Running Head: WRITTEN WORD IN THE NURSING COMMUNITY

Written Word in the Nursing Community Genevieve McCallum Northeastern University

WRITTEN WORD IN THE NURSING COMMUNITY The nursing community is vast and seemingly never ending. It reaches into many topics and often intertwines with other fields. Nursing is comprised of a variety of aspects such as medication administration, patient activities of daily life (washing, ambulating, feeding), charting, checking vital signs, writing reports, and constructing patient care plans with a team of medical professionals. It is vital for nurses to have exceptional communication skills because they play a huge role in the daily happenings of the nurse. One influential online resource for nurses to communicate through is the American Journal of Nursing. This journal works to provide a way for nurses to exchange ideas and research in a professional setting. There are so many different sub-sections of nursing to possibly go into. The Surgical Intensive Care Unit nurse has a different set of skills and talents than the urology nurse. However each nurse needs to have the same strong sense of moral and ethical values. Patients must always be treated with respect and included in their health care planning, if they are able to. Nurses are responsible for telling

patients about their care and comforting them through hard times. HIPPA is a major factor in nursing. Patient information cannot be disclosed through unauthorized modes of communication. This is an ethical issue people must be aware of at all times, it is so easy to let one patient story slip but that is a breach of the patients privacy. As nurses, we are responsible to guard patient medical documents and dispose of anything that unnecessarily states patient information. As I continue my education on nursing I think more and more about what area I would like to go into. My ultimate goal is to become a member of the team of people hospitals often send to help in natural disasters. To do this you need

WRITTEN WORD IN THE NURSING COMMUNITY incredible skills and a lot of experience. At this moment my plan is to try out multiple areas of nursing before deciding on just one. I would love to work in the emergency department, the cardiac ICU and pediatrics for some time, to become a well-rounded nurse. Each of these units requires the nurse to have a slightly different set of communication skills. In the field of nursing there are countless forms of communication. Nurses

are required to communicate with patients, other nurses, doctors, pharmacists, and others. When communicating with other health care professionals nurses need to make sure their writing comes across as clear, professional and informative. There is no point in asking a doctor to order a certain intervention if you phrase it an unorganized way and forget to give background information. The nurse taking your patient on the next shift will have a difficult day if you write a report that is discombobulated and missing key events of the day. An excellent set of communication skills with patients is also a requirement in nursing. This is often through discharge care plans, exercise instruction papers or even just an updated white board with the patients information and nurses name on it every morning. Written communication between nurses and their patients is often about the small, almost unnoticeable things. From changing the date on the white board so the patient is not confused, to giving a mute patient a piece of paper and pen to write down what they need, communicating with the patient is of great importance. With nursing research, not to be confused with other forms of research, excellent written communication is crucial. I doubt many people think of research

WRITTEN WORD IN THE NURSING COMMUNITY when they think of the roles of a nurse, but it is actually a huge part of being an advance practice nurse. Nurses research topic and trends within their scope of practice. Topics are those such as education and safety, the flu vaccine, improvements in end of life care, prevention of pressure ulcers, and any controversies in the nursing community. The research is performed from the viewpoint of a nurse and is often presented by how it affects the role of the nurse. The writings are most often presented in nursing journals. They should be written

to meet the standards of medical research journals by being supported by evidence, organized, relevant, informative and unbiased. Articles should get the point across in a concise manner with diagrams to support their claims. Also, information regarding the author should be provided so that we can judge if it is a reputable source and the articles should be peer reviewed. A major source of information that is available to nurses is the American Journal of Nursing. This resource is the oldest nursing journal in the world. It contains peer-reviewed articles that are unbiased and professional. The articles presented in each issue reflect the issues that are occurring in the nursing community today. However journals such as this require a subscription, which limits the accessibility for some nurses. However most medical organizations have subscriptions that allow their staff to have access. The American Journal of Nursing (AJN) website has a friendly user interface. On the main page there is quick access to feature articles as well as information about the current issue and an easy to use search bar. Also on the home page there are links to other parts of the website that feature archives, podcasts and videos,

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collections of articles and information on the journal itself. Articles are presented in an outline formation with links that lead to the articles themselves as well as information about them. To analyze the quality of this website Ive chosen to look at the article Care of Pregnant Women in the Criminal Justice System. One of the first things shown on the page is information on the author, who is an RN and professor in New York, and the abstract for the paper. At this point the article states that there are no known conflicts of interest or biases from the author. The article is formatted into different sections, detailing the process of the research. The author, Regina Cardaci, has properly cited and referenced her sources, most of which appear to be other peer-reviewed documents. Forty-two substantial paragraphs comprise this sevenpage article. Pictures of one young inmate and her baby as well as two informative charts accompany the article as visual aids. This format suits the purpose of a research article. The audience, being nurses and health care workers, are hopefully all well educated and able to follow an extensive research article. This article is about research into the idea that Current practices in the treatment and transfer of pregnant inmates in this country may negatively affect maternal and fetal health or well-being. (Cardaci, 2013) This is a huge topic and therefor needs a vast amount of research into each facet of the issue; this makes the length and depth of this article understandable. It seems impossible to cover such an influential topic in fewer words. The author clearly states her purpose as to broaden nurses knowledge of

WRITTEN WORD IN THE NURSING COMMUNITY practices used in the transfer and treatment of pregnant inmates (Cardaci, 2013) and follows through with this throughout her writing.

In the article Cardaci uses some terms that are well known to nurse, but may be unfamiliar to those outside her intended audience. Words such as hypoxic, hypertension, analgesia and obstetrics may be unknown to non-nurse readers. However the majority of the article is written in everyday English, without an abundance of technical terms. She writes in a mix between first ( I heard reports from former inmates) and second person (be mindful of the dangers posed by restraints and do all you can to ensure that your patient has freedom of movement and privacy) and active voice. (Cardaci, 2013) This article has a very caring, warm tone to it. Through the authors writing you can feel that she cares for these women who, although they have made bad choices, are now forced to go through childbirth in a way that would not be acceptable for any other person. She instructs her readers to do all that is possible to ensure that the patient's dignity and human rights are respected at the point of care. (Cardaci, 2013) The authors passion for quality nursing care and improving that care is also evident through her prose. She believes that The nursing profession would benefit greatly from investigation exploring the experiences of these women and the interventions that have been most effective in meeting their needs. (Cardaci, 2013) This composition fulfilled the values I stated earlier as being vital to nursing communication, so by just looking at this one example I would judge that the entire American Journal of Nursing fulfills these values. The journal provides organized,

WRITTEN WORD IN THE NURSING COMMUNITY concise, relevant information to nurses in a format that is easily accessed,

understood and utilized. It covers all types of nursing care and can be used for most specializations of the field. Nursing research is so important for advancing and the biggest way to convey this newfound information is through well-written papers.

WRITTEN WORD IN THE NURSING COMMUNITY

Works Cited

Cardaci, R. (2013). Care of Pregnant Women in the Criminal Justice System. American Journal of Nursing, 113. Retrieved from http://journals.lww.com/ ajnonline/Fulltext/2013/09000/Care_of_Pregnant_Women_in_the_Criminal_ Justice.27.aspx

Note: After completing my final draft I think I may include this paper in my portfolio. I think this paper is a good start to understand the written requirements of my future professional. It has helped me define how important written communication is actually is in nursing, a fact that I was previously unaware of.