Name

Name

:Rodney A. Villanueva

Student Number:20113040

Subject

:Legal Problems in NursingModule

:Module 2: Nos. 1,3 & 4 page 19

Professor

:Dr. Manuel Alzate Jr.Deadline

:08, Jan. 20131. Among the trademarks / attributes of a professional, describe at least five as applied to a professional nurse practitioner.

There are so many different levels of nursing with such a variety of healthcare providers. With this, how would you still know who is a nursing professional? Gone are the days of telltale nursing caps, white pantyhose and dress uniforms. Most nurses welcome scrubs and crocs with open arms! This leaves many patients, residents or clients wondering who the professional staff is and who is housekeeping.

This led me to wonder, what makes a nurse professional?

Is it the number of letters after someones name? Is it their position? Is it their personal qualities and behavior? Can the unit clerk or housekeeper be considered a professional?

I am sure you have met many "professionals" with fancy titles, lovely offices and more letters after their name than you have in your own name. Some of whom have left you with a very sour taste in your mouth after dealing with their unprofessional behaviour.

So, what does a nursing professional look like? How does it act and behave? How can we, as nurses, become more professional no matter what or how many letters come after our name?

A professional looks the part.

Like it or not, the way you dress is important. You can be the sharpest tool in the shed but if you are covered in dirt, it will be hard for anyone to tell. Professionals spend the time, money and energy to look the part. Maybe it shouldnt matter, but it does. Sorry.

A professional treats everyone with respect.

Whether it's a colleague, patient, resident, or client, nursing professionals treat everyone in their nursing practice with dignity and respect. They see value in each person, no matter how high or low on the totem pole they happen to be. This is not always an easy thing to do, but it surely is always the right thing to do.

A professional commits to life-long learning.

School is never out for us, whether its "automobile university" (listening to informative CDs in the car), always having a book on the go, keeping up to date with professional magazines or websites, attending personal or professional conferences, or simply by listening and learning from others.

A professional does their best at what they are being paid to do.

They are committed to excellence whether they "feel like it" or not; whether external circumstances warrant it or not.

Can anyone with the right attitude be a professional in nursing? Yes. Nurses, you may have specialized nursing skills and training, perhaps more so than your lesser skilled colleagues. You invested more years in schooling and obtaining nursing education than some of your peers. But, what is to be gained by holding yourself high and making others feel low?

Instead, what if we hold the bar high for everyone? If we treat everyone we work with as professionals and expect everyone to act like a professional in the realm of what they do, I would bet my last nickel we wouldnt be disappointed.

3. How can the Board of Nursing help to make the nursing profession truly respected and recognized by the government and all sectors of the society?

The Philippine Board of Nursing is an administrative body under the Professional Regulation Commission regulates the practice of nursing in the Philippine with three primary purpose which is to (1) Provide regulatory standards in the practice of Nursing by implementing the Nurse Practice Act and by lobbying to Congress any proposed amendment to any laws with direct relationship to the practice of nursing. (2) Ensure public safety by administering the Philippine Nursing Licensure Exam (PNLE) to graduates of nursing schools prior to practice of Registered Nursing in the Philippines and (3) Maintain high standards of nursing education by auditing the performance of Philippine Nursing Schools.

Under such directives the BoN can implement with effective and stringent sense to every nursing school the high standard required of every nursing graduate they produce and not through sheer marketing strategy. As with such a service-oriented profession, quality, values and transparency is an ever pressing need to be expounded in all aspect and fact of the profession. In order to do that upgrading of how nurses are treated and managed and perceived worth is felt by the nurses themselves. The exodus of nurses exposed the local opportunities extremely is well below what is offered overseas yet as nurses we are asked to stay for the good of the country. As with all profession, nursing is made up of human and susceptible to needs. The current amended of laws upgraded the nursing profession in the Philippines in such a vast way that it is hoped to retain future nurses to stay. Though compared to overseas work, the upgrade should minimize such exodus and maybe bring the rich experience of aging nurses back to the Philippines.

4. What is the role of BON to make the Filipino nurses globally competitive and in

demand in the international market?

During the past few decades, the nursing workforce has been in crisis in the United States and around the world. Many health care organizations in developed countries recruit nurses from other countries to maintain acceptable staffing levels. The Philippines is the centre of a large, mostly private nursing education sector and an important supplier of nurses worldwide, despite its weak domestic health system and uneven distribution of health workers. This situation suggests a dilemma faced by developing countries that train health professionals for overseas markets: how do government officials balance competing interests in overseas health professionals remittances and the need for well-qualified health professional workforces in domestic health systems?

In light of such global demand for competitive nurses, the Board of Nursing created the Committee on Core Competency Standards Development in collaboration with the Commission on Higher Education Technical Committee on Nursing Education with the primary goal to develop the competency standards for nursing practice today. The legal basis is Article 3 Sec. 9 of RA No. 9173 known as the Philippine Nursing Act of 2002 states that the Board shall monitor and enforce quality standards of nursing practice necessary to ensure the maintenance of efficient, ethical and technical, moral and professional standards in the practice of nursing taking into account the health needs of the nation. It is incumbent upon the Board of Nursing therefore to take the lead in the development and implementation of the competency standards to warrant the health of the public, maintain public trust and promote the integrity of the nursing profession.RAVillanueva

Page 4 of 4