JOURNAL EPILOGUE

Journal Epilogue



Journal Epilogue

Introduction

The post that I have selected from the journal is the nursing as a profession and how nurse leadership is imperative in effective management of the unit. Nursing is a very visible and valued health profession. At a workforce of 2.5 million, registered nurses are the largest health care occupation. Each year, in Gallup's annual Honesty and Ethics of Professions poll, nursing is voted as the most respected profession. The impact of nurses on health care and the care of individuals and their families is wide-reaching. Nurses coordinate and provide care in nearly every aspect of the health care arena, and the impact that the nurse has on the family is immense. Some examples of nurse-family interaction include inpatient hospital care, nursing homes, outpatient primary care clinics, specialty practice, schools, prisons, homeless shelters, public health, and home health care.

Nursing as a Profession

Historically, family nursing was thought to be a specialty of nursing that took place in the context of maternal-child nursing and was meant to view the child only in the context of his or her family. A more recent view of family health nursing is that of a specialty that cuts across all areas of nursing practice. Family health nursing is defined as the process of providing nursing care to families, and it includes viewing the family as context, the family as a unit/system, or the family as a segment of society (Leach, 2005, 228-237).

Every member of the nursing health care team, from a nursing assistant implementing the nursing plan of care to the PhD prepared nurse researcher evaluating the effectiveness of the nursing care on the outcome of a population of individuals, has a role in the care of the family. Different educational levels prepare graduates to care for the family in a unique manner that complements the nursing team and that individual's background. Nursing care of the family as context involves caring for the individual in the context of his or her family. This model is seen as a beginning-level view of family nursing care, and it is a competency met by a nursing generalist prepared with a BSN (Leach, 2005, 228-237). The individual receiving care, the care recipient, is at the forefront of the care, and the family is assessed as part of the care recipient's environment and as context for understanding the care recipient and his or her health concerns (Leach, 2005, 228-237). For example, “You tell me that your mother, who is in frail health and requires much care, lives with you. Have you thought about getting help with her care while you are recovering from surgery?”

Competencies with nursing care of the family increase as nurses gain more education and experience. Thus, the master's prepared nurse is competent in the care of the family as context and also is educated in the family as a unit or system. This nurse views the family as a unit in the foreground and each individual as a component of the family ...