Millennium Goals and Nightingale’s Theory
Although the Millennium Development Goals were supposed to be achieved in 2015, a range of issues regarding vaccination, identification of imminent health threats, and the overall level of health awareness remain unresolved (“News on Millennium Development Goals,” 2015). The post-2015 development agenda suggests that community involvement and the focus on communication must serve as the platform for improving the quality of care. However, the essence of the Millennium Goals comes out in full blue when viewed through the prism of Florence Nightingale’s theory of care. By viewing the environment as a system of factors affecting people’s health and providing opportunities for patient education, as well as the consistent improvement of healthcare services, Nightingale’s theory of nursing must be introduced to the Millennium Development Goals framework to ensure the further management of the needs of diverse demographics in a multicultural environment (Beck, Dossey, & Rushton, 2011).
Florence Nightingale’s Legacy
Both the idea of nursing as a combination of art and science and the necessity to take environmental factors into account when meeting the needs of diverse patients, which are crucial elements of Nightingale’s nursing theory, have affected my perception of the Millennium Development Goals significantly. Nightingale’s approach to nursing helped define the role of innovation and a culture-specific approach toward each patient. By introducing the idea of the context and the content of nursing, as suggested in Nightingale’s theory, one will be able to endorse the integralist approach toward nursing (Beck et al., 2011).
To be more specific, the framework gives a chance for patients to educate themselves about relevant health issues, as well as improve their ability to identify a threat to their health, e.g., a certain symptom, evaluate the danger, and locate the available healthcare resources for receiving the required assistance. Therefore, Florence Nightingale’s legacy is continued in the Millennium Goals and the modern principles of nursing due to the emphasis that has been placed on the importance of patient education and nurse-patient communication. Furthermore, in the era of a technological breakthrough and innovative digital devices, the process of communication enhancement and community involvement that is central to Nightingale’s theory can be implemented by using social media as the platform for raising awareness (Blazeck, Katrancha, Drahnak, Sowko, & Faett, 2016).
Millennium Goals and the Community of Nurses
Since communication enhancement and the promotion of agency among patients are the current nursing priorities, the following Millennium Goals must be pursued to improve the quality of services and create the environment in which patients’ well-being will be enhanced: search for opportunities to maximize healthy life, strengthening the skills of healthcare staff members, and promoting patient education and independence by using social media (Mendes & Ventura, 2017). While seemingly unrelated, the three goals listed above are linked closely. For instance, by increasing the competency level of nurses and healthcare practitioners, one will be able to extend the healthy life of target demographics. The use of patient education and techniques for raising awareness about current health issues, methods of avoiding health threats, and means of contacting healthcare services, in turn, is bound to lead to a rapid increase in the number of positive patient outcomes.
A community of nurses, in turn, will help implement the goals mentioned above. The use of social media, including Facebook, Twitter, etc., will create chances for educating the members of local communities about key health issues. As a result, a rapid improvement in health rates and levels of awareness will ensue.
References
Beck, D. M., Dossey, B. M., & Rushton, C. H. (2011). Integral nursing and the Nightingale initiative for global health: Florence Nightingale’s integral legacy for the 21st century. Journal of Integral Theory & Practice, 6(4), 71-92.
Blazeck, A. M., Katrancha, E., Drahnak, D., Sowko, L. A., & Faett, B. (2016). Using interactive video-based teaching to improve nursing students’ ability to provide patient-centered discharge teaching. Journal of Nursing Education, 55(5), 296-299. Web.
Mendes, I. A. C., & Ventura, C. A. A. (2017). Nursing protagonism in the UN goals for the people’s health. Revista Latino-Americana De Enfermagem, 25, e2864. Web.
News on Millennium Development Goals. (2015). Web.