Introduction
In the United States, there has been a great discrepancy in the number of death cases of women during childbirth between females of color and their white counterparts. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claims that black women experience maternal mortality three times more than white women.
The approximate national rate is close to seventeen per one hundred thousand live births. For African Americans, the figure stands at forty-three per one hundred thousand. Since common causes of death among women during childbirth are conditions that happen during pregnancy, the cases are preventable. Researchers claim that one of the ways to address maternal mortality is by enhancing the quality of care offered in hospitals. It is believed that better quality healthcare facilities with several layers of care are consistent with their collection of responses from individuals, which enables further improvement. This essay aims to tackle the issue of higher maternal mortality cases among women in the minority and how the situation can be improved.
The phenomenon of Interest (POI)
Death among minority women during childbirth has been established more often than in their white counterparts. The United Nations Populations Fund reported in 2015 that more than three hundred thousand females died as a result of pregnancy or the birth process (Chinn et al., 2021). In the United States, the rate is around seventeen per one hundred thousand live births, drastically changing when isolating cases of only African Americans (Chinn et al., 2021). The World Health Organization categorizes the causes of the issue into two types: direct obstetric and indirect obstetric deaths (Taylor, 2020). The first category refers to those cases experienced as a result of pregnancy complications, termination, or birth, for example, obstructed labor. The second class stands for deaths resulting from pregnancy interfering with an underlying condition, for instance, heart illness.
The study of maternal mortality in minorities is significant to nursing practice as it offers much insight into preventing such cases. A nurse is a person patients spend more time with at the hospital (Taylor, 2020). Ensuring enough knowledge around the issue is important since it can enable nurses to be aware of any complications or problems that might lead to death if not handled right. Having the information reduces the time wasted trying to get a physician to help multiple women simultaneously (Taylor, 2020). It has been identified that improving the quality of care can help prevent more cases. This would not be easy to accomplish if nurses still did not have the proper knowledge on the matter. Research on the topic helps generate new data, increasing the chances of better standards.
Maternal mortality has impacted the United States healthcare system by challenging the leaders in the field to improve the quality and conditions to prevent more cases. Findings have shown that the number of obstetrician-gynecologists is higher than that of midwives in most hospitals (Collier & Molina, 2019). Additionally, the shortage of maternity care providers in U.S. healthcare facilities is alarming (Collier & Molina, 2019). It is due to the discussion around the topic that more research is conducted on the matter (Collier & Molina, 2019). This has, in turn, led to the discovery of reasons why there exists a discrepancy between different communities. The system has benefited greatly from this as it provides ways to improve.
Philosophic Viewpoints
In philosophy, a viewpoint refers to a particular manner or attitude through which individual reasons concern something. On the one hand, from an analytic philosophical viewpoint, a person is concerned about analysis, for instance, analysis of language thought or knowledge (McNett et al., 2021). On the other hand, the continental standpoint, which I prefer, deals with a synthesis that can be a synthesis of modernity, individuals with society, or speculation with the application.
Continental philosophical viewpoint influences the type of information to evaluate by going beyond historicist critique by concentrating on the practical discourse among multiple investigators. This refers to a phase of development that can be rationally decisive for the scientific development of issues in nursing, including maternal mortality (McNett et al., 2021). For example, different researchers in the United States have varying ways of approaching the topic.
Focusing on the point whereby they fail to agree with one another could make it easier to find a solution to their disagreement and, ultimately, the health problem among women of color. The value of information offered by continental philosophy can be seen from the way it brings the different views of various researchers and helps them reach a similar conclusion (Albinsson et al., 2019). Most of the time, individuals studying an issue such as a discrepancy in maternal mortality among women tend to disagree on the strategies or approaches to the research despite having the same goal. However, by applying this viewpoint, this is prevented.
It is advantageous to incorporate analytical and continental philosophical viewpoints in nursing. Philosophy in medicine has sought to establish and describe medicine, what practitioners need to do, and how to accomplish that (Albinsson et al., 2019). It offers ideas, intellectuals and applied ends of care, and practicalities when tending to a human. Defining a particular standpoint enables one to connect deeper with their intrinsic beliefs and goals in the profession (Imafidon, 2022). For example, a nurse might be questioning the cause of the high maternal mortality rate among minority women than their white counterparts. With the two philosophical viewpoints, they can understand how to approach their belief and lead them to a solution.
Ways of Knowing
There exist four patterns of knowing when it comes to nursing, including empirics, component of personal knowledge, esthetics as well as ethics. Empirics is the science of nursing, something barely utilized in literature prior to the 50s (Haase et al., 2018). Since then, the whole field has been urgent to ensure that an empirical knowledge body is developed, particularly for nursing. Generally, many experts in the field of medicine claim that there is a need for information concerning many conditions in the world (Haase et al., 2018). For example, in maternal mortality problems among minority women, less data has been gathered to pinpoint a specific cause of the higher numbers. One can apply this pattern of knowing by advocating for an increase in the amount of research done on the death of women during childbirth. For example, requesting funds from the government to study the matter.
Much emphasis has been placed on the development of empirics as people believe that only dependable knowledge is empirical. However, it is impossible to deny that nursing is an art as well (Haase et al., 2018). The reluctance by experts to recognize the esthetic element as a fundamental pattern of knowing in nursing stems from the efforts made to remove the reputation of apprenticeship in the profession (Haase et al., 2018). Esthetics focuses on the much-valued care qualities, communication, and compassion, which can be applied when attending to pregnant women to avoid maternal mortality. For example, having empathy toward a patient to understand how they feel and serve them better.
The third fundamental pattern of knowing is the component of personal knowledge which is hard to master while still being the most important to comprehend the definition of wellness. It has been discovered that the type of relationship a nurse has with their patient will determine the health status of the latter (Thorne, 2020). This pattern stresses that the nurse must strive to understand themselves first, which will translate into knowing to whom they are providing care. This can be applied by emphasizing nurses or midwives tend that pregnant women to have personal knowledge about themselves and thus can comprehend their patients (Thorne, 2020). For example, when a female is in labor, insight into oneself will aid in understanding them. The last pattern is ethics which refers to a choice of what stands as morally upright and what does not (Thorne, 2020). This can be applied by ensuring nurses perform quality care without discrimination. For example, attending to any patient that comes first regardless of their color or social status is proper.
Conclusion
The essay has highlighted the difference in the number of deaths among minority and white women, the application of philosophy on the matter, and patterns of knowing. The paper shows that more deaths are recorded during childbirth among females of color than their white counterparts. Additionally, it has discussed two philosophical standpoints, including analytical and continental viewpoints. It has been stated that empirics, esthetics, ethics, as well as personal knowledge are fundamental patterns of knowing.
References
Albinsson, G., Elmqvist, C., & Hörberg, U. (2019). Nursing students’ and lecturers’ learning experiences at a university-based nursing student-run health clinic.Reflective Practice, 20(4), 423-436. Web.
Chinn, J. J., Martin, I. K., & Redmond, N. (2021). Health equity among Black women in the United States.Journal of Women’s Health, 30(2), 212-219. Web.
Collier, A. R. Y., & Molina, R. L. (2019). Maternal mortality in the United States: updates on trends, causes, and solutions.No reviews, 20(10), 561-574. Web.
Haase, K. R., Thomas, R. T., Gifford, W., & Holtslander, L. F. (2018). Ways of knowing on the internet: a qualitative review of cancer websites from a critical nursing perspective. Nursing Inquiry, 25(3), 1. Web.
Imafidon, E. (2022). Beyond continental and African philosophies of personhood, healthcare, and difference.Nursing Philosophy, 3. Web.
McNett, M., Masciola, R., Sievert, D., & Tucker, S. (2021). Advancing evidence‐based practice through implementation science: Critical contributions of doctor of nursing practice and doctor of philosophy‐prepared nurses.Worldviews on Evidence‐Based Nursing, 18(2), 93-101. Web.
Taylor, J. K. (2020). Structural racism and maternal health among Black women. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 48(3), 506-517.
Thorne, S. (2020). Rethinking Carper’s knowing for 21st-century nursing. Nursing Philosophy, 21(4), 1. Web.