Professional Registered Nurses: A Case Study Essay

Professional Registered Nurse Profile With hiring new registered nurses, the hiring team wants to attract competent, client-centered registered nurses. The paper below will consist of a professional registered nurse profile that outlines the clinical setting; the functions within the nurse’s legal scope of practice; delivery of nursing through professional, legal, and regulatory frameworks; and the role of client advocacy. Clinical Setting Banner Heart Hospital is one of the largest free-standing heart hospitals in the nation.

They have a commitment to “providing superior heart care services in a fully integrated, collaborative environment that has earned a distinction as a nationally Accredited Heart Failure Institute by the Healthcare Accreditation Colloquium” (Banner Health, 2017). The clinical setting selected is Banner Heart Hospital’s Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU). In an intensive care unit, patients are placed in this setting due to circumstances of needing a higher level of monitoring, observation, and care during an illness or after surgery (Banner Health, 2017).

The population for this unit is cardiac and thoracic post-operation as well as other complex, high acuity patients. Common patient cases include patients with conditions ranging from coronary interventions and myocardial infarctions to heart failure and heart transplantations. It is also common to care for patients with multi-system failure in addition to post-operative management. While emphasis is placed on the cardiovascular system, there is variability in how the case is presented, which establishes uniqueness to this setting.

Therefore, a registered nurses who finds the challenge of critically thinking and prioritizing how each body system is affected would be a great fit to this clinical setting. Functions The registered nurse in Banner Heart’s CVICU provides advanced hemodynamic care, through medications, technology, and critical thinking skills to stabilize critically ill patients. The nurse also emphasizes the human side of things, creatively helping the patients and family members cope with the hospital experience (“Job: Registered Nurse CVICU,” 2017).

Especially in this environment, a thorough assessment is needed not only for the patient, but for the patient’s family as well, as it is incredibly difficult to see loved ones in these critically ill condition(s) in addition to not immediately understanding what all the medical equipment is for and what the plan of care being carried out is. Therefore, holistic care is critical in this clinical setting. One example of a holistic intervention found on Banner Heart’s CVICU floor is the supply of aromatherapy in the medication rooms.

Banner Heart Hospital is proactive in promoting holistic interventions through awareness of evidence-based research on non-pharmacological interventions, which, then, in turn, promotes high quality care. Moreover, the registered nurse must assess, plan, implement, evaluate, and document nursing care of patients in accordance with organizational policies and in accordance with standards of professional nursing practice utilizing the framework for professional nursing practice and development (“Job: Registered Nurse CVICU,” 2017). Utilizing the nursing process is imperative, as this is the foundation of which care is based upon.

Therefore, the registered nurse must be aware and abide by Banner Hospital’s policies and protocols to increase patient satisfaction, promote importance of safety, and provide patient-centered care. Delivery of Nursing In this setting, any intervention implemented is to improve the patient’s health and well-being, and to promote the healing and recovery process. These interventions have derived from professional, legal, and regulatory frameworks of delivering care in the ICU. At Banner Health, Professional Nursing Practice and Development Framework has been adopted, which places great emphasis on the patient.

This framework guides Banner’s nursing protocols; identifies evidence-based concepts, outlined by the American Nurses Association; and maintains an unswerving commitment to quality and safety (Banner Health, 2017). These guiding principles relay how the registered nurse should be organizing and thinking about the daily care of the patient, which includes being physician-order driven and taskoriented. Furthermore, it describes the level of expected behavior in the professional role, and expands upon how invested and committed Banner Heart’s registered nurse is expected to be and how his or her can contribute back to the nursing profession.

In addition, the framework outlines the responsibility to provide effective and safe care to not only the patient, but to the community as well. Banner Health (2017) also mentions that “nursing development is achieved through in-service education, continuing education, formal education, and career advancement. ” Banner is a strong advocate for developing opportunities and providing information about regulatory requirements, which consists of the following nursing associations: Arizona State Board of Nursing, American Nurses Association, and American Nurses Credentialing Center – Magnet Program.

The adopted framework provides a detailed picture on how the registered nurse should act with regards to evidence-based concepts as well as promoting excellent patient care practices. Client Advocacy Advocacy is essential to nursing. Patient advocacy came to be considered as a practice that contains a sequence of practices, behaviors, and/or actions for protecting and preserving the best interests, well-being, values, and rights of patients (Choi, 2015).

Nurses in this setting must view the patient holistically and as a whole, and take into consideration all the factors contributing to his or her care. There are three components of patient advocacy: (1) developing humanistic interactions with patients to preserve their interests and health, (2) recognizing and respecting the patients’ freedom of self-determination and assisting them throughout the decision-making process, and (3) sharing information and emboldening them to make decisions (Choi, 2015).

Therefore, it is imperative that CVICU nurses recognize the components of patient advocacy, as it is important to keep the patient’s best interests as a priority in providing care. There are common areas requiring client advocacy in this clinical setting, which include withholding of information or lving to patients, provider-patient conflicts in regard to desired outcomes and expectations, cultural and ethnic diversity and sensitivity, respect for patient dignity, and end of life decisions (Choi, 2015). The need for client advocacy may arise in difficult situations and ethical dilemmas.

As a result. the registered nurse must be able to handle these situations, and have the confidence to speak on behalf of his or her patient. The goals of patient advocacy include promoting acceptance of the informed choice of the patient; providing information about the patient’s diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and choices; helping patients and families cope better with complexities of the healthcare system; and fostering partnerships between healthcare professionals, families, and patients (Choi, 2015).

CVICU nurses have a responsibility to advocate for the rights, values, well-being, and best interest of their patients. Conclusion In this specialized unit, the focus is on the cardiovascular system. The CVICU nurse must display competency in not only critically thinking skills and advanced hemodynamic monitoring, but be able to provide holistic care for both the patient and his or her family.

They must have the passion to provide patientcentered care with placing the patient’s needs and his or her family’s needs as a priority. Client advocacy is crucial in this setting, as critically ill conditions can instigate ethical dilemmas (e. g. , end of life decisions and provider-patient conflicts). Despite all the challenges one may face in this clinical setting, being able to build personal and empathetic relationships with the patient and the patient’s family is, nonetheless, a rewarding and gratifying experience.