Every nurse should think about improving the quality of the environment and patient care in her practice. Nursing theory and its complementary applied developments are used by the American Nurses Association (ANA) and other organizations as a framework for developing quality practice. Moreover, nurses need to be aware of nursing advocacy strategies in order to be able to help advocate for patient’s rights and promote positive healthcare change (Younas & Quennell, 2019). One of the standards of nursing is “quality practice,” which must be safe, effective, fair, timely, and people-centered (Younas & Quennell, 2019). Pursuing quality practice requires lifelong learning, participation in developing and applying new techniques, and continuous testing of existing approaches.
Firstly, nursing theory is the basis for studying strategies for implementing the quality practice. The nursing theory is based on creating comfortable and favorable conditions for patients following the environmental theory of Florence Nightingale (Sherwood & Barnsteiner, 2021). The working environment should include good ventilation, a comfortable temperature, sufficient light, and limited external exposure to the patient (Sherwood & Barnsteiner, 2021). This is one example of how nursing theory itself contains principles and strategies that, if followed, qualitatively improve patient care and outcomes.
Second, nurses can be advocates for implementing and promoting patient-centered care. The positive relationship between the nurse and the patient is therapeutic and built on a collaborative environment between the healthcare system and the person. The modern nursing theory puts forward the ideas of patient-centered care, focusing on the patient’s needs and involving them in treating and maintaining his health. Goldfarb et al. (2017) meta-analysis showed that patient-centered care leads to improved ICU costs, family and patient satisfaction, mental health, and medical goal achievement. Shifting attention to the patient’s needs shows positive results in the provision of health care.
Thirdly, research practice plays an essential role in modernizing nursing practice. Evidence-based practice allows you to test, analyze and study existing patient treatment approaches (LoBiondo-Wood et al., 2018). As a result, clinically validated data is the basis for creating new treatments, care, and environments that improve patient care. There are many research methods, but a review of the results of their use in practice shows many positive outcomes for patients. For example, new evidence-based approaches have been shown to reduce hospital injuries, increase patient satisfaction with pain management, reduce complications in intensive care, etc. (LoBiondo-Wood et al., 2018). It is difficult to overestimate field research’s importance and positive effects with the ability to conduct tests right in the hospital. Using the benchmarks, nurses can develop specific recommendations and protocols that are practice-proven and scientifically validated.
Nurses carry out most of the work of caring for patients, contact their relatives, and are primarily responsible for advocating for patients and quality practice development. For nurses, this means knowing the standards of care in nursing theory, analyzing existing approaches, and developing new ones. It is necessary to understand that basic knowledge is not the maximum in medicine, as conditions and challenges constantly change. Health workers must be flexible and attentive to study and test the environment and existing practices for their adequacy and effectiveness. Moreover, the application of new communicative and collaborative methods of patient interaction is the focus of modern nursing theory. High-quality interaction between nurses and patients significantly speeds up the treatment process and improves outcomes.
References
Goldfarb, M. J., Bibas, L., Bartlett, V., Jones, H., & Khan, N. (2017). Outcomes of patient-and family-centered care interventions in the ICU: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Critical Care Medicine, 45(10), 1751-1761.
LoBiondo-Wood, G., Haber, J., & Titler, M. G. (2018). Evidence-based practice for nursing and healthcare quality improvement. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Sherwood, G., & Barnsteiner, J. (Eds.). (2021). Quality and safety in nursing: A competency approach to improving outcomes. John Wiley & Sons.
Younas, A., & Quennell, S. (2019). Usefulness of nursing theory‐guided practice: an integrative review. Scandinavian journal of caring sciences, 33(3), 540-555.