Nursing is a well-known profession of the health care sector that focuses upon taking care of the patients, individuals, and even families in the absence of the doctors. In addition, they also support the doctors in their various medication activities of the patients, which in turn would help in the recovery of the patients. With the recent developments in the field of nursing, we can differentiate this profession on the basis of patient care, scope of practice, and the management style of the organization (Bartels, 2005). This paper will first of all discuss the nursing paradigms and nursing theories. I shall further include my reflections on the course of nursing. Finally, I shall conclude my thoughts on the next stage of my education and career in the given field.
When I first time took admission in the nursing course, I just knew the factual things related to nursing. For example, I knew that there were around 2.5 million nurses working in different organizations, which in turn makes the largest workforce in the clinical and healthcare industry. This statistics is as per the records of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Further, my feelings and my emotions were more of skeptical since I did not how to approach for this course. I knew that the nursing career will provide me a range of different opportunities, but still a long journey was yet to take place in my life. So, I thought to focus upon the learning process and enjoy every part of my learning. With the passage of time, my concepts and my learning became clearer, as I got evolved into different subjects of learning. I came into touch with my seniors, who shared their views and opinions regarding this career course, which also helped me in many ways. I use to modify my learning methodologies depending upon my results and my perspectives. Throughout this time, I would just say that, this course has turned me more responsible and more mature toward the patients and their healthcare services.
There were certain challenges and beliefs regarding environment, health, person, and nursing, which every nurse student need to overcome. There are several elements present in the first environment. These include the physical, cultural, social, economic, and technological aspects of the environment. All these aspects are very much important for an individual’s life. The societies and the communities carry out different practices for protecting their members. As per Hildegard Peplau’s theory of interpersonal relations, the nurses are required to understand their culture, tradition, beliefs, and values so that she can help the family of the patient in the best optimal way. This has increased the responsibilities for the nurses in addition to their technical roles in the given healthcare setting. The nurses are required to take care of the surrounding environment so that the patients are not affected with it. These would include the weather conditions, the pollutants in the atmosphere, and the infectious organisms present in the environment. All these could affect the health of the individual in the hospital (Vlasses & Smeltzer, 2007).
The next paradigm is the health, which could be influenced and impacted by the spiritual, biological, psychological, and other sociological factors. The aim of the nurses should be to achieve optimal health of the patient by providing him the necessary medications on time, taking care of the patient, and thereby helping him in every physical, mental and social state (Hyrkas & Dende, 2008).
The third paradigm focuses upon the person, which the nurse needs to treat him with utmost care. Any person admitted inside the hospital will not follow all the rules and instructions of the doctor. Hence, there will be different challenges in front of the nurse to tackle such situations. The nurse needs to understand their behaviors, their decisions, and their self-chosen values so that they could treat them in a better way. The nurse will be required to display her professional practices in order to carry out her duty and the responsibilities assigned to her with respect to a given person.
Finally, the last paradigm is the nursing discipline. The nurses are required to understand this concept as it is a form of art and science. Every nurse should provide comfort, empathy, support, and advocacy to the patients in the given hospital (Haase-Herrick, 2005). The key objective of nursing is to improve the health of the patient. And, like any other stream of science, nursing also involves the foundations of critical thinking, analytical reasoning, and performing actions that would promote health, take palliative care of the patients, and thereby maintain the decorum of the hospitals and other similar medical organizations.
As per Anne Casey’s model of nursing, nurses are required to learn the art of communication, understand the professional behavior, learn the concepts of system management, and nursing interventions so that they become an important member of the health-caring team. After the implementation of this theory, nurses need to learn the art of leadership and mentoring in the absence of doctors and physicians. They need to implement all those practices that will reduce the risks of illness, promote quality-life, collaborate with other health-care disciplines to deliver better results, and adopt roles of leadership to fulfill the objectives of medical organizations (Rusch & Bakewell-Sachs, 2007).
Erickson, Tomlin & Swain’s theory on Modeling and Role-Modeling mentions that it is important to install effective health work environment in the organization for improving the quality of the healthcare services. Hence, all the nurses and other staff members at different unit-levels can take the approach of Nursing Leadership for serving different roles in the organization. This theory suggests incorporating leadership skills for the nurses, through which they will improve the environment of the respective workplaces.
While reflecting back on the course of nursing, initially I learned the theoretical knowledge on the medical science, biology, and technical nursing requirement. But with the progress into the internship program and eventually advancing into the final year helped me learn about lots of roles and responsibilities. I learned the responsibility of serving to the patients and taking care. All the nursing theories have helped me learn about the additional responsibilities of serving and improving the practices in the given healthcare setting. With the help of these theories, I have been able to learn the ability of guiding and leading the patients in the absence of physicians. Finally, I even took certain healthcare initiatives for improving the medical services and the working environment of the given organization.
I want to extend my nursing education and want to get certified myself in the Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN) course. APRN is a master level course, and it focuses upon certain medical specialty so that one can have deeper knowledge and experience (Mishler, Rapport, & Wainwright, 2006). I have learned several nursing theories, on the basis of which I shall implement them in my nursing profession. These theories have made me learn the technical as well as the managerial aspects of the nursing practice. After the formulation and implementation of these theories, the role of nurse or rather the responsibilities of a nurse has completely changed. Hence, I would like to adjust myself within the given conditions and would apply these theories on a similar note. I will try to improve my efficiency and effectiveness in my daily working practice, by considering all the nursing theories as important principles in the field of nursing.
References
Bartels, J. (2005). Educating nurses for the 21st century. Nursing and Health Sciences, 7(4), 221-225.
Haase-Herrick, K. (2005). The opportunities of stewardship. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 29(2), 115-118.
Vlasses, F.C., and Smeltzer, C. (2007). Toward a new future for healthcare and nursing practice. Journal of Nursing Administration, 37 (9), 375-380.
Malloch, K., and Porter-O'Grady, T. (2005).The quantum leader: applications for the new world of work. Boston: Jones & Bartlett.
Hyrkas, K., and Dende, D. (2008). Clinical nursing leadership-perspectives on current topics. Journal of Nursing Management, 16, 495-498.
Rusch, L., and Bakewell-Sachs, S. (2007). The CNL: A gateway to better care? Nursing Management, 38(4), 32-37.
Mishler, E., Rapport, F., and Wainwright, P. (2006).The self in health and illness: Patients, professionals and narrative identity. Oxford: Radcliffe Publishing Ltd.
