[Management of Care in Adult Nursing]

By

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would first like to express my gratitude for my research coordinator, colleagues, and peers and family whose immense and constant support has been a source of continuous guidance and inspiration.

DECLARATION

I [type your full first names & surname here], declare that the following dissertation/thesis and its entire content has been an individual, unaided effort and has not been submitted or published before. Furthermore, it reflects my opinion and take on the topic and is does not represent the opinion of the University.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTii

DECLARATIONiii

CHAPTER 01: INTRODUCTION1

Background1

Research Questions1

Aims and Objectives1

Reliability and Validity2

CHAPTER 02: LITERATURE REVIEW3

Legislation and Government Policy Initiatives3

Adult Nursing Professional Standards5

Evaluation and Accountability6

CHAPTER 03: METHODOLOGY8

Research Design8

Literature Search8

CHAPTER 04: ANTICIPATED RESULTS9

Multidisciplinary Collaboration in Evaluation9

References10

CHAPTER 01: INTRODUCTION

Background

Adult nursing is a profession that is aimed at excellence in providing the highest quality care possible. Implicit in this commitment is the responsibility to evaluate the quality and appropriateness of that care (Marchiondo 2007 35). However, it has only been in the last 21 years that attempts have been made to develop an extrinsic, systematic approach to monitor and improve care. The impetus for this change has come from a variety of sources:

Legislation and government policy initiatives

Economic Factors

The nursing profession itself

Until recently this process was known as quality assurance; it is now called management of care.

Research Questions

To whom is the adult nursing profession accountable to?

What are the legislations and government policies associated with adult nursing?

Are there any ethical issues connected to adult nursing?

Aims and Objectives

Explore the concept of accountability with regards to the registered nurse having the responsibility of delegating care to support workers and student nurses. Critically appraise the literature evidence, current legislation, apply to practice, and look at key areas around accountability.

Reliability and Validity

The term bias is a historically unfriendly pejorative frequently directed at action research. As much as possible, the absence of bias constitutes conditions in which reliability and validity can increase. Most vulnerable to charges of bias are action research inquiries with a low saturation point (i.e., a small N), limited interrater reliability, and unclear data triangulation. Positivist studies make attempts to control external variables that may bias data; interpretivist studies contend that it is erroneous to assume that it is possible to do any research—particularly human science research— that is uncontaminated by personal and political sympathies and that bias can occur in the laboratory as well as in the classroom. While value-free inquiry may not exist in any research, the critical issue may not be one of credibility but, rather, one of recognizing divergent ways of answering questions associated with purpose and intent. Action research can meet determinants of reliability and validity if primary contextual variables remain consistent and if researchers are as disciplined as possible in gathering, analyzing, and interpreting the evidence of their study; in using triangulation strategies; and in the purposeful use of participation validation. Ultimately, action researchers must reflect rigorously and consistently on the places and ways that values insert themselves into studies and on how researcher tensions and contradictions ...