Nursing Definition and Assumptions Regarding Health Care Actors
Nursing is responsible for providing safe, timely, and patient-oriented health care delivery. In my opinion, it exists to support patients’ physical and psychological needs that steadily change with time and are rather important for people to improve their health outcomes and prevent potential diseases. The key role of nursing is to be an integral part of the health care system by advocating for patients’ rights, communicating preventive measures, and managing care (Potter, Perry, Stockert, & Hall, 2012). I practice nursing as I want to help people around me and make their lives easier and happier. For example, when I provide care for the community members, I feel proud of my efforts put on their treatment, recovery, or some other necessary activity. I believe that my goal as a nurse is to lead people in nowadays world that presents many new diseases and risks to health by acting as a caregiver, educator, and patient advocate. Thus, nurses should appropriately assess, analyze, and interpret patients’ needs and meet their expectations to accomplish the mentioned goals.
At the same time, patients themselves are also responsible for their health, and they should help nurses in providing health care services. For example, I think that timely observations, adherence to prescriptions, and preventive efforts such as adequate nutrition and physical exercises may lead to a reduced level of morbidity. As for other health care providers, for example, physicians, health care centers, and so on, it is important to declare the essential nature of collaborative decision-making and goal-setting (Kulbok, Thatcher, Park, & Meszaros, 2012). Several types of research show that teamwork and effective collaboration between team members make a positive impact on the quality of care and also patients’ outcomes (Kulbok et al., 2012). Furthermore, communities may contribute to health care delivery by leading a healthy lifestyle and helping each other, especially when it comes to underserved populations.
Major Domains of Nursing and Perspective Points
Health care focuses on such domains as a person, health, and environment. As a nurse, I consider a patient as a unique person affected by environment, society, and genetics. Every patient has his or her peculiarities that need to be counted while providing nursing services. However, speaking more generally, it is possible to note that while a person cannot satisfy his or her needs, he or she is at risk of disease and the health status decrease. In this connection, I agree with Henderson’s and Watson’s theories of nursing that imply dignity, respect, and individual approach (Masters, 2017).
I consider health in terms of the comprehensive approach, considering it’s emotional, holistic, physical, social, spiritual, and other aspects. In my opinion, assistance in the achievement of optimal wellness is the responsibility of nurses. The environment also plays the important role in the system of health care, and I understand it as the composition of physical (water, air, and so on) and non-physical (relationships, culture, values, etc.) components. These domains are interconnected as a change in one of them would inevitably alter others.
I positively view the future of nursing and believe that it would be more community-oriented, holistic, and attentive to changes occurring in society. As a nurse, I may encounter challenges regarding cultural peculiarities, beliefs, increasing costs, and patients’ satisfaction. I hope to build my professional development on continuous learning, respect for patients, and evidence-based practice, thus contributing to health care quality and providing the best health care delivery possible.
References
Kulbok, P. A., Thatcher, E., Park, E., & Meszaros, P. S. (2012). Evolving public health nursing roles: Focus on community participatory health promotion and prevention. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 17(2).
Masters, K. (2017). Role development in professional nursing practice (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Potter, P. A., Perry, A. G., Stockert, P., & Hall, A. (2012). Fundamentals of Nursing(8th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby.