“In Defense of the Traditional Nurse” by Lisa Newton Essay

Introduction

“If the unborn are human persons, the principles of justice and non – maleficence (rightly understood) prohibit every abortion; that is, every procedure or technical process carried out with the intention of killing an unborn child or terminating its development.” (Kuhse & Singer, 2006, p.13).

Analyzing and critically evaluating the book “Bioethics: An Anthology” edited by the famous scholars in the field of bioethics – Helga Kuhse and Peter Singer, one should take into consideration the above-provided quote, which determines the basic ideas of the given book and defines the issues those researchers are arguing for, generalizing the scientific texts over the major ethical issues provided in the volume.

Drawing from this one say that the major themes discussed in this anthology work are:

• the legitimacy of obstructive desire and discontinuation account;
• the morality concerning contracted pregnancy, cell mass division, embryonic human stem cells procreative autonomy, germline and somatic cell engineering, and germline changes, and genetic screening;
• the issue of the cortically dead infant, some reasonable medical alternatives, and suggested theoretical and clinical equipoise;
• the organ transplantation policy, and the classification of transplantable organs;
• the possibility and the ethical and moral issues concerning active voluntary euthanasia;
• animal experimentation;
• ethical concern and resource allocation between patients.

Therefore, it is possible to note that the given bioethics anthology is a definitive and descriptive collection of key texts concerning bioethics studies. One of the sharpest, but interesting scientific texts, represented in the anthology, is “In defense of the traditional Nurse” written by Lisa Newton, and located in the part discussing the topics of “Special Issues Facing Nurses”. The core subject of this article is people’s attitude towards the ideal of the traditional nurse, the attitude of the nurses themselves to the traditional nursing, and the relationship of this too, so-called ‘autonomous professional’, the new definition of the nurse’s profession.

In her philosophical work, Lisa Newton reveals her opinion, which is profoundly linked with the editors viewpoints on the following subjects:

• The philosophical approach in the determination of the terminology of the nursing role components, and in the establishment of the key meanings of those components;
• The definition of what ‘the traditional nurse’ actually is, concerning the hospital environment;
• The role of the hospital and nurse in the fulfillment of the patient’s needs, and the prime concern of those needs;
• The ethical legitimacy and the successful treatment of the patient with regard to the psychological phenomenon of patient’s attitude toward nurse as his or her mother; limits on, so-called ‘mother’, role;
• The role of the nurse as the provider of humanistic care, and the danger of such care disappearance, because of its replacement with the ‘autonomous professional’ quantity;
• The feminist perspective concerning traditional nursing and the proposal of male’s encouragement for participation in the healthcare system, and even in becoming a part of the traditional nursing (Newton, 1981, p. 349).

Following this, one may conclude that the author’s main idea lays on the assumption of the importance of traditional nursing in the modern health care system, which she proves by discussing the above-listed subjects. Therefore, it would be possible for one to agree with Lisa Newton’s viewpoint and explain one’s choice by the detailed analysis and evaluation of this scholarly article.

Discussion

The author regards the image of the ideal nurse as “the traditional ideal of the skilled and gentle caregiver, whose role in health care requires submission to authority as an essential component” (Newton, cited in Kuhse & Singer, 2006, p. 562). Lisa Newton asserts that only such nurses may give proper care to the patient and that their contribution to the healthcare system is great. She also states that the reform which suggests replacing those types of the nurse with the new, ‘autonomous profession’, type, would be disastrous for the healthcare system as a whole.

One may agree with the author that such cardinal change in the nursing system would bring few positive effects. One may also suggest that the change might be not fundamental, but such, that would implement some new medical and psychological techniques to improve the nurse’s work, but not make a cold-hearted and uncomprehending machines of them.

According to Newton, her article is “an essay in philosophical analysis, starting from familiar ideas, beliefs, and concepts, examining their relationships and implications and reaching tentative conclusions about the logical defensibility of the structures discovered” (Newton, cited in Kuhse & Singer, 2006, p. 562). Tracing the author’s course of mind, one may pass to the analysis of the role components in nursing. She explains the term role as the pattern of action governed by certain norms and undertaken in accordance with certain social expectations. In this context, the image and ideal of the perfect nurse, appear to be the illustrating and perspective aspects of the above-mentioned social role.

Therefore, one can firmly agree with such an idea and suggest that the ideal of any role itself (for example, perfect nurse) presupposes, what that role should actually be, as it is determined by the factors and obligation which only certain person who performs that particular role has the skill to carry out. Following this, it is possible to state that there are certain tasks and needs in the healthcare system, which only the traditional nursing staff is uniquely qualified to perform.

That is how the traditional public image of a nurse appears. Consequently, such an image is socially expected to be followed by the people of that profession. Thus, one may say that it is one more reason to retain traditional nursing, and not cardinally change it.

Defending the image and evaluating the status of the ‘traditional nurse’, Lisa Newton refers to the ideas of Aristotle and says that he “taught us, the way to discover the peculiar virtues of anything is to look to the work that it accomplishes in the larger context of its environment” (Newton, cited in Kuhse & Singer, 2006, p. 564). In her philosophical analysis, the author accounts the hospital environment the nurses and the patients are placed in, particularly she regards general characteristics about medical institutions which influence the demands they make on those people who work within those institutions’ systems.

The definitive feature of the above-mentioned institutions is bureaucracy, which basic principles lay on the blind performance of the chief – staff’s orders without any judgment or making some proposals which might be drawn from the experience and good understanding of the case.

At this point, one can agree with Lisa Newton, and point out that it is actually bureaucracy that leads to the ideas of the traditional nursing displacement and turning it into the ‘autonomous professional’ type of nursing, which feels comfortable with the blind subordination and callousness. But, here, one should of course note that the ‘traditional nursing’ does not assume the anarchy or nonperformance of the duties or recommendations of the doctors, it rather assumes participation of the nurse in the development of the treatment program for the patient, based on the skills and experience.

In accordance with the author, in order to fulfill the needs of the patient, the nurse should have the qualities intrinsic to ‘mother’, so the patient would trust her and consider her as an authority in a certain way, which would help to make the treatment therapy more effective.

The role of the nurse here also lays in providing the patient with humanistic care. One may agree with this statement, but as the author does, one should assert that there should be certain limits on this ‘mother’ role of the traditional nurse. Taking into consideration the feminist perspective, Newton proposes to break the gender stereotypes in the healthcare system and suggests encouraging men to become a part of traditional nursing. One can totally agree with such propositions, which might serve as a good base for the reform in the field of nursing without the elimination of traditional nursing.

Conclusion

In her philosophical article, Lisa Newton logically and evidently proves the importance of traditional nursing in the health care system, she makes proposals of the progressive innovations in traditional nursing, which one firmly supports and agrees with. There is no doubt, that this particular article covers one of the most interesting and sharp subjects represented in the bioethics anthology volume edited by the famous scholars in the field of bioethics – Helga Kuhse and Peter Singer.

Works Cited

Newton, Lisa. In Defense of the Traditional Nurse. Nursing Outlook, vol. 29, no. 6. 1981, pp. 348 – 354.

Newton, Lisa. In Defense of the Traditional Nurse. Bioethics: Anthology. ed. Kuhse, H. & Singer, P. N.Y.: Blackwell, 2006, pp. 562 – 569.