Introduction
Quality medical care services are essential for patients’ outcomes and practitioners’ growing professionalism. My area of work is obstetrical nursing, also known as perinatal nursing, which centers around care delivery before, during, and after pregnancy, the delivery, and all aspects related to birth (Fonseca et al., 2020). As Fonseca et al. (2020) contend, one of the essential notions in natal and prenatal education is the emerging theme of ‘humanizing birth.’ This notion entails bringing the empathic dimension to the challenges that patients may experience around their fertility and term.
Theory of Human Caring
Different theories establish the core interdependent relationship between better health and living practices, with one of such theories being the middle-range theory of human caring. Caring is an indispensable part of any nursing, including APNs. The caring theory places a holistic view of caring ethics at the center of the APN (Turkel et al., 2018). This theory has been widely utilized in clinical practice and research and has been successfully implemented in some US hospitals (Najeh Alharbi & Ghazi Baker, 2020). It is highly relevant to obstetrical nursing as the latter requires an ethical and humane approach to patients struggling with issues such as infertility, miscarriage, or others.
Concern in Obstetrical Nursing
Natal and prenatal care address many challenges that may be difficult both physically and emotionally. One of the toughest challenges in practice might be patients’ experiences with miscarriages and stillbirth. The consequences of such traumatic events are long-lasting, severely affecting patients’ mental health for years after through depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicide (Quenby et al., 2021). According to Fonseca et al. (2020), obstetrician nurses should meet mothers’ physical and emotional needs while ensuring their autonomy and security. Thus, effective mental health treatment and support are needed to address the issue.
Relevance
Given the unique, deeply personal, and painful nature of such a loss, nurses should approach the issue more humanely. It has been used as a framework for miscarriage support. Specifically, caring theory guides practice in neonatal intensive care units, education of socially at-risk mothers, and perinatal palliative care (Nurse-Clarke et al., 2019). Moreover, it is the foundation for the “Resolve Through Sharing perinatal bereavement” educational program series (Nurse-Clarke et al., 2019, p. 28). The theory of caring describes five caring processes that may be utilized in guiding practice regarding issues of stillbirth or miscarriage.
Guiding Framework
The first and unique process is knowing – striving to understand the event’s meaning in the patient’s life. This theory directs the nurse to avoid making assumptions, seek any cues for what is needed, and place the patient in the center of care (Nurse-Clarke et al., 2019). The essence of this stance is approaching the patient as a human being, making them feel seen and safe. The second process is ‘being with,’ where the mere presence of a caring person around may be sufficient to ease patients’ struggles (Nurse-Clarke et al., 2019). Sometimes, such a tactic would involve simply letting devastated women cry while letting them hold a nurse’s arm. The third idea is ‘doing for,’ which focuses on comforting the patient and preserving their dignity in an anticipatory way (Nurse-Clarke et al., 2019). In other words, nurses should engage their senses and do their foremost to anticipate what actions could potentially bring some relief from grief, embarrassment, and other heavy feelings.
The fourth implication is enabling and explaining. As patients experience major life transitions that are unfamiliar, it is nurses’ responsibility to educate them and guide them through (Nurse-Clarke et al., 2019). The practical side of this idea is letting the mothers know what to expect from their bodies or what will happen next after miscarriage while portioning this information carefully to avoid shock. The last but not least aspect of applying caring theory is addressing the issue through therapeutic interventions (Nurse-Clarke et al., 2019). The theory instructs providers to reinforce the belief that the event of miscarriage or stillbirth was not a mother’s fault and allow the parents to name or otherwise interact with the idea of the passed child (Nurse-Clarke et al., 2019).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the theory of human caring provides a highly relevant framework for evidence-based APN in addressing the issue of grief caused by miscarriages and stillbirths. My nursing philosophy is to provide optimal care for every patient since nursing is an art that encompasses a humanistic orientation and holistic care, a feeling for the individual’s value, and develops a conscious sense of ethics and the appropriateness of action taken. This theory guides providers to view mothers are human beings with unique meanings and experiences. Operating under this framework, nurses should be emotionally engaged, uphold patients’ self-esteem and dignity, educate and guide them through the process, and help handle the grief.