Nurses are the key personnel in the healthcare sector. They directly engage with all fundamental operations in the sector, playing a pivotal role in primary care. This group applies their knowledge, skills, and experience to ensure all patients receive quality care. Now, with the COVID-19 putting all healthcare workforce to the test, their importance is increasing profoundly. The shortages of nurses are putting a considerable strain on the healthcare sector. Despite the disruptions, the existing nurses continuously serve their role alongside healthcare professionals to increase positive patient outcomes. The large-scale infections and sudden burden of patients were indeed overwhelming for healthcare sectors around the globe. However, the expanding responsibilities of nurses are contributing significantly to provide the necessary care to patients along with others.
Some people never think of the nursing roles beyond patient care. In reality, the nurse’s activities are expanding to assure adequacy, patient care, data records, and patient advocacy. These all activities cover the prime roles of nurses to improve the whole healthcare continuum. For that instance, nurses need to be aware of these responsibilities that constitute quality care. Avoiding these can lead to compromised quality and safety in primary care. With that said, let’ discuss the top roles of nurses in improving the quality and safety in primary care.
- HOSPITALS QUALITY IMPROVEMENT
The hospital quality of patient care remains the prime subject of discussion. This demand is increasing not only through federal government mandates but also because of the soaring pandemic. This rising demand and shortage of nursing professionals are setting the stage for existing nurses to advance.
As the pandemic continues to wreak havoc globally, the closure of colleges is adding a significant impact on aspirants. Since the only way to fill the role gaps is by pursuing a professional education and entering a career, the only choice left is to seek an online degree. For that instance, nurses can pursue a new avenue of programs like DNP online to fill the significant voids in the current healthcare sector. Online education will help expand the skills to combine the data for clinical judgment and enhance the hospital’s environment.
- EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE
To provide high-quality and safe patient care, nurses need to master clinical decision-making skills. Evidence-based practice follows the approach for incorporating the studies and available healthcare data to determine the patient health outcomes and providing necessary care. This practice is critical in primary care to ensure the patient’s results and improve healthcare quality. For instance, the government authorities are setting up evidence-based management for treating the patients of COVID-19.
Nursing professionals are also coming forward to study this information to determine whether the patients are receiving the recommended quality of care or not. It will help the primary care professionals reduce medication errors, including overdose, polypharmacy, and others that may risk their health.
- FOCUS ON PATIENT ENGAGEMENT
Another advanced role of nurses is patient advocacy. People might be the advocates of their health. But it must come from the healthcare professionals like primary care physicians or nurses. Now, as the physicians busy covering other roles in daily healthcare, nurses are well-prepared to undertake patient advocacy in 2021. This group of professionals is in a powerful position to ensure safety during their treatment and help them to give a voice for explaining their health. Moreover, nurses are also educating the patient for the post-treatment after the discharge from hospitals.
Dawn of online education and degree programs encourages aspirants to expand their careers with more diverse roles. Today, even if you can’t squeeze in time for on-campus education, you can still earn an online degree. Suppose you want to go beyond and serve as the leader in education. In that case, you can pursue an online EDD to qualify for an educational leadership role in nursing. With this program, you can easily cater to both priorities of a full-time job and education at the same time. Moreover, this education will broaden your expertise to teach nursing education to students and utilize evidence-based strategies for course development.
Helping the patients by explaining their condition and improve the health every day will make a huge difference in their lives. Most patients have families that are anxious about the health of their loved ones. Nurses can assure them of the quality of treatment and which outcomes it will lead them to. The primary purpose of patient engagement is to make them comfortable and preserve patient dignity during the healthcare treatment.
- CONNECTING AND COLLABORATING WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS
In improving patient care, nurses are also expanding their expertise by combining the efforts with other organizations. The COVID-19 pandemic has set an example that a crisis can unfold at any second. But the nurses in healthcare have proven to face the situation and step up to serve. The rise in the global population, social changes, and uncertainty is significantly impacting the healthcare sector. On the other side, the ever-rising shortages of nursing professionals on the frontlines are putting stress on the healthcare sector.
For that instance, nurses are collaborating with organizations globally with the focus to improve patient care. Joining the webinars, online conferences, and organizations can allow nurses to identify and set goals for improvement in critical areas. This collaboration spurs new practices that are ready to improve patient’s health outcomes. Most organizations are open to engaging with healthcare professionals to share the experience for improving patient health quality and safety. Nurses can implement these by connecting with organizations that have successful backgrounds.
- EMPLOYING THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY
Technological advancement is another crucial component of expanding the roles of the nurses on the front lines. Be it the medical treatment, keeping patient records, or managing the medical supplies, technology plays a vital role in the medical landscape. Since technology focuses on enhancing the quality of care and minimizing errors, nurses are adapting to the latest tools and developments for patient treatments. According to a study, advancements in technology can help in reducing from 55% to 83% of medical-related errors. With these statistics, it is no wonder how technology is becoming an essential part of the daily activities of nurses.
FINAL WORDS
Nursing is the cornerstone of healthcare. With diverse roles and specialties around the sector, nursing enables treatment, education, and health promotion for people. No other profession in the healthcare sector has more diversified and far-reaching roles as compared to nurses. For that instance, it is essential to promote the importance of the nursing prime role to fill the significant gaps of shortages in the sector.
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