The development of nursing philosophy is one of the most important tasks for any person, who has chosen this profession. It is a system of beliefs and values, which guides him or her, enables to establish certain principles for making decisions. The role and image of nursing have changed over the centuries, it has become much more sophisticated and advanced but some features such as compassion and empathy will always be the cornerstones any nursing theory. I would like to say that my approach is based on both individual experience and theoretical knowledge. In my opinion, we always have to put ourselves in other peoples position and treat them like we want to be treated. Yet, this is not sufficient, it is also necessary to understand for whom exactly, a nurse cares. What are his or her major goals and most importantly how can a medical worker assist the patient and other people. These are the most decisive aspects, which shape nursing philosophy and help to carry out ones duties more effectively.
Patient
At first, any medical worker has to get a clear idea of people, requiring his or her help. It seems to me that that nurses cannot focus only on patients who need medical assistance, because there are others who need to be supported. Judging from my personal experience, I can tell that a good professional never disregards the patients family or relatives, because they also live through a very difficult period in their lives. In part, my philosophy was shaped by nurses who showed understanding, compassion, and ability to encourage others especially at hard moments.
The relationships between a medical worker and family must never be one-sided. There are two reasons for that: first, relatives must be given practical tips as to how care about the patient after discharge. This information can be provided only by a doctor or a nurse. In point of fact, it is their immediate duty to do it. In my opinion, a medical worker may also receive some helpful information about the patient. For example, Ingrid Kollak and Hesook Kim in their book Nursing Theories argue that this is one of the indispensible conditions for the recovery (Kim et al, 2006, p. 88). They state that it is hardly possible to present some statistical data because as a rule much depends upon the doctor, but the authors suggest that the participation of the family or relatives beneficially affects the process of treatment. What we have to do it is to involve members of the family, because without them there is practically no chance for success.
Besides, I would like to say that nurses should also think about the community, for example elderly people who sometimes cannot even go to hospital, patients, who should be visited at home, families living in poor conditions, and people who cannot afford medical services. A nurse can also give counsel to those who are in critical situation and help them find help. Naturally, it is impossible to help everyone but we should at least ensure that people living near us, can feel our care, and this is crucial for me. At this point, we need to tell what nursing is, and how we can we impact the patient.
Nursing
It is very difficult to give an exact definition of nursing because it has many components. I strongly support the ideas of Florence Nightingale who says that nursing is “creating the best conditions” for recovery (Nightingale, 2008, p. 23). In order to do it, medical worker has to influence patients mind and body. It is necessary to make sure that that he or she has everything which contributes on recovery. Secondly, we need to make a person feel that he is not alone in his struggle against the disease. The overwhelming majority of scholars argue that many people who work in this sphere often cannot do it, because it require a sense of commitment and compassion. From my standpoint, any nurse has to realize that at any moment, she may be in similar situation, so she must care about the patients as she would care about those near and dear to her. This principle must be a guide for anyone, willing to become a medical worker.
Health
Then the question arises what goals we must achieve. Naturally, we should ensure health recovery, but what is health? The understanding of this notion defines the objective, which nurses set. It is essential to develop ones own vision of this concept, because it is multidimensional, and even now experts cannot agree on this point. First, health is the state of bodily and mentally vigorous, and more importantly free from disease. In my opinion, health is highly subjective, and on perceptual level a person may actually feel quite healthy. In her book, Community and Public Nursing, Marcia Stanhone states that there are many patients who may be terminally ill but even despite this fact they remain vigorous and maintain a sense of wellness. The author says that this behavior is not some kind of self-deception, and it is not an escape from reality, on the contrary as a rule, such people are perfectly aware of their disease, but they convince themselves that it does not prevent them living a full life, and this is the major difference between health and illness (Stanhone et al, 2004, p. 88). In this respect, we may refer to the article Death and Society, written by Allan Kellenhear. He focuses on socio-psychological behavior of people, who suffer from permanent disease. His overarching thesis is that that under some circumstances these individuals can have drastically different visions of this problem. The author states that with the help of medical workers they can reduce the negative effects to a minimum and feel healthy at least at perceptual level (Kellenhear, 2006, p. 510).
We have to admit that nurses and even practitioner cannot always restores patients physical health, unfortunately, the resources that medicine possesses are very limited, but they can help him or her to adapt to new conditions. Such statement may give rise to moral disputes because sometimes medical workers conceal some information from the resident and this is violation of medical ethics. In this case, I am not speaking about delusion, but about encouragement and empathy, the inseparable parts of any treatment mode. Thus, a nurse should address not only physical aspects of the patients health but his or her inner world as well. We need to make a patient believe that even in spite of his illness; he or she can still enjoy life.
Internal and external environment
The nurse should also clearly understand the methods in which she can help the patient. In order to do it, a medical worker should answer the question how he or she can manipulate internal and external environment to promote health. The internal environment includes the resident’s physical and mental state, attitude toward being ill or hospitalized, relationships with his or her family, willingness or unwillingness to collaborate with doctors and nurses. The external environment comprises socio-economic position of this person, technological facilities of the hospital, financial situation in the family. All of them can immensely influence the process of treatment. Furthermore, I think it is not permissible to forget cultural differences between a nurse and patient. In order to throw more light on this question, we should refer to the article by Gary Rodgers, who maintains that inability to find common language is often the underlying cause problems. The scholar does not limit his research only to linguistic proficiency. In his opinion, medical workers meet the demands of this people, and this requires good knowledge of culture (Rogers, 2006, p. 61). The thing is that representatives of various cultures may have drastically different visions of health and illness. Thus, a health care provider has to adapt oneself to their needs.
One cannot assume that a nurse can easily manipulate all of these factors, because some of them are entirely beyond his or her competence, namely financial aspects. However, he or she must make full use of those resources that are at her command. Her main duty is to smooth down the disadvantages of being in hospital. Sometimes, people view nursing as some “menial” job, but they entirely forget that these “menial” activities often work miracles.
Conclusion
To conclude, prior to shaping nursing philosophy, any person must first clearly determine its major components, because they lay foundations for his future success or failure. The adequate understanding of such notions as patient, nursing, health is the cornerstone of our profession. Naturally, my nursing philosophy is not something extraordinary, yet I may say that it is primarily based on the belief that health has both physical and spiritual dimensions. Secondly, it originates from my personal experience which tells me that nurse deals not only with patients but with their families as well and we should always treat others like we want to be treated. Finally, I am firmly convinced that even the least conspicuous things can boost the recovery.
Bibliography
- Allan Kellehear (2006). “Death and Society”. Medical Journal of Australia, 175, pp.500-510.
- Barbara R. Hegner, Esther Caldwell (2003). “Nursing Assistant: A Nursing Process Approach” Cengage Learning.
- Gary D Rogers, Christopher A Barton (2006). “Caring for a marginalised community: the costs of engaging with culture and complexity”. Medical Journal of Australia, (183),10, p 59-63.
- Florence Nightingale, Judith A. (FRW) Burckhardt (2008). “Notes on Nursing: And Other Writings”. Kaplan Publishing.
- Marcia Stanhope, Jeanette Lancaster (2004). “Community & public health nursing”. Elsevier Health Sciences.
- Hesook Suzie, Ingrid Kollak (2006). “Nursing Theories: Conceptual and Philosophical Foundations”. Springer.