Importance of Nursing Education
Introduction
Nursing is a distinguished profession that is essential in creating a competent health workforce to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) as well as provide quality and safe care in line with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2011. There are three routes to becoming a registered nurse (RN) in the United States of America (Kershaw, 2012). A passionate individual may obtain their practising license by acquiring an associate’s degree in nursing, a bachelor’s degree in nursing and a diploma in nursing. A recent entry method has been a second bachelor’s degree for those with a baccalaureate degree in other fields. Importance of Nursing Education Essay Example
Nursing education, regardless of the pathway undertaken, has to be standardized for the benefit of the patients, whose care and health depend upon the competence and diligence of their attending nursing staff. Hospitals cannot function without the care and support offered by nurses. The National Academy of Science, through the Institute of Medicine, suggested broadening the scope of nursing to meet the increasing demands for care by citizens.
Goals of Professional Education
The provision of quality nursing education is the cornerstone for establishing a competent health workforce. Nursing schools should equip trainees with the knowledge, attitudes and skills required for quality care delivery. The education programs should develop competency-based curricula for their future nursing staff, to ensure that they are prepared to face the volatile needs of society (Kershaw, 2012). The World Health (2017) has several resolutions to address the health workers’ educational, recruitment and care standards through the WHA59:23 Rapid scaling up of health workforce production (2006), WHA59:27 strengthening nursing and midwifery (2006).
Nursing is an almost eternal profession, with its education striving to prepare a nurse to meet patients’ needs, advance science as well as offer quality leadership to the benefit of patients (Berlin et al., 2021). Nursing education also prepares the nurses to work collaboratively with other health professionals as well as work in a range of environments, and adapt to complex challenges in health (Everhart et al., 2013; Kershaw, 2012). Advanced nursing programs prepare nurses to handle specialized functions in acute care, long-term care, and primary care.
Options in the Job Market
Opportunities abound for nurses in the health sector. It is said that at least twenty-two per cent of nurses in direct care will have left service by the end of 2022 (Berlin et al., 2021). The prevailing COVID-19 pandemic has created a demand for nursing services in hospitals and other care facilities. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics approximates that 194,500 annual openings for registered nurses (RNs) will open between 2020 to 2030 (Combes et al., 2018), and the overall employment rate will grow at an average rate of 9 per cent in the same period.
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Education Level and Effect on Competitiveness
Nursing shortages are at an all-time high, and therefore the market is booming. This provides a fairground for competition for the available opportunities. A nurse’s proficiency in the trade and experience offer them an edge over others during interviews (Berlin et al., 2021; Buser et al., 2021). The acquired levels of education are key in determining the entry point and remuneration perks for a nurse. Associate and Diploma holding nurses may score a little lower than graduate nurses for an entry-level job.
Experience notwithstanding, the higher the academic levels attained by a nurse, the better their edge due tit e skills acquired and the possibility for greater adaptability and handling of complex medical cases.
Continuing Nursing Education and Competency
Nursing competence is defined as the core abilities of a nurse requires to carry out their duties with eased, and guaranteed results. Competence is divided into behaviourism, holism and trait theory (Fukada, 2018). Behaviourism is the ability to demonstrate a core skill, holism is the is a complex view of skills, knowledge, thinking and attitudes, and trait theory is the competency of an individual’s traits while performing duties.
Continuing nursing education allows a nurse to acquire new or refine their care techniques for better patient handling. It also allows a nurse to keep up with new and current patient handling techniques during challenging situations, therefore ensuring quality care, even at the worst of times (Fukada, 2018; Quan, 2017). The capacity-building offered by CE also boosts the general morale of the nursing staff, hence ensuring a diligent nursing staff.
Mandatory Continuing Education
The United States of America allows for states to set mandatory continuing education for a nurse, to the tune of tens of hours. This is to ensure that the nurses are kept abreast with the latest handling information and techniques for patients. It also ensures that the nurses are also upraised about new diseases and prevailing conditions endemic to the states or pandemics and disaster handling (Berlin et al., 2021). Mandatory CEs may not be instituted by a state, but employers are at liberty to demand the same from futures staff.
Some states might expect one to dedicate s apportion of their continuing education to certain topics such as child abuse, pain management, handling gender violence cases, or even sexual assault. Continuing education helps one rise within the nursing profession, and ease licensing through a peer-reviewed process of license renewal and certification. States have varying requirements in the mandatory hours for CE a nurse must attain (Quan, 2017). Arizona has no such requirement, Alaska 30 hours every two years, Delaware 30 hours every two years, Florida 24 hours every 2 years, Idaho 15 hours every two years, and Kentucky requires the attainment of 14 hours every year (Nurse.org, 2021).
Conclusion
Nursing education needs to be top-tier for the provision of quality care for patients. This can be ensured through the development of robust curricula, as well as a continuous education program for practising nurses. Learning never stops, and as such nurses must be equipped for their work, to ensure quality results, as well as build their capacity. Nursing should be constantly reviewed and training and practising procedures updated for the best care of patients.
References
AAACEUs. (2022). Nursing continuing education requirements by state, RN CE. Online Continuing Education for CCM, CRC, CDMS, NAADAC & More – AAACEUs. https://www.aaaceus.com/state_nursing_requirements.asp
ANA. (2021). Workforce. https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/workforce/
Berlin, G., Lapointe, M., Murphy, M., & Viscardi, M. (2021, May 11). Nursing in 2021: Retaining the healthcare workforce when we need it most. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/nursing-in-2021-retaining-the-healthcare-workforce-when-we-need-it-most
Buser, T., Niederle, M., & Oosterbeek, H. (2021). Can competitiveness predict education and labor market outcomes? Evidence from Incentivized choice and survey measures. https://doi.org/10.3386/w28916
Castro, M., López, M., Cao, M., Fernández-Castro, M., García, S., Frutos, M., & Jiménez, J. (2019). Impact of educational games on academic outcomes of students in the degree in nursing. PLOS ONE, 14(7), e0220388. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220388
Combes, J., Elliott, R. F., & Skåtun, D. (2018). Hospital staff shortage: The role of the competitiveness of pay of different groups of nursing staff on staff shortage. Applied Economics, 50(60), 6547-6552. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2018.1490000
Everhart, D., Neff, D., Al-Amin, M., Nogle, J., & Weech-Maldonado, R. (2013). The effects of nurse staffing on hospital financial performance. Health Care Management Review, 38(2), 146-155. https://doi.org/10.1097/hmr.0b013e318257292b
Fukada, M. (2018). Nursing competency: Definition, structure and development. Yonago Acta Medica, 61(1), 001-007. https://doi.org/10.33160/yam.2018.03.001
Kershaw, B. (2012). The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing HealthInstitute of medicine of the national academies (USA) National Academies Press the future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health £34|160pp97803091582370309158230. Nursing Management, 18(9), 10-10. https://doi.org/10.7748/nm.18.9.10.s7
Nurse.org. (2021, November 18). Continuing education guide. https://nurse.org/resources/continuing-education/
Quan, K. (2017, October 6). The importance of nursing continuing education – Nursing CE. The NursingCE Blog. https://www.nursingce.com/blog/the-importance-of-continuing-education-for-nurses/
World Health Organization. (2017). Nurse educator core competencies.
Importance of Nursing Education Essay Example