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Identify the educational preparation and role(s) of the clinical nurse leader (CNL) designation. Give an example of how the CNL influences direct patient care whether in a hospital or out in the community.
Extensive discussion by the different stakeholders including the American Association of Colleges of Nurses (AACN) board concluded that, for a Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) to be fully equipped to carry out their roles, a CNL must be at the graduate level, that is, either in a master’s or post-master’s degree program (AACN, 1998).According to AACN, there are six different components to the CNL role, these include initiative and change, interdisciplinary connections, learning exchange, results administration, a clinician at the point of care, and proficient improvement. It is prudent that CNLs are assigned to a specific unit area of the hospital. They don’t directly provide care but rather they facilitate the direct caregivers.CNLs work with healthcare professionals in providing support, assessing patients with complicated healthcare needs, planning for discharge, and rehab among others. They act as a point of contact to the patients and disengage the bedside nurse from managing this aspect of care (AACN, 2007). They are qualified to give prove-based practice and co-facilitate the care of patients. The Veteran Affair (VA) hospitals have ensured the inclusion of CNLs and they have noticed a drastic increase in the number of hours by the bedside nurse per patient leading to a decrease in sitter hours for dementia patients and on the other hand an increase in the medical provision and discharge teaching. Reduction in ventilator-associated pneumonia has also been realized. This clearly points out that even though the CNL does not directly give care to patients, they are valuable resources that hold the healthcare professional team accountable.
Identify advocacy strategies that you can use to create change in your current workplace.
A good working place is an essential motivation for an individual employee to offer his/her best. The creation of an enabling healthy working environment is therefore imperative for staff retention, patient safety, and staff morale. Threats to workplace safety may include infectious disease, physical violence, and exposure to harmful chemical and radiological agents. Inadequate staffing and forced overtime may increase the chances of errors and injuries and as such, they can be considered to be contributors to workplace hazards.
Bullying and lateral violence are pernicious both to the organizations where they occur and to the nursing profession. High staff turnover, continuous absence from work, poor team spirit, lower productivity, impaired performance, and increased litigation are among the consequences of bullying in the workplace (Field, 2002). Moreover, frightening and disorderly behaviors can undermine the safety of patients (The Joint Commission, 2008).
Based on the above, some of the advocacy strategies that I can use to create change in my current workplace are as follows: Creating authoritative work environment wellbeing levels should avert injuries. This will incorporate pushing word-related security and wellbeing, taking in the set OSHA necessities, and also basic issues. Other advocacy strategies that I would set up include: creating conflict determination models to deliver tolerant mind concerns, looking for authoritative results for work environment problems, creating lawful focuses to provide legal support and decision-making advice; putting forth back to the training of the nurses; working with clinically skillful nurses; ensuring positive nurse-physician relationships; guaranteeing sufficiency about staffing and lastly maintaining a culture of concern for patients among the nurses.
- American Association of Colleges of Nurses, (1998). The essentials of baccalaureate education for professional nursing practice.
- American Association of Colleges of Nurses, (2007). White paper on the education and role of the clinical nurse leader, 6-10.
- Field, T. (2002). Bullying in medicine: Those who can, do; those who can’t, bully. BMJ, 324 (7340), 786-787.
- The Joint Commission, (2008). Sentinel event alert: Behaviors that undermine a culture of safety.