How Clinical Nurse Leaders can Improve Quality Care for Children

Abstract

This article is aimed at examining the extent to which clinical nurse leaders (CNLs) can improve the quality of care provided to children. These professionals can act as an intermediary among children, their parents, and other healthcare workers. The main advantage of CNLs is that they take part in various levels of care and they can better understand the needs of patients.

Clinical nurse leaders have the capacity to raise the quality of care provided to children. They can better empower families by working as client advocates, team managers, bedside clinicians, and so forth.

There are significant deficiencies in the quality of medical assistance offered to children and their families (O’Grady & VanGraafeiland, 2012). Many of the existing problems can be attributed to the lack of cooperation between medical professionals (O’Grady & VanGraafeiland, 2012, p. 156). Parents and medical workers do not always have the knowledge of their previous treatments given to their children and this gap can give rise to various complications. The nursing documentation is not always managed properly. These are the main challenges that should be overcome.

Clinical nurse leaders can eliminate the existing deficiencies in healthcare. These professionals can act as educators who address the questions asked by parents and warn them about the pitfalls that should be avoided (O’Grady & VanGraafeiland, 2012, p. 157). For instance, they can inform parents about various peculiarities of follow-up care. Many of the complications can be attributed to the fact that parents cannot receive detailed and clear instructions from medical professionals. They should tell parents about new forms of treatment or technologies that can benefit a child.

They can coordinate the efforts of other healthcare professionals who interact with children and their parents. They can ensure that medical practitioners know about specific problems that children or families can face. This is one of the issues that they should not overlook. They can eliminate bureaucratic difficulties that can be faced by parents. Their actions can go beyond the hospital environment; for instance, they can warn school nurses about the specific needs of a child (O’Grady & VanGraafeiland, 2012, p. 157). This is one of the tasks that can be overlooked. They can interact with nurses who are responsible for the follow-up care.

They can act as representatives or advocates of patients in medical organizations. They can ensure that parents receive the necessary information about the treatment or follow-up care. This issue is important when parents interact with many medical professionals at the same time. Secondly, they can promote the adoption of policies which can help parents who have children with chronic illnesses (O’Grady & VanGraafeiland, 2012, p. 158). Thirdly, these medical workers can object to the actions or medical practices that may not serve the best interests of a family. These are some of their main responsibilities.

These professionals can act as bedside clinicians who support patients during their stay at the hospital. They can offer emotional support to patients and discuss the psychological impact of the disease since this form of assistance can be critical for parents. Clinical nurse leaders can design the interventions that can assist a patient because they are more aware of patients’ needs.

Overall, these examples suggest that clinical nurses can play an important role in promoting the welfare of children or assisting the parents of these children. They can achieve this goal in several ways. First of all, they can coordinate the efforts of various professionals who interact with patients. Secondly, they act as educators who tell the patients the information that they need to know.

Reference List

O’Grady, E. L. & VanGraafeiland, B. (2012). Bridging the gap in care for children through the clinical nurse leader. Pediatric Nursing, 38(3), 155-167.