IMPACT OF NURSING PROFESSION AND PATIENTS BELIEFS

Give a critical examination of the potential effects that a nurse’s views, values, and beliefs may have on the delivery of person-centered care. First Off In contrast to a patient’s diagnosis or set of symptoms, the person-centered care approach takes a holistic view of the patient as an individual and makes sure that their needs and preferences are acknowledged. Person-centered care is described as an approach to nursing that centers on the patient’s needs, wants, desires, and goals, making them fundamental to the patient’s care and the nursing process (Draper & Tetley, 2013: n.p.). This may entail prioritizing the individual’s requirements as defined by them over those that medical professionals have determined to be the most important. The goal is theoretically attainable because nurses should, in general, respect the diversity of the values, needs, choices, and preferences of the people they are caring for. However, how can any discrepancy between the patient’s and the nurse’s values, beliefs, and attitudes be made right? Does this contradiction inevitably mean that the quality of person-centered care being given will suffer as a result? The beliefs, values, and attitudes of nurses who plan and provide person-centered care will be examined in this essay, along with the potential effects these concerns may have on the delivery of that care. The majority of nurses practice as a matter of principle, showing their patients unconditional positive regard at all times. They are supposed to be knowledgeable, compassionate, professional, polite, and nonjudgmental. Of course, each person’s values, beliefs, and attitudes are unique, but in the context of providing person-centered nursing care, it’s critical to recognize those that are holistic and therapeutic rather of concentrating just on the negative. Certain diagnoses give rise to assumptions about the people who receive them, which in turn have an adverse effect on how well they are cared for and treated (Brink & Skott, 2013). This can be especially true for mental illness, which is frequently entangled in prejudice, fear, stigma, and misinformation. According to research by Chambers et al. (2010: pp. 350), stigma among mental health professionals has an impact on the standard of care given to patients with mental health issues as well as their rates of recovery. Although nurses who work in the field of mental health will undoubtedly possess more advanced skills and knowledge in this area than nurses in other nursing specialties, it is possible that some nurses may have misconceptions about mental illnesses and the people who have been diagnosed with them. These misconceptions may have an impact on how well the nurses care for their patients. Individuals in need of treatment for alcoholism or drug abuse can also encounter a less compassionate nursing staff, who might believe that the patient caused their own illness or that better uses of their resources could be made elsewhere. Due to the mistaken notion that another recipient is more “deserving” of the organ, this mentality may be even more common in liver transplant cases resulting from alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver. Nursing staff may view certain morbidities—such as obesity, smoking-related illnesses, type II diabetes, and addictions—unfavorably if they believe the patient caused the condition themselves. They may also lack the necessary empathy and compassion or form preconceived notions about the patient based only on the diagnosis. Similarly, patients who intentionally harm themselves or attempt suicide may encounter stigma, a lack of empathy, and a lack of understanding from nursing staff, particularly if the nurse supervising their care also attends to patients with severe illnesses or conditions. The nursing personnel who tend to patients who attend accident and emergency departments as a result of parasuicide or intentional self-harm may experience intensely unfavorable feelings and attitudes. When dealing with these patients, nurses report feeling very conflicted and frustrated. Furthermore, patients who intentionally damage themselves may arouse negative emotions such fear, rage, and lack of empathy (Ouzouni & Nakakis 2013). When a suicidal patient says they want to terminate their life, they are making a wish. It would be challenging to accept that this request should be regarded as a person-centered need in the framework of person-centered care, nevertheless. The nurse’s duty of care is completely contradicted when it comes to balancing the patient’s needs and wishes, which could lead to conflict, difficulties, and dissonance. One could argue that under these situations, the treatment given cannot be person-centered because it does not respect the patient’s wishes. It goes without saying that a nurse cannot legally or morally consent to enable a suicidal patient to actively try to end their life while in their care, nor can they honor the patient’s request to not get treatment in the event that the patient has made a suicide attempt. The treatment of patients having pregnancy termination operations may also be influenced by similar ethical issues, which could have a negative impact on how truly person-centered the patient’s care is. There are numerous well-documented instances of nurses declining to treat patients following these surgeries or to help with the treatments themselves. These kinds of incidents usually occur when the nurses requested to help with these treatments have their moral, ethical, or religious convictions violated. According to The Nursing & Midwifery Council (2015), nurses and midwives are required to adhere to The Code: Professional standards of practice and behavior of nurses and midwives at all times (2015: n.p.). According to this guideline, nurses and midwives who have a conscientious objection to a specific procedure are required to notify their boss, fellow nurses, and the patient in question. They have to make arrangements for a colleague who is qualified enough to take over in that person’s care. Only two categories allow for the legitimate exercise of conscientious objection by nurses and midwives. First, the Abortion Act 1967 (Scotland, England, and Wales), Article 4(1). This clause permits nurses and midwives to exercise their conscientious objection and decline to take part in the treatment that leads to a pregnancy termination, with the exception of situations in which saving a pregnant woman’s life or preventing serious, irreversible harm to her physical or mental health is imperative. Second, Human and Fertilization and Embryology Act (1990) Article 38. This clause gives nurses and midwives the freedom to exercise their conscientious objection and decline to take part in technological methods intended to facilitate conception and pregnancy. This is a very sensitive and divisive topic that is the subject of much continuous discussion and disagreement. It is important because it raises the question of when a nurse’s personal values and beliefs supersede their obligation to attend to the needs of their patients, regardless of those needs. Should nurses be able to decline to care for patients they believe are “undeserving” or to take part in operations that go against their morals or beliefs? Does this create a concerning precedent for the addition of other controversial operations (such as gender reassignment surgery) to the list? One could argue that a nurse’s primary role should be to care for their patients, and this calls for them to adopt a person-centered, holistic perspective that is unaffected by their own moral beliefs or set of values. Thus far in this essay, we have covered controversial and possibly unusual parts of person-centered care. However, nurses’ values, beliefs, and attitudes can also have a negative impact on the quality of person-centered care provided in the more ordinary, everyday components of nursing. Giving patients more control over their treatment can cause conflict because nurses may feel that their professional judgment is being ignored and may worry that patients’ well-informed judgments and opinions about their care could be harmful to their recovery or general health. When a patient feels as confident that their choice is the best one for them, it may result in nurses taking a didactic stance and thinking they are the experts. In order to avoid ambivalence, nurses should always make sure that they are treating patients as complete individuals rather than just as diseases or conditions that need to be treated or managed. This is because nurses may find it difficult to balance their desire to provide efficient, evidence-based care with the knowledge that patients’ expressed preferences or wishes conflict with this goal. Nonetheless, in order to provide high-quality, patient-centered care, nurses must acknowledge that patients may be judged capable of making educated decisions about their care and treatment, given all the information available to them (NHS Choices 2014). Any documented pre-morbid preferences and choices should be followed wherever it is practical, in the event that the patient lacks the capacity to make informed decisions (e.g., individuals with more severe forms of dementia). There is always a risk that people with dementia will get care that is more focused on tasks than on their needs. Once more, rather of honoring patients’ choices and preferences, nurses could assume what is best for them. Obtaining information about each patient before care or treatment starts can help to create a more complete image of the patient, which is one of the simplest methods to guarantee that care is person-centered. This is especially crucial when working with individuals from different cultural backgrounds because a lack of tolerance and cultural awareness can result in harmful misunderstandings, unintentional offenses, and misconceptions that won’t promote excellent person-centered care. When creating appropriate care plans, it can be helpful to have some understanding of the patient’s background and medical history before beginning therapy. On the other hand, this can also lead to nursing staff members forming harmful stereotypes or prejudices based on the patient’s past or present circumstances. Nursing staff may make assumptions (both good and negative) based on a variety of factors, including gender (including gender identity), race, age, religion affiliation, work status, marital status, and educational and socioeconomic background. A minority of nurses will always be impacted by such issues and will permit them to affect the care they provide, despite the fact that the majority of nurses will treat their patients with unconditional positive regard and courtesy, regardless of issues that may conflict with their own beliefs, values, and attitudes. Because there is a dearth of evidence-based research, it is challenging to assess the scope of this problem, but one nurse who has a bad attitude that interferes with person-centered care is one too many. In summary We have looked at some of the more divisive problems that can and do occur when nurses’ views, values, and beliefs diverge from those of their patients, and we have also looked at the possible effects this could have on the standard of person-centered care given. It is impossible to determine the precise location of the problem’s prevalence or to quantify its scope due to the paucity of study on the topic. It is safe to conclude, though, that there is no simple way to resolve the conflict between providing really person-centered care and addressing issues with the nurse’s own fundamental beliefs and values. Compared to their forebears, modern nurses are highly qualified, highly trained professionals with a broader scope of work. Despite this, they are essentially human and have the same shortcomings and character defects as everyone else. Being swayed by what we hear or see about other people is a characteristic that is unique to humans; everyone has intrinsic values, opinions, and, whether we like it or not, biases. While it makes obvious that professional nurses would have a strong sense of empathy and egalitarianism, they also interact with a wide range of individuals on a regular basis and typically spend very little time with each. Despite this, the vast majority of nurses consistently provide exceptional, person-centered, and patient-focused care. Regretfully, a small percentage will never change. It is only to be hoped that, as nurse education programs adapt to meet the ever-changing demands of healthcare, identifying, confronting, and enhancing negative attitudes will become a fundamental component of person-centered care delivery. View Additional Related Articles: homework, nursing, patient, essay, Send a Friend an Article via Email!Get articles like this one sent straight to your inbox!Register now for free!”