Research and Explore the Changing Role of Nurses and Medicine

Trend#2: Nursing
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Trend#2: Nursing
Introduction
The role of nurses in the US is changing rapidly with nurses been continually tasked with a broad range of responsibilities. Caring for patients is increasingly becoming complicated while most healthcare organizations remain understaffed. With most of the population constituting aged people and the increasing rates of obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases, the health care system is faced with high number of complicated illnesses (American Academy of Nursing, 2010). This situation is further complicated by political forces as the politicians move to prove the prowess in terms of policy development. This paper seeks to investigate the current trends in nursing practice and healthcare in general and to try and make predictions about future developments in nursing. To achieve this role, the paper uses different both primary and secondary sources where past literature is examined and feedback from three nurses evaluated.
The Changing Role of Nurses
With the introduction of the Affordable Care Act, the number of patients visiting hospitals rose significantly as they seek to leap from high quality and cost effective care. Nursing organizations, including but not limited to the American Nursing Association were keen on supporting the new reforms and emphasize on primary and preventive care. The American Nursing Association (ANA) is a service professional organization that represents the interests of registered nurses via its state/constituent member nurse’s associations (American Academy of Nursing, 2010). ANA enhances the nursing profession by promoting the rights of its members in the workplace, nurturing high standards of practice and lobbying, regulatory agencies and the government on issues related to nursing and patient care. Further, the organization helps in promoting the safety of nurses as well as patients, especially in the face of increased monetary considerations (College & Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta, 2008). The association has been on the forefront to redefine the role of nurses in the newly reformed health care system.
In essence, the nursing practice under the new reforms have changed to emphasize on the need for quality and cost-effective care. Today, most nurses are trained using the hospital-based model. However, much of care practices are moving away from hospital settings and more towards home-based care (Saver, 2006). With more and more baby boomers seeking home-based care, nurses are increasingly being required to attend to patients either at their homes or in care homes. Evidence suggests that there is a relationship between the length of hospital stay and the rate of mortality and morbidity. In line with this, it can be argued that hospital stay does not necessarily benefit the patient and may in fact lead to negative outcomes. Armed with this knowledge, there has been a shift from institutional care to individual responsibility. In the same way care has been moving away from nursing homes and hospitals towards retail, home and kiosks based care (College & Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta, 2008). Patients are increasing demands personal control in terms o...