Nurses: Future challenges, core competencies, and future challenges
Introduction Over the past few decades, nurses have faced many challenges. Nursing care is affected by ethical, legal, social, and financial issues. There are many ways to address these issues, such as using technology, providing patient-centered care and employing evidence-based practices. To provide quality care, the Institute of Medicine has identified five core competencies nurses must possess. Patient-centered care is one of the five competencies. Others are teamwork, collaboration and evidence-based practice. This essay will explore three challenges nurses face today, the significance of the IOM’s message on nursing education, and how nurses can meet the five core competencies.
The Challenges of Care Delivery
Challenge 1: Nurse Shortage The shortage of nursing staff is one of the biggest challenges facing health systems around the world. The shortage of nurses is caused by a number of factors including an ageing population, retirements, and lackluster interest among young people in nursing. A shortage of nurses can lead to increased workloads for existing nurses, leading to burnout or job dissatisfaction. To overcome this problem, nurses can use technology to improve efficiency and productivity, including electronic health records and telehealth. Nurses can also engage in mentoring programs to train the next-generation of nurses and attract talent into the profession. They can promote nursing as an exciting and rewarding career.
In the course of performing their duties, nurses are often faced with ethical dilemmas. These ethical dilemmas can arise from situations where the patient’s wishes conflict with what is best for the patient or when patients’ confidentiality is at risk. To overcome these ethical dilemmas, nurses can seek guidance from ethics committees or nursing associations. They should also practice good communication and follow ethical guidelines and codes. Additionally, nurses can collaborate with interdisciplinary teams to provide holistic care that considers the patient’s preferences, values, and beliefs.
Globally, healthcare costs are increasing. These rising costs affect the delivery of nursing care. High healthcare costs may lead to a shortage of resources and limited patient care. The nurses can meet this challenge through cost-effective interventions and patient-centered care. Nurses can, for example, promote early intervention and discharge planning in order to decrease hospital readmissions. Moreover, nurses could advocate policy changes to support the healthcare reforms as well as increase funding for education and research in nursing.
Institute of Medicine’s Future of Nursing Report
The IOM’s Future of Nursing report developed four key messages to improve nursing practice and education. The fourth message is “Nurses should be full partners, with physicians and other health professionals, in redesigning health care in the United States.” This message is significant to the nursing profession as it recognizes the critical role that nurses play in healthcare delivery. The largest healthcare provider group in the world is nurses, whose contribution to health care delivery is vital. The expertise and knowledge of nurses can help them provide patient-centered, high-quality care. This will promote positive outcomes. It emphasizes that nurses must work with other health care providers to redesign the healthcare system to improve accessibility, quality, and outcomes for patients.
Core Competencies in Nursing Practice
Patients-Centered care Patient-centered caring is a core competency of nursing that all nurses should possess in order to deliver high-quality healthcare. This involves involving patients in the care decision-making process, respecting and valuing their values and beliefs and providing compassion. To meet this competency, nurses can use communication techniques that encourage active listening, empathic understanding, and patient education. Additionally, nurses can use tools such as patient satisfaction surveys and patient feedback to evaluate the quality of care and improve patient-centeredness. A barrier to this competency