My capstone experience was hosted by the Fargo VA on the medical/surgical unit. The unit is a twenty-five-bed inpatient unit. I have had a wide variety of patients with all different disease processes. The VA’s mission statement is a quote directly from President Abraham Lincoln, “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan.” (VA Web Solutions Office, 2015) I am very gracious to the staff of the Fargo VA. They have facilitated my learning with open arms and open minds. The patient population in the facility is one I have never experienced. There is honor and respect roaming the halls of the hospital. I found myself in awe with the life experiences the patients were willing to share. I honestly …show more content…
(Kleinsinger, 2010) Defensive patients are not going to be receptive patients. If we can avoid the blaming and focus on the education, the patient may be more understanding. After ninety-six hours of my capstone experience, I feel my confidence has grown from a three to a ten, on a scale of 1-10! I have worked with multiple noncompliant patients. Whether the noncompliance came from a social situation, impaired judgement related to intoxication, or a misunderstanding, noncompliance always has a root cause. “Greater trust facilitates improved compliance” (Kleinsinger, 2010) Starting every patient encounter with an open and optimistic approach will facilitate trust from the beginning. Before my capstone experience, I found myself making assumptions of people. Now, knowing that every patient has a back story and every noncompliant patient has a personal barrier to optimal care. If the nurse is able to facilitate trust, it is amazing what the care team can collaborate to meet the patient’s needs! Working with noncompliant patients can definitely be challenging at times, and may even seem impossible! But when all else fails, the nurse must remember that they are caring for the patient, not the disease, in whatever stage of life they currently find themselves
Although equipped with years of schooling, countless clinical experiences, and modern technology, healthcare professionals would accomplish very little without if they do not establish trusting relationships. When a health care provider establishes a trusting with a patient, they are more likely to commit to treatment plans or follow advice. A trusting relationship must also be established between doctors and family members to ensure the best possible solution is achieved for the patient. Moreover, a health care provider is not the sole person in charge of caring for people. He or she is a member of a team of other experienced personnel that must trust each other’s judgments and decisions to create a unified staff dedicated to caring for patients.
Positive relationships with both nurse and client is rewarding to both sides; however, there are essential elements needed to achieve a good nurse-client relationship. Multiple studies were analyzed by Hagerty and Patusky in “Reconceptualizing the Nurse-Patient Relationship” to determine the elements of linearity, trust, time, and role expectations within the nurse-client relationship. Linearity allows the relationship to act in “phases”, which provides efficient and quality care. By doing so, a nurse must establish trust, work with the client while progress continues, and when client is free to go home, the relationship comes to an end. During the orientation phase, trust must be established; as this provides the client comfort and confidence to provide valid information, and then receiving proper care. Effective use of time is vital to the relationship, though many nurses believe they do not have enough time to provide care due to the current health care pressures and time limitations. A study by Forchuck, then analyzed by Hagerty and Patusky, was conducted between 10 nurse-client relationships; Forchuck reports that 7 out of the 10 established a “working relationship” between nurse and client within 2.5 and 6 weeks. Regardless of time, many nurses are introduced to a client with the presumptions that the client wants to receive care and create a relationship, though the nurse expects nothing in return. “Heifner (1993) found that nurses identified vulnerability of patients as an essential foundation of nurses’ abilities to ‘connect’ with patients” (Hagerty and Patusky, 2003, 146). Despite nurses building a relationship upon vulnerability, Hewison discovers that control can actually create “barriers to open and meaningful communication and exchange” (2003). The data collected concludes the vital elements of linearity, trust, time, and role expectations stimulate a successful nurse-client
A therapeutic nurse-patient relationship is outlined as a helping relationship grounded on shared respect, trust, the encouragement of having faith and hope in oneself and others, and emotional support (Pullen et al., 2010). In doing so, the nurse can establish complete satisfaction of the patients needs, whether it be physical, emotional or spiritual. This relationship produces when the patient and the nurse come together in harmony and peace (Pullen et al., 2010). Efficient verbal and nonverbal communication is an essential aspect of interaction between nurse and patient – in doing this, the patient feels on par with the nurse, as an equal, rather than having no indication of what procedures are taking place (Pullen et al., 2010).
As health care providers, nurses strive to instill confidence in their patients and their loved ones. A nurse is respectful to their colleagues as well as their patients. Nurses promote patients’ independence, patients can be confident in the knowledge that a nurse will do what is best for them, respecting their privacy and dignity. This means that a nurse does not share the patient information for personal reasons nor does the nurse get involved in a patients personal relationship if it is not medically relevant (NCSBN, 2011).
When I first decided to come to college for nursing after staying in university for three years, I had an argument with my parents because they were not happy with my decision. My parents just wanted me to finish rest of my degree and they thought that it did not make sense to go to college for diploma, and not complete the university degree. However, I just wanted to complete my nursing diploma in the same amount of time that I can finish my degree in the university because I always wanted to be a nurse.
During my career as a registered nurse I have had the privilege of caring for my patients at the bedside and meeting their needs holistically. Additionally, the safety of my patients is one of the most important aspects of my current role. The experience of advocating for my patients during my nursing career has taught me to place my patient’s health and wellbeing first. The second most important aspect of nursing that I have learned during my career is how to meet my patient’s needs as a whole, not just physically but also emotionally and psychologically applying the holistic approach to each patient. I believe that the patient’s needs
I started my Nursing career in India and then I came to the United States and became an RN. I entered Nursing with the thinking that Nursing is a profession that will always allow me to have a job and all my patients will get better. However, from my experiences I understood that Nursing is more than just giving medications, and it requires clinical competence, cultural sensitivity, ethics, caring for others, and life-long learning about others and the evolving field of medicine. Florence Nightingale once said:
Therefore, I strive every day to be that professional, that health care provider that has a positive and long lasting impact on patient’s health and wellbeing. I always strive to be that professional that my patients and colleagues trust, respect and admire. As a registered nurse, I have accomplished that. I know it because I am asked to precept new nurses and students, because my colleagues come to me frequently to ask me questions when they are in doubt, because when there is a difficult or complicated patient, my supervisor trust me with his care, because at the end of a long busy shift with seven to eight patients under my care, my patients praise me and thank me for the great and unique care I provided them.
Belcher , M., & Jones, L. (1999). Graduate nurses’ experiences of developing trust in the nurse–patient relationship. Contemporary Nurse, 42–152.
In the field of nursing, compassion, understanding, and tenacity are valued characteristics that allows the nurse to be effective in his/her provision of care. It necessitates the delivery of quality care with the greatest respect and patience for all persons of varying lifestyles. The nurse-patient relationship respects the autonomy of patients as individuals through dignity and worth (Rich, 2008). It is mandated that in all professional relationships, the nurse practices with compassion and without restrictions toward each individual regardless of diversity, socioeconomic condition or ethnicity (Rich, 2008).
The “us versus them” mentality may fall in the category of any chronic disease because often lifestyle and behaviors contribute to the development of these conditions. Let’s consider a few, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes. Sometimes smokers with COPD may feel like the clinician does not understand their struggle and are judging them, especially when they explain the complication of continuing this behavior. Nurses must be well rounded and versed; removing any shed of judgmental thoughts and approach the patient with a blank slate and an open-mind. This is where the trust relationship is important between the provider and
As a new graduate nurse I do not have any personal experience with nursing management of units or facilities. I have spent a fair amount of time witnessing the leadership skills my manager(s) utilize on a daily basis. The Chamberlain College of Nursing’s online lessons states, “Although all managers should be leaders, not all leaders are managers” (CCN, 2016). What this quote indicates that leaders in the workplace are not always managers, they can be the charge nurse, staff nurse or maybe even the tech who helps to lead the team. Leadership takes many shapes and forms; it could be as simple as helping out the staff you are responsible for. I have had a unit manager, who when we were in diversion status and short staffed she left her comfy
However, the lack of set accountabilities results in the inability to differentiate when nurses are overstepping and when its necessary to disclose themselves from patient treatment. Medical professionals begin overstepping without established professional boundaries, which results in “negligence of patients needs at expense of their own” (Tyrell, 2016). Because of the long-term treatments and bonds formed throughout the healing process, many patients and nurses confuse this with friendship. As Tyrell and Pryor mention (2016), friendly nurse-patient relationships may be healthy and influencing during rehabilitation, but nurses must remind themselves of the goal at hand which involves helping the patient regain function as soon as possible and allow them to return to their old or altered
I began taking advanced placement classes to challenge myself, to be the best I can be. Although it was difficult to maintain good grades, practice 10 hours a week for the swim team, and working a part-time job, I enjoyed the push and the outcome I received at the end. Due to wanting to be in the Medical field, I took Honors Anatomy and Physiology in order to learn more about the human body; prepare myself for the memorization and the use of note cards. All the information felt like my head was bottled up, I wanted to enjoy my high school years, because “they pass by so fast, make the best of them” my brother would constantly say to me but failed to mention if I really wanted to do what I loved, I had to let all that go and focus on school; which became my biggest responsibility. There were times where I just wanted to take the easy way out and drop the class, but I knew no good would come from that; instead I balanced out my schedule by prioritizing my time between school, practice and work.
People’s perspective about caring is something significant. They think that caring is just the action of taking care of those that are unable to take care of themselves. Part of that perspective is right but in reality, caring is more than taking care of someone that is sick or that is passing through a difficult time. In a nurse’s life, the word caring goes beyond that. Caring is the action of demonstrating concern and kindness about someone; caring is the act of analyzing someone’s feelings and be able to empathize with them, caring is the action to satisfy them in a physical and physiological way, caring is the action to content them in a spiritual and cultural way as well. With sufficient amount of care, bond forms. The patient starts to trust the nurse with their well-being. Trust is also important between a patient and a nurse; it allows the nurse to show dedication and urgency to someone who is in dire need of attention. A large reason why trust and commitment are key roles in caring for a person’s health is that of communication.