How Nursing Practice has Changed Over Time

How Nursing Practice has changed over Time
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How Nursing Practice has changed over Time
Explain how nursing practice has changed over time and how this evolution has changed the scope of practice and the approach to treating the individual.
The nursing practice has undergone a lot of changes over time. Initially, nursing was lowly regarded, and a profession meant for women only. Today, nursing is considered one of the most important professions in the world. Some of the notable changes that have taken place in the profession include enhanced training. Nursing training has become quite extensive and complex as it churns out individuals capable of handling current and emerging healthcare issues in the world. Further, the staff has become more diversified, with more men entering the field as nurses. According to Wendler (2018), though the U.S. still has more women as nurses, more men are joining the field. She indicates that since the 70s, the number of men in the nursing profession has more than tripled, and this has brought about a more diversified nursing workforce. Aside from the above, technology has also changed the nursing practice. Today, nurses are able to communicate and collaborate more effectively because of technological innovations like EHRs. Further, other innovative ideas like telehealth and telemedicine make it possible for nurses to offer healthcare services remotely.
With the changes above, the scope of practice for nurses has greatly changed. Currently, more states are giving nurses the authority to see patients and to prescribe medication without any supervision from physicians. Such changes mean that nurses are helping reduce the health burden in the country. Further, the approach to treating an individual has also changed. Initially, people had to see physicians for treatment. However, today, depending on the issue at hand, nurses are allowed to see patients and offer treatment.
Compare the differentiated practice competencies between an associate (ADN) and baccalaureate (BSN) education in nursing. Explain how scope of practice changes between an associate and baccalaureate nurse.
Associate (ADN) and baccalaureate (BSN) are quite different in the nursing education context. An ADN-level nurse is one who has undergone a shorter two-year nursing education program. In this program, ADNs are taught clinical skills, such as recording patient information, taking patient vitals, monitoring patient symptoms, and working under physicians’ supervision (Nurse.org, 2021). On the other hand, a BSN-level nurse is one who has undergone a longer four-year course. While in the program, a BSN-level nurse is taught similar clinical skills to an ADN but also gets the opportunity to be trained in aspects like nursing research, leadership, and management. So, a BSN-level nurse can offer complex healthcare help and manage a group of nurses.
Regarding the scope of practice changes between an associate and baccalaureate nurse, ADNs are mainly entitled to entry-level roles in the nursing profession. Some of these entry-level roles include an outpatient care nurse, a home health nurse, as well as a community health nurse. On the other hand, a BSN is entitled to more advanced nursing opportunities, and their scope of practice is much wider. For example, a BSN-level nurse can work as a nurse manager, an informatics nurse, or even a pharmaceutical nurse. Such nurses are entitled to complex roles.
Identify a specific client situation and describe how nursing care, or approaches to decision making, differ between the BSN-pr...