Abstract
The purpose of the paper is the evaluation and appraisal of AACN’s Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing (EMEN). Every essential reflects specific skills and competencies nurses should develop to provide reliable care, improve public and individual health outcomes, and enhance health systems. Each essential is briefly described, and its significance is demonstrated.
Introduction
The EMEN represents the skills and competencies which every nurse should have for the effective practice in the modern environment. The practical principles and guidelines described by AACN (2011) are meant to meet the needs of present-day society and individuals. The given paper aims to describe and evaluate the importance of each essential introduced by AACN.
Background for Practice from Sciences and Humanities
It refers to nurses’ ability to apply knowledge from various medical fields in practice. It emphasizes the significance of evidence-based practice for the improvement of service quality. The application of recent scientific evidence helps nurses meet the highest quality standards and, moreover, it not only improves patient safety indicators but leads to greater financial efficiency in hospitals (Belowska, Panczyk, Zarzeka, & Gotlib, 2015). Therefore, nursing students should learn to research and make use of research findings in various fields to benefit patients, hospitals, and own professional development.
Organizational and Systems Leadership
It refers to the recognition of leadership and its importance among students and practitioners. It is possible to say that leadership is the central element of any team and organization as a whole because it is responsible for staff motivation, structuring, integration of values and knowledge into practice, enforcement of policies, etc. Leaders play vital roles in the enhancement of service and nurses’ practice. Thus, every student should learn about the components and factors of effective leadership to improve decision-making and abilities needed to foster positive changes in their hospitals.
Quality Improvement and Safety
Nowadays, patient safety is a universal imperative, and it implies preventing any harm to patients. Welzel (2012) observes that over 90 000 Americans die due to medical errors annually. Therefore, nurses should understand the major patient safety principles and aim to prevent medical errors, learn from the occurred errors, and strive to develop patient safety culture based on the built knowledge. It is crucial to raise health practitioners’ awareness of various efficient and evidence-based preventive measures and generate positive perceptions of the significance of safety in them.
Translating and Integrating Scholarship into Practice
It refers to proactive nurses’ behavior. It means that practitioners should actively implement knowledge and various skills they obtained throughout the course of education including problem-resolving, essentials of evidence-based practice, and leadership. A nurse should not merely work on individual professional outcomes but should try to encourage other team members to do the same and initiate positive changes in the workplace. Such proactive behavior demonstrates that a nurse recognizes own responsibility for the improvement of service reliability and quality.
Informatics and Healthcare Technologies
Healthcare technologies may largely facilitate care delivery and quality. At the same time, the implementation of modern technologies requires a profound knowledge of standards, ethical implications, and practical rules. Nurses should be aware of benefits associated with technology use, as well as possibly harmful effects of data disclosure, principles of proper use of information technology, and measures aimed to prevent damages to patient health and identity.
Health Policy and Advocacy
Health policy is a population-based approach to problem-solving and prevention of diseases. It is a comprehensive and powerful tool that allows the simultaneous examination of issues from health, social, legal, and other perspectives. Public policy development and implementation can bring substantial changes to the social environment and improve the quality of life. Therefore, nurses should know how to evaluate current health care regulations and strategies; topical health issues; factors contributing to positive outcomes; basics of administrative, policy-making, and policy research processes; and implement their knowledge for the achievement of better policy effectiveness.
Interprofessional Collaboration for Improving Patient and Population Health Outcomes
The collaboration between different care providers is core to the modernization of health systems. Moreover, in case interprofessional knowledge and skills are well-coordinated, the organization and delivery of service can be significantly refined. Based on this, nurses should know the factors affecting collaboration efforts including inadequate leadership and team-building, confused team roles, etc., and be able to remove the barriers to efficient communication between professionals.
Clinical Prevention and Population Health for Improving Health
Every intervention strategy should be based on particular needs and be appropriate to individual and population group/aggregate peculiarities. Therefore, nurses should know the principles and standards of patient/client-centered care and be able to develop care delivery strategies that would meet the needs of his/her clients. Overall, respect and honoring differences are core to patient-centered nursing care. Therefore, nurses should always pay great attention to patients’ cultural and linguistic traditions, as well as their care preferences and beliefs.
Master’s-Level Nursing Practice
According to AACN (2011), a competent nurse knows intervention principles aimed to improve patient outcomes at the individual, population, and system levels. The scope of practice of well-educated nurses is wide, and they should understand various direct (e.g., technology, safety promotion techniques, etc.) and indirect (e.g., organizational culture, leadership, etc.) components of care. It means that the professional practice of nursing requires well-developed skills and competencies in various fields: medicine, policymaking, management, etc.
Conclusion
To be effective, practice in nursing should be flexible and based on multiple competencies in technology, systems, care models, and knowledge in fields related to efficient nursing care. The essentials evaluated in the paper can guide nurses throughout the course of their education and encourage them to develop necessary qualities and abilities for bringing positive changes to health care systems, professions, hospitals, and patients’ lives.
References
American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2011). The Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing. Web.
Belowska, J., Panczyk, M., Zarzeka, A., & Gotlib, J. (2015). Knowledge and attitudes of nursing students towards evidence-based medicine and evidence-based nursing practice. Polish Journal Of Public Health, 125(4), 201-204. Web.
Welzel, T. B. (2012). Patient safety. CME: Continuing Medical Education, 30(11), 406-409.