E-Folio: Essential II and the Case
Essential II: Basic Organizational and Systems Leadership for Quality Care and Patient Safety discusses the role of leadership skills in improving the quality of the provided care and focuses on the issue of patient safety which can be addressed with references to the nursing practice. According to Essential II, leadership skills are necessary to accentuate “ethical and critical decision making, initiating and maintaining effective working relationships, using mutually respectful communication and collaboration within interprofessional teams, care coordination, delegation, and developing conflict resolution strategies” (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008, p. 13). Thus, the nurse’s leadership skills are significant to improve the healthcare environment about quality and safety questions.
Exemplar
The principles of Essential II can be discussed with references to the case of proposing initiatives for improving patient safety within the healthcare organization. Referring to the case, I have learned that the discussion of patient safety initiatives is based on provided reports and conducted analyses. This process is associated with the leader’s decision-making activities, thus, this case was selected for the discussion. Patient safety initiatives are discussed and implemented to contribute to patient safety while decreasing the number of medical errors (Jones, 2009; Sullivan, 2012). The case is based on using specific Six Sigma and Plan-Do-Study-Act methods to analyze the effectiveness of the proposed initiatives to reduce the number of medical errors while providing care and treatment.
Reflection
I can state that the discussed case of analyzing the proposed patient safety initiatives is closely associated with the ideas related to Essential II because the nurse “implements safety principles and works with others on the interprofessional healthcare team to create a safe, caring environment for care delivery” (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008, p. 13). Thus, the proposition, analysis, and discussion of patient safety initiatives are the components of the nurses’ activities (Amer, 2013; American Psychological Association, 2010). The reason for the statement is in the fact that the focus on such activities develops the nurses’ leadership qualities along with improving their professional level. Following the case’s aspects and the idea that nurses should act as the leaders in the healthcare organizations, I can state that the development and analysis of different initiatives and projects such as the patient safety initiatives are important to promote the quality of the care (Bell, 2001; Meister et al., 2002; Oermann, 2002).
E-Folio: Essential III and the Case
Essential III: Scholarship for Evidence-Based Practice states with references to the nursing practice that “scholarship for the baccalaureate graduate involves identification of practice issues; appraisal and integration of evidence; and evaluation of outcomes” (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008, p. 15). A nurse needs to find the credible information which is necessary for the work, to evaluate the evidence appropriately, and to integrate the data into practice because the nursing practice should be evidence-based, and it should be supported with the significant scholarship background (Bell, 2001; Meister et al., 2002; Oermann, 2002).
Exemplar
I have selected to analyze the project in which I had ranked the evidence according to the GRADE system. I am inclined to state that this case is an effective example to demonstrate the importance of Essential III. Thus, it was necessary for the project to choose the grading system, to provide the practice recommendation, to evaluate the strength of the recommendation and the quality of the evidence. From this point, the development of the project can be discussed as an example of the necessity to learn how to evaluate the evidence to continue the research and make the effective conclusions appropriate for the nursing practice (Schmidt & Brown, 2012). The overall number of recommendations provided was three recommendations. Thus, I received the opportunity to evaluate the evidence about three different recommendations to improve my skills in conducting the research and evaluating the information. The ability to rank or classify the evidence according to definite criteria is important to promote the evidence-based practice with references to the scholarship skills (Majid, 2011, p. 229).
Reflection
I have analyzed the role of the completed project for my learning and career with references to the principles stated in Essential III. Thus, it is mentioned in the essential that nurses should “integrate reliable evidence from multiple ways of knowing to inform practice and make clinical judgments” (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008, p. 16). Working on the project, I could improve my skills in conducting the necessary research, evaluating the resources, choosing the most appropriate material, and providing effective conclusions. From this point, the project was effective enough to improve skills and abilities in activities that are closely connected with the evidence-based practice (American Psychological Association, 2010). Today, I understand the principles of the evidence-based practice clearly and can use them with references to the scholarship and work with the information, data, and evidence.
References
Amer, K. S. (2013). Quality and safety for transformational nursing: Core competencies. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2008). The essentials of baccalaureate education for professional nursing practice. Web.
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
Bell, S. (2001). Professional nurse’s portfolio. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 25(2), 69-73.
Jones, S. (2009). Reducing medication administration errors in nursing practice. Nursing Standard, 23(50), 40-46.
Majid, S. (2011). Adopting evidence-based practice in clinical decision making: Nurses’ perceptions, knowledge, and barriers. JMLA, 99(3), 229–236.
Meister, L., Heath, J., Andrews, J., & Tingen, M. (2002). Professional nursing portfolios: A global perspective. MEDSURG Nursing, 11(4), 177-182.
Oermann, M. (2002). Developing a professional portfolio in nursing. Orthopaedic Nursing, 21(2), 73-78.
Schmidt, N. A. & Brown, J. M. (2012). Evidence-based practice for nurses: Appraisal and application of Research. Boston: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Sullivan, E. J. (2012). Effective leadership and management in nursing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.