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Importance of nursing in society
Abraham Maslow: hierarchy of needs theory
Abraham Maslow: hierarchy of needs theory
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People often hear the saying “No man is an island.” This is because every individual needs other people in order to survive. It is definitely true that the three basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter must be given to people in order to survive in their environment. However, it does not end there. Those necessities are not good enough to make someone live a happy life. In order to achieve a life worth living, one must have a good relationship with the people present in his or her surroundings. An individual must be a part of an effective social process. This could mean that he or she should be able to give and to receive emotional care from other people.
Rendering care and comfort to someone is such a good feeling, but to receive those kinds of affection is much better. It is normal for people to seek and long for affection because it enhances their worth. People usually get affection from their families, friends, and loved ones. However, society is continuously evolving and this evolution has caused most people to become busy with their chosen professions. When a family member is sick, there are times when they cannot attend to the patient because of their busy schedule. This is one of the reasons why nursing homes and nursing care are in demand. At present, nurses are very prominent because they can provide care and comfort for their patients. The question is “How can people say that the care and comfort that they are receiving are enough to be able to say that they are no longer lonely and isolated?”
In the analysis of this paper, the author believes that the model of Abraham Maslow (2009) can be very helpful. This model is called the Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. According to Maslow (2009), people have needs...
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Comfort care or palliative care is when a terminal patient is placed in a quiet room, where no medical interventions are done except morphine. The patients are not placed on any monitors, no vital signs or given prescription medications. Only the presence of families, periodic turning, swabs for dampening the lips, and perhaps restful music is around the patient. Comfort care is meant to allow a dying person a peaceful end, thus, morphine drip is added for pain relief. Stephens (2012), states that it’s the same medications used to control pain and discomfort, could be used to “help” the patient to stop breathing. The concept of terminal sedation assumes death as an outcome of the intervention.
As a nursing student, I have had some exposure to death during patient care. My first encounter with direct death was witnessing a patient after attempted resuscitation efforts die in the emergency department. As I observed others reactions, I noticed I was the only one who seemed fazed by the preceding events and the end result, although I didn’t show it outwardly. During my Aging and End of life clinical rotation, I have been exposed to a near death experience with a family and I had the rewarding experience of forming a relationship with the patient’s wife during the short hour I was in their home. From reading the accounts in this book, it confirmed to me the importance of catering to the needs of the family and the dying as an important issue to address as they are critical to overall care.
Gawande’s book is very pertinent to the present day and has by many accounts sparked a national discussion on end-of-life care and how we treat our elderly. With elderly people accounting for a greater proportion of the American populace and as people start living even longer than they do now, end-of-life care will become and remain a major issue faced by doctors, patients, their families, and the healthcare system. Additionally, with our greater focus on improving patient outcomes while getting the most value for our healthcare dollars, end-of-life care is a major area that healthcare systems and hospitals will focus on, as it accounts for a large portion of their budget. As a response to the need to take care of our aging population, hospice care and palliative medicine are some of the newer specialties in the medical field that have been increasing in popularity and more research needs to be focused in these areas to better understand how to improve patient outcomes.
“Comfort is an immediate desirable outcome of nursing care. ” (Kolcaba, Introduction, 2010) Comfort in healthcare is something that many would think would be understood without a theory, but comfort has never been well defined in the past. Katharine Kolcaba is a middle-range theorist who has been developing the Comfort Theory since the 1990s (Comfort Theory: Katharine Kolcaba, 2011) in order to help define what comfort means in the healthcare setting. According to Kolcaba, comfort exists in three forms: relief, ease, and transcendence. (Comfort Theory: Katharine Kolcaba, 2011) The Comfort Theory is a modern, universal, and very applicable theory for the field of nursing as it is today.
Huitt, W. (2007),Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University, (http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/regsys/maslow.html), [Accessed 29 December 2013].
Nurses take an active role in advocacy and policy development regarding assisted death and other end of life choices. Through the help of advance care planning, nurses has helped patient think about what gives their life a meaning, learn about medical procedure offered at end-of-life care, help them communicate about their future health care wishes, choosing a person who would speak for them when they cannot speak for themselves and recording goals and wishes. The role of the nurse in end-of-life care is very crucial, they might be getting more queries on physician-assisted death. So, it is significant for nurses to understand the law and professional standard for better continuity of care and also to protect themselves against potential
Maslow believed that there was a hierarchy of five innate needs that influence people’s behaviors (Schultz & Schultz, 2013, p.246-247). In a pyramid fashion, at the base are physiological needs, followed by safety needs, then belonginess and love needs, succeeded by esteem needs, and finally the need for self-actualization. Maslow claimed that lower order needs must be at least partially satisfied before higher level needs are addressed. Furthermore, behavior is dominated by solely one need
Nurses are both blessed and cursed to be with patients from the very first moments of life until their final breath. With those last breaths, each patient leaves someone behind. How do nurses handle the loss and grief that comes along with patients dying? How do they help the families and loved ones of deceased patients? Each person, no matter their background, must grieve the death of a loved one, but there is no right way to grieve and no two people will have the same reaction to death. It is the duty of nurses to respect the wishes and grieving process of each and every culture; of each and every individual (Verosky, 2006). This paper will address J. William Worden’s four tasks of mourning as well as the nursing implications involved – both when taking care of patients’ families and when coping with the loss of patients themselves.
The end-of-life nurse’s primary objective is to provide comfort and compassion to patients and their families during an extremely difficult time. They must satisfy all “physical, psychological, social, cultural and spiritual needs” of the patient and their family. (Wu & Volker, 2012) The nurse involves their patient in care planning, as well as educating them about the options available. They must follow the wishes of the patient and their family, as provided in the patient’s advance directive if there is one available. It is i...
Psychologist Abraham Maslow created the hierarchy of needs, outlining and suggesting what a person need to reach self-actualization and reveal the true potential of themselves. In the model, Maslow propose that a person has to meet basic needs in order to reach the true potential of themselves. Biological/physiological needs, safety needs, love/belonging need, esteem needs according to Maslow is the fundamental frame for reaching the peak of self. The last need to be met on the scale
Death is a universal truth. Hospice reduces the suffering associated with death. Hospice is considered the philosophy and model for quality, compassionate care to terminally ill patients. Patients accepted into a hospice program usually have a prognosis of less than six months to live (Potter, Perry, Stockert & Hall, 2017, p. 761). Hospice provides skilled medical care, pain management, emotional, and spiritual support tailored to the patient’s needs and wishes. The goal of hospice is to focus on the quality of life during the end of life. It gives patients a sense of dignity, provides patients and families with support, and it is cost effective. Today, seven out of ten Americans die from chronic disease. By 2020, the number of people living with a chronic illness will increase to 157 million (Hogan 2012). As the elderly population in the U.S. continues to increase, the importance of hospice will only continue to grow.
Two concepts at the heart of nursing are comfort and caring. The Meriam Webster dictionary defines comfort as easing grief or trouble, as well as giving hope or strength. The definition of caring is showing or feeling concern for others. Theorists Jean Watson and Katharine Kolcaba seek to enhance nurses understanding of caring and comforting patients through their respective theories. This paper will discuss their theories using a stepwise approach.
I have been a registered nurse at UCLA for 18 months. One particular issue that has captured my attention is the utilization of palliative care in health care. Because nurses are generally at the bedside all the time, they have an important role to play in voicing the importance of its utilization and implementation in the patient’s care.
The subject of death and dying is a common occurrence in the health care field. There are many factors involved in the care of a dying patient and various phases the patient, loved ones and even the healthcare professional may go through. There are many controversies in health care related to death, however much of it roots from peoples’ attitudes towards it. Everyone handles death differently; each person has a right to their own opinions and coping mechanisms. Health care professionals are very important during death related situations; as they are a great source of support for a patient and their loved ones. It is essential that health care professionals give ethical, legal and honest care to their patients, regardless of the situation.
Abraham Maslow did studies of the basic needs of human beings. He put these needs into a hierarchical order. This means that until the need before it has been satisfied, the following need can not be met (Encyclopedia, 2000). For example, if someone is hungry they are not thinking too much about socializing. In the order from lowest to highest the needs are psychological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization. The first three are classified as lower order needs and the last two are higher order (Hierarchy, 2000). Without meeting these needs workers are not going to be as productive as they could otherwise. The first three are considered to be essential to all humans at all times. The last two have been argued but are mostly considered to be very important as well.