Professionalism and Sensory

Managing Care (Nurse's Role)

Organizing resources, prioritizing patient needs, coordinating services, and delivering timely appropriate care.

Significance of Managing Care

Helps nurses coordinate care, work efficiently with teams, communicate professionally, and promote safety.

Collaboration

Process where patients, families, nurses, and healthcare professionals work together toward shared goals.

Significance of Collaboration

Directly improves patient safety and healthcare outcomes.

Foundations of Collaboration

Requires communication, trust, mutual respect, shared decision-making, and clear understanding of roles.

Interprofessional Collaboration

Working across disciplines with physicians, therapists, pharmacists, social workers, and others.

Interorganizational Collaboration

Collaborative efforts between different healthcare organizations or clinical departments.

Managing Care Attribute: Communication

Active exchanging of information among the healthcare team.

Managing Care Attribute: Time Management

Organizing tasks and resources efficiently during every shift.

Managing Care Attribute: Clinical Decision Making

Utilizing clinical judgment to prioritize and address patient needs.

Managing Care Attribute: Influence

Exerting a positive impact on clinical practices and team dynamics.

Collaboration Attribute: Values and Ethics

Maintaining mutual respect and shared values across disciplines.

Collaboration Attribute: Roles and Responsibilities

Understanding and respecting the unique roles and expertise of all team members.

Collaboration Attribute: Teams and Teamwork

Actively working together toward shared, patient-centered goals.

Classic Leadership Theories

Theory that successful leaders are born with inherent traits, knowledge, and self-confidence.

Autocratic Leadership

Authoritarian style where the leader makes all decisions and strictly directs activities.

Democratic Leadership

Participative style encouraging group engagement, discussion, and shared decision-making.

Laissez-faire Leadership

Hands-off style allowing the group autonomy to make decisions based on expertise.

Bureaucratic Leadership

Style relying strictly on organizational policies, rules, and procedures as frameworks.

Situational Leadership

Adapts leadership style based on organizational context, policy frameworks, and situation.

Contemporary Leadership Theories

Theories focusing on organizational values, policy frameworks, and evolving team dynamics.

Charismatic Leadership

Inspires followers while operating within organizational values and procedural frameworks.

Transactional Leadership

Focuses on routine organizational processes, compliance, and procedural frameworks.

Transformational Leadership

Empowers followers and guides group processes through shared organizational vision and values.

Shared Leadership

Distributes decision-making across team members within organizational policies.

Quantum Leadership

Focuses on context, group connection, and flexibility over rigid control.

Servant Leadership

Driven primarily by a desire to serve others rather than to gain power.

Five Functions of Management

Planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating (directing), and controlling (monitoring).

Planning (Management Function)

Multistage process establishing goals based on assessment data and developing courses of action.

Strategic Plan

Plan focusing on long-term organizational outcomes, involving committee work and stakeholder engagement.

Contingency Plan

Plan focusing on preparation for potential occurrences based on their probability of happening.

Organizing (Management Function)

Process of identifying and assigning assets and resources, including staff, equipment, and supplies.

Commanding (Management Function)

Supervision of work to communicate and achieve organizational goals.

Coordinating (Management Function)

Using communication and delegation to motivate individuals within a group process.

Controlling (Management Function)

Using metrics to monitor and evaluate processes and resources leading to goal achievement.

Informal Leader

Bedside nurse directly influencing care, team culture, and communication through expertise.

Formal Nurse Leader

Nurses holding administrative or management positions to establish organizational goals and priorities.

Interprofessional Leader

Collaborates directly across disciplines to promote safe, high-quality patient care.

Follower

Functions in a collaborative relationship, sharing responsibility toward a shared team goal.

Student Team Coordinator

Serves as liaison between students, faculty, and clinical staff to practice coordination.

Delegator

Transfers task responsibility to a qualified team member while maintaining ultimate accountability.

Communication Hub

Central hub connecting patients, families, and all members of the interprofessional team.

Promotion of collaboration: independent interventions

-prioritization

-closed-loop communication

-active listening

-positive influence

- time management

-preparation

Promotion of collaboration: collaborative interventions

-active partnership w/ pt and families

-collaborations with other nurses

-interprofession collaboration (physicians, pharmacist, etc)

Interventions for Managing Alterations: independent

-address conflict professionally

-keep interactions kind

-ask questions and clarify information

-mutual respect

Interventions for Managing Alterations: collaboration

-make conflict an opportunity for growth

-use DESC (describe, express, specify, consequences)

-collaborate w/ team members to promote a healthy workplace

Collaboration: Safety and Quality Improvement

Prevents clinical errors, improves healthcare quality, and leads to safe patient outcomes.

Collaboration: Professionalism

Demonstrating collaboration through mutual respect, open communication, and active teamwork.

Collaboration: Healthcare Systems and Health Policy

Establishes safe, coordinated care across interprofessional healthcare systems and departments.

Collaboration: Other Related Concepts

Connected to communication, care coordination, health promotion, patient education, and ethics.

Managing Care & Clinical Decision Making

Nurses use clinical judgment and prioritization to coordinate resources and manage patient care.

Managing Care & Advocacy/Ethics

Nurses advocate for patients and make ethical decisions to ensure safe, timely care.

Managing Care & Patient Education

Providing patient education is a key component of care coordination and managing care.

Managing Care & Healthcare Systems

Care delivery models directly shape how nurses manage care, communicate, and make decisions.

Concepts Related to Managing Care

Managing care is closely linked with delegation, evidence, and informatics.

Formal Leaders (Examples)

Nurse managers, directors, or chief nursing officers in official administrative positions.

Formal Leaders (Primary Role)

Establish organizational goals through official administrative positions.

Informal Leaders (Examples)

Experienced bedside clinical nurses who influence care without official administrative titles.

Informal Leaders (Primary Role)

Influence team culture and patient care through clinical expertise and professional behavior.

Five Rights of Delegation

- delegator retains accountability

- must be within the scope of delegation

- clear instructions which are accepted and understood

- appropriate supervision and evaluation

- ensure that poor delegation is not the outcome (harms pt and relationships b/t nurse and pt)

Reception

Sensory organs detect stimuli

Transmission

Nerve pathways send signals to the brain.

Perception

The interpretation and understanding of sensory information.

Cognition

Ability to process and respond to sensory information.

Perception Thresholds

The point at which a stimulus is strong enough to be detected.

Vision: Nerves & Structures

Involves the eyes and cranial nerves II, III, IV, and V.

Vision: Consequences of Impairment

Ranges from mild vision impairment to complete blindness.

Hearing: Involved Nerve

Mediated by cranial nerve VIII.

Hearing: Consequences of Impairment

Ranges from mild hearing deficits to complete deafness.

Taste: Involved System

Involves the gustatory system and varying cranial nerves.

Taste: Consequences of Impairment

Decreased taste and appetite, leading to weight loss and malnutrition.

Smell: Involved Nerve

Olfactory system mediated by cranial nerve I.

Smell: Consequences of Impairment

Loss of smell, loss of taste, nutritional deficits, and lack of safety.

Touch: Involved System

Somatosensory system with touch receptors and nerve endings in the skin.

Touch: Consequences of Impairment

Injury, wound infection, and inability to sense pain, heat, or cold.

Sensory History Assessment Components

Medical/surgical history, prenatal/maternal history, medications, and changes in sensory perception.

Sensory Physical Assessment Components

Inspection, testing of associated organs, and cranial nerve assessment.

Snellen Chart (or Tumbling E)

Diagnostic test used to evaluate distance vision.

Rosenbaum Chart

Diagnostic test used to evaluate near vision.

Quick Visual Acuity Check

Using everyday reading material such as a newspaper or magazine.

Visual Fields & Extraocular Movement Assessment

Picture charts or following a target through the six cardinal fields of gaze.

Ophthalmoscope / Slit-Lamp Exam

Visualizes internal eye structures (lens, vitreous, retina); key for cataract evaluation.

Retinoscopy / Refractometry

Evaluates refractive errors to determine the need for corrective lenses.

Glaucoma Diagnostic Tests

Intraocular pressure measurement, fundoscopy of optic disc, and visual field testing.

Whisper Test

Basic screening test for hearing acuity.

Tuning Fork Tests

Weber and Rinne tests used to further evaluate hearing loss.

Otoscope Exam

Inspection of the external ear canal and tympanic membrane.

Audiometry

Specialized testing to evaluate the precise extent of hearing impairment.

Primary Prevention: Injury Protection

Using goggles, ear plugs, and helmets to protect sensory organs from injury.

Primary Prevention: Health Maintenance

Practicing oral hygiene and safe medication administration.

Secondary Prevention: Sensory Screening

Vision screening across the lifespan and hearing screening at 1 month.

Secondary Prevention: Infection Management

Antibiotic therapy for newborns and otitis media to prevent complications.

Tertiary Prevention: Vision Treatments

Corrective lenses, LASIK, cataract surgery, pharmacology, and adaptation/coping strategies.

Tertiary Prevention: Hearing Treatments

Myringotomy (for otitis media), cochlear implants, and adaptation/coping strategies.

Cataracts: Risk Factors

Aging, diabetes mellitus (DM), smoking, and UV exposure.

Cataracts: Treatment

Corrective lenses (early) and surgery (definitive treatment).

Cataracts: Signs & Symptoms

Cloudy vision, glare, light adjustment trouble, halos, diplopia, and faded colors.

Glaucoma: Risk Factors

Age, family history, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and long-term steroid use.

Glaucoma: Types

Open-angle glaucoma and angle-closure glaucoma.

Glaucoma: Treatment Options

Eye drops, laser therapy, and surgery.