NURSING 2115 Study Guide Quiz 1

NURSING 2115 Study Guide Quiz 1 Chapter 1 • Define evidence-based practice: The selective and practical use of the best evidence, as demonstrated by research, to guide health-care implementation and decisions (found under terms) • Review difference between roles: (pg. 4) o Position: A group of tasks assigned to one individual o Job: A group of positions similar in nature and level of skill that can be carried out by one or more individuals o Occupation: A group of jobs similar in type of work that are usually found throughout an industry or work environment o Profession: A type of occupation that requires prolonged preparation and formal qualifications and meets certain higher level criteria that raise it to a level above that of an occupation o Professional: A person who belongs to and practices a profession (The term professional is probably the most misused of all these terms when describing people who are clearly involved in jobs or occupations, such as a “professional truck driver,” “professional football player,” or even “professional thief.”) o Professionalism: The demonstration of high-level personal, ethical, and skill characteristics of a member of a profession • Identify the traits that define a profession: (pg. 4 & 5) o Process approach: The process approach views all occupations as points of development into a profession situated along a continuum ranging from position to profession. Using this approach, the question becomes not whether nursing and truck driving are professions but where they are located along the continuum o Power approach: The power approach uses two criteria to define a profession: 1) How much independence of practice does this occupation have? And 2) How much power does this occupation control? Using this determinant, law and politics would clearly be considered professions. o Trait approach: 3 theorists (Abraham Flexner, Elizabeth Bixler, and Eliza Pabalko) are most widely accepted researches when it comes to identifying traits that define a profession. They determined these characteristics to be important: ▪ High intellectual level ▪ High level of individual responsibility and accountability ▪ Specialized body of knowledge ▪ Knowledge that can be learned in institutions of higher education ▪ Public service and altruistic activities ▪ Public service valued over financial gain ▪ Relatively high degree of autonomy and independence of practice ▪ Need for a well-organized and strong organization representing the members of the profession and controlling the quality of practice ▪ A code of ethics that guides members of the profession in their practice ▪ Strong professional identity and commitment to the development of the profession ▪ Demonstration of professional competency and possession of a legally recognized license • Review how nursing compares with other professions: (pg. 5 & 6) o High Intellectual Level: as health care has advanced and made great strides in technology, pharmacology, and all branches of the physical sciences, a high level of intellectual functioning is required for even relatively simple nursing tasks, such as taking a client's temperature or blood pressure using automated equipment. On a daily basis, nurses use assessment skills and knowledge, have the ability to reason, and make routine judgments based on clients’ conditions. Without a doubt, professional nurses must function at a high intellectual level. o High Level of Individual Responsibility and Accountability: Nurses are often the primary, and frequently the only, defendants named when errors are made that result in injury to the client. Nurses must be accountable and demonstrate a high level of individual responsibility for the care and services they provide o Specialized Body of Knowledge: As the body of specialized nursing knowledge continues to grow, it forms a theoretical basis for the best practices movement in nursing today. As more nurses obtain advanced degrees, conduct research, and develop philosophies and theories about nursing, this body of knowledge will increase in scope and quantity. o Evidence-Based Practice: In professional nursing today, there is an increasing emphasis on evidence-based practice. Almost all of the currently used nursing theories address this issue in some way o Public Service and Altruistic Activities: The public service function of nursing has always been recognized and acknowledged by society's willingness to continue to educate nurses in public, tax-supported institutions and in private schools. In addition, nursing has been viewed universally as an altruistic profession composed of selfless individuals who place the lives and well-being of their clients above their personal safety. • Review how students should use recourses like websites, journals (pg. 7 & 8): o Peer Review: When considering a Web source, look for a clear statement of the source of the information and how that information is reviewed. If the information is from an established source, such as a recognized professional journal, it has been peer reviewed and has a higher degree of accuracy. o Author Credentials: The name of the author and his or her titles and credentials should be listed. Be cautious if no author or publisher is listed. You can also look at the last three letters in the website address. The ones that end in .gov, .org, or .edu tend to have higher-quality information. Also, see whether the information has a copyright. If the information is copyrighted, the person felt strongly enough about what he or she was posting to go to the effort of making sure that no one else could use it as their original information. o Prejudice and Bias: Although there is almost always a small degree of prejudice and bias in all written material, most legitimate authors strive to be as objective as possible. See if contact information is provided by the author and who the sponsor or publisher of the document is. If these are not provided, be suspicious about the information. o Timeliness: See if you can determine when the site was last updated and how extensively the information was revised. It is also a good practice to look to other sources (e.g., Web, journals, books) to compare the material for currentness. o Presentation: Some websites look well developed and professional, and others look very amateurish. There is no guarantee that the slick-looking websites are better, but it is one factor to consider in the overall evaluation of the information you are seeking. • Review Nurses’ Code of Ethics (pg. 8): The current 2014 ANA Code of Ethics, while maintaining the integrity found in earlier versions, is now more relevant to current health- care and nursing practices. This code of ethics is recognized by other professions as a standard with which others are compared. • Do nurses have autonomy and independence of practice? Why or why not (pg. 9): Unfortunately, despite efforts to expand nursing practice into more independent areas through updated nurse practice legislation, nursing retains much of its subservient image. In reality, nursing is both an independent and interdependent discipline. Nurses in all health-care settings must work closely with physicians, hospital administrators, pharmacists, and other groups in the provision of care. • Determine the main method in which nurses can gain power in nursing (pg. 16): Probably the first, and certainly the most important, way in which nurses can gain power in all areas is through professional unity. According to the ANA, there are approximately 2.7 million nurses in the United States. It is not difficult to imagine the power that the ANA could have to influence legislators and legislation if all of those nurses were members of the organization rather than the 250,000 who actually do belong. Chapter 2 • Compare healthcare of ancient civilizations to healthcare today. What have the focus, influences, and interventions changed? (pg. 21) Health care was closely related to religious practices in ancient civilizations (#14 on exam questions) • Understand the influence of Hippocrates. How did he change medicine? How are his teachings relevant today? (pg. 21 & 22): Know as the father of medicine. His beliefs focused on harmony with the natural law instead of on appeasing the gods. He emphasized treating the whole client—mind, body, spirit, and environment— (#46 on exam questions) and making diagnoses on the basis of symptoms rather than on an isolated idea of a disease. He was also concerned with ethical standards for physicians, expressed in the now-famous Hippocratic Oath. • Understand the influences of nursing through the centuries: o Religion (pg. 23): In the nation-states that broke away from the Catholic Church, such as England, Germany, and the Netherlands, health care soon degenerated to a condition even worse than that of the Middle Ages. The role of women was reduced under Protestant leadership, and the male nurse all but disappeared. Secular nursing orders gradually took over the duties of the many substandard hospitals that had been established in metropolitan areas. These orders were the first to establish a nursing hierarchy. Primary nurses were called sisters, and those assisting them were called helpers and watchers o Science (pg. 24 & 25): Technological developments in the 19th century included medications such as morphine and codeine for pain and quinine to treat malaria. The arrival of 30 million immigrants in this century meant that the need for health care increased accordingly. Hospitals sprang up, and many instituted their own schools of nursing. After WWI, a segment of the nursing profession began to focus on improving the educational standards of nursing care. The advancements in health care made during World War II required that nurses receive more highly specialized education to meet clients’ unique needs. After the war, many nurses left the profession to raise families, and the spaces were filled by graduates of new programs that trained licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and licensed vocational nurses (LVNs) in just 1 year. At this time, the concept of team nursing came to be widely accepted, although it removed the registered nurses (RNs) from direct client care, requiring them to serve as team leaders. o War (pg. 24 & 25): During the Revolutionary War, there was no organized medical or nursing corps, but small groups of untrained volunteers cared for the wounded and sick in their homes or in churches or barns. In 1751, Benjamin Franklin founded Pennsylvania Hospital, the first U.S. hospital dedicated to treating the sick. Health care increased markedly between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. Despite the increase in the number of hospitals, most nursing care was still given at home by the family members. Hospitals were considered the last resort with high mortality rates. The Civil War caused more death and injury than any war in the history of the United States, and the demand for nurses increased dramatically. Women volunteers (as many as 6000 for the North and 1000 for the South) began to follow the armies to the battlefields to provide basic nursing care, although many of them were untrained. Navy Nurses, the American Red Cross, and the Army Nurse Corps all date from this period. Large numbers of women came out of their homes to work in the hospitals, and a number of African American volunteers in the North paved the way for others to enter the health- care field in the future. Nursing and nurses still had a very negative image prior to the beginning of World War I. Their primary duties were to carry out the orders of physicians, clean, cook, and empty bedpans. However, in the face of the large numbers of injured produced in World War I, nurses’ roles rapidly expanded and they began to be recognized for their skills in providing care and saving lives.