The Nursing Philosophy - Essay Example

Introduction Everybody has their own philosophy or theory about nursing. I would describe nursing as a profession that focuses on providing health care and delivering assistance to people who are in need of health care services to aid them in regaining and maintaining their balance of system. It is not simply achieving optimal functioning of the physical state. It also includes psychological, emotional, social and cultural aspects of health. The central concepts of nursing models are the relationship of the patient with their health, their environment, and nursing. Patient A patient may be an individual, a group, a family, a community or an aggregate. Each patient has multiple components which are responsible in making each person unique and special—these are biological, psychological, socio-cultural, and spiritual. The patient has a capacity for growth and development as well as the desire to obtain maximum capacity to enhance ones potential. Health The state of good health is not merely the absence of disease but rather a dynamic stability and equilibrium among his/her subsystems. The patient uses his internal and external resources based on his knowledge to protect his system from anything that might invade or break not to lose stability and equilibrium. Constantly moving toward equilibrium in an unstable environment, the patient cooperates with the nurse and share ideas and knowledge toward the same goal of a successful health outcome. Health can be accomplished through successful adaptation as the patient responds to life stressors given by the environment. Health is experienced as being connected and harmonized of physical, psychological, social and spiritual aspects within self, with others as well as with the environment. As a means of well-being, health is the system in condition of balance and equilibrium, well processed adaptation, enhanced ability to express oneself without restraint in every positive ways, to successfully struggle against stressors, and to meet self-care needs. Health also means continuous process of changing and befitting for the reason that each person should perceive health as a highly individualized unique system, according to personal cultural context. The environment provides resources to satisfy the patient’s basic needs and to improve a patient’s physical, psychological, social and spiritual development which are important factors that compose the environment. The environment not only present a mixture of stressors, nevertheless provides resources needed that would groom the patient to adapt and acclimatize. These factors change every now and then from intra- inter-, or extrapersonal. The patient and the environment are interrelated, constantly interacting with respect to greater complexity and diversity. As the environment influences the patient’s health, the patient in return influences the environment. Nursing Philosophy Nursing is an intellectual and interactive process between patient and a nurse. Nursing activities are aimed at providing assistance to patients with the purpose of preventing illness and obtaining, maintaining, regaining or improving their health and well-being. Nursing should play a significant role in the health campaign to progress toward the goal of improving the health of the people by way of program development, health education, and community outreach. Furthermore, nursing entails extensive research and collaboration with other health professionals to boost up not only the distribution of health care, but also the delivery of quality of health care programs into a more desirable and superior condition. Nursing is sometimes labeled as an “art and science” due to the reason that it is a healing art blended with a caring science that involves body of specialized knowledge based on nursing research, as well as from the synthesis of knowledge from related disciplines—biological, physical, behavioral, and cultural sciences. In summation, the art and science of nursing guarantees the development of a caring relationship with patients with the application of scientific knowledge, and effective use of clinical judgment and critical thinking in the promotion of health and healing. Nursing procedures and interventions are geared toward providing assistance to the patients toward adaptation, self care, balance/equilibrium, and higher levels of consciousness. Therefore, the role of the nurse is not restricted to being a health care provider, rather, it is extended to teacher/educator, advocate, leader, manager, and researcher in complying with the needs of society to improve health system and health care delivery. Today, an assortment of issues is discussed in the current nursing climate. Those contemporary nursing trends and issues have been explored within historic, economic, philosophical and political contexts. One particular issue can be central to successful health care reform. Also, it may be necessary for provision of care in the interest of the public. To begin with, hospitals are gradually phasing in a computerized system which was designed to meet the information demands of most of a hospital including patient information, clinical laboratory, radiology, and patient monitoring, patient census and billing, staffing and scheduling, outcomes assessment and quality control, pharmacy ordering, prescription handling, and pharmacopoeia information, decision support, finance and accounting, supplies, inventory, maintenance, and orders management. Glaser and Foley (2008) reported that advances in IT user interfaces and application software used in hospital enabled the hospital system to be smarter. This computerized system has benefited everyone in the hospital in so many ways. Nurses can now spend more time with patients since computerized system is convenient and timesaver. Time spent accessing and retrieving information got faster and easier. The quality of documentation and patient care are improved, nursing productivity is increased and communication among health care professions had been effective as well. Also, these technologies have been used for the development of a common clinical database and pathway, tracking patient’s record and recruiting and retaining staff. There are currently lesser omissions and medication errors so hospital costs are reduced. All these things by and large contributed to increasing nurse’s job satisfaction and patient’s perception of care and improved hospital image. Even the home health agency where I have my clinic for home health nursing, their system is in progress of transition from paperwork toward electronic charting. Therefore, the broad use of computer in the hospital is already prevalent and it will be used more and more intensely and efficiently in the future with higher level of intelligence, performance, service, security, and satisfaction due to its abundant benefits. Patients’ Family Another issue I want to address is that current nursing is in transition of progressing toward more family-focused care. Verhaeghe, Defloor, Van, Duijnstee, and Grypdonck (2005) have suggested that insight into the needs and experiences of family members is an initial but indispensable step in providing appropriate care for both family members and the patient. The patient’s illness is not just a solitary, isolated, time limited event; instead, it comes from particularly stressful setting that evolves from the family’s history which affects their future dynamically. For this reason, nurses are accountable for providing care to the patient from a standpoint of family systems, establishing positive and productive nurse-family relationships as well as working on strategies to enhance family centered care. Family members are not the only best source of support and comfort but also the only source for collecting the patient’s family health history. They are most likely to be the ones who recognize significant changes in patient’s condition and report any problem through continuous observation and monitoring because the patient is their loved one. According to Verhaeghe et al (2005), nurses’ personal role in sustaining the needs of family members is often underestimated by the nurses. The nurse should recognize the essential role of the family which is taking part in to ensure the health and well-being of the patients. Its importance cannot be emphasized enough and should be discussed with greater importance in the future. Family-focused care will move forward to better health outcomes and wiser allocation of resources, and greater patient and family satisfaction. Core Values There are certain values that I think are extremely important in practicing nursing philosophy. These are compassion, respect and professionalism. Compassion is the force that motivates a person to care and is expected by the public to be a vital component of good nursing care. I had this nurse on one of my clinical day on medical-surgical unit. She was a highly skilled nurse. At the same time, she was a very warm, kind and passionate. She finished all the routine tasks so quickly so she always had enough time to provide hygiene care for all her patients by herself without help. Everything was always prepared at the patients’ bedside before the patients ask for it. I saw some nurses who read books or do something for themselves whenever they have free time. On the other hand, the excellent nurse I was talking about usually spends her free time talking to patients and their families or providing extra care for her patients. Its very obvious that she is truly devoted to her profession and that she sincerely wanted to do everything to improve her patients’ health, make them and their families happy, well taken care of and satisfied. Unfortunately, in recent times, nurses are often caught up doing monotonous tasks, daily routines and documentations that distract them from being compassionate but the bottom line is that they cannot take priority over holistic care. Respect is given to each individual regardless of age, race, medical condition, or limitations. Any nurse can learn skills such as inserting foley catheter or starting IV and become a competitive nurse from practice and experience. Being respectful is not something that anyone can easily acquire. A nurse who grew up without as much respect for his or her family, friends, or other people would find it difficult to respect his or her patients. It is a feeling of deep appreciation, willingness to give consideration and favor while treating others with dignity and conducting oneself with integrity. It is also a feeling of empathy for other people’s feelings and to express great value of someone. Being respectful to patients more openly by treating them with dignity is truly a significant value that is required in patient care in order to achieve patients’ satisfaction and well-being, and moving toward holistic care. The patients, who were treated with respect and dignity and allowed to be involved in decision making concerning their health conditions—patient autonomy, will more likely have positive outcomes. Professionalism is another fundamental component to the discipline of nursing. Patients need the nurse’s warmth and care indeed; however, they need the medical knowledge, technical know-how and professional service of a certified nurse as well. A nurse who is compassionate and respectful to patients but lacks the necessary nursing skills does not have adequate training is prone to commit medical errors, fail to meet patients’ needs, and perform medical procedures haphazardly and clumsily. The patient and families might be appreciative for the nurse’s kindness but may be very anxious and worried in receiving care and treatment; henceforth, will not be beneficial for improving patient’s health system and satisfaction. Conclusion Despite the fact that the nursing philosophy is deemed differently by different individuals, the fundamental concepts of client, health, environment and nursing are similar to the idea of achieving and maintaining equilibrium within constant changing environmental circumstances, dealing with physical, psychological, emotional, socio-cultural, and spiritual stress. The nurses are the ones who are expected to help people to regain and maintain their balance of system with compassion and respect in a professional manner. Read More