In the context of the 21st century, nursing practice has become one of the most required occupations, yet is considerably underestimated. While the focus is always being placed on doctors, nurses are the ones who assist professionals and should have the appropriate competence level. During the course “Emerging Areas on Human Health,” the major focus was placed on the issue of diagnostic and management decisions in terms of modern nursing practice. In order to master the professional skills of advanced nursing practice, it is crucial to obtain profound knowledge of the sphere, paying attention to health outcomes defined by certain biological or social predispositions. According to the researchers, the previous nursing system, unlike advanced nursing, did not have a measurable way of quality assessment (Rabelo‐Silva et al., 2017). Thus, during this course, attention was drawn to the qualitative aspect of the professional assessment.
Although every subject covered during the class was of significant importance for future occupation, there are three issues that, in my opinion, should be devoted particular attention to. The first issue concerns modern genetics development, which is gaining a completely new perspective in terms of today’s technological revolution. The second problem refers to the population’s aging and ways to deal with the increased demand for caregiving. Finally, the issue of ethical and legal consideration is extremely relevant today in the context of growing diversity and discrimination across the state.
Genetics
A considerable part of the course was dedicated to the fundamentals of genetics for the reason of its significance in today’s medical studies. Quite often, people tend to undermine the importance of inheritance when diagnosing a patient. However, when not paid attention, genetics still have a solid impact on the disease roots, and sometimes may even serve as the only appropriate explanation to one’s condition. In the course of the discussion, the significance of the genomic test was described from both researcher’s and patient’s perspectives. For instance, US residents are now struggling with wheartarth disease issues and stroke due to their behavioral patterns and lack of proper nutrition. However, if all the patience with heart issues predisposition knew about this risk, their attitude towards health could be changed for the sake of safety. Thus, the future of genomic testing in screening will provide a series of benefits for health care and individual treatment.
The benefit, however, concerns not only the patients’ heat alth at the current stage. As it was mentioned in one of the assigned readings for the course, the ability of genetic research allows the sphere of medicine to investigate all the possible implications of a certain genetic code (Rosenbaum, 2017). Hence, by paying meticulous attention to genomic tests, the sphere of preventative medicine can be revolutionized shortly. Another important opinion conveyed during the course was the ability to create a complex approach to the treatment, encompassing issues of genetics, environment, and lifestyle of a patient. To my mind, this issue should be addressed in the further education process due to its relevance in the advanced nursing practice and perspectives of the research.
Aging
The global problem he popupopulatinguires estimating innovations in the field of medical practice. According to 2018 statistics, in the US alone, 16% of the population was aged 65 and above, constituting the median age of 38 years (McPhillips, 2019). Such a tendency presupposes the demand to pay closer attention to the issue of individual care at home or in nursing homes. At present, the quality of elderly care in the US is struggling with low financial support from the government, making nurses lose their interest in caretaking.
To my mind, the class discussion on how to make nursing practice more efficient in the context of the aging population is crucial in order to make sure future nurses acknowledge the responsibility they take when becoming a part of the medical system. When providing adequate care for the elderly, it is of great importance to know how to communicate with seniors in order to make them feel needed. In case a healthy attitude is neglected, there is an overlap with poor financial aid and overall health care expenditures in the state. The major negative outcome of this aspect is a tendency of poor family planning with the percentage of older adults steadily rising. For this purpose, the future syllabus might have more time dedicated to the role of advanced nursing practice in planning a healthy nuclear family.
Ethical and Legal Consideration
A few years ago, the notion of ethical consideration was of insignificant importance in the context of healthcare. However, nowadays, it is one of the most discussed topics when dealing with nursing ethics. The most valuable outcome from this topic is the necessity of ethical behavioral patterns in terms of today’s diverse US society. Major attention on the matter was devoted to the notion of religion and its correlation with current genetic advancements. With a rapidly increasing rate of technological revolution, healthcare providers across the globe are to create policies that should explain how genetic improvements do not violate one’s beliefs (Padela & Aparicio, 2019). Policymakers, having no chance to communicate with people on a regular basis, entitle nurses to cooperate with individuals on the subject of ethical consideration. During the topic discussion, a quite important term of “genomic uncertainty” was introduced, implying that the field of genomic science will not be able to answer the public’s answers in the future (Newson, Leonard, Hall, & Gaff, 2016). Thus, it is a profound knowledge in the field that helps nurses respond to public curiosity on the subject.
The modern US healthcare system presupposes cooperating with patients, diverse in their outlook, religion, ethnicity, and race. Some of these cultural characteristics intervene in traditional medical practice, requiring an individual approach to the matter. However, nurses who realize the necessity of ethical consideration in practice, are often deprived of knowledge of tolerance and equality in communication. For this reason, I believe the issue should be expanded to more general principles in the future in order to secure respect within nurse-patient collaboration patterns.
Conclusion
During the course “Emerging Areas of Human Health,” some of the most widespread trends and advanced nursing practice were introduced to the students. Although the information given in terms of the course is, by all means, beneficial for the future professional implications, it still cannot be exhaustive. Among all the topics covered, the ones that deserved much attention are the issues of genetics, aging, and ethical considerations. These aspects, being extremely relevant on both national and global levels, should be constantly enhanced and revised in order to provide future professionals with up-to-date data and case studies.
References
- McPhillips, D. (2019). Aging in America, in 5 charts. Web.
- Newson, A. J., Leonard, S. J., Hall, A., & Gaff, C. L. (2016). Known unknowns: Building an ethics of uncertainty into genomic medicine. BMC Medical Genomics, 9(1).
- Padela, A. I., & Aparicio, M. K. (2019). Genethics and human reproduction: Religious perspectives in the academic bioethics literature. New Bioethics, 25(2), 153-171.
- Rabelo‐Silva, E. R., Dantas Cavalcanti, A. C., Ramos Goulart Caldas, M. C., Lucena, A. D. F., Almeida, M. D. A., Linch, G. F. D. C., Silva, M. B. D., & Müller‐Staub, M. (2017). Advanced Nursing Process quality: Comparing the International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP) with the NANDA‐International (NANDA‐I) and Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC). Journal of clinical nursing, 26(3-4), 379-387.
- Rosenbaum, P. (2017). The yin and yang of clinical research. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 59(12), 1208.