ADULT NURSING

Adult Nursing

Adult Nursing

Introduction

Adult Nurses are Registered Nurses with specialty training at the master's-degree level, in primary care settings, such as the Nurse Practitioners and Nurse Midwives and acute care of inpatients, such as the Clinical Nurse Specialists and in operating rooms, such as Nurse Anesthetists. This has opened a door in the nursing field. Nurses' roles are no longer limited. Nurses now have opportunities to advance their career and expand their roles. Adult Nurses can be more directly involved in patient care decisions and be more independent from the physician. Adult Nurses are respected role models for Registered Nurses.

Darzi's on Adult Nursing: tackling obesity, reducing alcohol harm, treating drug addiction, reducing smoking rates, improving sexual health and improving mental health

"Every primary care trust will commission comprehensive wellbeing and prevention services, in partnership with local authories, with the services offered personalised to meet the specific needs of their local populations. Our efforts must be focused on six key goals: tackling obesity, reducing alcohol harm, treating drug addiction, reducing smoking rates, improving sexual health and improving mental health." Darzi(2008:9)

Lord Darzi's NHS Next Stage Review sets out the government's plans for NHS reform in England over the next 10 years. Its principal focus is on driving up the standards of quality in health care and putting clinicians at the heart of change. It is also intended to be locally driven.

The review is based on the reports from strategic health authorities and clinical pathway working groups that presented a vision for change in their particular localities. It is not a 'national blueprint' but a means of enabling these local visions to become a reality.

One of the chief drivers of improvement will be a range of local quality indicators - measuring mortality, complication and survival rates as well as patient perceptions - that will enable clinicians to benchmark and improve their performance. A small proportion of trusts' income will also become conditional on quality indicators. Trusts will be obliged to produce annual 'quality accounts' similar to their financial accounts. Quality Observatories will also be set up in each region, and a National Quality Board (NQB), chaired by the NHS chief executive, will report to ministers on progress. The GPs Quality and Outcomes Framework will be modified to take account of these quality requirements. Membership of the NQB has been finalised and it has now begin its work. Meanwhile the quality framework designed to help local clinical teams improve their quality of care is available for use.

For the first time the NHS will have a formal constitution, spelling out its underlying principles and values as well as the rights and responsibilities of patients, the public and staff. Patient rights include the right to any drug or treatment recommended by NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) as well as the right to choose one's GP. The constitution has now been published following consultation and, subject to its passing in the current Health Bill, will impose legal duties on all providers and ...