Introduction
Integrative experience in nursing practice is the analysis, synthesis, and interpretation of experiences from theory and practice. It is necessary to reflect and formulate development goals, as well as assess one’s strengths and weaknesses, capabilities, and potential. This work mainly focuses on education, values, skills, a nurse’s role, integrating some practices and strategies, and a specific patient. This paper briefly examines the student’s college studies and initial experience with patients.
Ideas and Approaches for Lifelong Learning
The role of continuing education in achieving results has an economic expression, both for the individual and society as a whole. The lifelong learning strategy of nurses involves the development of personal and professional skills, independent learning, self-motivation, recognition of personal interests, and self-confidence (Jeffries, 2022). The primary tool for achieving these goals is introducing a competence-based approach in education, a universal means of solving personal, public, and state tasks. Modern approaches to developing continuing education assume practicality.
It means that knowledge should not be accumulated for the future but received at the moment when there is a real need for them. One can use short training videos instead of extensive courses that take up working time. Modern knowledge becomes obsolete too quickly to waste time and money on packaging it.
Examples
Examples of professional engagement include certifications, nursing organizations, consulting with experts and leaders, education courses, reading professional or peer-reviewed journals, and much more. A nurse should focus on voice development and personal and professional growth. Training can occur either in an institution or at a patient’s home. Nurses must improve their professional qualifications not in spurts but constantly throughout the entire medical activity.
Values
The values of every nurse are associated with health, a healthy environment, constant self-improvement, independence, human dignity, caring, and maintenance. A nurse’s values are based on the Code of Ethics and professionalism (Poorchangizi et al., 2019). This specialist is dedicated and tells the truth, does good and no harm, and respects a patient’s rights and the responsibilities of other team members (Boggs, 2022).
One should be compliant with other healthcare workers, refrain from discussing the actions of healthcare workers in front of patients or their relatives, not argue in front of patients or their relatives, and be discreet with junior staff. Patients should be treated with a benevolent attitude conducive to a trusting dialogue. It is essential to respect a patient’s dignity and autonomy regardless of gender, age, race, or social status and to maintain confidentiality.
Skills
A professional nurse should have essential skills like providing first aid and emergency medical care, working with medical equipment and records, interacting with a team, and more. A specialist must be able to respond quickly and timely to medical problems, use modern and innovative approaches to care, properly monitor patients’ vital and health status, educate and inform them and their families about any changes, and make recommendations about self-care to avoid re-hospitalization (Moudatsou et al., 2020).
As a rule, successful professional nursing requires an interest in medicine and working with medical technologies, as well as showing tactfulness, courtesy, friendliness, responsibility, concentration, physical endurance, and high emotional stability. In particular, it is essential to have developed empathy, communication skills, and critical thinking (Nunnery, 2019). In other words, hard and soft nursing skills are mandatory.
A Patient
O.A. is a patient with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA) whom I cared for this semester. These two rare illnesses have common symptoms, like muscle rigidity, movement slowing, and poor balance. Thus, the man is immobile, and his vocal cords are paralyzed. Unfortunately, it is impossible to cure existing ailments forever, and this person needs constant help and support. Currently, O.A. lives with his wife and five children, who watch for him.
Vulnerability
O.A. can be categorized as vulnerable since he cannot do some basic things alone and is subject to many risks. According to Soilemezi et al. (2023), disruptions in social networks and routine activities related to treating PD and MSA make people with nervous system disorders feel isolated and vulnerable. Moreover, it is easier for these people to get sick with severe diseases like COVID-19 due to respiratory muscle stiffness, impairment of the cough reflex, or dyspnoea (Antonini et al., 2020). At the moment, O.A. is weak and defenseless and needs special care.
The Role of a Professional Nurse
A professional nurse’s role in working with vulnerable individuals is expressed in the context of equal and fair treatment. Caring for patients and protecting their rights and freedoms must be prioritized. Notably, an experienced nurse is actively grappling with issues of low health literacy and a lack of resources to keep vulnerable citizens safe (Jackson et al., 2020). This specialist strives to fully meet these patients’ needs while complying with local laws, ethical standards, and employer policies.
Analysis of the Research
The article by Currier et al. is the research that supports the integration of spiritual beliefs and values to promote patient health. According to Currier et al. (2019), spirituality is an area that promotes well-being and healthy coping with several illnesses. Spirituality is closely connected with a person’s psychological and bodily dimensions, while the distinctive feature of spirituality is its integrative power that permeates all levels of personality.
Processes occurring on the mental and spiritual levels can cause changes on the physical level. The spiritual level can affect psychological well-being and health-related behavior. A higher level of religious participation is positively associated with indicators of well-being both psychologically and physically.
The Role of the RN in Historical Perspective
The role of a registered nurse (RN) has changed cardinally since the mid-19th century. In the past, a nurse’s job involved basic patient care. In contrast, an RN is now a highly skilled professional on par with a doctor with advanced and progressive knowledge, skills, and abilities. Today, RN has more responsibility, and a nurse from the 19th century would be impressed at how many tasks modern RNs take on.
The Future Role
A professional nurse of the future is a guide in creating change, a navigator, and an enabler for the entire healthcare system. An experienced nurse’s future role should be considered within the framework of continuing professional development and growth and maintaining the health and well-being of residents based on inclusivity and cultural diversity (Chism, 2021). In particular, the future of nursing needs to change to meet the growing demand for care due to advancements in the U.S. healthcare system.
Strategies
I use strategies based on effective communication, developing critical thinking and reasoning, adapting to innovations, and having a vision of a situation’s overall picture to attain and maintain the necessary knowledge, skills, and values. In this case, I am gradually updating my theoretical knowledge, getting new ones, and improving modern and relevant practical skills to make my work more professional. I continually engage in self-development and self-improvement, hone my skills in working with patients and colleagues, and learn new ideas in nursing practice to achieve success and the best results.
Holistic Nursing
Being an excellent holistic professional nurse today means considering patients’ needs and taking an integrated approach to treating their physical, mental, or emotional ailments. The value and satisfaction of patients for a professional nurse is not an empty phrase (Teisberg et al., 2020). Such a moment presupposes implementing specific knowledge, skills, and abilities to provide high-quality assistance to people in various ways and using intuition mainly to recognize an individual, not just their illness or injury. In this way, a medic has a high level of empathy, which allows them to understand patients better and do their work better (Moudatsou, 2020). This specialist generally focuses on everything, eliminating the leading causes of problems, finding long-term solutions for diseases, and encouraging people to care for themselves and their health.
Conclusion
Reflecting on the integrative experience in the work of a professional nurse, the following important aspects should be mentioned. Firstly, lifelong learning involves appealing to the gradual and systematic acquisition of theoretical knowledge and practical skills necessary to perform high-quality and accurate work within the framework of modern reality. Secondly, a professional nurse should strive for values based on legal, cultural, ethical, and moral principles, a high skill level, and extensive experience working with all patients, regardless of their external qualities. Thirdly, a nurse needs to pay special attention to developing such skills as mercy, compassion, friendliness, kindness, observation, attention management, and much more.
Fourthly, it should be noted that the student carefully assisted a patient with severe nervous system diseases such as PD and MSA. Fifthly, an in-depth research analysis demonstrated the significance of integrating spiritual beliefs and values to maintain a patient’s well-being and good health. Sixthly, the role of RNs has changed rapidly since the mid-19th century from basic support to professional care. Seventhly, the student actively uses strategies concerning communication, critical and global thinking, updating knowledge, and adapting to innovations and sees holistic nursing as a system of values aimed at fully satisfying the needs of patients and comprehensive treatment of their ailments.
References
Antonini, A., Leta, V., Teo, J., & Chaudhuri, K. R. (2020). Outcome of Parkinson’s disease patients affected by COVID‐19. Movement Disorders, 35(6), 905-908. Web.
Boggs, K. U. (2022). Interpersonal relationships e-book: Professional communication skills for nurses. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Chism, L.A. (2021). The doctor of nursing practice: A guidebook for role development and professional issues. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Currier, J. M., Foster, J. D., vanOyen Witvliet, C., Abernethy, A. D., Luna, L. M. R., Schnitker, S. A., VanHarn, K., & Carter, J. (2019). Spiritual struggles and mental health outcomes in a spiritually integrated inpatient program. Journal of Affective Disorders, 249, 127-135. Web.
Jeffries, P. (2022). Clinical simulations in nursing education: Advanced concepts, trends, and opportunities. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Jackson, D., Bradbury‐Jones, C., Baptiste, D., Gelling, L., Morin, K., Neville, S., & Smith, G. D. (2020). Life in the pandemic: Some reflections on nursing in the context of COVID‐19. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 29(13-14), 2041-2043. Web.
Moudatsou, M., Stavropoulou, A., Philalithis, A., & Koukouli, S. (2020). The role of empathy in health and social care professionals. Healthcare, 8(1), 26. Web.
Nunnery, R. K. (2019). Advancing your career: Concepts of professional nursing. FA Davis.
Poorchangizi, B., Borhani, F., Abbaszadeh, A., Mirzaee, M., & Farokhzadian, J. (2019). Professional values of nurses and nursing students: A comparative study. BMC Medical Education, 19(438), 1-7. Web.
Soilemezi, D., Roberts, H. C., Navarta‐Sánchez, M. V., Kunkel, D., Ewings, S., Reidy, C., & Portillo, M. C. (2023). Managing Parkinson’s during the COVID‐19 pandemic: Perspectives from people living with Parkinson’s and health professionals. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 32(7-8), 1421-1432. Web.
Teisberg, E., Wallace, S., & O’Hara, S. (2020). Defining and implementing value-based health care: a strategic framework. Academic Medicine, 95(5), 682-685. Web.