Clinical guidelines are an established set of statements that provide
the basis for decision-making to the healthcare professionals and patients.
Without clinical guidelines, it may not be possible for a nurse practitioner to
improve the quality of care provided to patients. These guidelines allow them
to avoid professional malpractices and breach of any kind that may arise
because of unethical conduct (2016). Clinical guidelines are developed locally,
nationally or regionally. The internal guidelines require a few resources and are quickly adopted into clinical practices due
to local ownership.
On the other hand, practice standards develop a foundation in nursing or
clinical practice that ensures safety and the highest level of competency. Certain standards are set for nurses, doctors,
and other medical professionals to ensure that they provide patients with the
best treatment facilities and top-notch medications so that they can recover
from illnesses at a fast speed (2016).
For instance, certain standards of practice are set for medical experts, and they are responsible for taking
care of these standards while performing their duties. Algorithms are specific
nursing tools that are established using evidence-based practice guidelines.
The purpose of these tools is to enhance the overall performance of nurses and
to make it easy for them to provide consistent and outstanding care to patients
without any discrimination.
During my clinical practice, I have always taken care of the clinical
guidance provided to me. For example, if
the senior nurses have ever asked me to
use a particular treatment plan, then I
have always taken their instructions or guidelines seriously and have not tried
something else, as I know that I must work according to the rules and
regulations set by the hospital and my
seniors (Perez-Solis, 2017). As far as practice standards are concerned, I have always tried to maintain the standards
of care while working in the hospital. For example, if I have to choose between an inexpensive medicine and a costly
pharmaceutical drug for a patient, then I
would never go with what is ordinary,or
of low quality, as for me, the life and
health of patients mean a lot. Also, I believe in using the best algorithms while serving
the patients. For example, I have always
tried to provide patients with persistent pain the best and most appropriate
painkillers.
The one thing that I have always
done is the use of algorithms. However, I
am not personally satisfied with the way these nursing tools are used. For example, if a patient with
persistent pain has to be provided with a
painkiller, then what is the purpose of keeping him in the hospital for long! I have seen incidents when patients with pain are kept in the emergency for days, and then
the doctor or nurse just prescribe a
painkiller and ask them to go home. I
think that the painkiller can be given
instantly and there is no need to keep the patient in the hospital for days or
weeks on the name of treatment. Maybe, I
do not have a clear idea of whether or not algorithms are effective, but I
think that the time of patients and their family members should not be wasted this way.
References
Clinical Career Ladder Systems Awareness Among Nursing Staff At Mansoura
Hospitals ( Governmental And Non-Governmental
Hospitals). (2016). International Journal of Nursing Didactics,6(5). doi:10.15520/ijnd.2016.vol6.iss5.152.13-22 \
Tools and Guides for Nurses to Detect Elder Abuse. (2016). Elder
Abuse and Nursing. doi:10.1891/9780826131539.0007
Perez-Solis, I. (2017).
Importance of Forensic Nurses. AJN, American Journal of Nursing, 117(1),
10. doi:10.1097/01.naj.0000511546.69382.9a
