Assignment 1 BLOG- Reflection

I am a professional Registered Nurse (RN) of 4 years. I currently work in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in Toronto, Canada.

My professional identity arose from an idealized version of the role of an RN providing care. I often reflect on my sets of beliefs, values and motivations in correlation to ongoing clinical experience. However, my ongoing clinical experience has further solidified my professional core values which I share with the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO).

My core values include:

· Accountability

· Competency and skill training

· Self-awareness

· Privacy and Confidentiality

· Adhering to college instituted ethical standards

(CNO, 2002)

I operate as a regulated health professional- governed under the Regulated Health Professions Act 1991 (Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, 2017), which provides the CNO the ability to protect the public by setting standards to maintain ethics, professionalism and license within the field (CNO, 2002). I look forward to challenges from clinical experiences that compete the professional values I share. I look forward to dilemmas and struggles between my personal and professional values.

My use of social media is commonly to connect and share life experiences with friends, colleagues and family. My professional identity does extend to my social media identity as I do often associate with ‘memes’ and shared pages which support the work of nurses and. This is in keeping with Registered Nurses Association of Ontario guideline on nursing using social media. The RNAO (2013) encourages fact checking, advocacy in support of nursing causes (RNAO, 2013). The CNO does not have a guideline but document their position statement in alignment with International Nurse Regulator Collaborative (INRC) recommendations on social media use (INRC, 2016). These recommendations include nurses being accountable, maintain professional image for their actions and are reminded of privacy and confidentiality standards. There are benefits to the social media outreach such as raising awareness, supporting causes and increasing transparency with the public and other professions. Nurses should remember that communication albeit on social media requires a conscious reminder of their professional representation and its professional values.

My role in the Canadian Health System is to act as an agent of it and provide care to the universal population it acts to serve- Canada Health Act, 1991. I support practices to implement greater evidence based nursing practices (EBP) and act as a transformational leader to advocate, lead and champion such causes (Smith, 2011). I have a role with the (RNAO) as a ‘Best Practice Spotlight Champion’ and stay committed to usher in effective practices. Warren et al. (2016) echoes my belief, EBP competencies are important to nurses, however, organizational barriers affect its implementation. Upon successful completion of my Masters in Nursing degree, I will be an ‘Advanced Practice Nurse’ and I hope to the have a platform and ability to advocate for EBPs, and further exude characteristics fitting of a transformational leader.

The need for EBPs and a transformational leadership is of greatest importance now in Canada, due to its restraints on budget coinciding with aging population/chronically ill population occupying hospital beds/resources. Marina Valle (2016) insists that the universality of our health care system has made it so 70% of finance is from Federal, Provincial and Territorial taxes (Marina Valle, 2016). Additional services such as the current investments into mental health support and other minority population supports (e.g. chronically ill elder patients) are provided by Provinces and Territories. In efforts to maintain budgets and sustainability, Health System Funding reform in Ontario have reduced spending increases to 2% per year. Provincial, action plans such as “putting patients first” are devised to support Ontarians make healthy lifestyle and health choices (Health Care Tomorrow, 2015). The role of nurses to implement EBP will add to sustainability of health care for all its population.

These are literally taxing times for nurses as they must attend to such diverse populations and illnesses. The challenges of these demands are potentially ones which can compete with personal/professional values. As a result, consistent self-reflection is required when the overwhelming demands challenge our abilities to comply with said values.

References

College of Nurses of Ontario. (2002). Practice Standard: Professional standards, revised 2002. Toronto. Author

Health Care Tomorrow. (2015). Understanding the health care system. Retrieved from http://healthcaretomorrow.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Understanding-the-Health-Care-System.pdf

International Nurse Regulator Collaborative. (2016). Social media use: Common expectations for nurses. Retrieved from http://www.cno.org/globalassets/docs/prac/incr-social-media-use-common-expectations-for-nurses.pdf

Marina Valle, V. (2016). An assessment of Canada's healthcare system weighing achievements and challenges. Norteamérica: Revista Académica Del CISAN-UNAM, 11(2), 193-218. doi:10.20999/nam.2016.b008

Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. (2017). Health workforce planning and regulatory affairs division. Toronto. Author Retrieved from http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/hhrsd/about/regulated_professions.aspx

Registered Nurses Association of Ontario. (2018). About. Retrieved from http://rnao.ca/about

Registered Nurses Association of Ontario. (2013). Social media guidelines for nurses. Retrieved from http://rnao.ca/news/socialmediaguideline

Smith, M.A. (2011). Are you a transformational leader? Nursing Management. 42 (9). doi: 10.1097/01.NUMA.0000403279.04379.6a

Warren, J. I., McLaughlin, M., Bardsley, J., Eich, J., Esche, C. A., Kropkowski, L., & Risch, S. (2016). The strengths and challenges of implementing EBP in healthcare systems. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 13(1), 15-24. doi:10.1111/wvn.12149