The Importance of Nursing Education and a Nurse's Educational Goals

Future of Nursing: Leading Change
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Introduction
Nurses are very important and essential to the entire healthcare system. Among all the other healthcare professionals, nurses have the most contact with patients in the clinical setup. Their responsibility to improve patient care is therefore critical. The essay emphasizes nursing education and the tremendous benefits of continuing nursing education. As a practitioner with an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN), there are several options for me in the job market. According to the IOM recommendations, I aim to attain several degrees and professional certifications with time. Increasing my education level will increase my competitiveness in the job market. There is a remarkable positive relationship between continuing nursing education and a nurse’s competency, attitude, and knowledge. Additionally, nurses who have had higher education are able to adhere to the ANA scope and standards of practice.
My Options in the Job Market
As a practitioner with an ADN, there are various options for me in the job market. Having an ADN prepares one for the roles of a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse. As a nurse with an ADN, I qualify to work in a range of career possibilities. These include working with various patients such as children, older adults, adolescents, and pregnant and lactating mothers. Additionally, having an ADN exposes me to work in diverse communities and settings. Here, I am sharpened to conduct patient assessments, diagnosis, patient education and treatment, patient care, handling medical equipment, and actively collaborating with other healthcare professionals. Any facility or work environment that offers these services can therefore open its doors for me. Some facilities include nursing care homes, hospitals, home-based care services, professional colleges, and residential care homes.
IOM Recommendations for Higher Education
The IOM recommendations acknowledge the fact that the healthcare system is rapidly growing and accepting diversity. Therefore, they project the need for nurses to grow along and adapt to the positive changes (Price & Reichert, 2017). Nurses are recommended to transform their profession by attaining higher education levels, to meet the changing demands (Agyepong & Okyere, 2018). As an ADN nurse, I plan to pursue certification and advanced degrees. Pursuing professional certification will make me an all-around professional nurse who promotes quality healthcare practices. Additionally, I will be in a position to lower the risk of medical errors and increase patient satisfaction.
One professional certification I aim to achieve is to become a certified pediatric nurse (CPN). A registered nurse is required to engage in pediatric care in the clinical setup for one thousand and eight hundred hours, in two consecutive years. After two years, the nurse can go ahead and make an application for the professional examination. The certification will show my skills in pediatric care and increase my competitiveness and upper edge in the job market. My timeline for achieving this certification is a period of the next two years....