| Learning Objective #1: Explore the benefits of identifying a common denominator to practice to bring divergent views to consensus | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Identify the benefits of combining non-clinical tools with a clinical model to result in practice change and increased utilization |
Alberta has 3 regulated nursing professional groups the RN, LPN and RPN. The recent reports on health care reform and the changing health professional legislation in Alberta have provided impetus to review the roles of our nursing professionals. The Capital Health Region in Edmonton has taken on the challenge to clearly articulate scopes of practice and work roles of nurses in the region.
Two large regional task forces, RN, LPN and a separate RPN work group, were selected to lead this work. The first step was to define what nurses do. As the work for each professional group was being done in a separate task force there was a need to use a common framework for discussion. The nursing process was identified as a common denominator to all nursing practice. The task forces defined the nursing process as five essential parts, data gathering, problem identification, intervention planning, care plan implementation and intervention evaluation (adapted from Luckmann and Sorensen,1987) . All nurses utilize the process in their every day work. Describing how and what they do within this process allowed identification of commonalties and uniqueness to their roles. The work has now evolved into regional job descriptions that are guiding the nursing services in Capital Health.
This presentation will explain the decision-making route and rationale for utilizing the nursing process as a common denominator to define “what nurses do”. We will discuss how finding the common denominator can bring divergent views to consensus and how using a clinical model in developing a traditional Human Resources tool, job descriptions, has resulted in changes in nursing practice and utilization.
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Sigma Theta Tau International