The healthcare sector is evolving on a rampant pact, but the medical fraternity at large is regulated by laws and legislations. Those who resist any such changes face financial penalties and other consequences for themselves and their organization at large.
Those nurses who opt for lifelong learning develop the ability and resilience to adapt the ongoing changes. This way, healthcare professionals work on their ongoing professional success in the long run and work towards their organization's welfare.
What is exactly Lifelong Learning?
Primarily, the term “lifelong learning†is considered to be an attitude or actions through which people can hone their professional skills over the years. Lifelong learning can either be formal, such as enrolling yourself for a graduate degree program or opting for workshops or training programs that are accredited but informal. Similarly, you can also opt for less structured learning methodologies such as news, researches or journals.
When you commit yourself to lifelong learning, you become a valuable asset to your organization:
- Lifelong learning gives nursing professionals the ability to learn new skills, stay relevant to the field and enhance your knowledge.
- It extends their ability to contribute to the wellbeing of the society, industry or organizations.
- Such learners are flexible in terms of adapting to change and newer practices within the workplace.
When it comes to healthcare, lifelong learning is not an option rather a responsibility. It allows healthcare professionals to provide adequate and safe patient care. This helps in reducing cost, improving the patient outcomes and meeting healthcare goals which provides more importance to ongoing learning.
1. Healthcare is becoming more Complex
Professional healthcare learning is now becoming more complex and challenging. This is due to the variety of literature and online information that actually exists. Alongside, more and more researches are being disbursed at a rampant pace. Once healthcare experts genuine start practicing, they realize that there is a rapid increase in demand and lack of resources which make it hard to practice.
2. Need for State of the Art Care
As per a research conducted by John Hopkins, with knowledge and general awareness, patients as well as their families are no longer calm. They now require answers from the nurses administering care to their patients. When a patient now walks in a clinic or a hospital, there is a higher probability that they will do their preliminary research about their disease and treatment plan expecting their care provider to know and be able to answer their concerns in depth.
3. Healthcare Stakeholders Require Competent and Knowledgeable Staff
In order to be an effective leader and progress in the field of healthcare, the need for becoming a lifelong learner is greater than ever. In order to completely engage in fostering leadership and professional skills, nursing professionals are now required to take part in various educational offerings that allow them to develop their healthcare management and people's skill. With advancements in medical industry surfacing every day, learning is the only way to succeed and remain competent in this field.
Those nurses who opt for ongoing learning understand the changes happening around them, remain abreast of the latest trends, happening and insights, are better problem solver and are keener to learn and adapt newer technologies.
4. Lifelong Learning Can Help Eliminate Employee Disengagement
With COVID-19 and the vulnerabilities persisting around us all, nurses are the ones to be affected by anxiety, fear of loss, etc. more than anyone else. This has resulted in high employee disengagement ratios in comparison to the past. Therefore, those nurses who opt for ongoing learning stay engaged and show more commitment to the field. Employers now need to deploy better opportunities that aid in reinforcing new or old learning concepts and also keep them motivated to perform better.
5. Lifelong Learning Ensures Better Career Progression
Generally, those who look in hindsight will agree that the decision they make after gaining experience are far better than what they would have made in the start of their career. So in order to acquire the experience of several years, the best solution is to learn continuously. Regardless of your age and situation, learning is a continuous spectrum that should never stop. The more you learn, the greater chances of being successful as a nurse.