Part 1: Continuing Education
Advanced nursing roles come with significant responsibilities and challenges that require the nurses to be more strategically placed in the field. The national system of healthcare is in continuous transformation and restructuring. The innovations in the provision of care to patients accelerate. The changes bring with them the needs of every nurse to develop professionally. With this in mind, advancing in their education has become an essential matter for clinicians, particularly for those who want to stay abreast of the changes in the nursing field ( Billings & Halstead, 2015) . When the nurses start advancing in their studies, opportunities surface which helps them stay up-to-date with the transformation in the medical environment, new technologies, and advanced theories of nursing practice. It is also rewarding for them as it makes them get increased compensation while they move up the leadership and management ladder that require high-level of specialties (Blais & Hayes, 2016). Of importance is the fact that continuing education in the nursing field may become a prerequisite for the practitioners who look to advance their RN careers.
One of the ways the continuing in education is essential to the nurses is that it helps them improve patient care. When a practitioner moves further with his or her knowledge in the field of nursing, there is the opportunity to learn additional skills and advanced techniques that may improve their service delivery ( Griscti & Jacono, 2006) . The classes they pursue will help in the acquisition of skills through the application of data analysis and advanced technology (Blais & Hayes, 2016). Also, the nurse gets hands-on experience that is transferred through the assignments involving capstone project. This kind of research allows the clinician to identify problems, carry out interventions that are based on research, dig deep into literature and put forth proposals to improve the professional practice.
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Also, advancing in education helps the nurses to make better healthcare decisions. In turn, this helps the individual to achieve better patient outcomes, while reducing costs and optimizing operational efficiency ( Billings & Halstead, 2015) . The role of continuing education is to assist in the employment of data to make sound decisions. The other importance of advancing in education is the overall expansion of healthcare knowledge. Regardless of the degree pursued, advancement in nursing education prepares the person gain extensive expertise and understanding that could not possibly be achieved with the primary training ( Griscti & Jacono, 2006) . The favorite topics in the advanced education are healthcare innovation, healthcare information systems, and research analysis. The newly gained knowledge can help the individual have expanded career options and opportunities.
If a nurse comes to me and says, “I only want to live and work in a state that does not require continue education credits and I never want to advance my degree,” I would first tell them that the time for that type of life is up and past. In the current world where everything is changing drastically, thanks to technology, the nurse has no choice but to advance their knowledge. The role of the burse is also transformed through these changes, and thus the degree would be obsolete as their experience and skills would be passed with time. They would not learn how to care for the continuously changing demographic framework of the community. This type of comment is jeopardy to the person who makes it and also the nursing profession as a whole. With the increasing changes in patient care requirements and needs, having a single degree will prepare the nurse constricted to only one area of the field and not being able to solve the others.
Part 2: Future of Nursing
Nursing is one field that has undergone various historical transformations since its conception. It has come from being just the field of caring for sick patients to that which makes important decisions in the society and promoting wellbeing. It has encountered regulatory, policy, and historical barriers along the way and making nurses unable to generate the transformation widely (Blais & Hayes, 2016). The health system has been fragmented, nurses have been facing challenges when transitioning from school to practice, the rates of nurse turnover are high, and other changes in the demography like aging workforce making the field a difficult one. However, the current trends have tried to solve these problems which make the future of nursing not all gloomy. Some developments suggest the direction in which the nurses should take to save the profession.
The future of any healthcare planning depends on the current or recent events. The factors that might affect the appearance of the profession include global and societal trends. This makes it imperative that one be able to fathom the organizational, economic, political, and social influences on the trends that shape the future (Blais & Hayes, 2016). The healthcare of the coming years will be focused on consumerism, community focus, information technology, biotechnological innovation and the disarray in managed care. The current state of systems makes people not contented with the services they receive hence consumerism chipping in.
The most significant influence of the future is technological advancements. The world of computing will spread its wings into medical practice and healthcare. Practitioners will be required to know more than just operating a computer. They have to be skilled in advanced levels of technology like using spreadsheets and imaging. There will be the emergence of online services that will be employed to solve problems (Blais & Hayes, 2016). Sources of patient information will be highly utilized, and this makes the future client more educated and aware than the current one. The nurses can be champions of these developments or act as the referral agents. As the IOM report (2011) indicates, the future nurses are required to utilize a spectrum of technological tools and complex systems for managing information. These need advanced skills in the synthesis and analysis for improved effective care. Robotics is a rising issue in the area of advanced technology and could affect the landscape of nursing in the future (Blais & Hayes, 2016). There will be programmed nursing assistants that deliver supplies to the surgical rooms and even trays.
The future of nursing requires collaboration and cooperation with other professionals in the field of medicine like doctors, physicians, surgeons and others to help in the delivery of effective services. Some challenges now are that the physicians do not allow the nurses to see a patient or prescribe medication without supervision. The scope of practice for the future nurse will change, and the collaboration will be essential for the profession ( Grossman & Valiga, 2016 ). This is because the kind of care for the clients will be complicated and challenging. The future challenges affect the healthcare delivery as a whole and will continue to pose pressure to the response. Most of these are demographic and societal changes (IOM, 2011).
All these challenges that the medical field faces make the nurses have the pressure of service delivery. The force transcends down to the education system for the nurses both before and after the licensure (IOM, 2011). The education system should be transformed and improved to ensure the nurses in current and future times can have the capability of delivering quality care that is patient-centered and cuts across all settings. The policies for the entry in the nursing profession should be revisited to accommodate the increasingly changing competencies ( Grossman & Valiga, 2016 ). In that regard, the nurses should be in the forefront to shape the policies rather than be the victims of such. They should see systems as something they can be engaged in formulating and implementing.
In conclusion, the nursing profession is one that has profoundly transformed since its inception in the 19 th century. It has come from being merely an aid to an essential component in the healthcare system. The situation is highly attributed to the educational advancement and curriculum. The future of nurses is bright for the most part of the healthcare system. Technological progress, societal changes, and demography all pose pressure on the practice. The nurses however are poised to adapt to the changes with the right competencies and developments.
References
Billings, D. M., & Halstead, J. A. (2015). Teaching in Nursing-E-Book: A Guide for Faculty : Elsevier Health Sciences.
Blais, K. K. & Hayes, J. S. (2016). Professional nursing practice: Concepts and perspectives (7th ed.). Boston, MO: Pearson Chapters 25.
Griscti, O., & Jacono, J. (2006). Effectiveness of continuing education programmes in nursing: literature review: Journal of advanced nursing , 55 (4), 449-456.
Grossman, S., & Valiga, T. M. (2016). The new leadership challenge: Creating the future of nursing . FA Davis.
Institute of Medicine (US). Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing. (2011). The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health . Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
