Nursing as a Profession and Career Essay

Nursing concepts

Sergi, P. (2009). Meditations on hope: Nurses stories about motivation and inspiration

This book contains several narratives by nurses illustrating how they struggle to maintain their spirits high and be optimistic so that they can able to help those that they care for. They try to give hope to their patients even those with the least chances of surviving.

Professionalism

The main aspect of professionalism that is observed in nurses is the way they communicate with the patients and how they act towards them. Professional acts include how they deliver sad messages to the patients especially those concerning the death of loved ones. This is an area that requires the nurse to apply a lot of knowledge and skills to ensure that he or she does not evoke hostile emotions on the affected person.

Professionalism is seen in the first chapter in the book, “Breaking bad news,” where the narrator talks about how they approach patients who have discouraging laboratory tests such as those indicating a sexually transmitted disease in a pregnant woman, or a patient with cancer, or telling a parent that his child has died. When breaking such news, the narrator explains that the first thing they have to do is to eliminate the difference between the nurse and the patient. They do this by hugging the patient or holding their hands.

The narrator says that when a child is admitted, she calls the parents to inform them that the child has been admitted to ICU then waits for a few seconds to hear the impact of her voice. The narrator also says that she consoles women who have lost their children by telling them that she was with the child when he or she died so the child did not die alone (Sergi, 2009).

The narrator further says that, after staying in healthcare for a number of years, she has learned that they can only give the patients what they would like for themselves. In this case, the nurse is very caring to the patient. She is trying to put herself in the shoes of the affected person. This is an act of professionalism in nursing care.

Caring

Showing care to patients is very important in nursing. Sometimes nurses are faced with situations where sometimes the victim is to blame but they are required not to show this. Giving attention is the most caring act that patients may treasure. It is important for nurses to give attention even in matters that are difficult to help (Potter, Perry, Ross-Kerr &Wood, 2009).

The other chapter is Julia or the burden of bearing Witness. In this chapter, the narrator talks of Julia, a lady who had believed that she owned the house they used to live in with her mother but later the mother denies her ownership. The narrator, therefore, acts as a witness between Julia and her mother.

The narrator looks for ways of helping Julia who is bitter in her room, she is crying, and pounding her fists in her thighs. The narrator, who is a psychiatrist nurse, realizes that what Julia needs is a witness to give her attention and to help her get through that moment and move to the next. The psychiatrist nurse, therefore, gets a chance to listen to the private issues of some patients.

This is a case where the nurse can’t help but show his attention to the two parties is a sign of care. The nurse is the only person with whom patients can share such issues since the nurse is the only person who is the cause of their problems. However, the narrator says that the great challenge that faces them is taking in such serious and private stories but there is no way to let them out. They, therefore, become a burden to the nurse.

The nurse, therefore, requires an ability to take another person’s pain and suffering and to let it back out again. In this case, the nurse is required to practice maintaining confidentiality on the private issues of the patient. Maintaining confidentiality is a professional requirement in nursing (Chitty, 2005).

Teamwork

Teamwork is required among the nurses and also the entire hospital staff. This is because every member has a role to play in ensuring that the patient gets well. Teamwork is also very important for patients in critical conditions who require excellent therapeutic care. In this case, teamwork must also be extended to the patient’s family since they may also have a role to play.

This is seen in the story of “When the Patient Becomes the Teacher: A Lesson in Hope”. In this story, the nurse is faced by a patient whose chances of surviving seemed to be very low. Jim had undergone so many surgeries that had resulted to loss of almost half of his body mass. He got admitted to the ICU and at the first time, the nurse met with his father whom he had to give hopes that Jim will survive. However, he surv