How to Write an Essay for Nursing School
Table of Contents
Nurses play an important part in the life of any area of the healthcare system. Their presence 24 hours a day and 7 days a week in hospitals and clinics serves great help both for doctors and patients. If the person gets ill, he or she becomes very sensitive. Patients want moral support along with pills, injections, and drips. It is believed that a person who believes in healing gets well sooner than others. And the role of a nurse is to put every effort into delivering care and support to patients.
If you have chosen nursing as your future career and have enrolled in a program in a nursing school, you may be challenged with a wide range of writing assignments. In nursing school, essays differ from those that you have already written. You may be assigned the following types of papers: essays, reports, reflective writing, and critiques.
This article was created by our paper writing service to help you with writing essays for nursing school. Here we will share with you important steps that you need to go through to write a professional essay.
How to write a good nursing essay in 8 steps
- Understand the assignment. Carefully reading the text and essay question will give you some ideas for your future essay. The assignment can ask you to discuss, reflect, analyze, etc. The success of your essay depends whether you have understood the essay question correctly.
- Find the topic. This step is needed if your instructor hasn’t assigned you a particular topic and you need to choose it on your own. Make sure that the topic you choose corresponds with your interests, and there is enough information to write about. Here is a list of nursing essay topics we offer our readers.
- Conduct the research. Look through all reliable resources, such as the library, databases, internet, etc. Gather as much information as you can and narrow down your topic. Take notes while reading and mention the source.
- Create an outline. To write a well-structured essay you will need a detailed plan of what you need to write. The first method is to make a list of aspects and classification. Classifying information helps to create a logical and well-balanced text. The second method is using the essay rephraser to get another point of view on your topic.
- Write the introduction. In this section you need to tell brief information about the issue you are going to discuss in your essay. Explain why your topic is important to research.
- Write the body paragraph(s). A typical nursing essay contains from one to three body paragraphs depending on topic. You can dedicate each paragraph for each feature or classification of your topic.
- Write the conclusion. In this section you need to sum up the information that you have already discussed in the body. Don’t reveal any new information about the topic in this section.
- Proofread and edit the paper. Check to see if the essay is easy to read. Connect all the parts of the text with transitions and make sure that everything sounds logical. Also, you will need to apply the correct format to the text according to the requirements. Correct all grammar, punctuation, and other errors.
How to choose a nursing essay topic
Nursing essay topics
- The role of nurses in preventing hospital-acquired infections.
- What are the ethical considerations in nursing practice?
- The impact of nurse-led care on patient outcomes.
- Causes and solutions of the nursing shortage.
- The role of nurses in promoting health literacy among patients.
- The use of technology in nursing education.
- How cultural competence can improve patient care in nursing practice.
- The effects of nursing burnout on patient care.
- The impact of nursing leadership on organizational culture and patient outcomes.
- The challenges of providing end-of-life care in nursing practice.
- What is the importance of interprofessional collaboration in nursing?
- The impact of COVID-19 on nursing practice and patient care.
- The importance of patient-centered care in nursing practice.
- The role of nurses in addressing healthcare disparities.
- The impact of nursing research on evidence-based practice in healthcare.
Nursing essay sample
We have created a sample nursing essay to help you get a better understanding of what a good paper looks like. From our sample you can learn how to structure the essay, what transitional phrases to use, and how to organize text in a readable paper. In the following essay, the author discusses how caring in nursing practice has changed in the 21st century. The paper was written according to our requirements and corresponds with the basics of academic writing. Read it attentively and highlight the most important points.
Discuss How Caring Has Changed in Nursing Practice of the 21st Century
In any given society, the maintenance of the nation’s health is a primary, and most concerning, issue. A healthy society is happy, motivated, and productive. Quick access to qualitative healthcare service improves the quality of life of each particular member of the society and contributes to the well being of the world’s population, and consequently, to world progress. The connection between health and prosperity is apparent and undeniable. Therefore, for the USA and for the entire civilized world, an effective healthcare system has become the object of national pride because in the 21st century, together with qualitative changes in living conditions of the world as a whole, the quality of life and health has acquired special significance.
Technological progress has become a miracle of the 21st century. It brought changes incomprehensible to previous generations. It led the society to an entirely new level of relationships and interactions. Each particular sphere of life has been affected by technologies. Healthcare is not an exception. Not only have new devices and new opportunities for treatment appeared in medicine, but the service and the relationships between healthcare providers and patients have also undergone significant changes. Currently, a new consciousness should be developed: “We must shift from a care system that focuses on illness to one that prioritizes wellness and prevention” (Salmond and Echevarria). Nursing has always been associated with generosity and kindness. To quite a large degree, it is a justified association because, since ancient times, nurses have been in a category of the population who have contributed their energy and efforts to improve the well-being of those who are in need. After nursing became a valuable and respectful profession, the relationships between nurses and the patient have been changing occasionally. A distinguishing feature of a modern approach to nursing is that it has shifted from being on duty to being a friend with the patient. Currently, patients have much more freedom in making decisions about the strategies for their treatment. Patients today are not passive victims of the illness, but are active participators in the process of their treatment.
With the development of a new common consciousness of leadership and its implementation in each particular sphere of life both on the professional and individual level, nursing practice has been affected by this new ideology as well. Previously, nurses have been entirely dependent on the decisions of the doctors and were passive suppliers of basic services to maintain the patient’s health and foster their quick recovery. Today, a nurse is an independent and self-sufficient participator of healthcare practice. Many of the decisions made in relation to treatment strategies of each particular patient proceed from the self-initiative of the nurses. “Self-initiatives are efforts directed toward increasing management capability and decision-making at the state and local levels” (Guevara and Mendias). The level of education and preparation to nursing practice as well as more fluent policies on nursing activities led the profession of the nurse to an entirely new level. Currently, nurses are much more motivated because they take responsibility, and it gives them a sense of significance. There does not exist a more rewarding experience than having the realization that one’s personal decisions, knowledge, and actions have contributed to the well being of another human being.
In conclusion, it makes sense to claim that the peculiarities of time require quick adaptation strategies from healthcare providers. Nurses have existed in a category affected by the need to adapt the most. Today, to be a nurse is not just to be a servant. It is a self-sufficient profession surrounded by the energy of generosity, education, and courage.
Works Cited
Guevara, Edilma B., and Elnora P. Mendias. “A Comparative Analysis of the Changes in Nursing Practice Related to Health Sector Reform in Five Countries of the Americas.” Public Health, vol 12, no. 5, 2002, Accessed 5 Sept 2018.
Salmond, Susan W., and Mercedes Echevarria. “Healthcare Transformation and Changing Roles for Nursing.” NCBI, 2017, doi:10.1097/NOR.0000000000000308. Accessed 5 Sept 2018.
Tips on how to write a nursing essay better
- Use straightforward language. Try to write short and concise sentences to make your text easy to read.
- Set yourself enough time for writing. If you want to prepare a winning nursing essay, the worst thing you can do is write it several hours before the deadline. Plan your time and make sure that you will have plenty of time for researching, writing, and editing your paper.
- Add supporting evidence to your claims (medical and nursing codes, quotes from experts, laws, documents, etc.). Always cite the sources that you got the information from. Apply the required format for your citations or references.
- Always remember that an essay is an academic paper and should adhere to the principles of academic writing.
- Pay attention to what type of essay you need to write. Strictly follow the requirements before writing to receive a high mark.
- The education of nurses closely connects theory and practice. That’s why it is necessary to relate your practical experience and theory in your essays.
- Apply the principles of wide reading to get the full information about the researched topic.
- Materials from academic sources and clinical evidence will help you get a full picture of the issue.
- Apply logical argumentation and critical evaluation to lead your text to a higher level of academic writing. These skills will also be helpful in your workplace.
How to write a reflective essay in nursing
Along with typical essays, you may be assigned to write a reflective essay. A reflective essay is an academic paper that expresses your thoughts, experience, and feelings about a particular object or event. In nursing school, students face many situations with patients and medical personnel.
Why do you need it? Basically, it is a good exercise that help students better understand practical studies and situations from real experience during a hospital placement program. Clinical experience is one of the basic requirements to become a nurse. During your practice you will face many difficult situations and make mistakes. This is a part of the knowledge you need to obtain to become a good nurse. A reflective essay helps you to recognize the nature of the problem, indicate your professional concerns and doubts, and find the solution. To write a good reflective essay you will need to write about the following points:
Description. Here you need to describe the situation that has happened to you in your work placement. Use pseudonyms if needed and concentrate on describing every single detail that matters.
Feelings. Share what you have felt during the experience. Add enough information so the reader will clearly understand the situation.
Evaluation. Draw conclusions from the incident and sum up the main points you have experienced in the situation.
Analysis. Find out information in medical or nursing codes or in specific literature that relates to the incident.
Conclusion. Sum up your experience. Highlight what lessons you have learned. Also, you can list possible negative effects of the situation and how they can be prevented.
Action plan. Think about the skills you need to develop in order to avoid mistakes in the future.
A reflective essay is usually written from a first person perspective. The format of the reflective essay will be the same: introduction, body section, and conclusion. For this type of essay you will need to put aside some academic requirements. Don’t worry, as your assessor will be looking to find personal experiences and identified ways of growth in your reflective essay.
We hope that our guide will help you create a professional-looking nursing essay and get a high score for it. In this article we have highlighted all information that nursing school students need for understanding the basics of academic writing in nursing school. Follow our recommendations and tips to ease your life. For more inspiration you can check our nursing essay topics and start writing right away!
