Understanding The Nursing Profession

Amongst the many ways a nurse can be defined, I find it hard to narrow it down to only a few definitions. Nurses are loving, caring, hard-working, smart, quick, and the list could go on and on. Nursing profession demands a lot of one emotionally, physically, and mentally. The two theorists that I focused on for my essay on nursing profession are Orem’s Theory of Self-Care and Watson’s Theory of Human Caring. I believe these two theorists encompass what I have experienced what a nurse to be, being in the Rehabilitation Unit at St. Vincent’s.

Being in the Rehabilitation Unit, I’ve learned a lot about what it means to be a nurse from the staff of nurses that work with me. Specifically, I see Orem’s Theory of Self-Care as having an impact on what it means to be a nurse. Based on my own experience, it always seems easier to complete a task for someone else who is struggling to perform the task. For me, it was a gesture out of my willingness and wanting to help. However, since working on the Rehab Unit the nurses taught me the importance of not always intervening with patient’s everyday tasks. At first they told me it was about building muscles so they could get stronger, but I believe it’s much more than that.

In Contemporary Nursing: Issues, Trends, & Management it states that Orem’s theory was that it is a nurse’s duty to restore a patient's self-care ability through intervention with an end goal of restoring the patient’s overall well-being. Being in the Rehabilitation unit, I’ve learned that the patient’s ability to care for themselves is the focus of our theme. The care on our unit specializes in giving patients the ability to provide care for themselves, so when the time comes to leave the hospital they regain some of the independence they had before coming to the hospital.

To expand on the philosophy of Orem’s Theory of Self-Care, I think it’s important to reference Pascal’s Pensées. In his Pensées, he wrote on the idea of the life of a king, and I believe it compliments Orem’s Theory of Self-Care. This idea of being king is that we, as humans, long to rule as the royals. We’d rather spend our days in leisure than go to work. However, Pascal notes that the king who has no job or quarries to worry about, is left feeling lonely and unhappy. Without diversion, the king has an eternity of inevitable death and disease that awaits him. He repeats each day in solidarity with his thoughts focused on the inevitable. As humans we are constantly diverted by work, school, church, family, relationships, etc. So, when we do get time to play it’s very rewarding. Likewise, without nursing intervention, the patient sits there feeling hopeless and focuses on their disease that has debilitated them. However, with nursing intervention, we are giving that patient the ability to provide for themselves again. We are giving them that diversion from there disease or death, allowing them to focus on getting better.

In past experiences I’ve been challenged by Orem’s Theory of Self-Care. For example, we once had a patient in the Rehab Unit who was at wit’s end on receiving care. On the first hours of admission, she refused almost all care and would rather lay in bed all day and face the inevitable. Over the next many days, both physical therapists, occupational therapists, and nurses worked towards mobilizing this bed ridden patient and by the next time I worked she was already providing care for herself. I was in shock when I went to her room to help her toilet on how much she was able to complete by herself, because less than a week ago I was completing most tasks for her. I’ve witnessed firsthand what it means to implement Orem’s Theory of Self-Care. Going forward into nursing, I aim to keep this on the forefront of my agenda as a nurse.

Beyond the Rehab Unit, I believe what every nurse must have a certain level of caring. Nursing is a profession where you must have a solid fundamental knowledge of the human body and healthcare, but also a nurse must be able to care for their patient like it’s their own family member. Sometimes this can present a challenge to those who struggle with interpersonal skills, but overtime can be acquired.

Jean Watson stated in her theory of Human Caring, that as humans we strive for connections with other humans, and it’s these connections that self-promote a patient’s health; negating all or any thoughts on illness and bringing harmony to their mind, body, and soul. Based on my personal experience, many nurses are the intermediaries between the doctor and the patient. Doctors spend little time interacting with their patient, and do not spend the time providing the care the patient was implemented. It’s the nurses who are following the Doctor’s orders to carry out the care for the patient. The nurses are the ones that are making the connections with the patients and comforting them during a time of distress.

To emphasize the importance of human connection, Abraham Maslow a humanistic psychologist, studied human’s needs and developed a hierarchy of needs and motives. At the bottom of the ladder is a human’s basic physiological needs like hunger, thirst, or sleep. However, Maslow proposes that above physiological needs we, as humans, have safety and belongings needs that are more important. I believe that Doctors are the ones providing physiological needs, but the nurses are the ones who are fulfilling the safety and belongingness needs. I’m suggesting that not only is caring a stereotype of nursing profession, but it also an integral process to the profession itself. As I move forward to becoming a nurse, I look to be more empathetic and to alter my perspective to the patients’ point of view, to provide better, more holistic care to all who are under my care.

References

1. Cherry, B., & Jacob, S. R. (2017). Contemporary Nursing: Issues, Trends, & Management (7th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
2. Pascal, B. (2004). Pensées. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett. Edited and translated by Roger Ariew.
3. Myers, D. G. (2014). Exploring Psychology (9th ed.) New York: Worth Publishers.