Personal Philosophy of Nursing

Introduction

Being a noble profession, nursing pertains to the care provided in the medical arena, by the nursing fraternity towards the provision of medical assistance to existent patients (both those admitted and the discharged convalescents). This is achieved through various pertinent procedural measures with their application being a vital component of daily nursing care life. Thus, through continued care, the organization is able to achieve greater effectiveness, efficiency and overall collective responsibility as pertaining to the overall wellbeing of its various patients, admitted or discharged. Psychiatric nursing thus, entails the specialized nursing profession, which primarily caters for patients exhibiting mental distress or illnesses. As such, it caters for all age-groups n categories and inclinations, with the major focus being on the treatment of such ailments as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, dementia, depression and psychosis amongst others.

Personal Guiding Principles of Psychiatric Nursing

Consequently, the nursing fraternity specializing in the above field does receive extra training, pertinently so in psychological therapies, in addition to enhanced building of requisite therapeutic alliances, better supervision of psychiatric medication, as well as better means of dealing with behavioral challenges. Therapeutic relationships are critical towards the betterment of existent medical procedural measures as such a field of specialty works within existent nursing models, in addition to utilizing various nursing care plans, which strive towards wholesome provision of care and treatment. It hence entails both the concern and compassion showcased in the enhancement and protection of a patient’s dignity, with nursing care striving towards meeting the needs of not only patients, but as well as their existent environment and family (Tingle, 2002).

Consequently, a psychiatric nurse’s primary duty is aimed at maintaining a positive therapeutic relation with patients in an existent clinical setting. This entails existent core elements of mental healthcare revolving around interactions and interpersonal relationships cultivated between patients and the nursing fraternity. The above may be because care provision for patients exhibiting mental illnesses requires the establishment of not only strong desires, but also intensified presence of supportive care. Thus, in the psychiatric nursing practicum, there exist core aspects as pertaining to mental health, these being: demonstration of respect, self-awareness and clear boundaries of the patient; promotion of equality, individuality, availability and genuineness as pertaining to the patient-nurse relationship, in addition to the provision of support, as well as empathy and understanding by the nursing fraternity.

Jacksonville Philosophy

A principal component of the Jacksonville University’s School of Nursing Philosophy is rooted in the aspect of care in nursing. Both concern and compassion towards enhancing and protecting existing patient’s dignity is essential with such care meeting not only the patients’ needs but also their families’, as well as of the surrounding environment. Thus, the faculty holds the belief that care can be fostered through education, with nursing students putting such acquired knowledge as well as evidence-based practice (EBP) into practice in their professional careers. Key guiding principles of the school are comprehensively illustrated in caring, which being an inherent trait of nursing, is demonstrated through the nursing fraternity’s compassionate concern for the protection and enhancement of human dignity. Such care is cultivated and further refined through enacted values and behavioral procedures as well as education with focus placed on a balance between a nurse’s professional and personal life (Jacksonville University: School of Nursing, 2012-2013).

Scholarly inquiry, as well as application of evidence-based practice, further contributes to existent nursing knowledge, with clinical excellence demonstrated through transfer of such pertinent knowledge from courses theoretical, to practices professional. Fundamentally so is the need for cultivated therapeutic alliance/ relationship between patient and nurses. This in practice entails the striving of nurses towards engaging with the patient in both collaborative, as well as positive ways. This aids in empowering such existent patients towards drawing on their inner sources (power), towards faster recovery. Furtherance is the importance of leadership, with nurses being required to serve as both informal and formal leaders, especially towards patient advocacy, change, political activism, as well as general mediation. Effective communication, interpersonal skills, professionalism, as well as diagnostic acumen, are other advantages, with technological and scientific advancement being core towards enhanced positive resultant effects.

Psychiatric Nursing Theory Guide

Though EBP on Psychiatric Nursing is relatively new, this notion utilizing scientific evidence is traceable to amongst others, Florence Nightingale and Dorothea Dix, both of whom crucially influenced contemporary nursing based on psychiatric treatment. However, her knowledge as a nurse, Nightingale pioneered the utility of EBP and statistics towards influencing greater health care reform. Through her contribution, steps were outlined towards assessing variants of patient problems; the further development of various hypotheses in addition to enhanced data collection and analysis methodologies, all vital towards the betterment of existent nursing interventions. Hence, it is through a scientific approach that psychiatric nursing practice is best advanced (Stuart, 2000).

Dorothea Lynde Dix, on her part, was fundamentally inclined towards furthering social responsibility through the foundation of various social programs specifically tailored for society’s mentally ill/ indigent persons. As such, she was of the firm belief that existent governments needed to play their active and direct roles towards enhancing social welfare. Furtherance with mental imbalance (lunacy), she agitated for a need of transformed perspective, towards more positive and hence treatable aspects of social issues. Mental illness hence was but as a negative result of existent social contexts, with biology also playing a crucial role. The theory of – role modeling and modeling – best espouses her philosophy, with the foundation being that all humanity has specific things in common, as well as individual uniqueness.

Hence, one’s genetic make-up relations, as well as experiences with the rest of society, are crucial towards overall understanding of patient needs, with psychiatric nurses being required to unconditionally accept such ‘uniqueness’ in various patients admitted. Thus, through role modeling self-care behaviors as well as good life/ health choices, psychiatric nurses can further enhance a patient’s worldview and recovery chances. The – bio-psychosocial model – further provides that mental health is resultant from existent psychological and physical health, hence an interdependence of both systems towards patient recovery and well being (Nursing Theory, 2013).

Conclusion

In conclusion, psychiatric nursing is crucial towards not only the treatment, but also understanding of existent illnesses and imbalances as pertaining to mental health. By being able to comprehensively tackle such problems, the nursing fraternity is not only supposed to focus on mental and physical health, but also on issues social. For it is the existent social contexts which greatly influence, impact and effect an individual’s greater health and mental well being, thus through knowledge of the above, treatment measures become more effective and efficient.