Nursing best practice guidelines: the RNAO (Registered Nurses Association of Ontario) project.

Best practice guidelines, although a recent phenomenon, have become a global movement in nursing. Scholars, practitioners, healthcare organizations, governments and the nursing associations have a unique opportunity to enhance quality and demonstrate joint accountability to patients, the healthcare system and the public as a whole. This article offers insight into the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO) Nursing Best Practice Guidelines Project. Funded as a multi-year project by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care in 1999, the RNAO project is leading nursing's best practice guideline movement in Canada and reaching others abroad.

An evaluation of WHA resolution 45.5: health human resource implications.

The World Health Assembly approved resolution WHA45.5 in 1992. This paper reports the findings of an evaluation of the implementation of this resolution using a survey technique. A total of 150 WHO Member States responded, for a 79% response rate. Findings suggest that the greatest strides worldwide have been made in education. While the data show that progress has been made at the country level, far more action is needed to strengthen nursing and midwifery if these cost-effective resources are to play a decisive role in improving the extent and quality of services, especially as delivered to people in the greatest need.

A model for professional nursing in organizations: the Rainbow.

This paper presents a model of professional nursing in organizations that provides cohesive direction to the development of patterns that shape how nursing is structured in an organization. Such cohesive direction can foster integration between the practice and the discipline components of nursing. The model can influence the structure of nursing on a macro level within the organization and on a micro level by influencing patterns of nursing care delivery. A set of values, assumptions, dimensions, constructs, principles and propositions have been identified and brought together in this model. As a framework, it can be used to shape the structures and processes that contribute to professional nursing excellence in practice settings.

Revisiting the role of the nurse practitioner in the 1990s: a Canadian perspective.

The role of the nurse practitioner was first introduced in the North American health care scene in the early 1960s. In the 1970s, the concept of an expanded practice role for nurses was gaining interest in Canada. The impetus for development of the role in the United States was stimulated by a shortage of physicians. In Canada, the original nurse practitioner (NP) movement was influenced by the changing role of the nurse, the debate over a new category of health care worker in the United States (the physician assistant), and a perceived physician shortage. Canadian nurses saw the NP role as an opportunity to expand their scope of practice. This role expansion into traditional medical areas of practice was operationalized in various settings largely outside of the tertiary care sector. The role was controversial at times in terms of title and role function. However, it did present the nursing profession with an opportunity to demonstrate the impact nurses have on the health status of Canadians.