The nursing job requires a lot of different competencies depending on the work specifics. For instance, nurse administrators and nurse informaticists usually do not interfere with patients directly. However, all of them are required to be proficient in matters regarding the direct providing of health care. The paper analyses the differences in skills required for each of the nursing specialization fields.
Communication
The skill of communication must be the core characteristic of the nurses providing the direct heath care. This concept does not only include the positive attitude towards patients. The important skill is to understand the patients’ needs even if they do not express them. For instance, there are situations when people do not feel comfortable saying that they need certain hygienic procedures. It is required from a practicing nurse to understand the body language of patients and perform the necessary work.
Communication is also important for the nurse administrators. Without clear instructions, they would not be able to manage the hospital staff. Moreover, it is important to act correctly in case of possible criticism of subordinate nurses. All issues must be handled in such manner that personnel are not offended. Communication can also serve as a tool for motivating nurses. Excellent patient care, especially in the conditions of the nursing shortage and the consequent outcomes, must always be recognized. The skill of communication is also used by informaticist nurses. Like administrating nurses, they must interfere with direct care providers. Their primary task is to explain how to use the technologies properly.
Education
One of the core competencies for all nurses is education. It is recognized as the primary skill of a nurse practitioner (Pennigton, 2015, p. 13). Patients must be informed about the state of their health. Moreover, it is important to give them advice on how to improve their health when they leave the hospital. This advice may target not only the existing issues but the overall rules of the healthy living behavior. Education of families is also important. Some conditions of patients may call for the help of relatives. It is the task of nurses to show how this help can be offered.
Education is also something practiced by the nurse administrators and informaticists. Administrators must educate staff on the rules of the particular hospital. They also have to teach the new nurses about the local practices. Although health care is more or less similar throughout the country, it is important to fit into the particular nursing community. Nursing informaticists have to educate direct care providers about how to use a certain technology. For instance, practicing nurses may know how to read the results of the heart monitoring devices, but they do not necessarily understand how the technology works. There might be a situation where technological matters must be explained to a patient. It is the requirement of an informaticist nurse to ensure this step does not create problems for direct care providers. Moreover, they must show the need in continuing education (Troseth, 2012, p. 19). It is dictated by the fact that technologies are changing very fast and regular education would ensure there are no blank sides to the knowledge.
Leadership
Leadership is a skill that seems to be the most important for the nursing administrators. However, it is also a useful competency among the direct health providers. Patients very often feel a lot of psychological pressure. An illness may be a cause of a person’s financial state becoming unstable, or even lead to a job loss. These are the factors that may be the reasons for patients’ fears. Practicing nurses must use leadership skills to prove their authority and competence.
However, leadership is most important to the nursing administrators. Their work is tightly connected with the decision making that requires strong leadership skills. All ideas and opinions shared by the personnel must be analyzed to manage the possible issues (American Organization of Nurse Executives, 2015, p.8). This step is impossible without administration nurses possessing the skills of critical thinking. It is done to achieve the stability of the existing leadership model.
Professional Knowledge
Professional knowledge is the core competency for all three types of nursing practice. The quality of patient care is the direct outcome of the knowledge. It is evident that direct care providers should have the knowledge of the human body and its functions to decide whether there are any procedures required apart from those appointed by doctors. Moreover, practicing nurses must possess the knowledge of ethics and religion since all patients require a different approach based on their beliefs.
Nursing administrators also must have an in-depth understanding of medicine. However, while the first group uses knowledge for direct patient care, administrators address it to evaluate the work of nurses. Besides, they are the ones responsible for building the care standards. Each medical institution requires flexible practice standards (O’Connell, Gardner, & Coyer, 2014, p. 2729), and nursing administrators must be proficient in them. Finally, nursing informaticists must combine the knowledge of both medicine and information technologies. Apart from such fields as biology, they must use critical thinking to build logical chains and connect technologies with patient care.
Conclusion
While all types of nursing require similar competencies, there are some differences. Direct care practitioners need to have a combination of both communicational and medical skills. Nursing administrators and informaticists put their skills into helping the direct care providers.
References
American Organization of Nurse Executives. (2015). AONE nurse executive competencies. Web.
O’Connell, J., Gardner, G., & Coyer, F. (2014). Beyond competencies: Using a capability framework in developing practice standards for advanced practice nursing. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 70(12), 2728-2735.
Pennington, A. (2015). Characteristics of a great nurse. Florida Nurse, 63(3), 13.
Troseth, M. (2012). Nursing informatics deep dive: Integrating quality, safety and education (QSEN) strategies into nursing competences. Web.