Nurses are valuable members of the health care team in providing patient-centered care. Throughout nursing school, students are taught about the need to continue education in order to enhance one’s knowledge and maintain up-to-date skills on the latest, most beneficial interventions. Nurses strive to provide care in a holistic manner based on the nursing process (Wallace, 2013); however, do the patients believe these aspects of care are ideal? Often nurses contemplate ways to provide superior, individualized, patient-centered care, which are essential to improve a patient’s health; however, based on my clinical and personal experiences, I believe that ideal customer service for patients also requires strong interpersonal skills, cultural …show more content…
According to Jane Cummings and Sam McPhail (2014), “Compassion is how care is given through relationships based on empathy, respect and dignity. It can also be described as intelligent kindness and is central to how people perceive their care” (p. 549). Hospitalized patients are in an unfamiliar environment; therefore, often experience fear, isolation, and stress. Patients may also feel vulnerable and/or displaced from their family roles. Compassionate nursing helps relieve the environmental stresses and allows improved compliance with self-care. Compassion in nurses is a personality that is crucial to ideal customer service and creating a connection with others (Cummings & McPhail, 2014). It enhances interpersonal and cultural competence skills to reduce the level of stress in the environment. Provision one of the nursing code of ethics clearly states: “The nurse practices with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth, and unique attributes of every person” (ANA, 2015, p. 8). A nurse knows that the care given is compassionate and appropriate by the gratitude shown through the body language and verbal response from the patient and/or the family member(s). Leaving a patient with a smile on their face at the end of the shift is priceless. Compassionate nursing care is the ideal customer service for all
It is written into our ethical guidelines, it is featured in our entry to practice standards and it is perpetuated through imagery of the caring nurse (Appendix 1). And there is no denying compassionate care is good for patient outcomes (CNA, 2010). Yet, the continual depiction of nurse as synonymous with compassion and selflessness, can make it difficult for nurses to come forward or take time off when they are experiencing compassion fatigue. In a CNA (2010) study, nurses expressed ethical distress at coming forward about experiencing compassion fatigue because it conflicted with their ideas of ideal nursing practice (CNA, 2010). Moreover, nurses felt a professional obligation to provide care for those in need despite feeling apathetic or have limited empathy (CNA,
I pray that the busyness of life, the tasks that need to be done, the science of healthcare, sleep deprivation, or monotony will never cloud the love and compassion that I have for people. Personally, I love making connections with people. I love giving people a chance to tell their stories. During my nursing practice, I foresee that I will do my best to be the most caring nurse possible. The responsibility lays within each individual nurse as to the level of caring and compassion that they bring to carrying out their nursing duties. I will continually choose to focus on the needs of my patients above my own. Displaying empathy, I will strive to put myself in each one of their shoes and make self-reflection a priority. I foresee that I will do whatever is within my power to enhance trust, comfort, happiness, and wellness for my patients. This may look like spending extra time with a patient, visiting a patient when I’m off-duty, providing emotional or spiritual resources to a patient, respecting a patient’s beliefs and values, providing for any physical needs or extra comfort measures, or just lending a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on. My patients will always know that they are not
The issues of nursing burnout and compassion fatigue are an important one in part, because of the ongoing nursing shortage across the united states. Per the American colleges of nursing “the U.S. is projected to experience a shortage of Registered Nurses (RN’s) that is expected to intensify as Baby Boomers age and the need for health care grows” (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2017). The ACA fact sheet cites several reasons for this including; the increasing needs of an aging population, healthcare reform, decreased enrollment in nursing programs, shortages of nursing faculty, large portions of working nurses
This is one of the values that is of the utmost importance when being a nurse. We must have compassion for our patients. We as nurses will make an impact every single day in the lives of people in our community. We need to realize that we are the voice of the voiceless and the advocates for those who cannot advocate for themselves. You realize that even by helping one person, you are making a difference and are making the world a better place one patient at a time. Some of us may enter the field and some of us may be continuing on in our education, but we all share one thing in common, we are all nurses and we all made
In contemporary nursing practice, nurses need to integrate scientific knowledge and nursing theories prior to providing optimal health care. Nursing theories guide nurses to treat clients in a supportive and dignified manner through client centred approaches. However, it is challenge for nurses to practice client centred care in daily realities due to heavy workloads. In order to assist nurses to decrease the gap between ideal and real practice, Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO) develops Best Practice Guideline of Client-centred-care (Neligan, Grinspun, JonasSimpson, McConnell, Peter, Pilkington, et al., 2002). This guideline offers values and beliefs as foundation of client-centred care, and the core processes of client-centred care can facilitate provision of optimal nursing care. These four core processes of client-centred care include identifying concerns, making decisions, caring and service, and evaluating outcomes. According to RNAO (2006), ongoing dialogue with clients and self-reflection are essential for nurses to develop their nursing skills and knowledge on client-centred care. As a nursing student, I reflected on written transcripts of interactions between patients and me, so that I could gain insights into client-centred care for further improvement. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to discuss importance of the core processes of client-centred care in nursing practice through identifying and critiquing blocks to conversation. Based on the guideline of RNAO (2006), respect, human dignity, clients are experts for their own lives, responsiveness and universal access will be elaborated in each core process of client-centre care as reflecting on three dialogues with patients.
In the article “Time to learn: Understanding patient-centered care,” Rinchen Pelzang clarifies not only what patient-centered care means but what it looks like when implemented. These clarifications are necessary because although most healthcare setting advocate patient-centered care, with no clear definition. Pelzang mentions this as one of the most prominent barriers to PCC, the misinterpretation of the concept. In order to combat this barrier proper education and emphasis on communication are needed. When this isn’t the case, “the failure to recognize nurse-patient communication as an essential component of nursing care is the greatest barrier to effective communication” (Pelzang, 2010). Collaborative care and
The definition of compassion is “sympathetic consciousness of another’s distress with a desire to alleviate it” (Merriam-Webster dictionary, 2011). Compassion and the desire to nourish may be the deciding factors that would lead one to pursue a career in nursing. Nurses over the span of their career will have extensive exposure to trauma, pain, and unfortunate situations. Workplace stressors such as scheduling and increasing workload along with repeated exposure to the hardships of others predisposes caregivers, especially nurses, to develop a unique type of burnout labeled compassion fatigue (Joinson 1992). Compassion fatigue develops when a nurse unintentionally takes on the misfortune, anxiety, pain, and trauma of the patients they care for.
Heggen, K., & Hem, M. (2004, 6 23). Is compassion essential to nursing practice?. Retrieved from http://www.researchgate.net/publication/5914942_Is_compassion_essential_to_nursing_practice/file/72e7e526f767a80e8a.pdf
(AC 1.1) Jane with cervical cancer might be afraid of the problems around her, mostly about her children’s future during her illness and relationship with husband. Based on the Nursing Process and (according to Berridge and Liddle 2013) Roper’s Model, the oncology nurse will have to face Jane’s needs, give her support and prepare for emotional and physical changes.
This study showed that nurses can communicate well when a patient-center approach is used. There is need within health care for nurses to recognize that patients are more than a task that needs to be completed. That the patient themselves are an important element in their own care. By educating and giving nurses the evidence-based research available they can fill this gap. Continued research needs to be conducted on patient’s experiences of how nurses communicate. Showing us the behaviors that patients place high values on. Thus enabling nurses to use a patient-centered
Kret, D. (2011). The Qualities of a Compassionate Nurse According to the Perceptions Of Medical-Surgical Patients. Medsurg Nursing, 20(1), 29-36.
My journey to nursing began with my personal healthcare experience, and has continued to evolve since entering the nursing program at State University. My personal philosophy of nursing is related my life experience and my personal philosophy of life. Using reflection-on-action, I have begun to understand the influences that have lead me to nursing. I discovered client and family centered care to be an important quality when I look at the influential nurses in my life. To develop a positive therapeutic nurse-client relationship, nurses must integrate all 5 dimensions of the therapeutic nurse-client relationship into their practice (CNO, 2006). When it comes to providing client-centered care, the dimensions of trust, empathy and respect are particularly important (CNO, 2006). Illness can be a traumatic experience for patients and their families, and it is important to be empathetic to the patient’s needs, while still trusting the patient to be an expert in their illness and care.
Ethics is defined as moral principles that govern a persons or a group’s behavior, ethical principles apply to both personal and professional relationships (Webster, 2015). The field of nursing is a profession that has been highly regarded and respected in society. Most nurses enter the profession in order to utilize their clinical skills to help others in their time of need. Those in failing health rely on nurses to care for them in their most vulnerable states, and expect a level of compassion and humanity while receiving care. Nurses have an ethical responsibility to their patients, clients, and their community. Compassion, empathy, and integrity are staple characteristics that nurses possess that allow them to successfully perform their
Nurses play a critical role on patient’s health; the relationship that a nurse and patient develop can in some cases be life altering. Applying these characteristics and being a servant leader to patients establishes life long impressions and makes critical difference in treatment allowing for optimal care to be received. Always listen to patients concerns, be empathetic in their concerns, and help while committing to their personal growth, one never knows whom they are actually a leader for. Some individuals look up to nurses and count
It takes empathy for people by upstanding morals and values. As a nurse, my goal is to provide competent, empathetic, compassionate, and optimal holistic care to the best of my ability to my patients. This philosophy stems from the values and beliefs instilled in me during my childhood. These values and beliefs are accompanied by trust worthiness, respect, compassion, and that is what drove me to this profession and is currently driving me as I continue my journey as a bedside nurse.