Development of Nursing Standards
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Development of Nursing Standards
The nursing profession has a huge responsibility to the public in the administration of quality healthcare services. Due to this, nursing standards have been developed to provide universal guidelines to all nurses and improve the effectiveness of nurses (American Nurses Association, 2016). The nursing standards apply to all registered nurses regardless of their responsibilities and specialties. The process of developing nursing standards is an important process as policies and guidelines developed impact the nursing profession as well as receivers of healthcare services (American Nurses Association, 2016). The American Nurses Association plays a key role in the process of developing nursing standards of practice as well as ensuring that these standards are implemented in the nursing profession. These standards are also meant to improve the competence of nurses, which is important due to the roles that nurses play in the achievement of healthcare goals (American Nurses Association, 2016).
The Maryland Board of Nursing is responsible for the development of nursing standards of practice in the State of Maryland, which are aimed at ensuring quality healthcare services are administered to the citizens of Maryland (Maryland.gov, 2018). This board has also other roles, which include ensuring accountability in the nursing practice, certification, and licensure. The Board of Nursing has been delegated under the Maryland Nurse Practice Act and regulates all registered nurses in the State of Maryland (Maryland.gov, 2018). The first process involves a review of the implemented standards, observations, and interviews to certain nursing areas of major concern. Information collected in this first stage is analyzed to determine any gaps in the nursing practice in the specific areas (Maryland.gov, 2018).
This proceeds to the drafting of the standards with consideration of evidence-based research to provide more insight on the issues being addressed. Nurses are also allowed to participate in this process where they are able to provide important information related to different nursing aspects (Maryland.gov, 2018). Standards developed by the Board of Nursing should be consistent with the Nurse Practice Act. After the development of the nursing standards, a process of public participation is allowed which allows other stakeholders who include the public and nursing students to contribute to the development process (Maryland.gov, 2018). This provides them with an opportunity to provide their views and opinions for amendments to be implemented.
After the new standards have been revised, the next process is the validation process where different entities are involved in the decision-making process (Maryland.gov, 2018). One of these entities is the American Nurses Association, which might be needed to approve certain guidelines (American Nurses Association, 2016). This entity is also responsible for reviewing and discussing the development of the new nursing standards across different states of America (American Nurses Association, 2016). The standards of practice influence the nursing process in different aspects by clearly defining nursing roles and responsibilities as well as improve safety in the delivery of healthcare services to patients. These standards have also contributed to the improvement of competence in the nursing practice since they provide guidelines and health education, which is important in effective healthcare delivery (American Nurses Association, 2016).
References
American Nurses Association. (2016). Nursing: Scope and standards of practice. Silver Spring, Maryland: American Nurses Association.
Maryland. Gov. (2018). Maryland Board of Nursing. Retrieved from https://mbon.maryland.gov/Pages/mission-statement.aspx
