The Importance Of A Nurse For Providing Professional, Compassionate Care

Following the Francis report, England's Chief Nursing Officer Jane Cummings (2012) launched the 6C's values for Care, Compassion, Communication, Courage, Commitment these are values which can be used to reflect on all aspects of care are used widely now to question the health

The NHS have 6 core nursing values, launched by England’s chief nursing officer, Jane Cummings, after the Mid-Staffordshire disaster. These 6C’s were put into place to reinforce holistic nursing (Delves-Yates, C. 2015), ensure that everybody within the National Health Service is doing everything possible to ensure the best possible service for the patients, and to ensure that patients were put at the heart of everything healthcare professionals do (Watterson, L. 2013). The 6 C’s include care, compassion, competence, commitment, courage and communication. All six of the 6C’S are all fundamental values when it comes to healthcare, however out of these six, the three that I have chosen to write about are communication, compassion and courage. I have chosen these three as I believe that they are the most imperative when it comes to delivering high-quality care for the patients or service users.

Nurses actively preserve the dignity of people through practiced kindness and respect for the vulnerability and powerlessness of people in their care… This vulnerability creates a power differential in the relationship between nurses and persons in their care that must be recognised and managed.7 A diagram representing a continuum of professional behaviour provides a picture of therapeutic versus non-therapeutic behaviour in the relationship between the nurse and the persons in their care.8

This essay will discuss and reflect on one of the Principles of Nursing Practice and I will relate this to my practice experience. It will focus on Principle of Nursing Practice A: Dignity, humanity and equality and I will demonstrate knowledge of the Principle of Nursing Practice in my essay and investigate the professional, legal and ethical frameworks that guide nursing practice and discuss and link what I have experienced in practice to my chosen Principle.

Individuality and dignity are both major concepts in nursing practice. Indeed they are often mentioned in healthcare policies (Suhonen et al., 2009 and Baillie, 2009). Dignity and individualtiy are also basic human rights. The United Nations (1948), acknowledges that every person has the right to freedom, equality and dignity, regardless of race, gender, colour, religion, political opinon, property or other status. This essay aims to detail what both dignity and individuality are, their importance in nursing practice and the nurses role in respecting and catering for a persons individuality and promoting and maintaining dignity. There are, however, many barriers in nursing practice to providing individualised care and maintaining dignity.

Since the early 1900’s nurses have been trying to improve and individualise patient care. In the 1970s this became more structured when the nursing process was introduced by the general nursing council (GNC), (Lloyd, Hancock & Campbell, 2007) .By doing this their intentions were to try and understand the patient in order to give them the best care possible (Cronin & Anderson, 2003). Through the nursing process philosophy care plans were written for patients. It was understood that this relationship would ensure the patient received the best care possible to suit them individually. This would consist of not just the patient as a physical being but their spiritual emotional and holistic being also (Cutler, 2010). The

Healthcare provider’s perception and judgment in the patient’s well being as well as taking into account the right of the patient in every action is one of the key elements in nursing practice. International Council of Nurses (ICN), (2006) states “The nurse at all times maintains standards of personal conduct which reflect well on the profession and enhance public confidence” (p. 3). Furthermore, nursing action guided by theory and principles of moral and legal

This essay will consider ethics in nursing, discuss values and morals and how dignity and respect in patient care is influenced; considering the importance of reflection and the implications it has on effective practice from the perspective of a student nurse. The scenario “Call Me Joe” provided by Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) (2010a) highlights concerning issues and bad practice that are happening in modern day nursing practice, and using the Driscoll and Teh (2001) reflective model: What, Now What and So What, to consider the care that Joe is receiving; considering how the nursing practice affects him directly and the implications of the nature of knowledge in nursing practice. Part of the way in which nursing practice is

Nursing surrounds the concept of patient care physically, mentally and ethically. The therapeutic relationship that is created is built on the knowledge and skills of the nurse and relies on patient and nurse trusting one another. The use of nursing skills can ensure these boundaries are maintained, it allows for safe patient care. Professional boundaries are the line that nurses cannot cross, involving aspects such as patient confidentiality and privacy, ensuring legal aspects of nursing and the boundaries put in place are not breached. However, nurses accepting financial or personal gain from patient can also cross these professional boundaries. It is only through education in this area that the rights of patients can be preserved, as

To observe the trust values as a trainee assistant practitioner the six fundamental values I need to maintain in mind are Care, Compassion, Communication, Competence, Commitment, and Courage. NHS Commissioning Board (2012), the 6Cs were developed in 2012 as part of compassion in practice. The 6Cs encapsulate the values and behaviors of the essence to the legal transfer of high quality, compassionate care Beal, J (2014). Care is core business and that of our organisations and the care we deliver helps the individual person and improves the health of the whole community. WUTH (2012) Caring defines us and our work. A person receiving care expects it to be right for them, consistently, throughout every stage of their life Beal, J (2014). Compassion is how care is given through relationships based on empathy, respect and dignity. I believe that nursing is an occupation consisting of professional individuals that exhibit and express

As healthcare professionals, nurses are governed by and must have understanding of ethical, legal and professional frameworks which underpin practice (Gallagher and Hodge, 2012). They follow these frameworks to help direct themselves in making decisions in collaboration with service users to ensure person centred care is delivered.

Nurses can be more compassionate by expressing empathy toward patients and their problems by using therapeutic communication and by treating them with dignity & respect.

As an individual’s ethics will play a large part in their practice, there are specific guidelines and legislation that exist to ensure that nurses, as well as other health professionals, practice in a way that is ethical (Avery, 2013). These laws further exists to attempt to simplify the ethical issues that sometimes present in nursing practice and to attempt to guide one’s actions. The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) provides guidance to nurses by providing a number of professional codes and guidelines (Avery, 2013). The NMBA has developed a code of ethics for nurses comprising of eight codes (Avery, 2013). These are as follows; 1) Nurses value quality nursing care for all people; 2) Nurses value respect and kindness for self and others;

Nurses are subject to a plethora of legal, ethical, and professional duties which can be very challenging on a day to day basis. Some of these duties include respecting a patient 's confidentiality and autonomy, and to recognize the duty of care that is owed to all patients. As nurses our duties are always professional; however there are legal implications if these duties are breached. We also must consider when it is okay as nurses to breach these duties and therefore ethical issues arise. As nurses one of our main priorities is to advocate for our patients, without our own personal feelings on the matter taking over.

Codes of ethics contain a coherent set of normative principles underlying a nurse’s purpose and associated values (Vanlaere and Gastmans, 2007). Two perspectives of ethics are the ethics of justice and the ethics of care (Botes, 2000). The ethics of justice constitutes an ethical perspective in terms of which ethical decisions are made on the basis of universal principles and rules, and in an impartial and verifiable manner with a view to ensuring the fair and equitable treatment of all people (Botes, 2000). The ethics of care, on the other hand, constitutes an ethical approach in terms of which involvement, harmonious relations and the needs of others play an important part in ethical decision making in each ethical situation (Botes, 2000).