Professionally Nurses: Aspect of Care - Essay Example

? PROFESSIONAL ASPECT OF CARE Task: Professional aspect of care It is crucial for nurses to develop effective communication skills to create good therapeutic relationships with patients. Nurses should communicate in a compassionate and respectful manner. They can achieve this when they employ varies communication approaches. Some of the strategies entail acknowledging the legal, professional, and ethical aspects in the health care settings. It also involves working within the framework arising from these aspects. This will enable the nurses to practice autonomously and be accountable for the health care practices to ensure they respect dignity and human rights. Professional nurses must meet the physical and mental health needs of all the patients regardless of their ages, races, and ethnicity. They must meet patients’ needs in all settings that include homes, health centers, and communities. Professionally, nurses have to be caregivers, patient advocates, councilors, leaders, managers, teachers, and coordinators (Dawoud & Maben 2008 p. 1). As caregivers, nurses have to understand the patients’ needs through communication for him or her to support them emotionally through their attitudes and actions. Care giving also involves performance of health care activities that patients cannot do autonomously. Nurses should not only demonstrate physical professional care, but they should also develop close emotional relationships with patients through communication. The contemporary care-giving role entails knowing that patients feel insecure by communicating with them. Indeed, such feeling may threaten their ability to cope. The role requires empathy, which makes the nurses to be aware of the individuals’ emotional state and need for support (National Quality Board 2012). Teaching is also part of nurses’ profession that is vital in the current health care arena because it enhances communication. Nurses give information to patients according to their health care needs (Nicol &O’Caroll 2007 p. 3). For example, the information that nurses should communicate to patients entail explanation of the procedures involved in diagnosis processes and self-administration of medications. Additionally, nurses should teach the patients how to manage wound care, and the restorative exercises such as the ones done after mastectomy. While educating the patients regarding the health care practices, nurses have to give patients the chances to make choices concerning the issues affecting their health through appropriate communication (Dawoud & Maben 2008 p. 1). They should not force or give advice to the patients about any treatment decisions. They should only give them the potential alternatives and support their decisions. Furthermore, nurses should participate in creating awareness to the communities about the health care issues. While creating awareness they have to build effective relationships with clients through communication. In addition, they should encourage them to join community groups that offer financial and emotional support (Royal College of Nursing, 2012 p. 1). Professional nurses are also coordinators in any health care settings. For example, nurses who manage care should coordinate with the one who delegates care through communication processes (Westrick &Dempski 2009 p. 23). Additionally, nurses have to coordinate with doctors to develop a good relationship between them. This coordination is vital in health care units because doctors depend on nurses in obtaining most of the patients’ information. Acquiring important information from nurses reduces the occurrence of medical errors that risks the patients’ lives (Carvalho, Reeves & Orford 2007 p. 29). Nurses should also be counselors for them to develop effective therapeutic relationships. As counselors, nurses have to communicate effectively with patients to make them develop positive feeling and behaviors in the health care settings. Counseling is vital when nurses are offering the potential alternate choices to patients regarding the health care practices. Nurses can offer counseling to each patient in each session or they may offer it in groups. One-to-one counseling is done when a problem is affecting only one patient while group counseling occurs when the health issues are affecting large groups. For instance, if a problem is affecting the whole community, nurses can lead the self-help groups in the community in order to interact and counsel them effectively. Nurses must have therapeutic skills to give the required information in appropriate ways (Murphy, Cross & McGuire 2009 p. 1). Furthermore, they should have leadership skills that will enable them to analyse situations and experiences in order to give effective advice during the counseling sessions based on appropriate communication techniques. At the patients’ level, nurses should demonstrate their leadership skills by helping the patients to make the important decisions that will help them to establish and realise their health goals (Research and Markets 2010). This has to be a mutual process between nurses and clients. Moreover, they should be charismatic leaders who can build emotional relationship between them and their clients. The charismatic relationship will make the clients follow the nurses’ instructions because they develop trust on the nurses’ abilities. Nurses are also required to be good managers. They should manage the nursing care of every individual and the whole community through appropriate communication. The management involves coordinating with ancillary personnel in order to help the clients realise their health goals at effective costs and in suitable settings (Nursing and Midwifery Council 2012 p. 1). Furthermore, nurses should be delegators. Before performing their role as delegators, they have to understand the appropriate activities for particular healthcare settings. This is vital because it will enable them to give tasks to the right individuals in the healthcare (Murphy, Cross & McGuire 2009 p. 23). It is wrong for nurses to delegate tasks to people who lack the knowledge to perform the tasks correctly. Proper delegation also requires effective communication skills in order to give the right instructions. After assigning tasks, they should evaluate them to know if they have been successfully completed (Murphy, Cross & McGuire 2009 p. 12). Nurses have to be effective communicators to address the ethical concerns when delivering the health care services. They have to consider the cultural aspects of the clients through the communication process in decision-making processes. Nurses in the western countries face various ethical challenges when dealing with patients from the non-western countries. In the latter countries, decisions about individuals’ health care depend on the family or kinships (Perez 2011 p. 1). Additionally in such cultures, the patients prefer not to be informed about their health conditions. For instance, the individuals from the non-Western cultures believe that telling the patients about their conditions will cause them more harm. Nurses have to handle the situation both professionally and ethically by employing effective communication techniques. This is because some health conditions such as the patients HIV status have to involve the patients’ decisions. Patients usually comprehend their health conditions because they are always involved in decision-making in the Western cultures. Nurses have to obtain the patients consent before performing any procedures by appropriately communicating with them. Obtaining consent information should be respected if the patient is not incapacitated (Perez 2011). Nurses face difficulties when making choices about whether to care for some patients or not especially when they fail to embrace appropriate communication techniques. For example, nurses who are against abortion may find it difficult to attend to a client who has had an abortion. The nurses find it difficult between choosing whether to respect the patients’ freedom or their religious beliefs (Carvalho, Reeves & Orford 2007 p. 12). Analysis of the communication platform highlights that nurses have to tell the truth because patients trust them to get truthful information regarding their health conditions and treatments. Patients should be given the correct information so that they make the right decisions about their health. Moreover, confidentiality in the health care sectors is vital because it also enhances the patients’ trust. Patients have to empower nurses for them to receive the right treatments. They trust that nurses will only disclose the information to physicians and other health experts who need to know when they give the confidential information (Dawoud & Maben 2008 p. 1). Moreover, nurses have to maintain a professional relationship with patients, coworkers, and doctors through appropriate communication. Nurses should report physicians or their colleagues who are acting in ways that can harm patients. Additionally, nurses should maintain the patients’ autonomy especially when the patients visit the health units for the first time. Communication will empower nurses to provide patients with the advance directive allowing them to choose approaches that meet their needs. Communication will allow nurses to respect and record other directives (Nursing and Midwifery Council 2012 p. 1). Communication entails the transfer of information through feeling, observation and words. The nurse should be a good communicator to develop a good therapeutic relationship with the patient (Kennedy-Sheldon 2009 p. 3). This entails proper documentation and interpretation of the messages sent by the patients verbally or non-verbally. These may focus on public health campaigns, policy issues, and patient’s personal experiences with a health issue. Communication is vital to the development of a therapeutic relationship with the patients. Communication breakdowns are the main causes of accidental mishaps that culminate in litigation (Day, 2007, p. 315). Professional nurses may misunderstand their patients because of poor communication. This may culminate in the breakdown of the professional and ethical standards. This can result in court processes that seek to obtain redress of the losses incurred in the nursing process. The legal aspect in nursing explores the formal rules of conduct that govern and ensure the protection of all persons. Nurses engage in crimes that emanate from poor communication. These include the crimes of misdemeanor through omission and commission acts (Behan 2011, p. 1). A commission crime is one that is carried out deliberately on a forbidden act while an omission crime is defying of an expectation of the law. A nurse is liable by law if a patient receives the wrong medication that may harm the patient. Other crimes of commission include abortion and euthanasia (Day 2007, p. 315). Poor communication can result to these errors in nursing. For instance, a nurse is liable if a patient fails to receive the right medication due to the failure to conduct detailed assessment on the patient or issuing of the wrong prescription. Crimes of commission also include the failure to perform a prescribed treatment, failing to report on sensitive issues such as child abuse or failure to report on communicable diseases. Nurses have the duty to caring for their patients and work towards their wellbeing (Guido 2010, p. 63). Nurses are obliged to develop trust-based relationships that will enhance the relationship between the nurse and the client. The nurses should communicate clearly to the nurse and listen carefully to avoid misdiagnosis, assumptions and negligence. Notably, negligence is a leading cause of lawsuits by clients of healthcare. Negligence entails the intentional harm directed to a patient through neglecting duties, procedures and ordinary precautions (Day 2007, p. 315). Healthcare professionals are held in high esteem compared to other trained individuals. The standards and procedures of practice cover any imminent limitations. Therefore, they should be alert on any pending issues likely to break the public trust through appropriate communication (Gates 2007, p. 4). Another leading cause for litigation is malpractice. It refers to the improper treatment of a client by trained health personnel that causes harm to the patient. It can also include verbal and physical intimidation, a gesture that can significantly affect the client-nurse relationship (Research and markets 2010 p. 1). An efficient communicator avoids use of threatening words or tones that intimidate the patients. Physical intimidation includes use of force, battery, forceful treatment that is liable for litigation. Patients sign consent forms for care and treatment prior to the services. Therefore, the professional nurses should dispense the services signed without prejudice or malice (Glasper, McEwing & Richardson, 2009, p.14). Nurses are liable to prosecution if they breach the standards of care as defined by nursing code of conduct. Nurses are liable for negligence in a civil court. They can also face the restriction or revocation of their licenses (McElroy, 2011, p.13). Nurses must be aware of the scope of their practice when deciding whether to accept or refuse assignments. According to McElroy (2011, p.13), definite legal duties allow nurses to refuse duties and tasks that are outside their scope. Practicing beyond one’s scope can culminate in damaging results and may culminate in lawsuits. Therefore, financial motivation should not be the only factor for guaranteeing service delivery. Awareness in legal issues allows the nurses to understand the law requirements while providing the patient care and preventing nursing negligence and malpractice. This is because nurses are becoming defensive. This affects their therapeutic relationship between the nurse and the client. Therefore, the nurse should understand the law and communicate effectively to avoid the ambiguities that might culminate in trouble (Liang & Coulson 2002, p. 119). Communication is a dynamic and incremental process that facilitates not only information sharing but also the growth and healing of the patient. Poor communication can be catastrophic leading to loss of life or permanent damage on health. For this reason, nurses are accountable for maintaining the established standards of therapeutic care. There are numerous situations involving legal, ethical, and professional concerns in nursing. The nurses should work towards avoiding the violation of these legal standards. For example, health facilities keep records about the dispensing of narcotics. The law requires that narcotics should be distributed under the supervision of a physician. It is necessary to communicate this information to the recipients and the health professionals. This is because patients are exposed to misinterpretation of information, lack of crucial information, unclear instructions over the telephone as well as poor evaluation of the changes in status when healthcare professionals overlook communication. Indeed, ethical, legal, and professional concerns arise when persons overlook minor issues in the medical world because of poor communication. Reference List Behan, D 2011, NHS Commissioning goes live. Viewed 8th September http://socialcarebulletin.dh.gov.uk/2011/10/31/6181/ Carvalho, S, Reeves, M & Orford, J 2007, Fundamental aspects of legal, ethical and professional issues in nursing. Viewed 8th September http://www.quaybooks.co.uk/Content/Site121/FilesSamples/727Q4233pdf_0000000035 8.pdf Dawoud, D & Maben, J 2008, Nurses in society: starting the debate. 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