Innovation in Nursing - Essay Example

"Innovation in Nursing" is a perfect example of a paper on the health system. Health care plays a fundamental role in society. Over the years, there has been significant growth and development in the health sector both within and outside the United States. This growth and development are attributed to the ever-rising demand for high quality and affordable care. In the process, however, health care continues to exhibit critical issues in terms of cost, quality, and consumer-friendliness. Ineffective and inefficient health care practices are also evident across the country. In order to reverse this trend, innovation comes handy in the health care setting.

The essence of innovation is to promote health care affordability, quality, effectiveness, efficiency, consumer friendliness, and integration (Endsley, 2011). In other words, innovation is a revolutionary force in the health care environment. Uses of innovation in health care are diverse and dynamic. To start with, innovation is a critical factor when it comes to health care technology. In strategic contexts, technology is useful in drug development, patient treatment, and research and development. For example, improved cancer diagnosis and treatment equipment reflect progressive use of innovation in the health care setting. On the same note, new drugs and patient treatment procedures are growing from time to time.

Another strategic use of innovation in health care is consumer-focused. In this use, health care providers focus on the needs, interests, and welfare of patients. The idea is to align health care plans with consumer preferences. Doing so improves the effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery. On the same note, consumer-focused service delivery ensures patients access services whenever they need them, as opposed to waiting for days, weeks, or months on appointment schedules. Finally, innovation improves health care by establishing business models that integrate the already highly fragmented health care industry.

Creating Innovation in Nursing Practices

Nurses relate and interact with patients on a direct and daily basis. In this respect, nursing practices play an important role in enhancing the welfare of their patients. It is, therefore, critical to creating innovative nursing practices that directly enhance patient welfare. The first way of creating innovative nursing practices is to manage nursing departments like business enterprises. The idea is to only improve nursing practices, but also ensure that nursing departments remain financially viable both in the short-term and long-term. This innovative move could encompass nurses assuming the position of their patients. In so doing, nurses identify areas that need departmental or organizational change.

Most importantly, innovation in nursing practices requires functional collaboration between physicians, nurses, and researchers. The essence of collaboration is to ensure that the realized outcomes reflect better service delivery practices to the patients. Nurses, physicians, and researchers complement each other in the health care setting. for nurses, innovation entails practicing nursing beyond the traditionally defined roles. diverse and dynamic factors continue to influence nursing practices from time to time. in the process, adopting relevant change cannot be avoided. Change necessitates that nurses define their roles within a dynamic and highly volatile health care industry. For instance, new and advanced healthcare technologies are essential to account for as far as nursing practices are concerned. Driven by technological innovation, nurses cannot stick to their traditional roles while working in the contemporary health sector. Dynamic nursing roles, therefore, spur innovation both within and outside nursing practices.

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