Assignment: Reflective Analysis Case Report Component

Assignment: Reflective Analysis Case Report Component

Nurses play a critical role in the provision of healthcare to their diverse populations. They provide their care with a consideration of the philosophies that inform their practice. Philosophy in nursing entails the beliefs, values, and practices that influence the decisions that nurses make. It influences the rationality of the care that is given. It also affects the worldview of the nurses and their approach to addressing the health needs of the diverse populations that they serve. Therefore, this essay provides my reflection of nursing and my nursing roles. It explores aspects that include my beliefs about individual person, influence of my worldview on approach to patients, constituents of environment, view on health, relationship between health and illness, central reason for the existence of nursing, and ways in which nurse leaders might serve others in approaches that promote human flourishing.

Beliefs about Individual Person

My belief about individual person is that individuals are unique being. Individuals have unique needs and experiences that must be considered in the provision of nursing care. Nurses should first explore the individual needs, experiences, and ways of incorporating them into the plan of care. Nurses should prioritize the realization of the individual needs in the provision of nursing care. The need for this focus is attributed to the fact that individuals can meet their perceived needs if assisted in addressing their prioritized needs. I also belief that individual persons should be treated as a whole being. The focus of nursing and medical care should not be on the treatment of a part of an individual. In this case, the focus of treatment should not only be on the actual cause of the disease but also the factors that influence one’s perception of health and recovery process (Masters, 2018). For example, besides the use of medical interventions to treat the disease, the patient should be empowered to adopt healthy lifestyle and behavioral interventions that minimize disease occurrence.

Influence of Personal Worldview on Approach to Patients

My worldview as a nurse is that it is my God’s purpose to serve the needy in the society. I believe that I serve God’s purpose by assisting the vulnerable meet their diverse health related needs. My worldview has an influence on my approach to patients. I treat patients with dignity. I ensure that patients and their significant others receive care that demonstrates dignity. I respect their diverse needs, values, and practices. I also ensure that the treatment that the patients receive is safe. This entails ensuring that the care is associated with optimal benefits that promote recovery. Patient safety also entails being patients’ advocate. I ensure that the rights, needs, values, and practices of the patients are considered in the provision of care. My worldview also influences my approach to patients, as seen in my promotion of holism in care. I ensure that the care that the patients receive is multidimensional. It addresses the disease, psychological, social, and emotional aspects of the disease. Therefore, it is evident that worldview has a critical impact on the worldview of the nurses towards their patients, practice, and others.

What Constitutes Environment

I believe that one’s environment in relation to nursing can be classified into internal or external environment. Internal environment refers to that within the body of the patient. It includes physiological aspects that influence health such as temperature, blood pressure, pulse, weight, immunity level, and respiratory rate. The internal environment also comprises of the psychological, social, and emotional wellbeing of an individual. An imbalance in these internal environmental components results in a disease state or ill health. The other classification of the environment is external environment. The external environment is outside the patient’s body. The factors in the external environment that affect one’s health include pollution, environmental irritants, hazards, accidents, weather changes, pathogens, and stressors. The external environmental factors influence health in a similar way as that seen in the internal environment. It is therefore important that a balance be achieved between the internal and external environmental demands. The balance is needed for the optimum functioning of an individual. For example, the body’s physiological response should aim at ensuring that one adapts to the demands of the external environment such as changes in temperature.

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

• Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
• There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
• Include in-text citations in your response
• Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
• Follow APA-7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

• A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
• Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
• Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
• Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
• Follow APA 7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

• Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
• Here are some helpful links
• The is a great resource

View on Health

My view on health shares close relationship with the definition of health by the World Health Organization. Accordingly, the World

Health Organization defines health as the complete state of mental, social, and physical wellbeing and not just the absence of a disease. According to this definition, an individual’s health should not just be based on the presence or absence of a disease. Instead, a focus should be placed on other aspects of health such as the mental, social, and emotional wellbeing of an individual (Sassen, 2018). For example, ill health is reported in case a person is experiencing some stress due to the life challenges. Based on this view of health, I believe that individuals should function in environments that minimize exposure to factors that threaten health and wellbeing. However, achieving this is difficult due to the variation in the factors causing ill health in individuals. Consequently, a focus should be placed on ensuring that conditions that promote optimum functioning be provided in societies to minimize health-related issues (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2019).

Relationship between Illness and Health

I believe that a relationship between health and illness exist. As shown above, health is a state of complete mental, physical, and social wellbeing and not the absence of the disease. Internal and external environmental factors can influence the mental, social, and physical health of an individual. Illness is part of these factors that influence one’s health. It influences health by affecting the normal functioning of organs, cells, or tissues. It therefore implies from this assertion that health is dependent on illness. The presence of illness results in ill health and vice versa. Consequently, optimal health and wellbeing can be achieved by engaging in activities that minimize the occurrence of illness. An example would be the adoption of lifestyle and behavioral interventions that minimize disease and illnesses in an individual, family, and the society as a whole.

How Nursing Leaders Might Serve Others in Ways that Promote Human Flourishing

Nurse leaders have a critical role in transforming those they lead by adopting interventions that promote human flourishing. One of the ways in which they can serve others to promote human flourishing is promoting respect and dignity in others. They should demonstrate respect and dignity in the manner in which they treat others. Nurse leaders should also encourage those they lead to emulate these values as they provide their services to those in need. The other way in which nurse leaders may serve others in ways that promote human flourishing is empowering them. They can provide significant level of autonomy and responsibility to those they lead. Through it, those being led are empowered to play an active role in the identification of the ways in which their needs can be achieved further. The last way in which the nurse leaders might lead others in ways that promote human flourishing is leading by example. They should demonstrate excellent leadership behaviors to others. They should also lead in the implementation of strategies that aid in the realization of the set mission and vision (Solomon, Simon & Kincaid, 2016). They should assist those they lead in having a long-term mindset that promotes personal and professional development. Through these interventions, nurse leaders promote human flourishing in those they lead.

Central Reason for the Existence of Nursing

I believe that the central reason for the existence of nursing is to assist others overcome their health problems and achieve their life goals. I believe that nurses have a critical role in promoting adaptation and recovery in those they serve. They assist the patients achieve independence in meeting their health needs. Nurses assist the vulnerable in meeting the needs they would have achieved if they had the will, power, or energy. In this case, nurses act as source of social support to the patients. They explore the resources that can be utilized to promote recovery and wellbeing of the patients. The central of nurses in assisting others also extend to promoting peaceful death. They ensure that patients die in a dignified manner as demonstrated by minimal pain and promotion of comfort for the deceased and their significant others.

Overall, this essay has explored my philosophy in nursing. It has revealed the ways in which my philosophy influences my approach to patients. It has also explored my perception towards aspects such as health, illness, reason for the existence of nursing, and ways in which nurse leaders might promote human flourishing. It is therefore important that nurses understand the philosophies that inform their care. They should also understand the manner in which other factors such environmental influences affect one’s philosophy.

References

Masters, K. (2018). Role development in professional nursing practice. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Solomon, M., Simon, J. R., & Kincaid, H. (Eds.). (2016). The Routledge companion to philosophy of medicine. Taylor & Francis.

Sassen, B. (2018). Nursing: Health education and improving patient self-management. Springer International Publishing.

Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2019). Public health nursing e-book: Population-centered health care in the community. Elsevier Health Sciences.