explain The trends of the medical surgical nursing?
Answers
The first thing that comes to mind is: much shorter hospital stays. Surgeries that used to net you 3 nights in the hospital—like a hip replacement—now only qualify for one night. Knee replacements? We’re sending some people home the same day. Cervical disc [neck] fusion? Home the same day. Need long-term IV antibiotics? You no longer stay in the hospital for them: instead, either a home-care nurse will visit you to administer them, or you’ll be taught to administer them at home yourself, or you’ll visit the hospital daily (sometimes for more than 40 days in a row, depending on the antibiotic) for your infusion. This is partly cost-driven (thanks, insurance companies!) and partly safety-driven, as longer hospital stays definitely correspond to higher rates of infection.
The other trend that comes to mind is the much more widespread use of mid-level providers: i.e. Nurse Practitioners and Physicians’ Assistants. The Affordable Care Act in America included a goal of increasing the number of NP’s by something like 38% by the year 20-something. My memory for the exact figures is vague, and given this new Presidential Administration, I’m not sure where the Affordable Care Act and its goals stand anymore. In any case, the number of RNs going on to advanced practice in the US is just ballooning. It’s not only NPs (whose scope of practice includes diagnosing, treating, and prescribing as a physician would,) but also CRNAs (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists,) who administer all forms of anesthesia, overseen by an anesthesiologist.)