications. They also take time to review reports and research related to new treatments, technologies and techniques that can improve patient outcomes. By following rules set out by professional organizations such as the United States Nursing Association, patients can be confident in the quality of care they receive.
Nursing practice is an important part of providing quality healthcare to people of all ages. Nurses use their expertise and experience to inform decisions about patient care and provide support for other healthcare professionals in a professional, ethical manner.
Advancements in nursing practice
Nursing practice requires specialized knowledge, allowing nurses to ask the right questions, use evidence-based science, provide accurate patient assessments and follow current standards of care.
With an increased demand for nurses in the United States due to a growing and aging population, long shifts, and advanced technology, it is essential for nurses to have the right skills and training to provide quality care. This means that nursing schools must keep up with the latest advancements in medicine and stay informed on national and global trends.
The University of Indianapolis ABSN Program is designed to meet the needs of modern students. It allows them to learn about the latest advancements in nursing practice wherever they happen to live through fully online coursework while gaining real-world experience from in-person clinical placements.
To ensure safety, standards of practice must be consistently updated, and staff must be trained in specialized procedures such as surgery and infectious disease control. Nursing practice is a demanding profession, requiring nurses to stay up to date on the latest research, technology and ethical rules.
By allowing students to combine theory with practice in an increasingly complex medical environment, nursing schools are helping to ensure quality patient care. With experts in infection control, advanced surgical techniques and other specialized fields of study, nursing colleges can provide students with access to excellent learning opportunities that prepare them to enter the professional world and give them the skills needed to make sound decisions and report accurate findings.
Ensuring patient safety
Nursing practice plays a vital role in ensuring patient safety. It is important for nurses to understand the relationship between nursing practice and patient safety to provide the highest quality of care. The Joint Commission released a 2023 guide on national safety goals, while the “Patients’ Perceptions of Hospital Care Safety” study found that patients reported feeling safe during medical procedures when a nurse was present.
Nursing practice is as diverse as the people and populations they serve. For example, in some settings, nurses may practice in a hospital bedside care setting or perform laboratory tests in a clinical laboratory. Nurses are licensed to practice by the state in which they work and typically work within a particular specialty. Nurses are educated at an undergraduate level for general nursing and must complete graduate-level education for specialization as cognitive/behavioral health aides or case managers.
Patient safety is a priority for medical professionals as it can reduce the risk of harm or death due to medical errors or negligence. This includes performing a thorough intake and history, assessing potential medical contraindications, obtaining relevant medical records, and screening for the appropriate treatment plan.
Ensuring patient safety requires nurses to be knowledgeable about best practices in nursing care, with an understanding of the legal requirements related to patient safety and an awareness of the potential risks associated with healthcare settings. Patient safety is a cornerstone of the healthcare system. All healthcare providers must ensure that patients are safe at all times in order to preserve patient outcomes.
Ethics and confidentiality
Nurses need to be aware of ethical issues related to the healthcare setting, such as patient autonomy, confidentiality, responsibility for clinical outcomes and competence. They should also be prepared to discuss ethical issues with their patients.
Patient autonomy is a recognized principle of professional nursing practice. Nurses need to respect the autonomy of patients in terms of their decision-making rights, including their ability to decline or refuse healthcare interventions and treatments.
Confidentiality is an ethical principle that requires nurses to safeguard patient information to protect patient privacy and preserve trust between the nurse, patient, family members and other healthcare providers. Nurses are ethically bound to maintain patient confidentiality at all times.
Nursing practice and patient safety are two interdependent concepts. Nursing practice is the application of nursing knowledge and skills to provide care for patients in a variety of settings. It involves assessing, diagnosing, planning, implementing and evaluating care for individuals. Meanwhile, patient safety is an important component of healthcare that focuses on reducing the risk of harm to patients during their treatment or care.