Professional Nursing Practice

The American Academy of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) has developed a curriculum of content and expected competencies of graduates from baccalaureate nursing program. These “Nine Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice” were established in 2008 and serves as the guidelines for all AACN approved colleges and universities. These essentials are 1. Liberal education for baccalaureate generalist nursing practice. 2. Basic organizational and systems leadership for quality care and patient safety. 3. Scholarship for evidence-based practice. 4. Information management and application of patient care technology. 5. Healthcare policy, finance, and regulatory environment. 6. Interprofessional communication and collaboration
In my day to day practice, I perform my assessments keeping physical, behavioral, psychological, spiritual, socioeconomic, environmental and family history factors into consideration when providing care for my patients. I recently had a patient that touched on almost all of these points. He was a schizophrenic, African-American, homeless man with a family history of schizophrenia. He claims he was assaulted by his mother with a baseball bat and came to the emergency department with a fractured ulna and a scalp laceration. He talked about the physical and mental abuse his mother would give him when he was a child. He admitted that his mother was schizophrenic and an
An example of these standards applied to a patient that I cared for. She was beginning to decline in her battle against cancer. She was becoming septic with an unknown source. Her family knew that her outlook was looking grim. Palliative care was going to see her and make recommendations to make her comfortable. In my cares for her, I was very sensitive with her and the family and tried recognize their needs while they were there. I prayed with them, offered drinks and provided them some mouthwash because they didn’t want to have bad breath when they spoke with the doctors. The patient and the family was so thankful, I could feel a sense of hope being renewed among them.
The Essential in Practice I believe that the institution that I work for believes in these essential standards put forth by the AACN. The examples of my application of these standards are encouraged by my department and are carried out by my colleagues on the unit. While some of these standards are basic nursing care, our unit always tries to stay up to date on current evidence based practices in our field. Our department manager is a strong supporter for these standards. Our units are mostly oncology based so patient care that incorporates