NSG 122 – Nursing Fundamental Concepts
This course provides students with opportunities to learn and develop basic competencies necessary to facilitate the optimal well-being of the patient within the healthcare setting in a safe, legal, and ethical manner. Focus is placed on the nursing process, health promotion, disease prevention, professional communication and interdisciplinary collaboration within the context of meeting basic patient needs in a healthcare environment. Throughout the course, students demonstrate competence of fundamental principles of nursing practice which are validated through clinical skill performance assessments.
Sample Answer
NSG 122 – Nursing Fundamental Concepts
A crucial aspect in the nursing field is catering to the patient, ensuring addressing the needs while delivering exceptional individualized care. Various elements cater to the required standardized care which a nurse must respectfully provide. A fundamental characteristic a nurse must incorporate in their care routine is being culturally aware. The skill of understanding one’s
background suggests acquiring valuable knowledge to gain perspective based on care for the patient. Incorporating professional standards involves understanding boundaries; being attentive and respectful can develop skills useful in the nursing profession. An example of a skill beneficial in the nursing profession would be cultural awareness, and it is a method delivered without judgment, having an open mind, and being willing to take learned information to care for the patient properly. Skill development improves as the nurse’s ability to relate to the patient.
Evidence-based practice involves prior knowledge as an application to caring. The practice is a process to identify a proper strategy. The evidence-based practice delivers hands-on care with the awareness of the patient accompanying with the nurse’s competence. Nursing practice includes a clear and direct goal to reach an impactful outcome for the patient’s benefit. Understanding the quality of skill development enhances the nurse’s ability to make relevant decisions to the extent of their care. A competent nurse is an individual who has strengthened their professionalism in the workplace due to vast knowledge and appropriate decisions they can instantly compose. I have volunteered in a nursing home where I witnessed the nurse and resident (client) relationship. Though the nurses had a lot on their plate, they quickly thought and had the immediate and instinctive care decision. I regarded their professionalism and how fast they could promptly determine as they cared for the residents. As a student nurse, I have had the
opportunities to enhance my learning skills from my theoretical courses to apply to my lab component. I have learned how the appropriate steps to accurately donning and doffing to sustain infection control. The skill I have acquired will eventually allow me to perform it in the hospital setting ultimately. The skill is crucial because it is the best way to limit other factors from contributing to one’s unconscious mistake.
Skill development is a crucial aspect of fulfilling the various aspects of nursing care. When a skill is known in-depth, it becomes instinctive to care for a patient. To maintain a stable and connected relationship while maintaining professional standards required as a nurse, the CNO states, “A therapeutic nurse-patient relationship is based on meaningful communication. When communication barriers exist, you are responsible for using communication strategies and skills, so the patient is an informed partner in the care provision” (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2018, Culturally Sensitive Care section). The statement implies that there are diverse patients, and the proper communication technique alone could be successful and convenient for caring for patients. The skill involves the nurse being able to determine the best means of communication for the patient and their capabilities and eventually stooping down to gain how they can provide their care in other areas.
The input of diversified areas from a multi-disciplinary health team will approach in different areas for patient care, “health-care workers are challenged to look for ways to share power and build positive working relationships that are appropriate to an organization’s equality seeking mandate and members’ skills and abilities” (Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, 2013, p. 45). Various inputs of skills can place the best decision to implement for the health of the patient professionally. According to the College of Nurses of Ontario, decision-making involves the effective use of critical thinking and “the ability to draw on many modes of thinking to select a course of action” (Colleges of Nurses Ontario, 2018, p. 14). Critical thinking is a skill that comes in nature to an expert nurse because they consider ethical factors while considering the patient’s situation.
