Free Nursing Dissertations - Communication Is The Single Most Important And Sometimes Underrated
Communication is the single most important and sometimes underrated dimension of nursing practice (Arnold & Boggs 1999)
Definition of Nursing
We can define nursing as a profession of a nurse that involves caring for the sick.
Florence Nightingale says No man, not even a doctor, ever gives any other definition of what a nurse should be than this -- 'devoted and obedient.' This definition would do just as well for a porter. It might even do for a horse. It would not do for a policeman (1859). We can also define it as a unique art that balances principles of the physical, biological, and behavioural sciences. Normally nurses work along with the physicians. This profession need people who are tough and patient, highly motivated and driven, brilliant organizers and at the same time possessing empathy for suffering. To quote the world renowned nurse called as The Lady with the Lamp, Florence Nightingale (1873), ‘Nursing is most truly said to be a high calling, an honourable calling. But what does the honour lie in? In working hard during the training, to learn and do all things perfectly. The honour does not lie in putting on Nursing like your uniform. Honour lies in loving perfection, consistency, and in working hard for it: in being ready to work patiently: ready to say not "How clever I am!" but "I am not yet worthy; and I will live to deserve to be called a Trained Nurse."’
Role of the nurse
The scope and role of the nurse depends on the function performed by the nurse like paediatric care, burn ward care, elderly people care, general assistant, surgery assistant, war time nursing . The role of the nurse depends on the kind of treatment the nurse is tendering to, but it goes much beyond the delegated medical task. In any scope the role of a nurse if very crucial in the recovery, quality care of the patient. The knowledge, self confidence and empowerment of a nurse in the subject matter affect the speed of recovery of a sick person. Along with the medical know-how involved in the nursing curricula, nurses must be sensitive to issues such as ethnicity, language, culture and education level of the patients and families. The importance of communication itself should be embedded in the nursing curricula. A nurse should know how to assess patients; the important principles, procedures and investigations; clinical information on a wide range of conditions; how to administer drugs safely; what to do in an emergency; as well as information on how to do the job.
Communication process
Communication is a tool used to convey one’s ideas, thoughts, feelings, instructions to others. Communication means that we are listening, speaking and observing. This tool is used by most of the advanced biological species. Communication can take place using speech, gestures and scriptures. The human mind is capable of processing lot of information in fraction of a second.
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