| [ Summary ] |
In providing high quality care for renal disease patients, the certification program is essential to assure the quality of the profession. However, this program may contain risks in that the essence and spirit nursing is distorted if a narrowly-focused specialist nurse is provided through the certification program. Care must be oriented toward patients, not diseases. Two important tasks are training generalists in common based nursing and also developing specialists in different fields. In relation to certified expert nurses for renal disease care, the author predicts a very important role will be played in relation to patients and their families as care givers for their daily problems, meeting or investigating patient's needs, making referral to other staff members or agencies, monitoring, as well as integration and management of multiple or complex services. If this comes about, the author believes certified expert nurses may contribute much more to renal disease patients. |