NRS 440 Assignment: Reflection Paper

Sample Answer for NRS 440 Assignment: Reflection Paper Included After Question

Description:

The IOM published report, “Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health,” makes recommendations for lifelong learning and achieving higher levels of education.

In 1,000-1,250 words, examine the importance of nursing education and discuss your overall educational goals. Include the following:
1. Discuss your options in the job market based on your educational level.
2. Review the IOM Future of Nursing Recommendations for achieving higher levels of education. Describe what professional certification and advanced degrees (MSN, DNP, etc.) you want to pursue and explain your reasons for wanting to attain the education. Discuss your timeline for accomplishing these goals.
3. Discuss how increasing your level of education would affect how your competitiveness in the current job market and your role in the future of nursing.
4. Discuss the relationship of continuing nursing education to competency, attitudes, knowledge, and the ANA Scope and Standards for Practice and Code of Ethics.
5. Discuss whether continuing nursing education should be mandatory. Provide support for your response.

You are required to cite to a minimum of three sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and relevant to nursing practice.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. Refer to theLopesWrite Technical Support articles for assistance.

A Sample Answer For the Assignment: NRS 440 Assignment: Reflection Paper

Title: NRS 440 Assignment: Reflection Paper

Nurses join the demanding profession looking forward to achieving many career and personal goals. Besides individual satisfaction, nurses are motivated to join a rewarding career that plays an instrumental role in society’s transformation. To excel in this practice, nurses are advised to advance their skills since it helps them to understand patient care issues and practice challenges. Advanced skills also help nurses to perform as nursing essentials obligate (Mlambo et al., 2021). They also increase nurses’ competency, which makes them more employable in the competitive market. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the importance of nursing education and my overall educational goals.

Options in the Job Market Based on the Current Educational Level

Different states allow nurses to practice differently depending on their educational levels. Some allow nurse practitioners to practice independently, while others require career-long supervision (DePriest et al., 2020). My current education allows me to work independently in many states and engage in patient care directly. As a result, advancing education will allow me to be a more experienced nurse practitioner who handles patient issues competently. Besides handling routine roles assigned by nurse leaders, I can work as a care coordinator, clinical nurse liaison, or patient coordinator. Broadly, these opportunities do not require advanced nursing skills, and I can handle them individually or as a team member. Patient and care coordination is critical to effective, efficient, and satisfactory care since they ensure health care professionals coordinate to formulate treatment and illness management plans that address patient needs comprehensively (Harkness, 2020). They also ensure that patients understand their health conditions and are actively involved in the management of their conditions.

Advanced Degree, Reasons, and Timeline

Nurses should be passionate about acquiring advanced skills and work hard to be more experienced professionals as time advances. Besides improving practice experience, continuous and advanced learning increases nurses’ confidence and ability to influence nursing practice through policy, leadership, and other interventions. The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity” report spotlights the need for nurses to advance their education since it empowers them to improve health and well-being among individuals and groups, formulate innovative care models, and effectively respond to disasters (National Academies of Medicine, 2021). Such knowledge will be instrumental in health care evolution as nursing practitioners, leaders, and health care stakeholders collaborate to reduce inequities and achieve cost-effective care.

Among the options for advanced degrees, I look forward to pursuing a Master of Science Nursing (MSN) in leadership. From a practice dimension, a master’s degree improves nurses’ practice experience and allows them to specialize in an area of interest (NurseJournal Staff, 2022). With patient care dynamics and workplace issues changing drastically, the nursing practice requires many nurse leaders committed to transforming the health care landscape. In response, the MSN in leadership degree will prepare me to engage actively in health care transformation through experience, leadership skills, and policymaking. Nurse leaders also engage in patient advocacy, which helps raise voices on patients’ behalf to ensure their needs are adequately addressed (Soklaridis et al., 2018). Typically, an MSN in leadership degree takes approximately two years to complete. As a result, it will take me two more years to complete the degree after I finish the current course.

Increasing Education Level, Competitiveness, and Role in the Future of Nursing

Like other professionals, nurses should be encouraged to attain the highest education possible to be more effective in their roles. Increasing my education level will impact my employability positively since most organizations put more emphasis on advanced skills when hiring. As Deering (2022) explained, most health care organizations prefer nurses with at least a bachelor’s degree in nursing since they associate nurses’ knowledge with patient outcomes. In this case, there is a basic assumption that highly educated nurses are better-prepared and highly skilled for the demanding profession. My role in the future of nursing will also be significantly affected by acquiring more skills and career experience. As a nursing professional looking forward to influencing the nursing practice through leadership, adequate preparation in leadership and management is critical. Broadly, the future of nursing will be characterized by a high demand for quality patient care, responding to issues such as nurse burnout and workplace incivility, and policymaking. As a nurse leader, I will be active in shaping the nursing practice in the future as it continues to cope with complex issues hampering patient care.

Nursing Education, Competency, Attitudes, Knowledge, and ANA Scope and Standards

Continuing nursing education leads to better outcomes for the nurse, patients, and the broader nursing practice. According to Fukada (2018), advancing education improves nurses’ skills and prepares them to address complex patient problems better. As a result, advanced nursing skills improves nurses’ competency as care practitioners and change implementers for quality patient care. Continuing education also helps nurses to better understand and engage more in patient advocacy, research translation to practice, and technology integration into patient care (Fulton & Holly, 2021). These competencies make them more confident professionals who perceive their role positively. Such perception improves nurses’ attitudes toward their professional mandate despite its complex challenges.

Nurses’ overall knowledge increases as their skills advance. For instance, a master’s prepared nurse gains more knowledge on informatics and health care technologies, health policy, and organizational and systems leadership (Fulton & Holly, 2021). This knowledge influences patient care positively since it improves care effectiveness and efficiency. As health dynamics change, nurses’ vulnerability to engaging in illegal and unethical practices increases. The ANA Scope and Standards for Practice and Code of Ethics dictate the practice requirements for nursing professionals and the fundamentals of ethical conduct. Continuing education improves nurses’ skills in these critical areas to ensure they engage in ethical practice and provide care that adheres to the generally accepted ethical principles.

Analyzing Whether Continuing Nursing Education Should Be Mandatory

Continuous education typifies the progressive improvement of skills, which is essential for all professionals. Mlambo et al. (2021) emphasized the same by underlining that continuous learning is crucial in careers where continuous professional development is necessary. Despite its role in the professional development of nurses, continuous education cannot be mandatory. It can only be encouraged and institutions supported with adequate resources for continuous education. Nurses should also be supported financially through subsidized education, grants, and scholarship to motivate them to continue their education. In this case, mandatory education cannot be practical, considering that basic education is already expensive.

Conclusion

Nurses’ professional skills vary with their quality of education. Typically, continuous education is associated with positive health outcomes since it enables nurses to understand patient care issues in-depth and provide innovative solutions. Due to the positive link between high competency and patient care outcomes, nurses should advance their education and embrace continuous professional development through lifelong learning. As further discussed in this paper, continuous education should not be mandatory due to the expensive nature of nursing education. Instead, it should be encouraged and nurses offered the appropriate support and motivation to advance their skills.

References

Deering, M. (2022). Top 10 advantages of a BSN degree. NurseJournal. https://nursejournal.org/degrees/bsn/top-advantages-of-a-bsn-degree/

DePriest, K., D’Aoust, R., Samuel, L., Commodore-Mensah, Y., Hanson, G., & Slade, E. P. (2020). Nurse practitioners’ workforce outcomes under implementation of full practice authority. Nursing Outlook, 68(4), 459–467. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2020.05.008

Fulton, J. S., & Holly, V. W. (2021). Clinical nurse specialist role and practice. Springer International Publishing.

Fukada, M. (2018). Nursing competency: Definition, structure and development. Yonago Acta Medica, 61(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.33160/yam.2018.03.001

Harkness, T. L. (2020). Effective care coordination and transition management for older adults. Nursing made Incredibly Easy, 18(5), 26-32. doi: 10.1097/01.NME.0000694184.27758.b9

Mlambo, M., Silén, C., & McGrath, C. (2021). Lifelong learning and nurses’ continuing professional development, a metasynthesis of the literature. BMC Nursing, 20(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-021-00579-2

National Academies of Medicine. (2021). The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity. https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/the-future-of-nursing-2020-2030

NurseJournal Staff. (2022). 25 reasons to get a master’s in nursing. NurseJournal. https://nursejournal.org/degrees/msn/reasons-to-get-a-msn-degree/

Soklaridis, S., Bernard, C., Ferguson, G., Andermann, L., Fefergrad, M., Fung, K., … & Whitehead, C. (2018). Understanding health advocacy in family medicine and psychiatry curricula and practice: a qualitative study. PLoS One, 13(5), e0197590. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197590

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Description

Objectives:

1. Discuss the importance of advanced nursing education and lifelong learning to the nursing profession.
2. Evaluate the correlation between continued education and competency, attitudes, and knowledge in the nursing profession.

Description:

Read Chapter 3 in Trends in Health Care: A Nursing Perspective.

NRS 440 Assignment Reflection Paper
NRS 440 Assignment Reflection Paper

The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health

Description:

Refer to “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health,” located on the National Academies of Sciences Engineering Medicine website, as needed to complete your assignment.

Exploring the Value of Continuing Education Mandates

Description:

Read “Exploring the Value of Continuing Education Mandates,” by Smith (2003), located on the National Council of State Boards of Nursing website.

Continuing Competency

Description:

Read “Continuing Competency,” located on the Washington State Nurses Association website.

Fact Sheet: The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Description:

Read “DNP Fact Sheet: The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP).” Download the PDF of this document from the DNP Fact Sheet page of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing website.

Scope of Practice

Description:

Read “Scope of Practice,” located on the American Nurses Association (ANA) website.

Transforming Nursing Education

Description:

 Grading Rubric

Performance Category 100% or highest level of performance

100%

16 points

 Very good or high level of performance

88%

14 points

 Acceptable level of performance

81%

13 points

 Inadequate demonstration of expectations

68%

11 points

 Deficient level of performance

56%

9 points

 

 Failing level

of performance

55% or less

0 points
 Total Points Possible= 50           16 Points    14 Points 13 Points        11 Points           9 Points          0 Points
Scholarliness

Demonstrates achievement of scholarly inquiry for professional and academic topics.

 Presentation of information was exceptional and included all of the following elements:

  • Provides evidence of scholarly inquiry relevant to required TD topic(s).
  • Presents specific information from scholarly sources to develop a comprehensive presentation of facts.
  • Uses at least one outside scholarly reference that is relevant, less than 5 years old (use of older references requires instructor permission) and reliable for the required topic.*
  • Uses in-text citation and full reference at end of posting when presenting another person’s thoughts as quotes or paraphrase of information.
 Presentation of information was good, but was superficial in places and included all of the following elements:

  • Provides evidence of scholarly inquiry relevant to required TD topic(s).
  • Presents specific information from scholarly sources to develop a comprehensive presentation of facts.
  • Uses at least one outside scholarly reference that is relevant, less than 5 years old (use of older references requires instructor permission) and reliable for the required topic.*
  • Uses in-text citation and full reference at end of posting when presenting another person’s thoughts as quotes or paraphrase of information.
 Presentation of information was minimally demonstrated in all of the following elements:

  • Provides evidence of scholarly inquiry relevant to required TD topic(s).
  • Presents specific information from scholarly sources to develop a comprehensive presentation of facts.
  • Uses at least one outside scholarly reference that is relevant, less than 5 years old (use of older references requires instructor permission) and reliable for the required topic.*
  • Uses in-text citation and full reference at end of posting when presenting another person’s thoughts as quotes or paraphrase of information.
  

Presentation of information is unsatisfactory in one of the following elements:

  • Provides evidence of scholarly inquiry relevant to required TD topic(s).
  • Presents specific information from scholarly sources to develop a comprehensive presentation of facts.
  • Uses at least one outside scholarly reference that is relevant, less than 5 years old (use of older references requires instructor permission) and reliable for the required topic.*
  • Uses in-text citation and full reference at end of posting when presenting another person’s thoughts as quotes or paraphrase of information.
  

Presentation of information is unsatisfactory in two of the following elements:

  • Provides evidence of scholarly inquiry relevant to required TD topic(s).
  • Presents specific information from scholarly sources to develop a comprehensive presentation of facts.
  • Uses at least one outside scholarly reference that is relevant, less than 5 years old (use of older references requires instructor permission) and reliable for the required topic.*
  • Uses in-text citation and full reference at end of posting when presenting another person’s thoughts as quotes or paraphrase of information.
 Presentation of information is unsatisfactory in three or more of the following elements

  • Provides evidence of scholarly inquiry relevant to required TD topic(s).
  • Presents specific information from scholarly sources to develop a comprehensive presentation of facts.
  • Uses at least one outside scholarly reference that is relevant, less than 5 years old (use of older references requires instructor permission) and reliable for the required topic.*
  • Uses in-text citation and full reference at end of posting when presenting another person’s thoughts as quotes or paraphrase of information
 16 Points  14 Points  13 Points 11 Points 9 Points  0 Points
Application of Course Knowledge

Demonstrate the ability to analyze and apply principles, knowledge and information learned in the outside readings and relate them to real-life professional situations

 Presentation of information was exceptional and included all of the following elements:

  • Applies principles, knowledge and information from scholarly resources to the required topic.
  • Applies facts, principles or concepts learned from scholarly resources to a professional experience.
  • Application of information is comprehensive and specific to the required topic.
 Presentation of information was good, but was superficial in places and included all of the following elements:

  • Applies principles, knowledge and information from scholarly resources to the required topic.
  • Applies facts, principles or concepts learned from scholarly resources to a professional experience.
  • Application of information is comprehensive and specific to the required topic.
 Presentation of information was minimally demonstrated in the all of the following elements:

  • Applies principles, knowledge and information from scholarly resources to the required topic.
  • Applies facts, principles or concepts learned from scholarly resources to a professional experience.
  • Application of information is comprehensive and specific to the required topic.
 Presentation of information is unsatisfactory in one of the following elements:

  • Applies principles, knowledge and information from scholarly resources to the required topic.
  • Applies facts, principles or concepts learned from and scholarly resources to a professional experience.
  • Application of information is comprehensive and specific to the required topic.
 Presentation of information is unsatisfactory in two of the following elements:

  • Applies principles, knowledge and information from scholarly resources to the required topic.
  • Applies facts, principles or concepts learned from scholarly resources to a professional experience.
  • Application of information is comprehensive and specific to the required topic.
 Presentation of information is unsatisfactory in three of the following elements

  • Applies principles, knowledge and information and scholarly resources to the required topic.
  • Applies facts, principles or concepts learned scholarly resources to a professional experience.
  • Application of information is comprehensive and specific to the required topic.
   10 Points 9 Points  6 Points  0 Points
Interactive Dialogue

Initial post should be a minimum of 300 words (references do not count toward word count)

The peer and instructor responses must be a minimum of 150 words each (references do not count toward word count)

Responses are substantive and relate to the topic.

 Demonstrated all of the following:

  • Initial post must be a minimum of 300 words.
  • The peer and instructor responses must be a minimum of 150 words each.
  • Responses are substantive
  • Responses are related to the topic of discussion.
 Demonstrated 3 of the following:

  • Initial post must be a minimum of 300 words.
  • The peer and instructor responses must be a minimum of 150 words each.
  • Responses are substantive
  • Responses are related to the topic of discussion.
 Demonstrated 2 of the following:

  • Initial post must be a minimum of 300 words.
  • The peer and instructor responses must be a minimum of 150 words each.
  • Responses are substantive
  • Responses are related to the topic of discussion.
 Demonstrated 1 or less of the following:

  • Initial post must be a minimum of 300 words.
  • The peer and instructor responses must be a minimum of 150 words each.
  • Responses are substantive
  • Responses are related to the topic of discussion.
  8 Points 7 Points  6 Points         5 Points          4 Points  0 Points
Grammar, Syntax, APA

Points deducted for improper grammar, syntax and APA style of writing.

The source of information is the APA Manual 6th Edition

Error is defined to be a unique APA error. Same type of error is only counted as one error.

 The following was present:

  • 0-3 errors in APA format

AND

  • Responses have 0-3 grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors

AND

  • Writing style is generally clear, focused on topic,and facilitates communication.
 The following was present:

  • 4-6 errors in APA format.

AND/OR

  • Responses have 4-5 grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors

AND/OR

  • Writing style is somewhat focused on topic.
 The following was present:

  • 7-9 errors in APA format.

AND/OR

  • Responses have 6-7 grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors

AND/OR

  • Writing style is slightly focused on topic making discussion difficult to understand.
  

The following was present:

  • 10- 12 errors in APA format

AND/OR

  • Responses have 8-9 grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors

AND/OR

  • Writing style is not focused on topic, making discussion difficult to understand.
  

The following was present:

  • 13 – 15 errors in APA format

AND/OR

  • Responses have 8-10 grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors

AND/OR

  • Writing style is not focused on topic, making discussion difficult to understand.

AND/OR

  • The student continues to make repeated mistakes in any of the above areas after written correction by the instructor.
 The following was present:

  • 16 to greater errors in APA format.

AND/OR

  • Responses have more than 10 grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors.

AND/OR

  • Writing style does not facilitate communication
  0 Points Deducted 5 Points Lost
Participation

Requirements

Demonstrated the following:

  • Initial, peer, and faculty postings were made on 3 separate days
 Failed to demonstrate the following:

  • Initial, peer, and faculty postings were made on 3 separate days
  0 Points Lost 5 Points Lost
Due Date Requirements Demonstrated all of the following:

  • The initial posting to the graded threaded discussion topic is posted within the course no later than Wednesday, 11:59 pm MT.

A minimum of one peer and one instructor responses are to be posted within the course no later than Sunday, 11:59 pm MT.

Demonstrates one or less of the following.

  • The initial posting to the graded threaded discussion topic is posted within the course no later than Wednesday, 11:59 pm MT.

A minimum of one peer and one instructor responses are to be posted within the course no later than Sunday, 11:59 pm MT.