Abstract
A master’s degree program in nursing equips students with appropriate competencies, skills, and concepts that make them proficient caregivers. Learners should acquire various concepts, ideas, and competencies to become skilled providers of patient care. Practitioners should also be prepared to meet the diverse health needs of many patients. These aspects explain why nurses must be aware of various developments, theories, and technologies that can improve health care delivery. This discussion summarizes the nine essentials of master’s education in nursing and their impacts on healthcare practice. The paper also explains how such essentials can guide more nurses to achieve their potential.
Introduction
The Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing, as described by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), are critical for all nursing master’s programs. Nurses who embrace such essentials can be in a position to achieve their objectives and support their patients’ health needs. They offer desirable curricular elements and guide learners to translate evidence-based concepts into practice. This paper gives an analysis of the AACN Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing. It goes further to describe how the author interprets each of these essentials.
Background for Practice from Sciences and Humanities
This essential recognizes that master’s education should empower nurses to integrate findings from diverse fields such as genetics, quality improvement, and biopsychosocial sciences. This background can empower nurses to offer quality care, make informed clinical decisions, and improve nursing practice. The author interprets this essential as a necessity whereby nurses who have completed a master’s education must integrate scientific evidences and findings from public health, organizational sciences, genetics, biopsychosocial sciences, nursing, and quality improvement (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, n.d.). According to the AACN, this background results in continual improvement of care delivery in different settings.
Organizational and Systems Leadership
Systems and organizational leadership initiatives promote safe, timely, and quality patient care. Such skills ensure ethical decisions are made in healthcare organizations. Master’s-prepared caregivers can use these skills to minimize disparities in health delivery and maximize excellence in nursing (Jensen, Guedes, & Leite, 2016). Such practices will result in improved clinical practice and patient satisfaction. The author interprets this essential as an important requirement for practitioners to manage and lead their organizations efficiently. Effective leadership results in desirable working relationships, respect, and communication.
Quality Improvement and Safety
The rationale for this essential is that master’s-prepared practitioners must be aware of different tools, performance measures, methods, and safety principles. They should also be informed about various standards associated with heath care quality. Nurses must apply quality principles in their respective organizations to become effective change agents. Such competencies will promote a culture of safety, eliminate harm, strengthen healthcare systems, and improve patient safety (Jensen et al., 2016). The AACN argues that qualified nurses should monitor and examine areas that should be improved. They should go further to use quality improvement and efficient organizational theories to implement appropriate care delivery plans.
Translating and Integrating Scholarship into Practice
This essential suggests that all levels of nursing must be grounded in the translation of evidence into healthcare practice. Basically, a questioning approach is needed to improve nurses’ health environments and philosophies. The application of theory improves decision-making processes and improves the quality of patient care. The ACCN’s interpretation on this essential is that graduates should always examine policies and gather evidence for efficient practice (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, n.d.). They should go further to translate their findings and use research studies to address emerging issues in nursing.
Informatics and Healthcare Technologies
This essential indicates that master’s-prepared nurses must use healthcare technologies and informatics to improve their care delivery models. Informatics can facilitate the effective use of electronic health records (EHR) and coordination of care. This essential is relevant since practitioners who have adequate expertise in healthcare technology will deliver personalized patient care (Solheim, 2016). The author’s interpretation is that health technology can empower practitioners to offer desirable support in different settings. Technology improves the level of communication, decision-making, and planning.
Health Policy and Advocacy
Since the healthcare field is changing due to emerging economic, technological, and political forces, practitioners should possess adequate skills to advance relevant values, promote social justice, support health, and propose adequate policies to reshape various care delivery systems. Nurses who embrace this essential will be involved in policy debates, propose values, and support agendas that can improve the quality of health services (Hande, Williams, Robbins, Kennedy, & Christenbery, 2017). The author interprets this essential in a professional manner. For instance, policy influences health determinants and care delivery systems. Efficient policies will, therefore, ensure quality care is available, affordable, and accountable.
Interprofessional Collaboration for Improving Patient and Population Health Outcomes
This essential is aimed at supporting the role of interprofessional collaboration in improving health care systems. Effective collaboration and communication among health professionals can ensure reliable and continuous care is available. This essential affects clinical practice by ensuring that goals are realized in a timely manner. Nurses can collaborate with other professionals, engage in lifelong learning, and propose superior care delivery models. Teamwork also results in better health outcomes. The AACN’s interpretation is that practitioners should be aware of other fields’ scope of practice in order to collaborate efficiently (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, n.d.). Cooperation empowers nurses to design superior models and deliver patient-centered care.
Clinical Prevention and Population Health for Improving Health
This essential is founded on the notion that the global society is affected by numerous challenges such as health disparities, chronic diseases, and poverty. Nurses should embrace various clinical prevention measures to improve the country’s health status. This essential affects clinical practice directly since the initiative empowers more people to support every health promotion campaign. The author’s interpretation is that nurses who implement appropriate clinical prevention activities will address people’s medical needs (Solheim, 2016). Leadership roles should be taken seriously by practitioners to improve the health status of every American.
Master’s-Level Nursing Practice
The explanation of this essential is that master’s-prepared nurses must have acquired appropriate competencies that can be implemented to influence populations’ health outcomes and systems. They should reflect on their practices to come up with advanced lifelong learning plans that can foster professional development. This notion impacts nursing practice positively since different practitioners will offer improved medical services, use health technologies, and support desirable policies (Solheim, 2016). Such practices will ensure high quality care is available in different settings. The AACN’s interpretation is that master’s-prepared practitioners should have a proper knowledge of nursing theory, practice, and science. By doing so, they will monitor emerging trends and incorporate them in their philosophies.
Conclusion
This discussion shows conclusively that each of the Essentials of Master’s Education in Nursing is necessary and applicable in a wide range of health care settings. Individuals who have completed this program will be able to offer quality patient care and transform America’s health sector. Practitioners who acquire these competencies will improve health care delivery and achieve their objectives. Emerging technologies, concepts, and ideas must also be considered to make every practitioner successful.
References
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (n.d.). AACN essentials.
Hande, K., Williams, C. T., Robbins, H. M., Kennedy, B. B., & Christenbery, T. (2017). Leveling evidence-based practice across the nursing curriculum. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 13(1), e17-e22.
Jensen, R., Guedes, E. S., & Leite, M. M. (2016). Informatics competencies essential to decision making in nursing management. Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da USP, 50(1), 109-117. Web.
Solheim, J. (2016). Emergency nursing: The profession, the pathway, the practice. Indianapolis, IN: Sigma Theta Tau International.