Grand Canyon University Post Responses Writing Discussion

I’m working on a writing Discussion and need support to help me understand better.

please reply to each dq with 100-150 words

Kelly dq 1

When choosing a theory to discuss for this particular discussion question, I think of an issue that plagues nursing and the ability to best care for our patients. We as nurses take care of patients when they are at the hospital or clinic, but what happens when they return home? They are unable to care for themselves in the same fashion. I think that when we are caring for patients we often make an assumption that they will go back home to their perfect home life where everyone is assisting in their care, and it’s sunshine and rainbows. Undoubtedly this is rarely the case, so we need to set our patients up for the best possible chance of success that they could imagine. For this and many other reasons, I have chosen Dorothea Orem’s Theory of Self Care Deficit.

In Orem’s theory, she discusses the necessity to improve the quality of nursing care by helping patients to be more self reliant, looking at them as individuals, taking action and interacting with them, teaching them self care as part of their primary care, as well as teaching them about potential health problems, and that all of these things can be learned and integrated socio-culturally (Petiprin, 2020).

We obviously are unable to go home with our patients, but we do have the ability to teach them and/or their families how to best care for the patient once they leave our charge. It is also important to help the patient and family understand how the caregiver can best be cared for. Caregiving is one of the most difficult jobs in an illness, and one that is often overlooked by health care providers. When we teach our patients and families how to care for themselves at home, we have to take into account socioeconomic status, learning ability, and many other factors. Many of the people that we care for have learning capabilities that are much different from what ours as providers are.

Nurses should be maximizing the time that they spend teaching patients so they can ensure the likelihood of a more positive outcome when they return to their prior living situation. We often find ourselves too busy to do the job that is going to most lead to success for our patients (Smith & Zsohar, 2013). This theory is best for this situation because it is an ongoing issue within the realm of nursing care. Patients and nurses seem confident when they are taught a skill while still in the hospital, but when they are discharged and go home, sometimes they fail. They fail for a myriad of reasons, not the very least of which is that they are nervous and don’t hear everything, the teaching level is over their heads, they think they understand but then they can’t do it on their own. As a result many of these patients end up back in the hospital. This is what we are trying to avoid.

Reference

Petiprin, Alice (2020). Nursing Theory. Orem’s Self Care Deficit Nursing Theory. Orem’s Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory – Nursing Theory (nursing-theory.org)

Smith, Jackie A & Zsohar, Helen (2013). Nursing 2021. Patient Education Tips for New Nurses. 43(10), 1-3. Patient-education tips for new nurses : Nursing2021 (lww.com)

Karyn dq 1

We have a problem in our facility with healthcare acquired infections, such as CLABSI, CAUTI and C-Diff. There are a couple of different theories that could be applied in addressing these issues. The obvious first choice is Nightingale’s theory. The practice of proper environment for healing and sanitary conditions are of utmost importance for preventing infections in the any environment, but especially in the hospitals.

The other theory that could be applied at the administrative and management level would be Kurt Lewin’s Change Theory. He referred to the process as three steps: unfreezing, change, freezing. Unfreezing involves preparing staff and undoing of bad habits or reversing current processes. I can see this as the gap analysis period, maybe the initial “sell of an idea” to staff that changes need to be made and the reasoning behind it. Then, the change is made at step 2. Then, a refreezing of the new processes occurs to achieve and maintain success. (Denisco & Barker, 2016, p73)

In the case of these infections, we are performing root cause analysis, and education, reconsidering the devices we use and how we care for the lines and drains. We will have to engage the staff in this endeavor to show them why the current process is not working, and how we will make changes to make improvements. Then, we will have to continue to reinforce, or freeze, these changes into the culture and practice here within our ministry. This will be done by finding the right balance of increasing driving forces, and decreasing the restraining forces, to best implement change and create new behaviors and ways of doing things so that there is no reverting back to previous methods of care. (Current Nursing, 2020)

Barker, A. M., & DeNisco, S. M. (2016). Advanced practice nursing: essential knowledge for the profession. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Nursing Theories. (2020, November 29). Change Theory. Current Nursing.https://currentnursing.com/nursing_theory/change_theory.html

Sheila dq 1

One of the major aims of nursing care is to ensure that patients get the best care outcomes and that they are safe. However, nursing care is usually faced with many challenges which hinder effective delivery of care and therefore need to be mitigated. One way of dealing with such concerns, issues, or problems is following evidence-based practice guidelines. One problem which can be solved through nursing informatics is medication errors(Gates, et al., 2021). I will just give you a brief look regarding medication errors as clinical issue that needs improvement and nursing theory that is applicable to the problem.

Among the most common clinical issue that can be mitigated using nursing informatics is medication errors. Medication errors are among the top causes of unintentional harm to the patient and result in errors that cause disruptions in the health care system. The result is adverse patient outcomes compromising their safety and resulting in considerable financial burden and even the death of patients (Daher et al., 2020). Heatlh informatics can play a vital role in providing vital data that can be applied in providing in preventing medication errors. For example, electronic health records algorithms can be used to sound a warning to the care providers in case there is a possibility of drug-to-drug interaction, which can endanger a patient’s life. With the appropriate data, nurse can quickly make decisions to ensure that the patients are safe.

One of the nursing theories that are applicable to the problem of medication errors is Orem’s theory. One of the underpinning concepts of the theory that during self-care or when caring for another dependent person, the care carried out should be learned and then performed deliberately for an individual’s well-being, human functioning, and for life (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2021). Such a concept can effectively guide nurse informatics in generating and using the correct data to help in controlling, reducing, or eliminating medication errors. One of the reasons that makes Orem’s theory best theory applicable to this problem is that reducing medication errors requires that the nurse learns and makes a deliberate effort to ensure the well-being of the patient by ensuring that the patient is not exposed to adverse effects of medication errors. The concepts of Orem’s theory, guides such learning and efforts. Clinical issues, problems or concerns should always be mitigated for better patient care and outcomes. As mentioned above, this medical errors can be solved using informatics like electronic health records algorithms as an evidence-base practice.

References:

Daher, A., Badran E.F., Al-Lawama, M., Al-Taee, A., Makahleh, L., Jabaiti, M., Murtsji, A., Bsoul, A., Salah, H., Tanash, A., & Al-Taee, M. (2020). Impact of computerized prescriptions on medication errors and workflow efficiency in neonatal intensive care units: A quasi-experimental three phase study. Methods of Information in Medicine, 59(04/05), 140-150. https://Doi.org/10.1055/s-0040-1721424

Gates, P.J., Hardie, R.A., Raban, M.Z., Li, L., & Westbrook, J.I. (2021). How effective are electronic medication systems in reducing medication error rates and associated hard among hospital inpatients? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of the American Informatics Association, 28(1), 167-176). https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocaa230

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. (2021). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge. Jones & BartlettPublishers.