Honours Bachelor of Science - Nursing Degree

Honours Bachelor of Science, nursing Nursing, Nurses

The Nurse's Role & Leadership

According to the Canadian Nurses Association, the nurse's role consists of diverse and interrelated areas of activity including clinical practice, education, administration, research and policy. The nurse's role involves a distinct and comprehensive knowledge base, entry to practice competencies, a commitment to lifelong learning and a great understanding of clients and the healthcare system.

The following documents from the College of Nurses of Ontario, the Registered Nurses of Ontario and the Canadian Nurses Association provide relevant information on many aspects involved in the nurse's role including professional standards and competencies for registered nurses: 

Please see strategies below for guidance in locating nursing literature to support assignments.

 

Reference:

Canadian Nurses Association. (2015). Framework for the practice of registered nurses in Canada. https://www.cna-aiic.ca/en/nursing/regulated-nursing-in-canada/rn-practice-framework2

Nursing leadership, both formal and informal, is practiced across a variety of settings and domains of practice from executive positions to point of care. Effective nursing leadership benefits patients, health-care team members, organizations, systems and health-care policy, research and education. Leadership practices create a healthy work environment which can improve patient experiences and outcomes.

The following documents from the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, the Canadian Nurses Association and the College of Nurses of Ontario provide an understanding of the significance of nursing leadership:

 

What are you looking for? | RNAO.ca

 

 

Advocacy, as the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) states, involves engaging others, exercising your voice and mobilizing evidence to influence policy and practice. It means speaking out against inequity and inequality. It involves participating directly and indirectly in political processes and acknowledging the importance of evidence, power and politics in advancing policy options. For additional readings on the nurse's role in advocacy and public policy, review the following information from the CNA and the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO) which does significant work on these topics:

A few relevant journals to read on the topic of advocacy and policy include:

 

From: Advocacy Priorities - Canadian Nurses Association

Finding the Nurse's Role in Literature

When asked to support nursing assignments with literature, it's crucial to understand that professors are usually not looking for general healthcare information on your topic but they are asking for literature which specifically demonstrates the nurse's role, nursing interventions and nursing implications. There are some useful strategies to ensure you find literature which provides the nurse's role:

  • Use nursing databases, such as CINAHL, to locate nursing literature
  • Use discipline-specific nursing terms and/or CINAHL subject headings to ensure nursing literature is located and not medicine or public health. Medical literature will not outline the nurse's role, only the physician's role and medical interventions. Public health can be helpful to understand background information and emerging issues, which can involve nurses, but will not necessarily just highlight the nurse's role
  • Use nursing journals to ensure content is relevant and directly applicable. The name of the journal usually indicates if it about nursing or another profession
  • Check the author's educational qualifications and affiliations to determine if they are a nurse or from a discipline-related profession. Nurses often collaborate with allied health professions
  • Skim the content to see if it clearly provides the nurse's role, implications and/or interventions.  The nurse's role involves concepts such as:
    • Health promotion
    • Advocacy & public policy
    • Disease prevention and management
    • Patient education
    • Community health initiatives
    • Population health
    • Health across the lifespan
    • Direct nurse-patient care. 
  • Examine the reference list to determine if much of the information used directly relates to the nurse's role
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