Scope and power of today's nursing practice

From educators and students in the classrooms to nurses at the bedside and healthcare policy makers on Capitol Hill, today's nursing practice involves engagement on multiple levels. The latest issue of Johns Hopkins Nursing magazine looks at the scope and the power of this practice and the nurses influencing it.

The issue's lead feature article, "Practicing to Potential: Today's Nursing Practice" includes interviews with nurses who are pioneering important practice trends. As practicing nurses they are taking on greater autonomy at the bedside, working with interdisciplinary teams for better outcomes, and embracing patient- and family-centered care. They discuss changes in nursing practice and what it takes to implement change. "The best way to change care is by knowing how to present your measurements clinically, and to change practice at the bedside," comments Suzanne Rubin, DNP, MPH, CRNP-P. The article also addresses how the next generation of nurse leaders is being cultivated to implement healthcare innovations and to influence policy.

The issue's second feature article, "The Practitioners," examines how Johns Hopkins Nursing faculty, and even some doctoral students, maintain an active nursing practice while balancing a dual career as an educator. The nurses share the ways their passion for practice informs their teaching, and vice versa. They also discuss the many benefits and rewards, as well as the challenges, of having one hand in academia and the other in practice.

"Family Matters: Creating a Culture of Patient- and Family-Centered Care," appears in this issue's Hopkins Nurse department, which includes news from the Johns Hopkins Hospitals. Nurses from The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) reveal changes they implemented to engage family members and put patients at the center of care. One initiative is the addition of a family involvement "menu." The menu enables nurses and family members to check ways the family can help such as assisting with the patient's feeding and grooming. Nurses also received training on communication styles in order to help them speak from their hearts and heads. "Our communication skills have to be as strong as our clinical experience," says Deb Baker, DNP, CRNP, JHH's director of nursing in surgery. With these changes to practice, bedside nurses have increased their engagement with families. In turn, families are more involved in their loved one's care.