Nursing as a Profession Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nursing as a Profession - Research Paper Example The question of whether nursing constitutes a profession or merely an occupation has been debated frequently but never conclusively answered, owing to the subjective interpretation of word connotations as well as a lack of consensus as to what profession entails. The Random House dictionary defines a profession as â€Å"a vocation requiring knowledge of some department of learning or science.† L. Harvey (2004) says that â€Å"A profession is a group of people in a learned occupation, the members of which agree to abide by specified rules of conduct when practicing the profession.† Over the years, several researchers have developed specific criteria regarding professions. This paper will focus on the eight criteria established by Dr. Lucie Kelly in 1981, and examine nursing in relation to those criteria. Kelly's Criteria for Professions 1) The services provided are vital to humanity and the welfare of society. 2) There is a special body of knowledge that is continually enlarged through research. 3) The services involve intellectual activities; individual responsibility (accountability) is a strong feature. 4) Practitioners are educated in institutions of higher learning. 5) Practitioners are relatively independent and control their own policies and activities (autonomy). 6) Practitioners are motivated by service (altruism) and consider their work an important component of their lives. 7) There is a code of ethics to guide the decisions and conduct of practitioners 8) There is an organization (association) that encourage and supports high standards of practice. (Chitty citing Kelly, 2005, p. 171) The first four of Kelly's eight criteria are easily addressed, as there can be no doubt of the vital nature of the services provided by nurses, who are frequently referred to in literature as â€Å"the backbone of the healthcare system.† It also cannot be disputed that there exists a large and continually expanding body of knowledge related to nursing. There is a great deal of personal accountability involved in nursing as well. Each day nurses world-wide make decisions within a professional context which have a significant impact on the lives of their patients, as well as colleagues and even administrators. Nurses are required to undergo profession-specific education, as well as to maintain awareness of current research in the field in order to perform their jobs effectively. Likewise, nursing can easily be demonstrated to meet the seventh and eighth of Kelly's criteria. The Code of Ethics for Nurses is well established, and there are several national organizations devoted to maintaining high standards for nurse accreditation, as well as an International Council of Nurses. Autonomy of nurses might be questioned: Do nurses control their own policies and activities? While it is clear that a nurse must make decisions on a daily basis and act on those decisions, nurses are subjected to policies within the confines of their employing institutions. Though nurses frequently execute the orders of doctors, the manner of execution is usually left to individual nurses. Thus, in the opinion of this researcher nursing meets the fifth of Kelly's criteria. The question of motivation is a thornier one. While many individuals choose to enter nursing for altruistic reasons, it seems unreasonable to expect that all nurses share that particular motivation. Ther e is a shortage of nurses world-wide, no doubt leading to many individuals choose this career path because it will provide a secure and reliable source of income. Nurses trained in an accredited program can always find

GSA Wants You Federal Contracts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

GSA Wants You Federal Contracts - Essay Example The system uses the most recent digital authentication technology to allow for electronic signatures and cater for data integrity. Advantages of Electronic over Classic paper Solicitations 1. Data security The electronic process ensures that the proposals are submit exactly as the contractors write them without unnecessary modification of information. It also ensures that the proposals are delivered directly to the responsible personnel without being passed through other parties. This eliminates the possibility of alteration of the content or loss of the proposals in the process of transportation (Brian, 2003). Unlike the paper process, which is subject to many-party handling hence providing opportunities for malicious altering of data, data security is assured. Paper process entails impairing with the interactive environment since the intended information from the original source may not go the intended personnel. 2. Ease of Applying There is software that enables one to complete th ese proposals easily with tools providing hint on what is required from the proposal. This helps one to provide the necessary information without much struggle. The software also helps one to look for errors easily and correct them in order to forward an understandable proposal. This is because the proposal must entail clear information and hence the process becomes easier since there is no room for assumptions. To some ambiguous phrases, it is essential that drafting of all the work is done and typed manually to create ease for one to detect any errors especially when the proposal is not using a good software. In addition, there is high possibility of leaving important information since the whole process is imagined (Safari Books, 2009). This would lead to impaired communication since the solicitation while have to be returned for completion of the required information and clarification of some ambiguous phrases. 3. Fast Delivery The submitting of the proposals is done online hence it takes very little time for the proposals to reach the targeted destinations after they have been submitted. This ensures fast interaction between the contractor and the prospective contractors hence leading to faster decision making process unlike the classic paper solicitations which have to be submitted manually hence taking a lot of time to communicate. 4. Ease of reviewing After the proposals have been sent to the GSA, it may be returned for correction or clarification on matters concerning responsibility, responsiveness, scope, subcontracting plan or pricing analysis. After the proposal is reviewed and in some cases returned, the electronic system offers an easy way for editing and adding the relevant information. Editing the original proposal is easier than the paper process whereby the whole document has to be retyped in order to allow addition of information and also printed again for resubmission. 5. Economical Compared to the paper process, the electronic submission is more economical in terms of space and funds. This is because it cuts down the printing costs and unnecessary occupation of space for filing documents since the proposals are stored in their computer databases. 6. Duration of Contract There should be negotiations about the period of the contract to make sure that the period allows my company to stabilize. The process must allow the company in its operations and recover from any losses it may have incurred during the

The Year of the Zombie :: Personal Narrative Essay Example

The Year of the Zombie Now a high-school senior, I still remember my freshman year with a shudder; it was the year my friends and I joked about as the "Year of the Zombie." It wasn't that I had contracted a rare medical disorder that transformed me into one of the walking dead. I had done what many diligent students do: sacrifice most of my sleep time for the sake of academic success. Don't get me wrong; my parents never mandated that I take all the honors classes I could gain admission to. No one told me to take three honors classes. No one, that is, except the little voice in my head that convinced me scholarly success was based upon the number of "H's" on my high-school transcript. The counselors cautioned me not to do it, students who had fallen into the trap before warned me against it and my parents just left it up to me. Through it all, I just smiled and reassured them, "Don't worry; I can handle it." The trouble was, I didn't have the slightest idea what lay ahead. I soon found myself mired in work. For a person whose friends teased her about being a neat freak, I grew increasingly messy. My room and desk looked like my backpack had exploded. There was no time to talk to friends on the phone, not even on the weekends. Going to bed at midnight was a luxury, 1 a.m. was normal, 3 a.m. meant time to panic and 4 a.m. meant it was time to go to sleep defeated. Most days, I would shuffle clumsily from class to class with sleep-clouded eyes and nod off during classroom lectures. There was even a month in winter when I was so self-conscious of my raccoon eyes that I wore sunglasses to school. My parents applauded my academic success, but hardly knew the price I paid for it. I vividly remember one night when my mother couldn't fall asleep. She kept going to bed and getting up again. Every -, time I heard her get up, I'd turn off my light so she wouldn't catch me still awake. By 5 o'clock that morning, I was so sleepy that I didn't hear her footsteps as she shuffled down the hallway. When she saw the light under my door, she came in and demanded to know why I wasn't sleeping.

School Physical Plant Management

School Physical Plant Management What do you understand with the term school plant? The school plant is the totality of all things that make up a school system. It involves the physical and material facilities in form of buildings, school site and the environment that embody the school. Moreover, a school plants include the site, the building and equipment and this include the permanent structures like workshop, libraries, classrooms, laboratories and semi permanent structures like the educational system itself.The school facilities consist of all types of buildings for academic and non-academic activities, equipment for academic and non- academic activities, areas for sports and games, landscape, farms and gardens including trees, roads and paths. Others include furniture and toilet facilities, lighting, acoustics, storage facilities and packing lot, security, transportation, ICT, cleaning materials, food services, and special facilities for the physically challenged persons. Descri be the 2 major functions of school plant?An Environment to Facilitate Learning The primary purpose of the teaching and learning process is to bring about in the learner desirable change in behavior through critical thinking. This process does not take place in a vacuum but rather in an environment structured to facilitate learning. Hence, this environment of an organization as all elements relevant to its operation and they include direct and indirect action elements. School facilities, constitute the major components of both direct and indirect action elements in the environment of learning. Feature Article –Â  Country School – Allen CurnowThese facilities play pivotal role in the actualization of the educational goals and objectives by satisfying the physical and emotional needs of the staff and students of the school. Knezevich (1975, p. 563) emphasized that the physical needs are met through provision of safe structure, adequate sanitary facilities, a balanced visual environment, appropriate thermal environment, and sufficient shelter space for his work and play. His emotional needs are met by creating pleasant surrounding, a friendly atmosphere, and an inspiring environment.The educational system has undergone tremendous changes in the form of its philosophy, broadened goals and objectives, new approaches to service delivery and architectural design, quantum leap in school enrolment, multiplicity of curricula programmes and extra-curricula activities, introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and expanded academic support services such as guidance services to students, teachers and the community, integration of the school and community. 3. In what ways does instructional program influence the nature of school plant? Schools exist for the purpose of teaching and learning.Human and material resources are deployed for this purpose. School facilities are the material resources provided for staff and students to optimize their productivity in the teaching and learning process. The realization that the transfer of knowledge does not only take place in the four walls of the classroom from the teacher to the students but rather that learning takes place through discovery, exploration, interaction with the internal and external environment has necessitated the creative and innovative development of teaching and learning facilities that reflect these changes.Schools exist to serve socio-economic and political needs of the ever-changing society, consequently, they are in constant interaction with their external environm ent. They receive inputs from the external environment in the form of human and material resources, processes them and empty same into the society as finished products and services. The quality of the products bears a direct relationship with the quality of the facilities deployed in the process of the production.This demands that state of the art facilities are provided in schools to prepare school leavers for life in the global village. Several studies have shown that a close relationship exists between the physical environment and the academic performance of students. Nwagwu (1978) and Ogunsaju (1980) maintained that the quality of education that children receive bears direct relevance to the availability or lack thereof of physical facilities and overall atmosphere in which learning takes place.For example, research findings have shown that students learn better when a combination of methods and materials are employed during teaching. Furthermore, emphasis has shifted towards gi ving individual attention to students as against teaching large classes which presupposes that all students in a class have the ability to learn at the same pace. The implication of the foregoing is that in designing school plant, provision should be made for individual and small group interaction and for large groups for academic and social activities.

Texts in Time Frankenstein and Bladerunner ) - 1400 Words

Module A: Texts in Context â€Å"Mary Shelley’s values are still relevant to society today†. Discuss with reference to your knowledge of Blade Runner and Frankenstein. (1200 words) Frankenstein, Mary Shelley’s cautionary tale of science vs. religion was first published in 1818, in an increasingly secular, but still patriarchal British society, amongst the aftermath of the French and Industrial revolutions and a burgeoning scientific research scene. Upon the second release in 1831, the novel was greeted with enthusiasm and praise for the young, female, somewhat controversial Shelley, with the values and issues raised in the storyline striking a chord in the minds of the still predominantly Christian audience, suggesting the consequences of†¦show more content†¦Differences between the representations of these supreme beings represent the differences in contexts between the two texts. In the more modern context of Blade Runner, consumerism has replaced Christianity, and hence the head of a corporation has assumed the God-like responsibilities and status, although it is suggested that both creators, Victor and Tyrell, are answerable to a higher powe r as they are punished by their creations. The representation of the importance of this belief in a higher being in both texts suggests that this concept is relevant to both contexts, and, in fact, to all contexts. Society constantly values this notion, indicating that Mary Shelley’s values were also relevant to the 1980s audience of Blade Runner. The everlasting relevance of this value is evidence that values are essentially, universally timeless. Parental responsibility can be used to describe the role of a mother and father in raising a child into an adapted, society-compatible adult, and the liability of the parents when this is does not occur. Parental responsibility is a concept valued by all societies alike, and parents are often held accountable for their child’s actions. The issue of the nature vs. nurture debate is evident in Frankenstein, asShow MoreRelatedFrankenstein and Blade Runner1069 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"A deeper understanding of disruption and identity emerges from considering the parallels between Frankenstein and Blade Runner.† Compare how these texts explore disruption and identity. Frankenstein and BladeRunner both explore disruption and identity through the creators who have created life unethically and through the characters who were created and were abandoned. Shelley and Scott present the responder with a disrupted world where the relationships between nature and science and creatorRead MoreComparative Studies of Bladerunner and Frankenstein1157 Words   |  5 PagesCompare the ways in which texts offer insights into the human experience. Every text is a product of its time. In Mary Shelley’s â€Å"Frankenstein†, she uses the gothic horror genre to explore some of the concerns of her time relating to the use of science and technology and its impact on humanity. Similar concerns are also present in Ridley Scott’s â€Å"Bladerunner†, a futuristic text which combines science fiction and film noir to present a bleak view of a future world overrun by technology and consumerismRead MoreFrankenstein vs. Bladerunner1866 Words   |  8 PagesAs society changes around us, we spot things we never noticed before: high divorce rates, murder rates, and drug use just to name a few. James Riddley-Scott and Mary Shelley noticed and had a fear of child abandonment. In Frankenstein, Shelley explores this subject through the viewpoint of a man, Victor, who creates a child so hideous that he cannot bear to look at it, and consequently deserts it. In Blade Runner Scott explores this matter through a businessm an, Tyrell, who makes replicants ofRead More Frankenstein Vs. Bladerunner Essay1830 Words   |  8 Pages As society changes around us, we spot things we never noticed before: high divorce rates, murder rates, and drug use just to name a few. James Riddley-Scott and Mary Shelley noticed and had a fear of child abandonment. In Frankenstein, Shelley explores this subject through the viewpoint of a man, Victor, who creates a child so hideous that he cannot bear to look at it, and consequently deserts it. In Blade Runner, Scott explores this matter through a businessman, Tyrell, who makes replicants of

Learn How to Delegate Responsibility to Your Employees

]Time is your most precious commodity. No matter how hard you try, you can’t do everything by yourself. Many supervisors avoid delegating responsibilities and the reasons for this vary. Those who have moved up through the ranks of a company may be uncomfortable or simply not used to delegating. Others live by the words â€Å"If you want something done right, do it yourself.† And then there are some who fear delegating may mean being outshined by their employee. Whatever your feelings, as a manager you need to realize that you are not a regular employee, you are a coach. Coaches must understand the importance of teaching, motivating, and taking pride in the performance of their charges. To do this, you must learn how to delegate efficiently and responsibly. Some Things Should Not Be Delegated Never delegate sensitive projects to your employees. If you are in charge of the project because of your expertise, you should complete it yourself. If the project is confidential in any way, be very careful about outsourcing the work. Keep in mind that some jobs need to be done by the person in charge. At the same time, try to avoid delegating only the â€Å"dirty work†. Give your employees something fun and interesting to do once in awhile. Evaluating Employee Abilities There are many things to evaluate before delegating duties. Consider your employees’ skill level, motivation, and dependability. Remember, not every employee is created equal. Certain people will be more efficient than others depending upon the facet in which they thrive. At the same time, try not to typecast your employees. Give them opportunities to broaden their horizons and become more valuable to the team. Matching the proper person to each task can be difficult. Start small and be patient. Providing Clear Instructions When you are assigning unfamiliar duties, be very specific when you explain what you need. By detailing an assignment, you leave no room for confusion and therefore, no room for error. If you have a long list of verbal instructions, type them out. This will give your employee something to refer to when they are performing a task that is unfamiliar to them. If possible, train two people to do the same thing. This way, they can refer to one another for questions, rather than coming to you. It is also essential that your employee has a clear understanding of their authority in each situation. When a decision needs to be made regarding their assignment, should they use their best judgment or should they come to you immediately for clarification? This will be one of your hardest decisions to make because it could mean the difference between success and failure. When in doubt, retain control. Once an employee had proved their capability, give them more responsibility in the decision-making department. Measuring Performance and Controlling Projects Measure the performance of employees and delegated projects. Explain to them how performance will be measured and let the employee know the level of accountability that comes with the task. Clarifying these things beforehand will make everything run much smoother. Large projects may be easier to monitor if they are broken into smaller segments. Spread the assignments throughout your staff and make them report to you after each segment of the project has been finished. Also, get feedback from your employees via meetings and reports. Do this daily, weekly, or monthly. Know what’s going on around you. Staying informed limits the possibility of failure. As a supervisor, you are responsible and accountable for your employees and their work. Coaching Your Staff One of the most important parts of delegation is coaching. When you delegate an assignment, make it clear to them that they can come to you with questions. New tasks can be confusing. Above all, be patient. You should consistently motivate your staff and commend them when they do well. If they complete an assignment, but they don’t do a good job, find out why. Pinpoint what went wrong and take steps to address the issue. On the other hand, when tasks are completed effectively, give your employee the recognition they deserve. Whether it is public recognition or one-on-one, your employee will value being given credit for their work. Doing this not only makes your employee feel good, it will also motivate them to continue their on-the-job success.

Analysis Of Mark Bowden s Black Hawk Down - 1651 Words

B.H.D. in the M.U.S.D. â€Å"A vivid, immediate, and unsparing narrative that is filled with blood and noise† (Yardley). Mark Bowden’s Black Hawk Down is amongst the most profane, gory, and explicit military pieces in history. Why should the Morongo Unified School District’s approval even be up for consideration? October 3, 1993, the Battle of Mogadishu stamped itself in American history. The intense battle between American and Somali soldiers resulted in the death of eighteen American men, as well as the severe injury of seventy and counting. Exposing students within the M.U.S.D. allows for students to learn from first hand experiences, as well as apply the book’s lessons to their own lives. Approval from the Morongo Unified School District†¦show more content†¦Somalian militia† (Anderson). By including all first-hand experiences Bowden gives students in the M.U.S.D. direct sources to help lean their decision of whether to join the military . As Morongo Unified School District students can learn about the logistics of military life, social understandings are also taught from Black Hawk Down. As proper education is essential to succeed in life, so is the adaption to social apprehension. Students within the M.U.S.D. are almost destined to have relation to someone active in military involvement. The reading of B.H.D. gives and understanding of what people in the military do for our country. â€Å"Americans watched on television an angry mob drag the body of a dead U.S. soldier through the streets of Mogadishu† (Matray). Having personal ties with soldiers active in battle allows M.U.S.D. students to connect to the intensity of the event in Black Hawk Down. Bowden’s book covers the primary importance to stay humble. Arrogance is a key to failure. As seen in B.H.D., â€Å"the over-confidence of the Americans ultimately led to more casualties† (Anderson). One must â€Å"count the cost† before going into battle with an arrogant and confident mind. Examination of all perspectives in all situations is another essential factor to success. With Bowden’s fluent change of perspective throughout the book, students