Essential Functions

For admission and progression, all candidates for Practical Nursing must meet intellectual, physical, and social core performance standards necessary to provide safe patient care in an independent manner. The areas discussed in this section include examples of the abilities and skills necessary to provide safe, competent care to the patients for whom students will be responsible for providing care. The following list of necessary activities and skills is not all-inclusive.

 

Essential Function: Critical Thinking

Critical thinking ability sufficient for clinical judgment.

Examples

• Identifying cause/effect relationships in clinical situations.
• Developing care plans.
• Transferring knowledge from one situation to another.
• Evaluating outcomes.
• Solving problems.
• Prioritizing.
• Using short- and long-term memory.

 

Essential Function: Interpersonal

Interpersonal abilities sufficient to interact with individuals, families, and groups from a variety of social, emotional, cultural, and intellectual backgrounds.

Examples

• Establishing rapport with patients, families, and colleagues.
• Negotiating interpersonal conflict.
• Respecting cultural diversity.

 

Essential Function: Communication

Communication abilities sufficient to interact with others.

Examples

• Explaining treatment procedures.
• Initiating health teaching.
• Documenting and interpreting nursing actions and patient responses.
• Preparing written reports and oral reports for other healthcare professionals.

 

Essential Function: Mobility

Physical abilities sufficient for movement from room to room and in small spaces.

Examples

• Moving around a patient's room, work spaces, and treatment areas.
• Administering cardiopulmonary procedures such as resuscitation.
• Sitting or standing and maintaining balance for long periods.
• Twisting, bending, and stooping throughout the day.
• Moving quickly in response to possible emergencies.
• Pushing, pulling, lifting, or supporting a dependent adult patient.
• Squeezing with hands and fingers.
• Performing repetitive movements.

 

Essential Function: Motor Skills

Gross and fine motor abilities sufficient for providing safe, effective nursing care.

Examples

• Calibrating and using equipment.
• Positioning dependent adult patients.
• Grasping and manipulating small objects and instruments.
• Using a computer keyboard.
• Writing with a pen.

 

Essential Function: Hearing

Auditory ability sufficient for monitoring and assessing health needs.

Examples

• Hearing monitor and pump alarms, emergency signals, fire alarms, auscultatory sounds, and cries for help.

 

Essential Function: Visual

Visual ability sufficient for observation and assessment necessary in nursing care.

Examples

• Observing patient responses such as respiratory rate and depth, skin color, and other physical signs.
• Seeing and reading monitors, watches with second hands, medication labels and vials, and increments on a medication syringe.
• Seeing objects from 20 inches to 20 feet away.
• Using depth perception and peripheral vision.
• Distinguishing colors.
• Reading written documents.

 

Essential Function: Tactile

Tactile ability sufficient for physical assessment.

Examples

• Performing palpation, functions of physical examinations (such as the discrimination of pulses and detection of temperature), and functions related to therapeutic intervention (such as the insertion of a catheter).

 

Essential Function: Emotional

Emotional stability sufficient to tolerate rapidly changing conditions and environmental stress.

Examples

• Establishing therapeutic interpersonal boundaries.
• Providing patients with emotional support.
• Adapting to changing conditions in the work environment and stress level.
• Dealing with unexpected or unpredictable events.
• Maintaining focus on task.
• Performing multiple tasks concurrently.
• Being able to handle strong emotions.