Academia

Personal Philosophy of Nursing

Every nurse has to come up with their own nursing philosophy, and this will develop over time. If you are new to nursing you might be looking for some guidance in terms of what your philosophy should be. For a little help, you should consider how nursing will impact society, your environment, the recipient of the nursing care, as well as the interaction between society, people, and the environment.

Wondering what society really is? Society is a group of people with common interests.  A nursing society evolves with each circumstance. For instance, in a pediatrician’s office the society is made up of nurses that work together to provide the best possible care to the children in the office. A nurse has the ability to impact everyone in a positive or negative light in this little society. The goal should be to send everyone away with as positive an experience as possible. Bringing something positive to the nursing society should be part of the philosophy of every nurse because it makes for a better working environment.

An ideal nursing philosophy should also take health into consideration.  Health and wellness is all about who a person is. If you make this a part of your philosophy you will find that you take pride in ensuring that your patients are as healthy as possible, so they can be who they want to be in the moment. This is a gift that a nurse can give to patients, affecting the greater society in a positive light. 

Nursing should be viewed as an opportunity to give back to society.  When you view nursing as a gift that you can give to others, it will become a delight to complete each task. While things can become mundane, when you view it as something that not everyone can do and something that can actually give back to society and impact the way others are able to interact within their social circles, the job will be something you look forward to doing.  Keeping your nursing philosophy positive like this will allow you to really enjoy your job and touch the lives of all of the people that you care for over the years.


Perceptions Surrounding Men in Nursing

As far as our society has come in terms of gender discrimination, it is still alive and well.  This can be seen in many instances when you look at the perceptions surrounding men in nursing.  The fact of the matter is that there are still gender barriers that exist in the wider scope of nursing professions.  Much of the problem now is that there are simply not that many men involved in nursing, in fact in 2004 less than 6% of nurses were male.

In the United States nursing needs to be advertised as a career option for men.  The fact of the matter is that in 2004 there was a vacancy rate in the nursing industry of 8.1% and by 2020 it is estimated that there will be a nursing shortage of over one million nurses.  The nursing shortage is going to become more and more of a problem as the baby boomer generation ages.

Why is there a shortage?  Much of the shortage is due to the fact that there is a declining interest in nursing by women.  Over the last 30 years women have been branching out more and more in terms of their career choices.  This means that they are not looking at the traditional options as much, such as nursing.  Since women are looking away from nursing and men are not being attracted to nursing at all, the shortage is explained.

In a study conducted by Kimball and O’Neil in 2002 it was identified that the nursing population needs to more closely reflect the diversity of the population in the United states.  In 2004 more than 88% of the registered nurses were while, so only about 11% of nurses can identify with minority groups and genders.  If the nursing population matched the population of the United States there would be a lot more male nurses since only about 5.7% of the nursing population is male but 49% of the population is male.

The problem is, according to Johnson and Johnson, is that only one in ten men would even stop to consider nursing a career choice.  Those who are interested or who will seriously consider nursing are usually older and looking for a second career.  There is a lack of knowledge in relation to why men are entering nursing at lower rates despite recruitment efforts.  Studies have been used to understand the perceptions surrounding men in nursing today.

The result of the studies has been enlightening, as the study revealed that men are seen in a slightly more negative in the nursing role than women.  The problem is that many men don’t understand that they can get several different levels of nursing education, to advance their career while women seem to understand this much more.  More men believe that if they work as a nurse they can only work in a hospital, and fewer men than women see nursing as a financially rewarding career.  This shows that men are simply not educated enough about what nursing can offer them.  Because men are not knowledgeable about what is offered, they are not as common in the nursing position, so they are not as well received.  Making efforts to educate men and women about the benefits of nursing may help to recruit more men to help decrease the estimated nursing shortage in the near future.


Ethical Knowing in Providing Care for a Teen Mom

Orem’s Supportive-Educative system theory can be a great foundation to car for a teen mom who needs to learn how to care for her infant and herself. Esthetic and ethical patterns of knowledge are particularly helpful in giving the young mother the education she needs. When using these patterns, nurses can more effectively teach the new mother what she needs to know.

When dealing with a teen mother a nurse will notice that a teen mother knows how to care for herself, but has even limited knowledge in this area.  The self care theory allows for one to better understand the position of the patient. As a teen parent there is a lot of new information to learn and the responsibility of the nurse is to teach and guide the young girl helping her learn self care as well as infant care.

The empirical pattern of knowing helps a nurse to keep informed about what information is relevant in the teaching of a teenage mother. It is important to teach young parents about child growth and development, discipline strategies, and even the significance of play. The teaching is very important for young mothers because they can be quite immature and lack true experience in caring for children.

Esthetic knowing is also important on the part of a nurse. This is having empathy and the ability to focus on the teen mother as an individual. This allows for the nurse to connect to the patient and what their specific needs are. This also helps for the patient to really grasp what is being taught to her by the nurse.

The conclusion is that, having the ability to use empirical patterns of knowing and esthetic knowing will help a nurse relate to a teen mom in a much better fashion, which will make the relationship more open. Having an open relationship is important because the teen will be more likely to take in the information that she really does need to know to take care of herself as well as her infant.


The Process and Theory of Nursing

The practice and theory of nursing is completely based on the relationship between the nurse and the patient that is under their care. To be more precise, nursing is a process, which helps to support and comfort patients under guided nursing models. It is completely based on the form of solving problems and hence classified into deductive theory. The process of nursing is patient-centred and developed on the theory of paradigms and philosophical beliefs.

The profession of nursing has been accepted and appreciated as a noble profession in serving humankind. The process of nursing practice needs the essential support of hospital facilities and professional nursing schools for the nurses to receive proper education. Last but not the least, nurses need a proper place to implement and develop their skills. Nurses are appointed in different healthcare sectors like in military camps, clinics run by hospitals, standing clinics and physician offices. Read more about CNA nursing scholarships.

Nurses also pose the role of a consultant and advisor on healthcare as well as on insurance related industries. The nursing process could be categorized into two parts cyclical and ongoing processes. It practically has the solution for every problem related to healthcare.

This does not restrict to physical needs only it also serve to social needs. This could be done in various ways like in a systematic, universally accepted, dynamic and cyclic, goal targeted and client directed and most importantly collaborative and interpersonal relationship of the nurse and the patient. Even, nursing is classified into several phases like planning, assessment, diagnosis, implementation and evaluation.

Secondly, it comes to the nursing theory, which solely depends on some nursing models. Nursing theory is referred to as that part of knowledge, which supports the practice and profession of nursing. Almost 90% of nursing theories have been introduced in last 20 years. These days, nursing is considered to be a co-curriculum activity in educational institutes also. Thus, there are few strategies, which are mentioned in nursing theories. If that could be followed, then healthcare could be improved.

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Sociopolitical Knowing in Caring for a Disabled School Age Child

There are many children who require tube feeding during the school day and this presents many implications for teachers and school nurses. Employing two extant nursing theories, “Roy” and “Orem“, can help nurses and others to understand the involved needs of school aged children who. Nurses that employ sociopolitical knowing can help to bring positive change in the health as well as in the school experiences of the child.

Both Roy’s and Orem’s theoretical models provided guiding perspectives for our nursing actions. Callista Roy’s theory was applicable because it discusses the person-environment interaction in reference to “the human ability to adapt”. An adaptation goal for Danielle involved assisting Danielle’s assimilation into the school environment by helping her to participate in daily activities with her peers, while still meeting her special needs. The school nurse used available resources to help Danielle adapt and have as close to normal school experiences with her peers as possible. 

Dorothea Orem’s Self-Care Deficit theory also fit with our case study because it deals with people who are unable to fully care for themselves. Orem’s framework of nursing engagement as a “partly compensatory system” provided a perspective for offering the patient physical and psychological support while guiding, doing for, and creating an environment that supported Danielle’s development.

However, providing for a supportive environment for Danielle could not have been accomplished without the use of the nurse’s sociopolitical pattern of knowing given the controversy over mainstreaming disabled children. Once it was determined empirically that it could be beneficial and ethically that the child should be taught in normal learning environment despite some risks, the nurse used sociopolitical savvy to effect this change in school procedure. The nurse had to educate and negotiate with various social groups about disabilities to facilitate Danielle’s successful integration into the school environment.

The focus of this case study was particularly sensitive and complex due to the impact the nurse’s actions had on the school environment as well as on the individual client’s well-being. Facilitating a smooth transition that met the needs of all individuals and institutions involved was accomplished by the nurse exercising her knowledge not only from theoretical and empirical sources, but from ethical and sociopolitical patterns of knowing as well, while always keeping Danielle’s adaptation and self-care needs front and center.


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