Basic Care and Comfort in Nursing Essay

Basic Care and Comfort in Nursing Essay

Basic Care and Comfort in Nursing Essay

The concept of opportunity addressed in this paper is the basic care and comfort for patients in healthcare centers. The topic is consistent with the NCLEX-RN test plan as it is part of a broad topic, under physiological integrity. Through this topic, nurse practitioners can gain knowledge on promoting the mental and physical health and well-being of patients by providing care and comfort. Some of the basic care and comfort services delivered by nurses include providing assistive devices to patients, providing non-pharmacological comfort interventions, helping in the elimination of barriers that can cause immobility complications, providing appropriate nutrition and hydration services, promoting sleep, and rest, and assisting with personal hygiene for patients (Zwakhalen et al., 2018). Failure to get basic care and comfort services is associated with deteriorated patient health, which may lead to increased rates of readmission or relapse. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the significance of providing basic care and comfort services to hospitalized patients and how it helps promote attaining full recovery with effective medication therapy. The basic care and comfort concept was drawn from the NCLEX-RN’s examination blueprint 2020 given that the services outlined in this category checklist allow clinicians to promote and maintain the health of the patient.

Importance

            Basic care and comfort services are significant in promoting the complete healing and recovery of the patient. It ensures that the patient is not exposed to situations that can lead to re-infection but instead factors that can accelerate the healing process to achieve the desired care outcome. Patients with chronic illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension in addition to those who have undergone a surgical procedure usually benefit significantly from basic care and comfort services in promoting their healing process (Kisvetrová et al., 2018). Consequently, vulnerable populations such as the elderly are also in dire need of basic care and comfort services. Failure to provide adequate basic care and comfort services to patients can lead to deteriorated health, worsening the burden associated with the disease. Inability to provide basic care and comfort services in hospitals is associated with increased readmission, morbidity, and mortality rates.

Healthcare Disparities, Inequalities, and Interventions

            Hospitalized patients and those who have undergone a surgical procedure require basic care and comfort services to help with their recovery process and prevention of infections or falls reported in most hospitals, which can lead to readmission (Zwakhalen et al., 2018). Vulnerable populations such as the elderly and pediatric patients can also benefit greatly from basic care and comfort services. As such, failure to provide basic care and comfort services to these populations mentioned above can greatly undermine the health and well-being of the patient leading to increased readmission, morbidity, and mortality rates. Several healthcare resources are thus required to promote the incorporation of this evidence-based practice into routine care for these populations. Such resources include experienced personnel, infrastructure, care and comfort equipment, and adequate funding.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM FREE-PAPER HERE

With the growing culturally diverse patients, nurses face several challenges when providing basic care and comfort services to such patients due to a lack of adequate knowledge and experience in caring for patients from different ethnic or cultural groups. Such challenges include language barriers and misleading cultural beliefs among others. However, with the adoption of the culturally sensitive practice, which is a nurse-led evidence-based practice, nurses will be able to learn how to communicate and provide care services to culturally diverse patients (Wensley et al., 2020). Culturally sensitive practice in the provision of basic care and comfort services utilizes interventions such as creating awareness, avoiding making assumptions, building trust and rapport, and learning about other cultures. Out of all these interventions, learning about other cultures is the most significant as it will help the nurse familiarize themselves with the cultural beliefs of a patient before enacting the care plan. However, culturally diverse patients should be educated on the importance of complementary medicine over their cultural beliefs and the impact of myths concerning certain medical procedures such as surgery, on their health outcomes.

Legal & Ethical Considerations and Intervention Challenges

            Ethical Principles such as non-maleficence and beneficence require nurses to engage in services that promote the safety and health of patients while preventing harm. With the provision of basic care and comfort services to patients, nurses can uphold these ethical principles. Nurses are also required to act from a legal standpoint of fidelity as they provide basic care and comfort services (Kisvetrová et al., 2018). They have to exhibit justice to the patient by exhibiting a high level of professionalism in ensuring that the interest of the patient comes first. Some nurses, however, sometimes fail to prioritize the patient health but rather, what they can benefit from the services they are providing, with is a breach of the nurse code of ethics. To prevent this from happening, nurses need to be educated and continuously reminded of the need of promoting patient-centered care while observing the nursing code of ethics and the consequences that they might face when they fail to do so.

Nevertheless, nurses should be encouraged to always fulfill the patient’s entire recovery plan under their care to avoid legal implications brought about by non-conformance. Consequently, basic care and comfort guidelines have been availed for nurses to follow strictly to avoid unexpected incidences which might harm the patient such as medication error, while providing basic care and comfort services (Ortiz, 2018). However, an unfavorable nurse-to-patient ratio can make it harder for nurses to be able to focus on all the recovery needs of every patient. Also, a lack of adequate skills and knowledge among nurses can undermine their appropriate use of basic care and comfort guidelines in preventing incidences that undermine patient health.

Participants and Interdisciplinary Approach

Several healthcare providers are involved in the provision of basic care and comfort services to patients including physicians, registered nurses, dietitians, Unlicensed Assistive Personnel (UAP), and Certified Assistant Nurses (CAN) among others. Registered nurses are responsible for assessing and closely monitoring the patient during the recovery process to ensure that there are getting better and to reduce the risks of complications (Feo et al., 2018). Certified Assistant Nurses, on the other hand, observe the vitals of the patient in addition to providing assisted living services like feeding and dressing the patient. UAPs are responsible for assisting patients with mental impairments and physical disabilities by providing mental and physical health promotion services like performing motion exercises.

Dietitians evaluate the nutritional needs of the patient and provide the most appropriate nutritional plan to enhance the recovery process. Other than nurses and clinicians mentioned above, psychotherapists and social workers also play a significant role in promoting basic care and comfort services (Ortiz, 2018). For instance, social workers help promote the well-being of the patient in their residential areas, whereas psychotherapists help promote the mental well-being of the patient. Generally, an interdisciplinary team is normally needed to ensure the optimal provision of basic care and comfort services promoting patient outcomes.

 

Quality Improvement

Basic care and comfort are associated with several benefits to the patient like reducing pain and suffering, preventing reinfection, and accelerating the recovery process. This concept has also displayed great significance in promoting the acquisition of more knowledge and experience for nurses essential in their career growth. Studies have reported that basic care and comfort services are associated with increased patient satisfaction rate which is crucial in promoting the image of the healthcare organization (Feo et al., 2018). As such, most hospitals, through nurse leaders, have identified areas of improvement and encouraged research on the best evidence-based practice to help promote the quality of basic care and comfort provided in promoting the safety and health of the patient. Modern technological resources, in addition to literature sources from medical databases such as PubMed, provide a better platform for nurses to gain updated knowledge and skills essential in promoting their clinical professional practice in providing basic care and comfort services.

Conclusion

Basic care and comfort is an evidence-based practice crucial in promoting the health of the patient while preventing harm. This leads to improved health and well-being of patients. Through basic care and comfort services, nurses ensure that the patient recovers fully and regains good health and strength. However, failure to consider this practice is associated with increased rates of hospital readmission and poor patient outcome. As such, nurses must utilize extensive research sources to locate and analyze new evidence on better ways to deliver care and comfort services in reducing suffering and promoting the health and well-being of patients in hospitals.

 

References

Feo, R., Kitson, A., & Conroy, T. (2018). How fundamental aspects of nursing care are defined in the literature: A scoping review. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27(11-12), 2189-2229. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.14313

Kisvetrová, H., Vévodová, Š., & Školoudík, D. (2018). Comfort‐Supporting Nursing Activities for End‐of‐Life Patients in an Institutionalized Environment. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 50(2), 126-133. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnu.12341

Ortiz, M. R. (2018). Patient-centered care: Nursing knowledge and policy. Nursing science quarterly, 31(3), 291-295. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894318418774906

Wensley, C., Botti, M., McKillop, A., & Merry, A. F. (2020). Maximizing comfort: how do patients describe the care that matters? A two-stage qualitative descriptive study to develop a quality improvement framework for comfort-related care in inpatient settings. BMJ Open, 10(5), e033336. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-033336

Zwakhalen, S. M., Hamers, J. P., Metzelthin, S. F., Ettema, R., Heinen, M., de Man‐Van Ginkel, J. M., … & Schuurmans, M. J. (2018). Basic nursing care: The most provided, the least evidence-based–A discussion paper. Journal of clinical nursing, 27(11-12), 2496-2505. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.14296

The priority topic of this paper based on my ATI result is “basic care and comfort”
paper is to include why basic care and comfort is important in nursing practice. I have attached an example of the essay and the grading rubric. 5 pages excluding title page and reference page. I will also attach 3 references that can be used. but it is ok to use different ones

ORDER A PLAGIARISM FREE-PAPER HERE

In this paper the student will provide a detailed description of the relationship between the category from the NCLEX-RN examination blueprint, the priority concept (topic) selected based on assessment performance, and professional practice.

• Write a 4-6 page paper (not including the title page or reference page) using APA format
• Include the following sections:
  1. Introduction- 20 points/8%
• Offer a detailed description of the purpose statement for the
• Identify the priority concept (topic) from the Individual Student Comprehensive Assessment Trends: Longitudinal Performance Table drawn from one (1) of the four (4) main categories of the NCLEX-RN examination blueprint:
• Assurance of a safe and effective care environment
• Health promotion and maintenance of health
• Preservation of the patient population’s psychosocial integrity
• Preservation of the patient population’s physiological integrity
• Provide a detailed description of the relationship between the category from the NCLEX-RN examination blueprint and the priority concept (topic).
  1. Importance – 20 points/8%
• Describe the importance of the priority concept (topic) to professional practice.
• Describe the importance of the priority concept (topic) to the health status of a patient population.
• Include the potential negative effect(s) to professional practice if the priority concept (topic) is unresolved.
• Include the potential negative effect(s) to the patient population if the priority concept (topic) is unresolved.
  1. Healthcare Disparities, Inequalities, and Interventions- 70 points/28%
     • Identify patient populations that may be negatively influenced by the priority concept (topic) if unresolved.
     • Identify healthcare resources to support evidence-based professional practice related to the priority concept (topic).
     • Summarize potential priority concept (topic) healthcare disparities and inequalities related to diverse populations.
     • Propose an evidence-based solution for the priority concept (topic) related to healthcare disparities.
     • Identify three (3) evidence-based practice interventions.
     • Prioritize the identified evidence-based practice interventions and provide rationale.
     • Discuss two (2) patient education considerations related to the priority concept (topic).
  2. Legal & Ethical Considerations and Intervention Challenges- 40 points/16%
     • Identify at least one (1) ethical and one (1) legal implication for addressing the priority concept (topic) in professional practice.
     • Discuss at least one (1) strategy in prevention of an ethical dilemma related to the priority concept (topic) in professional practice.
     • Discuss at least one (1) strategy in prevention of legal consequences related to the priority concept (topic) in professional practice.
     • Identify one (1) anticipated challenge to the success of preventing the priority concept (topic) in professional practice.
     • Identify one (1) anticipated challenge to the success of resolving the priority concept (topic) in professional practice.
  3. Participants and Interdisciplinary Approach – 20 points/8%
     • Identify all the parties who will be involved in the implementation of the priority concept (topic) interventions.
     • Discuss the role of each member in the intervention implementation for the priority concept (topic).
     • Identify a minimum of two (2) members of a discipline outside of nursing.
     • Discuss the benefit of including the identified interdisciplinary members from disciplines outside nursing to promote evidence-based professional practice.
  4. Quality Improvement– 20 points/8%
     • Provide at least one (1) benefit in patient outcomes from addressing the priority concept (topic) within the clinical environment.
     • Provide at least one (1) benefit to the nursing profession that will result from addressing this priority concept (topic) in clinical professional practice.
     • Discuss at least one (1) resource utilized to promote improved patient outcomes in the clinical environment.
     • Discuss at least one (1) resource utilized to increase professional nurse knowledge promoting improved clinical professional practice.
  5. Conclusion – 20 points/8%
     • Provide a thorough recap of the purpose to promote increased evidence-based professional practice knowledge related to the priority concept (topic) deficiency.
     • Summarize resources identified to support improved evidence-based professional practice related to the priority concept (topic).
     • Include a complete statement describing why addressing the priority concept (topic) matters for patient outcomes and evidence-based professional practice.
  6. APA Style and Organization– 20 points/8%
     • References are submitted with paper.
     • Uses current APA format and is free of errors.
     • Grammar and mechanics are free of errors.
     • At least three (3) scholarly, peer reviewed, primary sources from the last 5 years, excluding the textbook, are provided. Each section should have a cited source to support information provided.