Paper Example: Impact Of Education On Nursing And Its Future

Nurses provide palliative care; take care of people suffering from injuries, illness, and the disabled. Nurses also have to provide support to the sick and their families. This support is either within the hospital environment or their homes. Currently, nurses play a role in research, advocacy, policy formulation, and management. Due to these reasons, nursing remains a demanding profession. Technology development and an aging population are also fuelling this demand. Therefore, the following paper analyses the impacts of education on nursing and its future.

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Nurses have always been in demand; however, some hospitals have been reducing their nursing employees (Dawson et al., 2014). The reasons given include, hospitals have been experiencing lower admissions, and insurance companies are paying less for services offered. However, there has been an increase in nursing openings in outpatient clinics, rehabilitation centers, and home visit services. Undergraduate nurses have to look for internship opportunities to develop their skills and gain hands-on experience in the workplace. Volunteer positions allow them to network and build their curriculum vitae. Volunteering also allows entry-level nurses to experience different fields of nursing. This experience comes in handy when they decide to advance their education levels and specialize in a particular area. On the other hand, nursing graduates may take up any of the following jobs; legal nursing consultation, prison nurse, conduct nursing training, offer consultancy services, or telemedicine nursing.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) made the following recommendations for the nursing profession (Roux & Halstead, 2017):

• Nurses should practice within the confines of their training and level of education.
• Nurses should pursue higher education; therefore, an active academic system should be in place.
• Nurses should play an active role and act as equals with other healthcare professionals when developing the healthcare system.

Use of data when developing healthcare policies.

IOM recommendations highlight the essential role nurses play in the healthcare system. There is a need for a nursing syllabus that allows nurses to cope with the changing needs of society, such as an aging population and technology. Due to a large number of time nurses spend with patients, they are in a good position of articulating patient needs. Nurses need to practice within their field of knowledge. This principle ensures that patients receive medical attention from a nurse with adequate training. Due to the complex nature of some diseases, nurses should desist from offering treatment to patients without approval from the doctor in charge. When nurses receive similar attention to doctors and other medical professionals, patients are more likely to trust them.

I wish to pursue certification in palliative care. This certification will enable me to provide help to terminally ill patients and offer emotional and medical support to the patients and their families. In addition to this, a palliative nurse educates the parties on how to manage the condition and administers medication. I hope to achieve this certificate within a year of graduating. I believe nurses should play an active role in policy development and management of the health system. Therefore, I wish to pursue a master's in nursing, immediately after I graduate. Apart from management qualifications, a master's degree will enable me to specialize in the nursing field.

A higher education level makes a nurse more competitive in the job market. Better education levels also provide more career opportunities, such as management and research positions. Increasing education ensures nurses have networking opportunities (Calzone et al., 2018). Networks increase their job opportunities. These include going into medical sales, writing, and education. Systems also allow nurses to share resources and experiences that serve as a mark of personal development and investment in oneself. Nurses who advance their education are also likely to earn more in comparison to nurses who hold basic nursing qualifications. Exposure to a vast body of knowledge develops a nurse's skills and prepares them to adapt to changes in the nursing sector. Some employers are willing to offer scholarships and funding to employees who wish to pursue a master's education. This option makes it cheap for candidates to increase their skill levels.

Increasing education levels improve competency levels of nurses. This increase is due to exposure to alternative ways of carrying out their work. High education levels diversify the nurse's skills hence making them capable of handling a variety of medical challenges. Diversity makes them efficient in the workplace. Education broadens the horizon for nurses, increases their ambition to be better nurses, and increases their knowledge. This change develops as one research and delves more into the nursing field. For example, by specializing in a suitable domain, one can study it exhaustively. Training enables nurses to fit into the American Nursing Association's scope of nursing by ensuring they have adequate knowledge to achieve registration and authority to practice nursing. Training also enables employees to improve the quality of the patients' life by offering them the best medical practices and knowledge. Through networking and research, nurses can develop an appropriate code of ethics.

Nurses need to have as much knowledge of their fields as possible. The experience will allow nurses to be aware of medical innovations and diseases and means of coping. High education levels ensure that nurses progress in their careers fast; they earn more and broaden career opportunities. Therefore, continuing education should be compulsory for all nurses. Training enables nurses to work in several fields and offer varying health skills. At the same time, they should be able to provide traditional nursing services.

However, there is a need for policies to be in a place that will ensure that nurses do not suffer economic challenges as they pursue their education. These policies include; employers should fund a percentage of the nurses' tuition. Nurses who complete their training should have a clear career progression track. After graduating, nurses should receive a salary commensurate with their education status. These changes will encourage nurses to pursue education.

The education system should also take into consideration the unique challenges nurses face in their profession. Nurses often have to work for long hours and overtime without taking breaks. This act is prevalent when employee numbers are minimal in comparison t patient numbers. Extended working hours make it difficult for nurses to pursue more education options. Due to the nature of their job, nurses are likely to suffer injuries. The resulting infections could keep them away from school for a considerable period. Nurses often face abuse from patients. This abuse is likely to dampen the morale of nurses, hence forcing them to either switch careers. Education should cover the changing needs of the medical society and ensure that nurses have adequate knowledge and skills to cope.

The nursing sector's future looks bright. Employment of registered nurses will increase by twelve percent between two thousand and eighteen and two thousand and twenty-eight (Hogan & Roberts, 2015). This increase will be due to a high number of older adults in society and the need for hospitals to discharge patients within the shortest period possible. High discharge rates will increase employment opportunities in outpatient facilities and within homes. As the healthcare system experiences more decentralization, medical procedures will happen more in physicians' offices and within the ambulatory environment. This change will further increase the demand for nurses. However, there is a need to ensure nurses have adequate training to cope with emerging demands.

References

Calzone, K. A., Kirk, M., Tonkin, E., Badzek, L., Benjamin, C., & Middleton, A. (2018). Increasing nursing capacity in genomics: Overview of existing global genomics resources. Nurse Education Today, 69, 53-59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2018.06.032

Dawson, A. J., Stasa, H., Roche, M. A., Homer, C. S., & Duffield, C. (2014). Nursing churn and turnover in Australian hospitals: nurses perceptions and suggestions for supportive strategies. BMC Nursing, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6955-13-11

Hogan, A., & Roberts, B. (2015). Occupational employment projections to 2024. Monthly Labor Review. https://doi.org/10.21916/mlr.2015.49Roux, G., & Halstead, J. A. (2017). Issues and Trends in Nursing. Jones & Bartlett Learning.