Policies And Procedures In Nursing Practice

Policies And Procedures In Nursing Practice

Policies and Procedures in Nursing Practice

Policies and procedures in nursing practice are important for nurses to perform and to deliver quality of care and patient safety. Policies and procedures help nurses to prevent errors and carry out procedures safely to the patients. It also brings uniformity in following organizational guidelines. Policies and procedures are designed to influence and determine major decisions and actions, and activities that take place within the boundaries set by them. Procedures are the specific methods employed to express policies in action in day to day operations. Policies and procedures are made for the users easily understandable, well organized, and easily accessible (Policies and procedures – Definition, 2012). Nowadays, most hospitals and clinics maintain their nursing policies and procedure manuals on campus intranet/public drives and also on the units. This writer as a nurse leader has access to use these resources. Evidence based policy has been defined as an approach that “helps people make well informed decisions about policies, programs and projects by putting the best available evidence from research at the heart of policy development and implementation”(Davies, 1999). This nurse leader’s facility utilizes policies that evidence based and retrieved from best available resources.
One day, this writer happened to see another nurse changing a Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter Line dressing. As a nurse leader, this writer asked the nurse why she is changing the dressing. The caregiver explained dressing changes can prevent infection to the site and there are lot of patients readmitted because of central line infections and subsequent complications. This nurse demonstrated good knowledge of the procedure. She collected all the supplies needed for the procedure. This writer noticed the care giver checked patient chart and verified any contraindications or any complications related to the patient’s vascular access device. The giver identified the patient and explained the procedure to the patient before starting the procedure. Hospital stays can be confusing and stressful for patients and it’s very important to explain the plan of care and to educate patient to alleviate this stress. Patient should have a clear understanding of the procedure and have agreement and cooperation with the care giver. While this writer was watching the procedure, the caregiver forgot to wash her hands thoroughly before starting the procedure. This writer stopped the caregiver before she touched the patient’s dressing. This writer informed the caregiver the importance of hand washing. The caregiver washed her hands thoroughly with soap and water for fifteen seconds. She don clean gloves and carefully removed the old dressing and disposed in accordance with blood and body fluids and universal precautions. She then inspected the insertion site for any signs of infection like swelling, redness and exudates. Then she…

Policies And Procedures In Nursing Practice