Fiction and story telling is an integral part of life. It is all around us and we cannot escape it. Storytelling is such a powerful tool in a person’s life and nurses must be able to not only tell stories but also learn how to listen to a patient’s story, interpret the stories, and empathize with the patient. Narrative competence is a valuable skill to have as a nurse. Narrative competence is the “ability to acknowledge, absorb, interpret, and act on the stories and plights of others” (Charon, 2001). This is why having narratives from a patient’s perspective that a nurse can reference to is vital. By reading narrative nurses then have a background or an idea of what a patient may be going through and why he or she is acting in a certain way. …show more content…
Everything revolves around the patient: the patient’s safety, the patient’s health, the patient’s comfort, and the patient’s happiness. Therefore, having a narrative solely from a patient’s perspective of how he is dealing with life before, during, and after treatment is important. “Flowers for Algernon” is a great narrative for nurses to look back on for an insight to what a patient may be feeling and also as a reminder to not only focus on how the treatment is affecting the patient physically, but also to notice how the treatment is affecting a person …show more content…
“Wisteria” by Leslie Nyman and “Bev Brown” by Sybil Smith reflect this shift in perspective in my anthology. Both nurses in these narratives show how reflecting on your day at work helps connect you to your patients. Reflecting on a day at work helps nurses to work through the emotions experienced during their shift. Janie in “Wisteria” does just this. She has never had one of her patient’s die until that night. She reflects on speaking to Betty about Charles, her husband who has passed away, and we see how Betty opens up to Janie and how Janie is being an empathetic listener. Reflecting also allows nurses to see how much they have impacted their patients. The nurse in “Bev Brown” can look back to see how by not giving up on Bev Brown and asking her what is going on in her life she has formed a relationship with Bev Brown that has led to Bev Brown’s compliance to medical treatment. This relationship has also given Bev Brown hope and a friend. By reading narratives such as these nurses can understand how something as simple as listening to patients and asking them questions about their lives can drastically change the course of their lives.
Finally, I conclude my anthology with a novel, “Redeeming Love” by Francine Rivers. This novel
The majority of our society holds the notion that nurses are no more than trained professionals, working for a doctor, who simply provide medical care for the sick and informed. However, what nursing means to me goes deeper than that belief. Nursing is a profession in which individuals are responsible for not only the care of the sick and infirmed but are also responsible for being a support system and an educator, as well as an advocate for the promotion of optimal care. In today’s society, nurses are an important part of any medical facility’s investment. This paper will address the many different aspects of nursing in which nurse’s act as not only caregivers but also act as, counselors and educators.
Nursing is definitely a great discourse community. But you’re probably wondering, what is a discourse community? Well John Swales, who is a professor of linguistics and co-director of the Michigan corpus of Academic Spoken English at the University of Michigan, wrote a book called “Genre Analysis” that explained what discourse community is and the characteristics for identifying what takes part as a discourse community. Swales defines discourse community as centrifugal; In other words, it tends to separate people into occupational or specialty-interest groups (Swales, John. “Genre Analysis” Writing about Writing. Wardle, et al. 220). So basically he’s saying that it is a group of people who communicate about similar interests that they have in common with each other. With that said, Nursing does count as a discourse community because it’s a field of people who share similar interests, value, and goals in their lives. Discourse communities takes place all around the world and plays an important role in communication. There is no way others can understand others without the use
It will seek to demonstrate the appropriateness in supporting the patient and their family, whilst reflecting upon personal experience, and how literature may influence the healing effectiveness. The factors that enhance and inhibit the learning environment will be explored and suggested techniques to improve clinical learning will also be discussed. Finally the nurse-patient learning relationship will be explored along with the application of teaching and learning strategies will be examined.
Nursing is a field that brings joy and fulfillment in caring for others, but it’s not only about giving care for others; for me, it is about touching the lives of others or having a life touch mine. My experiences around nurses in hospitals and doctor’s offices is what helped form my personal interest in the nursing field. I’ve had rough experiences with my health due to my allergies and asthma. My allergic reactions would often trigger asthma attacks, leaving me in a doctor’s office or on a hospital bed. In each of those experiences, I’ve had very loving and caring nurses that reassured me that I was okay. They were the ones who made each of those experiences pleasant and is what inspired me to follow in their paths and become a nurse myself.
The contributions that nurses make through the lives of communities, families, and individuals with their positivity is unlike any other health professions. There is more to being a nurse than what the job description entails. They are the caregivers and educators of patients and communities. Nurses must treat and show patients how to care for themselves after their hospital visit. As an educator, they must display positivity and inspire others to be healthy. In this essay, I will cover the nurse’s education, job description, and a description of a day in the life of a nurse.
at the orphanage, I was able to help build a sidewalk and a garage for
Give one personal, one academic, and a nursing/clinical well-chosen example from real life experiences or actual instances that support your understanding of the reading.
The ways in which medical students are taught and required to practice medicine prevent them from practicing narrative medicine. Rather, if medical students were given courses on how to demonstrate active listening, asking curious and pertinent questions, and how to build rapport, medical professionals would be better suited to practice narrative
Smith, M. C., Turkel, M. C., & Wolfe, Z. R. (2013). Caring in nursing classics. New York: Springer Publishing Company, LLC.
A study conducted by academics found that undergraduate nurses feel reflection is the key to changing and improving their practice. Bulman, Lathlean, & Gobbi, 2011. Reflection assists nurses to enhance their nursing abilities by encouraging them to reflect on negative experiences, in order to overcome similar experiences in the future. This essay will aim to demonstrate the importance of reflection within nursing, providing me with a platform to reflect on my decision to become a nurse. I will begin by reflecting upon the factors that influenced me to choose nursing, followed by an explanation of the benefits that reflection has on nursing.
Introduction Narrative discourse, or the ability to recall and tell an orderly and continuous account of an event or a series of events, is a vital aspect of social communication. Narrative discourse includes the ability to express imaginary stories, recount personal events, and describe instructions to execute a task. During the aging process, individuals often experience changes in their language abilities and executive functioning, or the control and regulation of cognitive actions and planning (Bakos et al., 2008). Despite these changes, most aspects of narrative discourse are well preserved during normal aging (Cooper, 1990; Estes, 2012; Ulatowska, Chapman, Highley, & Prince, 1998). More specifically, elderly individuals produced narratives
We often replay situations in our minds, thinking back on what occurred, reviewing interpersonal aspects of events, and maybe even second guessing our own actions during an event. This is when nurses learn most, as they attempt to make decision and reflect upon their actions (3). Self-reflections in nursing is something that a professional nurse considers throughout his or her entire career (7). By writing reflections the nurse can distance herself from the experience, enabling more objective writing in the reflection
Nurses are an equally important part of each client’s life. Nurses provide stable care to each client, answers their questions, gives medications and treatments, and assists with medical procedures. They also have the responsibility to explain to clients and family members what they should and should not do as they go through treatment and recovery. Nurses must quickly respond to patients needs. Every individual nurse has his or her own unique way of caring. There are so many ways to show caring that the possibilities are never ending. Nurse’s support, comfort, and help allow the patients to recover to the best of their ability. Their experiences in dealing with different patients that have unique situations on a daily basis helps the nurses become better caregivers. Therefore, every nurse is capable of demonstrating care in their respective environments.
This week’s clinical days was very impacted me personally. My first clinical day for this week was the anniversary day that my mother passed away seven years ago. I knew working in a hospital setting will reminded me greatly about my mother’s last stage of her life. I am very much closed to my mother; therefore, it hurts me tremendously thinking about the saddest time of my life spending in the hospital with my ill mother. But at the same time, I knew I have to put my personal feeling aside if I wanted to become a professional nurse. I started my first clinical day with sadness and hoping that I can make a difference in someone else’s life; after all, my mother’s illness journey is the reason that I wanted to become the best nurse I can be;
Some of the most gratifying things about being a nurse is the distinctive role we have with those we care for. Our role encourages openness and transparency for clients and their families to reveal things to us they may not be willing to say under most circumstances. Furthermore, nursing is a life path that comes with incalculable responsibilities to be both a compassionate health care provider and a conscientious advocate. This semester I had the opportunity to experience nursing from the perspective of a Community Health Nurse in Montclair, California. It has given me a chance to practice these responsibilities in different ways. It has also given me a new perspective on nursing.