The role of the nurse in modern clinical practice has changed dramatically, and these staff members now have much greater importance in patient therapy. The nurse is becoming the critical person who makes the connection between the patient and the physician, as well as the figure who spends most of her time with the patient. It is for this reason that the nurse must be highly professional and competent to be relevant. Community Nursing Class was a course that demonstrated aspects of this relevance well for me and gave me an understanding of the complexity of the work of the modern nurse.
It is true that the nursing profession is complex and multitasking. In order to improve the experience of patient recovery, the nurse must take care to remove legal, cultural, therapeutic, communication, and mental barriers (Smith, 2021). The Community Nursing course, which lasted eight weeks, allowed me to tentatively divide the overall complexity of clinical nursing practice into four areas. The first is nurses’ awareness of legal and regulatory issues, whether municipal or federal in scope. The first week’s lectures explored this topic, and the general conclusion I drew for myself is that the professional practice of nursing is limited by a multitude of laws and regulations. I think this is an advantage because it not only structures a nurse’s thoughts and behaviors as a professional, but it also allows me to limit my responsibilities and not take on more than what the regulations postulate.
Second, Community Nursing Class showed me that any clinic is not only about patient care but also about business. Clinical organizations profit either directly from the client or from the government through a system of insurance policies: in either case, the firm makes a profit. This can be seen not only as a focus on finances but also as obtaining funds for the normal functioning of the company in order to help even more people. The importance of the financing, planning, and risk management system was the topic of my study in Weeks 3 and 4, during which we were taught in detail the essential business principles for the clinic. Including the third aspect of community, nursing was a more in-depth study of the principles of spending the budget for reimbursement. The conclusion I drew for these sessions was that today’s health care system could not exist without finances, and it is critical for all stakeholders, whether client, company, or government, to maximize benefits from each side (Gordon, 2021). The clinic, in receiving reimbursement, is investing in its own development, and improving the patient care experience.
Finally, a fourth important aspect of organizational nursing practice is an explicit knowledge of the legal framework within which the practice is conducted. This is not about politics and the labor market but about laws and their enforcement. When serving clients, it is critical to conduct any action only within the law, as any deviation, even for well-intentioned purposes, can result in dismissal and prosecution (NSO, 2020). It is essential to be able to prioritize between personal interest and compliance with the law. For example, in Week 6, I researched the use of substances for treatment, and obviously, this is a susceptible topic. Drugs and their formulations that are allowed today may be prohibited tomorrow, and as a professional nurse, I must clearly keep track of changes in related laws.
Thus, Community Nursing Class was a beneficial academic course for me that showed me the legal and legal aspects of being a modern nurse. The range of responsibilities and competencies available to the nurse is much broader than it was even decades ago. Over the course of eight weeks, we participated in group discussions and wrote two research papers, which was an enriching practice for both the nurse and the researcher.
References
Gordon, T. (2021). State and local finance initiative subscribe to RSS. Urban Institute.
NSO. (2020). Nurse case study: Deviation from the standard of care. NSO.
Smith, Y. (2021). Roles of a nurse. NEWS ML.