Essay on Values Necessary for Healthcare Practice

The 6 Cs that are fundamental to the nursing profession comprises of Care, Compassion, Courage, Commitment, Competence, and Communication. Care incorporates the aspect of stretching the mind of the workforce and placing them in the predicament of their patients while illustrating the impact they have on their lives. As a result, such an approach ensures that nurses are accorded optimized mechanisms of care at the frontline including building a cordial relationship with ones peers to create a positive impact on humankind (Mitchell et al., 2012). Competence refers to the perpetual growth that is characterized by lifelong learning processes which are essential in driving a health organization forward. Moreover, leaders are enabled to gain the much-needed confidence, support and development platforms which heightens the productivity and efficacy of the workforce.

Communication takes place across the different levels of the organization as each department having a role to play in the delivery of care. In addition to this, proper communication is essential to create positive outcomes in patients including offering support in efforts geared towards engagement, talent management, and appraisals. The quality of courage is fundamental to the nursing profession as employees often have to cope with difficult conversation and challenging situations. Such demands require the development of an ideal care model where nurses are trained on how to handle emotional-draining situations while ensuring patients are at the heart of their activities. Compassion refers to how care is delivered through relationships that are based on respect, dignity, and empathy which influence how care is perceived (Kupfer, J.M. and Bond, 2012). Commitment is perhaps the most fundamental quality as it is essential in improving the experience and care of patients while ensuring the vision and strategy of the organization are implemented fully.

Essence of Reflective Practice in the Development of Care Values

Reflective practice refers to the evaluation of an individuals actions and thoughts and how they influence the execution of their professional nursing duties. This implies that employees are expected to focus on how they interact with their environment and their colleagues to achieve a clear picturesque of their behavior. Consequently, a professional gains insight about themselves to improve on their already existing strengths including offering guidance on the appropriate path to undertake for future action. In essence, reflective practice is directed towards the alignment of personal beliefs and values with an individuals professional activities. There exists various forms of reflection namely reflection-on-action, reflection-in-action, and critical reflection. The comprehension of the distinguishing factors that exist between the different types of reflection is essential. This may be attributed to the fact that practitioners enjoy a platform where they can discover a wide range of approaches to develop their professional and personal competencies. Reflection-on-action is the most prevalent form of reflexive practice as it involves re-visiting of event that has taken place within the healthcare setting (Bulman, C. and Schutz, 2013). The objective of such an exercise is to value a clinicians value and develop a different more efficient manner of taking action in future. Much emphasis is placed on discovering the negative aspects of personal behaviour with the aim of improving professional competence. For instance, an expert may admit to the possible conflict between her actions and values and endeavour to reconcile the two towards achieving quality care for patients.

Legislation and Alterations in Healthcare Service Delivery

The National Health Service (NHS) has developed a constitution which defines the values and principles that guide the organization towards the achievement of its objectives. Moreover, the Constitution establishes the rights of the public, staff, and patients which the NHS is committed to implementing including outlining the duties of these groups in ensuring the organization operates optimally. As a result, the NHS has developed seven core principles which serve as guidelines and derivatives of the recently enacted pieces of legislation namely the Care Act 2014 and the Equality Act of 2010. These policies include the NHS provides comprehensive services to all; access to NHS services is based on clinical need and not ability to pay; NHS aspires to attain the highest standards of excellence and professionalism; patients are at the heart of NHS activities; NHS is committed to providing taxpayers value for money; the NHS works across organizational boundaries, and the organization is accountable to the communities, public, and patients it serves.

The Care Act of 2014 was formulated to assist in the consolidation and modernization of the law explicitly touching on adult care in England. The objectives of the reforms introduced are related to care, support for adults and caregivers through the introduction of new responsibilities for the local administration. Some of the goals of these alterations touch on protecting adults from neglect or abuse; establish and create provisions for Health Education England and Health Research Authority and making requirements for purposes of incorporating care and support within health services for connected purposes. In essence, the new Care Act 2014 ensures that the diverse needs of individuals in the society are addressed by providing the appropriate care (Manley, McCormack and Wilson, 2013). For instance, Domiciliary Care Services may be divergent regarding the requirement of patients with say, spinal cord injury or Parkinsons diseases with this legislation seemingly focusing on patient-centred care. As a result, the advent of the Care Act led to the development of new fundamental standards as perceived by the Care Quality Commission. These new principles are aimed at ensuring that crucial focus is directed service providers in health and adult social care services where aspects such as safety, responsiveness, leadership, and effectiveness are met to the satisfaction of the clients. Additionally, the legislation culminated in the review of the NMC Code which represents the minimum universal standards that ought to be attained by nurses and midwives in order to be registered for professional practice in the U.S. Moreover, local authorities now have the mandate of enabling people access autonomous financial advice that would be essential in covering the complexities of care funding. The Care Act 2014 creates a system whereby citizens may also appeal against the Councils decision regarding funding and eligibility for support and care.

The Equality Act of serves as a replacement for the previous anti-discrimination laws by simplifying the interpretation of the statutes while eliminating the underlying inconsistencies to boost compliance and active comprehension. Further, the Act is regarded as a measure that is significant in tackling inequality and discrimination which enhance health inequalities. The fundamental notion of the Equality Act 2010 stipulates that every individual deserves the right to be treated with dignity and respect regardless of an individuals protective facets (Finkelman, 2015). These relevant protected characteristics upon which discrimination is deterred include religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy, and maternity. In addition to this, the legislation is also relevant in employment whereby individuals who utilize direct payments would require separate advice to safeguard against instances of unlawful discrimination, victimization or harassment when one employs professionals even in healthcare settings. Equally important is the fact that this piece of legislation mandates public authorities to advance equality of opportunity and encourage ideal relations amongst individuals drawn from different cultural backgrounds. In essence, the Equality Act 2010 has created an impact in the development of personalized adult social care by providing an astute legal framework that eliminates health disparities on the grounds of equality (Kangasniemi, Pakkanen, and Korhonen, 2015). This implies that individuals are accorded with public health services that are accessible, respectful and effective including the need for care providers to understand the implication of the quality of services rendered. Conventionally, the initial service-led approach signified that there were gaps regarding receiving aid as and when it was required. Thus, the Equality Act empowers people to have a choice and influence over their lives in a social setting including the address of the needs of the community health.

Conclusion

In sum, there exists a correlation between the development of values akin to the nursing profession and the legislations that serve as legal frameworks to reinforce the competencies of professionals. The Care Act 2014 and the Equality Act 2010 exemplify the role played by statutes in the improvement of healthcare delivery while recommending patient-centered care as the ideal model. This may be attributed to the fact that research has indicated that the wide range of characteristic health disparities may be dealt with through incorporation of reflective practices coupled with innovation in legislation that supports autonomy in the choice of care.

Reference List

Bulman, C. and Schutz, S. eds., 2013. Reflective practice in nursing. John Wiley & Sons.Finkelman, A., 2015. Leadership and Management in Nursing: Core Competencies for Quality Care. Pearson.

Kangasniemi, M., Pakkanen, P. and Korhonen, A., 2015. Professional ethics in nursing: an integrative review. Journal of advanced nursing, 71(8), pp.1744-1757.

Kupfer, J.M. and Bond, E.U., 2012. Patient satisfaction and patient-centered care: necessary but not equal. Jama, 308(2), pp.139-140.

Manley, K., McCormack, B. and Wilson, V. eds., 2013. International practice development in nursing and healthcare. John Wiley & Sons.

Mitchell, P., Wynia, M., Golden, R., McNellis, B., Okun, S., Webb, C.E., Rohrbach, V. and Von Kohorn, I., 2012. Core principles & values of effective team-based health care. Washington, DC: Institute of Medicine.