Journal of Community & Public Health Nursing
Open Access

Research Article

Returning Nursing to Nightingale: The Bigger Picture of Mainstreaming Kenya-Nursing Process

Chris P Rakuom^1*, Miriam CA Wagoro², Joseph O Mirereh¹ and Sudi Galo³

¹Department of Nursing Services, Ministry of Health, Kenya

²Department of Nursing Sciences, University of Nairobi, Kenya

³Kakamega County Referral Hospital, Kakamega County, Kenya

*Corresponding Author:

Chris P Rakuom, BSc
Retired Director Nursing Services
Ministry of Health, Kenya
Tel: +254 724 229121
E-mail: cprakuom2009@rocketmail.com

Received date: July 06, 2016; Accepted date: October 22, 2016; Published date: October 29, 2016

Citation: Rakuom CP, Wagoro MCA, Mirereh JO, Sudi Galo S (2016) Returning Nursing to Nightingale: The Bigger Picture of Mainstreaming Kenya-Nursing Process. J Comm Pub Health Nursing 2: 140. doi:10.4172/2471-9846.1000140

Copyright: © 2016 Rakuom CP, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Application of all Nursing Process steps as a standard practice in nursing at national scale is a very rare occurrence in clinical practice and in nursing literature. This paper presents lessons learnt in the bigger picture of mainstreaming Nursing Process within a public sector context at national level covering issues on policy, financing, training, implementation (practice and management) and effects. It discusses Nursing Process in context; structuring discussion in a way integrating nursing theories, facilitating professional empowerment, ensuring higher quality nursing care, and nursing visibility and contributions in healthcare delivery.

Based on practical experience in integrating Virginia Henderson’s need theory, Orem’s health systems theory, total nursing care and team nursing within Nursing Process, it suggests replacement of medical model paradigm with caring model paradigm to facilitate effective independence and meaningful dependence and interdependence in nursing operations. Thus significant organizational cultural shift is proposed. Nursing Process is presented as the principal vehicle propelling nursing profession and practices forward, sampling success stories that demonstrate effectiveness and improved patient care.

On standardization of nursing language, new innovative ideas under Nursing Process steps of assessment, diagnosis, planning and documentation are presented with suggestions of a new approach in measuring Nursing Process implementation using Benner’s “stages of clinical competence” scale, focusing on levels of knowledge and skills in Nursing Process. In that thinking Nursing Process implementation is likely to succeed through challenges, especially when competency level is reached and surpassed; notwithstanding exogenous challenges such as restructuring in a health system or a political system that bear influence on nursing operations.

It is proposed that nurturing Nursing Process implementation through training to competency level within the premise of “totality of knowledge and experience” is critical in achieving reasonable nursing visibility in clinical settings, enhancing quality nursing care, and ensuring sustainability through the principle of critical mass. Thus a significant shift from developing individual nurses in single bits to collective development of a nursing workforce in Nursing Process must be made, availing a committed and cohesive critical mass of nurses working towards achieving desired professional and organizational goals despite challenges; promoting Nursing Process practices to the level of organizational culture in healthcare delivery. This requires time, resources, commitment and above all, strong and focused leaderships in nursing.

The article is in four parts. Part 1 discusses contextual information critical in understanding the Kenya Nursing Process and its context. Part 2 discusses detailed explanation and practical understanding on the six Kenya Nursing Process steps. Part 3 discusses the theoretical frameworks critical in mainstreaming activity. Part 4 discusses outcomes, challenges, and concerns. It also includes way forward and conclusions.

Keywords