N108: Transition to the Registered Professional Nurse

N108: Transition to the Registered Professional Nurse Role Study Guide standards, guidelines and principles, code of ethics for nurses, and nursing's social policy statement to the public and the profession. These standards exist to measure the quality of nursing practice, patient care, patient outcome, and nursing performance. The accountability of nursing practice requires standards. This makes standards essential to the status of nursing as an autonomous profession. Types of standards include: • Structure standards : These cover the setting in which the care is given and for the resources available. Structure standards set the goals by which facilities, staff, equipment, and finances are measured. • Process standards : These are used to measure the actual activities done by staff to give the care. Activities of the staff are monitored by observation of surveyor, by self-report of the practitioner, or by chart review done by examiners. These activities are measured against some set of objectives that are the standard for quality of nursing care. • Outcome Standards : These measure the results of care. Outcome standards must be very specific. Some are physically countable and are easy to measure. Others, such as learning or a change in attitude, are more difficult. Documenting the outcome of care allows for the planning of a better staff mix in order to achieve better care outcomes. Type of Standard What is measured? Outcome Result of care Standards of Nursing Practice typically set competency as a baseline requirement. Standards are based on the nursing process (the assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation of practice). Generic standards address all nursing practice. Specialty standards of practice address the specifics of specialized practice. The ANA’s Standards of Practice The ANA’s Standards of Practice is the standard of how a nurse should perform. This should not be confused with the standards of care, which describes what care the patient should have. These are different from guidelines, which are suggested ways to practice that implement the standards. In fact, calling these guidelines may be done to avoid their use as the standard of care against nurses in a credentialing discipline or a malpractice case. Structure Setting and resources for care Activities done by staff Process

©2017

Achieve Test Prep

Page 86

of 171