Rehabilitation Nursing

Rehabilitation Nursing is composed of a variety of skills, and practices (Hoeman, 2002). Further, rehabilitation nurses should demonstrate certain attributes that operate to maximize their clinical practice (Alexander, Hiduke & Stevens, 1999). This project involved conducting an interview with a rehabilitation nurse (PG) working at the Rehabilitation unit in the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System. Several questions were asked of this nurse, each of which provided him with an opportunity to comment on various practices and attributes of his experience as a rehabilitation nurse. The purpose of this paper is to compare and analyze PG's responses with what the literature indicates to be the general practices and attributes expected of competent and successful clinical nurses.

In terms of characterizing the interviewed nurse's responses in relation to practices and attributes of clinical nurses, several points can be made. First, the interviewed nurse, PG, has definite clinical interests (e.g., likes surgical nursing and working with wounds) but he does not appear to have a set of clear goals in terms of his advancement in the profession; at least this was not expressed in terms of discussing his transfers and changes in the field. This can be contrasted with the literature on the attributes and practices of clinical nurses which repeatedly has shown tha

. . .
tients, and a willingness to learn, even from those of lower rank. PG's perception of the required competencies is very much in line with the existing literature which lists all of the competencies he mentioned as well as several additional competencies that were required. For example, Murrow and Murrow (2002) pointed out that the "good nurse" is one who is able to multitask and has good organizational skills. However, the authors did make the point that these skills should be accompanied by additional attributes, practices, and abilities including: good management skills, the ability to make sound decisions, even under stress, and a good knowledge of the strengths and weakness of the facility where the nurse works plus the health care system generally. Also in line with statements by PG concerning competencies, Jenkins, Bennett, Lancaster, O'Donohue and Carillo (2002) stated that a clinical nurse must have good interpersonal skills and must be good at building relationships, most especially with patients. Thus, as a rehabilitation nurse, PG's notions were once again in accord with the literature on general clinical nursing. It might be pointed out here that although PG did not mention other attributes and practices, Jenkins
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
O'Donohue Carillo, Dementia PG's, Comparison Analysis, Registered Nurse, Berman Snyder, Murrow Murrow, Rehabilitation Nursing, Care System, Indeed Hoeman, Hiduke Stevens, rehabilitation nursing, clinical nurses, practices attributes, rehabilitation nurse, skills ability, clinical skills, strong clinical skills, strong clinical, attributes practices, clinical skills ability, successful clinical, 2002 rehabilitation, hoeman 2002 rehabilitation, competent successful clinical, skills ability multitask,
Approximate Word count = 1276
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Rehabilitation Nursing