This WTC artifact is the summary I composed from my experience at the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. It served as an informative and eye-opening experience to a population of people struggling that need medical and spiritual guidance, not judgement.
This link is for my BTC encounter mentioned in this insight. It provides a detailed account of the encounter with the young mother who struggled with drug reliance and suicidal ideation.
Blum, Edwin, and Jeremy Royal. Howard. Holman KJV Study Bible. Holman Bible Publishers, 2014.
Professionalism Translates to Equal Care
Although many careers have high demands for professionalism, patient care requires professionalism as the staple of its mission. There is an often-stereotypical perspective of how nurses act and respond to patients. It seems routine to converse with patients and simply focus only on how their day is and if they are feeling okay. I find that often it is easy to only focus on getting my tasks completed on time and worry less about the concerns or comfort of patients. There appears to be a theme with more friendly or relatable patients receiving better care from the nurses and the other patients are less priority, which can be true in some cases in nursing. Nurses can be more comfortable with certain patients. This could be attributed to the idea of countertransference. This means that some nurses tend to avoid or have a skewed perception of a patient based on the patient’s resemblance to a specific person or group of people. This ties directly into the idea of stereotyping or even racism. Professional nurses are not subject to allow any perception of ethnicity, age, or gender affect how they perceive the patient they are assigned.
The main idea around professionalism revolves around focusing on a common goal: To make sure EACH patient is cared for EQUALLY and can reach the highest level of wellness permitted at their stay of the hospital. Any job can take this concept and erase any stereotypes that may exist to promote work excellence. Despite the differences in the backgrounds, ethnicities, or religions, the nurse has a specific commitment to the patients he or she is assigned. Professionalism is incorporated in simply serving the patients and attempting to disregard whatever has led to their health complications, or differences in beliefs. Nurses are to be committed to be humble, compassionate servants in this world. The Emotional Intelligence Concept revolves around two points, a nurse’s perception and understanding of their patient’s feelings as well as enforcing these perceptions to steer towards the goal of quality care for the patient. Nurses are taught to never to have any indication of judgmental nature when caring for patients. Nurses can develop their own unique ways of communicating effectively with the patients, but must be cautioned to not have favoritism with certain patients. Favoritism can cause some patients to be subject to lesser quality care. Religion, ethnicity, and/or age should not change how quality a patient’s care should be from the nurse. This would follow suit with the increasing divisiveness in society’s attitudes toward other people who are different and have opposing views. When this knowledge is obtained from a nurse, they are able to understand equal care and focus on the integral components to be an excellent communicator and provider of care. Emotional Intelligence should become a focal point to reminding a nurse that they should establish a baseline trust and rapport with their patients.
The main idea of health care is to provide for the masses, so nurses can help eliminate the concerns and leave a lasting memory for the ones under their care. This memory is possible through a nurse’s attempt to stay professional and ensure that the best care can still be provided for the patients, while being a quality support system and going the extra mile. My Psychiatric/Mental Health course (NURS 411) helped me to realize especially that individuals from different backgrounds and troubles in life still need support. Attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting was a class assignment in the course and provided me with the chance to observe substance abusers speak openly about their struggles. I was assigned some questions to answer for summarization of the meeting and my experience. This within the class experience opened my eyes even more to the outpatient and community health patients that need just as much support and advocacy as the ones who are in a hospital bed. I also found it very reassuring that these individuals began to openly speak about their faith and how that helped them after becoming sober. Since I have discussed how faith can be important for some patients, I am glad to see that others recognized that sharing faith can help many individuals who are struggling with many health problems. This is a specific population, like newborns, or other age groups that have unique health complications.
The previously mentioned concept of Emotional Intelligence can be incredibly important in allowing the individuals who have abused substances speak their mind and gain encouragement. For a patient, having a caregiver that is receptive and willing to listen is therapeutic in the patient-nurse relationship. When working with children or newborns, there are certain communication barriers. Having a therapeutic voice combined with quality treatment for these patients can dramatically increase the effectiveness of the care given since the emotional care is important to consider as well. Beyond the classroom, I would often be tasked with sitting for a patient in a one-to-one observation as a nurse tech. These patients might be the drug users, suicidal ideation patients, or elopement risks. After I encountered a young mother that attempted suicide by ingestion of opioid pills, I had a chance to apply these concepts. I recognized that even though there’s a common theme among many substance abusers, some are no different than myself or any other person. This mother was struggling and had a family that cared for her, but she craved having the opportunity to speak to me. She enjoyed having me for company, discussing everything from hobbies and likes to her issues and this humbled me. I feel this experience marked an opportunity for me to share faith, share what I have been taught about struggles along with being an advocate, and caring deeply about this patient’s struggles. This patient needed care as much as a patient that was homeless drug user. Equal care will always be engraved into my practice as I progress because I know that there are many different populations that need help, whether physical or emotional.
When considering the Emotional Intelligence concept, nurses should attempt to be the advocate and compassionate nurse for all patients. The treatment process is not all pharmacological (pertaining to drugs) as I mentioned earlier. I do believe that allowing certain patients to be open about concerns is one of the most helpful remedies. When I recognized this, I found that it is not much different than working with the general population since promoting confidence, assurance and comfort for the patients, accomplishes the concept. As a part of implementing faith into practice, this main idea of being professional and integrating equal care can strengthen what the bible teaches of treatment of others. Ephesians 2:14 reads, “For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.” Similarly, Hebrews 12:14 reads, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Holman KJV Study Bible 2014). These verses help to produce a sense of caring for one another because when we lose sight that we are meant to be in harmony and care for one another, He gets the glory and blesses it. When there is divisiveness, people lose sight of God and how they cannot look after one another. I believe that through the sustenance of professionalism and compassionate care, I will be a better nurse when considering that everyone must receive equal care.