Over the course of learning, I have reached a conclusion that the process of nursing education is not only never-ending but becomes more complex and insightful once a person starts to immerse deeper in the process. Hence, the decision to pursue a BSN degree has shown me how many layers this profession actually has, embracing the peculiarities of medical expertise, integrity, interprofessional communication, and compassion. Undeniably, it is impossible to outline a part of nursing practice that would be more important than others. However, I would underscore the notions of servant leadership, human dignity in patient care, and interprofessional collaborations as some of the most eye-opening concepts I discovered in depth.
When people talk of leadership, the majority imagines a distinct hierarchy that separates the management from the rest of the team. However, with years of practice, I have realized that such a pattern does not work in the health care setting, as interdisciplinarity and equality are some of the pillars of efficient patient service. For example, the research shows that even in a setting as challenging as the COVID-19 pandemic, the application of servant leadership has significantly reduced burnout rates due to high levels of psychological safety among the nurses (Ma et al., 2021). Bearing these benefits in mind, I currently allocate my inner resource to show compassion and help others instead of justifying my authority on the team.
Another aspect I now pay more attention to is human dignity and its significance in medical practice. Although I have never abandoned human dignity as a concept before, I now understand the complexity of it, especially when it comes to interpersonal communication with the patient. Nurses, including me, often employ practices that seem ethically and morally justified, but the outcomes result in the violation of human dignity. For example, when a nurse finds it culturally insensitive to clarify the ethnic affiliation of the patient, their behavior is considered biased. For this reason, researchers encourage the practitioners to review their institutional guidelines to eliminate such discrepancies (Martin-Ferreres et al., 2019). The more I learn about the importance of human dignity, the more I realize that its contribution to the overall patient outcomes is unmeasurable.
Finally, the importance of interprofessional collaboration is another aspect of nursing I personally emphasize in my career. Previously, it was common for practitioners to think that nurses were responsible for the execution of their duties without the need to collaborate closely with the other staff. As a result, when I started my career path, I was intimidated by the need to consult physicians, as I was convinced that seeking advice was a sign of professional incompetence. Indeed, according to Mattar e Silva et al. (2020), “as power is constituted in the relationships and practices experienced daily in professional relationships, those with greater knowledge assume a privileged position in power relations” (p. 2). However, the existing paradigm shift in the practice has shown that both physicians and nurses need collaboration in order to secure proper patient outcomes.
Considering all the aforementioned points, I stand by the opinion that besides medical practice, servant leadership, human dignity, and interprofessional collaboration are the most significant aspects. All of them contribute to the craft of nursing, expanding its horizons and leaving nurses with more meaningful insights into the profession. Thus, in the future, I am willing to learn more about these sides of nursing, combining them with relevant professional knowledge and new trends in nursing practice.
References
Ma, Y., Faraz, N. A., Ahmed, F., Iqbal, M. K., Saeed, U., Mughal, M. F., & Raza, A. (2021). Curbing nurses’ burnout during COVID‐19: The roles of servant leadership and psychological safety.Journal of Nursing Management, 29(8), 2383-2391. Web.
Martin-Ferreres, M. L., Pardo, M. Á. D. J., Porras, D. B., & Moya, J. L. M. (2019). An ethnographic study of human dignity in nursing practice.Nursing Outlook, 67(4), 393-403. Web.
Mattar e Silva, T. W., Velloso, I. S. C., Araújo, M. T., & Fernandes, A. D. R. K. (2020). Configuration of power relations in physicians and nurses’ professional practices. Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem, 73, 1-8. Web.