Nursing, as a career, is the worlds’ largest workforce contributor to the healthcare industry. It is steadily evolving to accommodate expansive healthcare needs and desires in and out of the hospital as generations change. Here in the US, there are a number of issues preventing those in this profession to cope up with the changing dynamics. Addressing such issues ensures that nurses become open enough to adapt to changing times through research (Gaberson, 2009). In this paper, we will concern ourselves to issues that contribute to the strengthening, valuing, and developing nursing education.
The central issues that should be addressed in the future of nursing development are mentioned as follows. First, the entire nursing syllabus needs to undergo an extreme make over through re-evaluation to make it more practical. It is arguable enough that times are changing with the advent of not only new disease strains but also improved technologies. School systems should adopt higher training facilities and structures aimed at enhancing team building capacities, leadership, and versatile research skills. Similarly, employers must introduce employment entry programs where graduate nurses learn how to administer health care from older and experienced nurses (Benner et al., 2009). The importance of such programs is to teach individuals how class skills are put to practice.
Secondly, everyone has an objective of being successful up in the corporate ladder. Individual employees tend to work harder and better in the presence of an incentive. For instance, a private health facility can boost nurse productivity by making achieving individuals as practicing partners. Nurses with such roles ensure leadership skills that promote professional development. Additionally, goal oriented professionals are concerned with solving health related problems present in societies around them (Bosher, 2009). They help create a generation of nurses who are both socially responsible and innovative enough for better patient care.
Lastly, an employer should make caring for the effectiveness of the present and future workforce a priority. One way of ensuring this is through acquiring adequate data on employee demographics and competence levels (Benner et al., 2009). This way, they are able to come up with a nurse mix that best addresses the needs of patients. Furthermore, such data are essential to evaluate the effects of changes in technology and patient behavioral patterns.
Other key issues not identified in the readings that should be prioritized in the future development of nursing are concerned with creating a new generation of nurses who are more inclined to community practice. They include a move to recognize the community as the centre stage for professional practice; more interdepartmental integration to come up with better ways of administering health care; more hospital experiences for student nurses; and the use of advanced technologies meant to encourage research towards prevention of illnesses. Such programs act as nurseries that produce mature, responsible, and experienced nurses upon graduation. Studies (Benner et al., 2009) in the US on two groups of nursing students had the ‘hospital learning’ students positively describing their experiences given real life chances to act like nurses. However, the other group, separated from hospital practices, reported an undesirable experience.
The government should play a central role in nursing education priority setting since patients are generally citizens of an economy. Therefore, concerned governments collaborate with nurses whenever they want to transform their healthcare structure (Gordon and Nelson, 2006). These two bodies, in addition to other key players, such as health insurance systems, hospital operators, and national nursing associations should work together for quality assurance.
In summary, nurses just like any other individuals, are capable of rationally changing and adapting themselves to situations. For instance, students should be subjected to constant assessments for them to qualify as graduates. An ultimate challenge posed to higher education institutions offering degrees in nursing is to ensure that their courses comply with the National Council for State Boards of Nursing Regulations (The American Nurses Association, 2012).
References
Benner, P., Sutphen, M., Leonard, V., & Day, L. (2009). Educating Nurses: A Call for Radical Transformation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publications.
Bosher, D. S. (2009). Transforming Nursing Education: The Culturally Inclusive Environment. New York: Springer Publishing Company LLC.
Gaberson, K. B. (2009). Evaluation and Testing in Nursing Education. New York: Springer Publishing Company.
Gordon, S., & Nelson, S. (2006).The Complexities of Care: Nursing Reconsidered. New York: Cornell University Press.
The American Nurses Association, Inc. (2012). Professional Standards. Web.