Silva 1

Ashley Silva

Professor Hemstrom

UWP1

11 March 2017

DCA: Part 3

The nursing community meets the six characteristics of a discourse community by

sharing common goals, having mechanisms for intercommunication, providing feedback,

utilizing specific genres, sharing key terms, and having experts and authorities. My interest for

the nursing community began as I was a child.

When I was a little girl, I enjoyed playing dress-up with my friends. Every time we

played, I wanted to be a nurse or a doctor because I loved playing with the different medical

equipment. As I grew older, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in the medical field. At first, I

considered being a pediatrician, but now as a freshman in college, I see that in order to be in

school for that long, one has to love the major they are studying. I am terrible at science, so I

know there is no way I can be a doctor because I do not enjoy studying chemistry; however, I

love helping people and I know that I will be more than happy in being a nurse, so that is why I

chose to make this my career.

The nursing community shares a variety of common goals. The main goal is to treat all

the patients with the best possible care. According to the University of Saint Mary, the nurse is

able to provide the best care to the patient by applying the 5 Cs- commitment, conscience,

competence, compassion, and confidence. Commitment can be reached by always seeking ways

to improve the knowledge of the nurse in the field by studying. The nurses conscience helps

guide them into making the best decisions because of their moral instincts. Competence is found
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in those who are always professional and seek to be the best they can be. The nurses can

accomplish this by being on time, fulfilling all tasks, and seeking help when needed. The patients

are in pain and need medical attention and it is the nurses job to provide it. In doing so, the nurse

must be compassionate to the patients feelings. Lastly, the nurse must be confident because they

know what they are doing, they are educated, and in being confident, they will provide the

patient with the best care possible.

Intercommunication between nurses is extremely important. Several strategies in

communicating between the medical staff are discharge rounds, hospitalists, objective data,

rounds with physician or team members, and computerized documentation. (Jennifer Ward)

Discharge rounds are a meet between the other team members to discuss the patients progress.

This is crucial because it allows the medical staff to communicate with each other in order to

determine what decisions are best for the patient. Hospitalists are practitioners who are available

to the patient at all times and can communicate with both the nurse and the physician if

something needs to be addresses taking off some of the load from the nurses or physicians.

Objective data is necessary because it is direct and has all the important information

needed in order for any of the medical staff to help treat the patient. Round with the physicians or

team members allows the doctor, nurse, and patient to interact with one another and discuss any

concerns. Lastly, computerized documentation includes charting that is available much faster and

easier to any of the medical staff when treating the patient. This form of documentation is

available to all practitioners in almost all of the locations within the facility, so the nurse is now

able to access these documents within the patients room, in the office, or elsewhere. There are

many other forms of communication, but these are extremely common and can be the most

important.
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The nurses are able to give each other feedback using the strategies established in

intercommunication. For instance, when the rounds are held, the practitioners meet with each

other and converse about the patient, which allows the fellow staff to discuss possible solutions.

Ultimately, the practitioners give each other feedback in terms of whether the solutions they are

leaning towards are appropriate or not. If at any time one practitioner feels that another

practitioner is not going about making the best decisions, they must converse with them about

their concerns. The main goal is to provide the patient with the best care available and if another

practitioner gets in the way of that, they must be addressed immediately. Feedback is crucial,

common, and necessary in the medical field.

Because science is always expanding and better alternatives are made as a replacement to

past procedures in the medical field, it is important that the nurses stay updated with new

innovations or knowledge. The nurses do so by reading medical trials, medical textbooks,

science textbooks, possible research, etc. An article by the University of Saint Mary asserts new

innovative technology that has recently emerged which helps nurses provide better care towards

their patients. One of the new innovations was wireless patient monitoring that observes the

patient and reports any changes. Chips and sensors are placed into the blankets or mattress pads

that help report on weight, blood pressure, and movement. This helps the nurse know when a

patient has fallen or there is a change in a patients status.

The nurse must be familiar with many medical terms because they need to know what the

physician is discussing or if the nurse needs to diagnose a patient, they must be able to think of

all the possible situations and different illnesses and carefully make the correct diagnosis. If at

any point the physician is discussing a term in which the nurse is not aware of, it can be life

threatening to the patient. For example, if a nurse is told by a physician to avoid a specific
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medication because the patient is allergic to it and the nurse is not familiar with the medication, it

is the nurses job to find out what that medication is, what it looks like, and possibly any

information that is needed to know about it. As I stated before, the nurse must always be

informed and updated with any knowledge they are unfamiliar with.

There are many different types of nurses, but a few of them are as follows: registered

nurse, licensed practical nurse, clinical nurse specialist, nurse practitioner, nurse case manager.

All of these nurses are required to have some sort of certification or degree. The registered nurse

needs either and ADN or BSN degree. The licensed practical nurse needs a LPN certification.

The clinical nurse specialist needs a MSN or PhD. The nurse practitioner needs a BSN or MSN.

Lastly, the nurse case manager needs an ADN or BSN. All of these nurses must be experts in the

field which is why they require some form of education. As the task of the nurse becomes more

challenging, the education level that is required increases.

In order to be a part of the nursing community, one must love helping people and must be

on their feet at all times. They have to be able to be active in the working environment. All of the

six characteristics that made nursing a discourse community must be done by those who seek to

pursue this career. Their are many resources in the nursing community so one can excel at their

profession but they have to want to be the best they can be at all times. It is crucial for the nurse

to be attentive, informed, responsible, and confident in order to be successful and to help the

patient
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Works Cited

Ruesink, Megan. "Rasmussen College." Rasmussen College - Regionally Accredited College

Online and on Campus. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Mar. 2017.

Importance of Communication Between Nurses and Team..." NurseTogether.com. N.p., n.d.

Web. 6 Mar. 2017.

"The 5 C's of Caring." University of Saint Mary Online. N.p., 12 Oct. 2015. Web. 6 Mar. 2017.