Assignment title: Management


Please write a 1000 word essay discussing and analysing the professional attributes and scope of practice that differentiates the specialty nurse in your elective which is perioperative nursing. The purpose of the essay is to identify the additional education and training required to move from novice to expert in a particular field. You may use the NMBA competencies for Registered nurses or the perioperative nursing competency related to your elective to frame your answer. Please construct your essay with an introduction, body and conclusion. You are required to consult nursing literature and reference your work using APA style referencing. A marking rubric is attached to guide your Preoperative nursing can be referred to as specialized job where the nurses are intended to work for the providing the health care services to the patients requiring special invasive procedures or surgical needs. The assigning of the job duties in this part is most concerned with the medical ICU and other relevant departments, where special attention, clinical decision, use of wisdom to support the decision-making and providing primary care for the patients is required (Bray, 2006). As the expected professional performance from nurse is higher in this prospect, it is hence the corresponding competencies are also required to be of optimum level, which in turn will help in meeting the demand of modern care facility (Takahashi & Bever, 1989). Scope of the present report In conjunction to the education and learning from the basic nursing degrees, it is also necessary to identify the additional education and training that is essential for the professional part of preoperative nurses. The present report illustrates over the additional competencies, which are necessary and complementary to this specific professional attributes. In other words, it can also be said that the said competencies are necessary as a part of education and training to move a novice into expert in the said department. Role of preoperative nurses Prior to the understanding of the additional competencies and professional requirements, it is necessary to understand the nature of job for a preoperative nurse. The job responsibility of a typical preoperative nurse includes varieties of role including (i) primary patient care; (ii) registered nursing First Assistant (RN-FA); (iii) patient reception, recovery nurse; (iv) post anesthetic care unit; (v) patient educator (Jamieson, McCall & Whyte, 2002). Additionally, the competencies related to (i) computer literacy; (ii) use of information system to store, retrieve and share the information; (iii) knowledge of ethical and legislative regulations; (iv) professional activity in accordance to the institutional guidelines; (v) working in a team to frame professional partnership and (vi) effective and efficient communication skills (Carpenito-Moyet, 2006). Additional competencies Nursing competencies have been framed by the standard board and nursing council in many of the developed as well as developing nations. As for example in Australia, the same is being governed and regularized by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (National Board), and Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC). The competency standards are useful in a way not only to access the professional markup for the license of registered nurse, but is also intended to maintain the standard of nursing (Chiarella, 2008). The prime objective of a nurse is to be involved in planning, assessment, identification, evaluation and implementation of specific health concern or health conditions within the working department. Along with this, the requisite performance of the job is also concentrated with the working in collaboration with the individuals as well as in partnership with the multi-disciplinary professionals (Kneedler & Dodge, 1994). Recognition of social traits such as ethnical, cultural and spiritual diversity among the community members is crucial, to identify the traits with respect to health restoration, health management and health maintenance. Valuing the autonomy of the patients, providing optimum education, making use of effective and efficient communication skills for building trustworthy relationships with the patients are also crucial part of professionals attributes. Inclusion of these standards with the scope of professionals practice not only ensure the patient safety and professional satisfaction, but will also ensure the sustainability of the health care standards and ensure patient satisfaction (Memarian, 2007). Additional competencies for a preoperative nurse include knowledge of circulation and associated physiology. This information are useful for making coordination with other professionals such as surgical, anesthesiologist, pharmacist and dietitian. The importance lies with respect to clinical judgment, clinical decision, decision support, necessary arguments, use of wisdom and compliance as per the ethical and legislative regulations (Fey & Miltner, 2000). Knowledge of the instrumental parts is another requisite competency for the pre-operative nurses. These include the basic knowledge of bio-medical, instrumental connectivity, alarm functioning and record collection with respect to the instrumental data. Other instrument knowledge such as medical and surgical devices, disinfecting agents, use of medications and chemical agents are also required for the objective to be transformed from a novice to expert in the said field (McGregor, 1990; Rosenstein & O'Daniel, 2006). Understanding of the professional responsibility is one of the crucial attribute in the said archetype. Since the job responsibility demands more focused and patient-centered care, it is hence the alertness and awareness with respect to all the functioning elements in a department should be imbibed within the practical knowledge of a preoperative nurse. Risk identification and assessment is one of such important contender included within the scope of routine practice. Consulting with other professionals, maintaining of the records, making appropriate entry into the computer system or manual logbooks, taking due care of the dietary needs, performing the responsibility of the patient educator are some of the crucial requirements (Glover, 2006; Kleinbeck, 1996). Highlights of important additional competencies 1) Knowledge of holistic nursing theories 2) Literacy of computers and information system 3) Alarm fatigues should not be a part of routine practice 4) Compliance of the ethical and legislative requirements 5) Use of medication in accordance to the legislative frameworks 6) Involvement in clinical decision making and decision support 7) Information of instrumentation 8) Knowledge of the circulatory service 9) Use of effective and efficient communication skills 10) Ability to work in team and coordinating with other subordinate nurses 11) Ability to build partnership models with other multi-disciplinary professionals (Kenyon, 1990; Newhouse, Johantgen, Pronovost & Johnson, 2005). Conclusion In conclusion, the present report summaries the professional requirements for a typical preoperative nurse. The pre-requisite information related to the instrumental part and the cardiovascular system are discussed in brief. To the other part, the requirements of computer literacy, information related to local, national and international policies, knowledge of nursing theories and communicative as well as interaction with the multi-professionals have been discussed in brief. Certainly, these competencies are more essential as a part of additional education and training. The benefits of the said paradigm will be related to transformation of a nurse from novice to expert in the field preoperative nursing. Other than this, with the acquisition of these competencies, it can be ensured that the standards of health care services in the community can be sustained.