Professional Practice Model
What is a nursing Professional Practice Model?
The Professional Practice Model adopted throughout Adventist Health represents the complex role of the professional nurse. This Professional Practice Model has a two-fold purpose:
- To define and support nursing control over the care environment and the delivery of care
- To capture the values, goals and relationships that define the professional nursing identity
Why is a Professional Practice Model important?
Our Professional Practice Model helps us describe, guide, unify, and measure nursing practice throughout our organization. Our Professional Practice Model promotes professional identity, job satisfaction, high quality and consistent nursing care, improved quality of patient and family outcomes, and enhanced intra- and inter-disciplinary communication.
By using a nursing professional practice model, we can ensure that the professional practice of nursing is consistent throughout our organization, regardless of the unit, setting or functional role of the nurse.
The Professional Practice Model incorporates our mission, vision and values as the foundation for all we do.
The Adventist Health Professional Practice Model
Our Professional Practice Model is intentionally designed to match nursing skills with patient needs as reflected by The Synergy Model for Patient Care, to demonstrate care as outlined by The Science of Caring, and to support a professional development path as seen in the From Novice to Expert theory.
Synergy Model for Patient Care
The core concept of the re-conceptualized model of certified practice — the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) “Synergy Model” for Patient Care — is that the needs or characteristics of patients and families influence and drive the characteristics or competencies of nurses. Synergy results when the needs and characteristics of a patient, clinical unit or system are matched with a nurse’s competencies. The Professional Practice Model incorporates our mission, vision and values as the foundation for all we do.
Science of Caring
Jean Watson’s “Philosophy and Science of Caring” addresses how nurses express care to their patients. Watson believes holistic caring is central to nursing practice, and promotes health better than a simple medical cure. Caring for patients promotes growth; a caring environment accepts a person as he or she is and looks to what he or she may become.
From Novice to Expert
Patricia Benner developed a concept known as “From Novice to Expert.” This model explains that nurses develop skills and an understanding of patient care over time from a combination of a strong educational foundation and personal experiences.
To support our focus of practice on the patient and family, we must continue to develop as nursing professionals through contributions to our society and community, our profession and organization, ourselves and our patients.