NURSING CONTRIBUTION

IN PAST

The contribution of nursing to professional nursing practice is the American Nurses Association (ANA) Board of Directors instituted the Nursing’s Safety & Quality Initiative in 1994 (ANA, 1999).  According to the study from Quigley (2003), “a coordinated and comprehensive system for patient safety has not existed”. So, this have drawn the attention of many organizations to the need for the development and support of an integrated and comprehensive system that identifies and manages medical errors and rewards health care systems for positive outcomes. Nursing’s Safety & Quality Initiative gave direction to the study of the impact of these changes on safety and quality of patient care as well as nursing. National Database of Nursing-Sensitive Quality Indicators (NDNQI) created where this is the indicators that capture care or its outcomes most affected by nursing. The purpose of the NDNQI was to promote and facilitate the standardization of information submitted by hospitals across the United States on nursing quality and patient outcomes. Regarding to the study about the importance of patient safety there has been a convergence of thought among professional, private, and governmental health care decision makers that agree that patient safety will be a top priority agenda item for health care providers now and in the future. All groups have validated the demand for improvement in patient safety. So, when the patient safety become the priority in nursing practice it has the potential to decrease the risk of malpractice.

In Malaysia, nursing contribution is in the nursing knowledge and skill required to sustain the quality of care. In the past, the nurses in Malaysia only have certificate in nursing. But then, when they realize the importance of knowledge in nursing, nursing education improved to degree, where they learn theory and not only skill in nursing. This is to improve their quality of care and can practice based on evidence-based practice.

IN PRESENT DAYS

Subsequently, nurses as a leader that engage with organizations to lead patients-centered care initiatives (Rosa, 2017). Nurses collaborate with various disciplines to ensure health and wellbeing for all patients. Contribution of nurses in today’s world give arise on visibility and participation in nursing leadership within hospital as for specifically is contribution in Magnet accreditation (Needleman & Hassmiller,2009). These Magnet programs has been recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Centre (ANCC) for recruiting nurses to provide better quality of care to patient. Some research found that those Magnet hospitals and nurses work environment constantly different from other hospitals (Needleman & Hassmiller, 2009).

Besides, increasing number of nursing home in Malaysia reflect on nursing contribution to care of the patients with terminal illness or patient that has no other relatives that could take care of them. As for example, one of states in Malaysia which is Sarawak has established several nursing homes whereas it based on education of health care professional in palliative care. Nurses was assigned to become resource personnel where nurses in charge being contactable by phone for 24 hours per weeks (Devi, Tang and Corbex, 2008). These nursing home systems allow all registered nurses to collaborate with staff of the palliative care unit at the Department of Radiology and Oncology about follow up treatment and care also for medication supply (Devi, Tang and Corbex, 2008).

IN FUTURE

One of the nursing contributions to the professional nursing practice that would be very meaningful and useful in the future is the involvement of nurses in innovation which also known as nurse-led innovation. The innovation in nursing is not only can improve patient's outcome but it also can give many advantages to the nurses or other health care providers such as the care of patients becomes much easier. Introducing and diffusing nurse-led innovation is crucial for improving patient outcomes in this historic period of turbulence and change in healthcare (Goodyear-Bruch et al, 2017).

Besides, another nursing contribution in the professional nursing practice for the future is the engagement of nurses in the nursing research. In Malaysia, nursing research is not carried out as the research culture is yet to be developed (Development of nursing education in Malaysia: towards the year of 2020, 2010). The research in nursing is not a new thing but what we can see now is that the nursing research in Malaysia is still insufficient. Generally, the research in nursing has begun hundreds of years ago which is firstly done by Florence Nightingale. In other countries especially in the west country, the nursing research is widespread. This is because nursing research is very important in providing better care to the patients. Research helps nurses determine effective best practices and improve patient care (Why Do Nurses Need Research? 2017). As a student, nursing research is important in the study as it helps the student to understand more about a specific topic. However, most of the research found on the internet or books are done by people from other countries. As a result, the student cannot relate to the topic that they are studying with the current issues in their own country. In the future, nursing research which exclusively based on Malaysians context should be increased for better care to the patient in Malaysia. Internationally, more research should also be implemented as it was needed to conduct better care to the patients all around the world. 

Prepared by:
1)Nur Isma Hanisah Mazle (67613)
2)Ivy Anne Marius (66180)
3)Hyryesna Grace Yajab (66150)