Response week 1 discussion board
Order Description
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Assignment:
Respond substantively and positive to classmates posting using suggested format. Master’s level with at least 2 references.
The students name is Alejandro, Please see students post as indicated below and respond accordingly as indicated above.
Hello all,
My primary response this week is aimed to address item 2: “Are there experiences students currently have that could become richer or more reflective of current practice if viewed through the lens of complex adaptive systems?”
Assessment of patients and decision making are two concepts taught in nursing school that can be better emulated to real world practice when taught as a complex adaptive system. This discussion will define complex adaptive systems and then further examine the relation of these two mentioned concepts as complex adaptive systems.
A complex adaptive system is best described as a design system lacking a single point of control or hierarchal composition. Within the research journal, “The Bridge,” Rouse (2008) describes healthcare delivery as a complex adaptive system. He attributes this to that both providers and consumers of health care have limits in their authority and resources to design the healthcare delivery system. He further mentions key characteristics in complex adaptive systems, to include: they are nonlinear and dynamic in design and they are composed of individual, intellectual agents who behave in accordance to physical, psychological and social rules. Within a complex adaptive system, Rouse (2008) further writes that the needs and desires of individual agents are not homogeneous, resulting in agents needing to adapt to one another’s behavior. Lastly, adaption and learning tend to result in self-organization in an adaptive complex system (Rouse, 2008).
Assessment and decision making are two qualities of nursing that can be described as complex adaptive systems. Within the majority of nursing schools, assessment is taught as examining a patient’s physical presentation. Within most acute care facilities, a proper assessment of a patient is non-linear in that it incorporates their physical presentation, as well as an overall impression of their psychosocial development and current stressors. Nursing students can have a more enriching grasp of assessment by incorporating a more holistic approach to assessing a patient’s needs. Another component of assessment consistent with complex adaptive assessment is identifying and addressing knowledge deficits the patient may have of their plan of care. By teaching nursing students to assess for these deficits, they will be better prepared to provide patient education and aid the patient in adapting their behavior towards more healthful living. Decision making should also be taught as a complex adaptive system in that there is no specific routine for every patient assignment. The needs of patients always vary, requiring the nurse to make decisions on how to implement and personalize their patient care. Ebright (2010) uses the term stacking to describe the “decision making work of nurse’s about the what, how, and when of delivering care to an assigned group of patients.” Assessment of their patients, various occurrences in the nursing unit, and changes in patient status throughout the day will affect the nurse’s stacking of their duties. To enlighten students of stacking and decision making as a complex adaptive system will further prepare them to prioritize tasks in the patient care setting.
References
Ebright, P. R. (2010). The complex work of RNs: implications for healthy work environments. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 15. Retrieved from https://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol152010/No1Jan2010/Complex-Work-of-RNs.html
Rouse, W. B. (2008). Health care as a complex adaptive system: implications for design andmanagement. The Bridge, 38 (1). Retrieved from https://www.nae.edu/Publications/Bridge/EngineeringandtheHealthCareDeliverySystem/HealthCareasaComplexAdaptiveSystem
