The Nurse’s Role in Supporting the Organization’s Strategic Agenda
I interviewed a quality manager from Molina Healthcare which caters for the healthcare services for over 4 million individuals receiving their care via long term care agencies Medicaid and Medicare or through other programs that are government-funded. The purpose of this paper is to learn a quality manager’s view regarding the impact of the direct care nurse’s role in clinical outcomes for the organization and how the view influences the ability of the organization to achieve its strategic agenda.
My interviewee was called Simon. Simon, a quality manager at Molina Healthcare, holds a Masters degree in Health Care Administration (MHA) from the University of Phoenix, Illinois. He was quick to point out to me that at the University of Phoenix, the students are taught a sundry of courses in MHA but specifically, the ones that he learned and that are relevant to this topic are critical evaluation of health care issues and trends.
I had booked an appointment with Simon in advance and we settled on the interview taking place at a Molina Healthcare hospital in Wisconsin. Being a weekday, the hospital was abuzz with activity. When he ushered me into his office, we went straight to the purpose of the interview and as he gave me his insights on the role of the direct nurse in supporting the outcomes of the organization, I wrote down the following. The direct nurse has the following roles in supporting the outcomes of an organization (Atkin 2009). One of the roles is treating patients in the health care organizations. The second role is educating the patients and the public in general regarding the diverse medical conditions. Lastly, the direct nurse gives medical advise and support emotionally both the patients and/or their family members.
The information that I gained from the interview and this week’s resources may influence my nursing practice in various ways. One of the ways it may influence my nursing practice is that not matter the specialty of a nurse or the setting of the work, all the roles of the direct nurse narrow down to treating, educating, advising and emotionally supporting the patients and their family members. The second lesson that I’ve learned is that the duties of the direct are mostly determined by the setting of their work or the population of the patients that are being served (NONPF, 2002). The third lesson I’ve learned about the direct nurse is that in their roles, they are flexible to specialize in either one or a number of fields (Resnick, 2009). Lastly, when specializing in a work setting or is specializing in a specific type of treatment, the direct nurse has many alternatives such as ambulatory care nursing, holistic nurses, hospice and palliative nursing, emergency nurses and critical care nurses among many others.
The information above impacts the profession of nursing in various ways. One of the impacts is that practicing nurses have personal freedom to choose the area that they want to specialize without being coerced into choosing specific areas and this is because there are many alternatives (Bernstein, 2004). The second impact is that practicing nurses can maximize their professionalisms by specializing in a number of fields.
In summary; the role of the direct nurse is to treat, educate, advise and give emotional support to patients and their relatives (Beevi, n.d.). This information may influence my nursing practice in that it implies that no matter the specialization of a nurse or work setting, the roles of the direct nurse are generally those aforementioned; the working setting determine the duty of the direct nurse, also, in nurse practicing, the practitioners are flexible to specialize in one or a number of fields. The nurse practitioners have the freedom of choosing the areas they want to specialize.

References
Aitken, A.M. & Aitken, S. (2009). Community Palliative Care: The Role of the Clinical Nurse Specialist. Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons.
Beevi (n.d.). Textbook of Pediatric Nursing. Gurgaon: Elsevier India.
Bernstein, A.B. (2004). Guide to your career. NY : The Princeton Review.
The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF). (2002). Nurse Practitioner Primary Care Competencies in Specialty Area: Adult, Family, Gerentological, Pediatric, and Women’s Health. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Resnick, B. (2009). Assisted Living Nursing: A Manual for Management and Practice. NY: Springer Publishing Company.