Nursing Career
Nursing as a science means that it is a body of knowledge systematically organized, and like all bodies of knowledge is dynamic and subject to change. New perspectives in health and illness appear. Nursing as an art pertains to the aspects of knowing in nursing that are not discovered by scientific investigation. Nursing is thus considered as both a science and an art.
Reflective and lifelong learning are integral components of professional nursing practice. They have been introduced successfully in nursing as part of academic study programmes, but nurses have been less keen to embrace the facilitated reflection on practice known as clinical supervision, despite professional requirements to do so (2003).
Proponents of lifelong learning argue that people need to be empowered to self-direct their educational development throughout life, not just in school years, to cope with and adapt to a changing world. This empowerment should be inclusive rather than exclusive (1992). Therefore, clinical supervision should be available to all practitioners, not just the selected few. Various authors identify the need for organizational factors to be considered to enable staff to access clinical supervision. (2002). It could be suggested that ensuring representation from all grades of staff on any implementation group is likely to help ensure that resultant work and strategy is inclusive rather than exclusive, and empowers those groups by offering a forum for their views. Certainly, (2002) recommend such collaboration.
Lack of time represents a threat to lifelong learning activity, and is cited as a common reason for not implementing or accessing clinical supervision (Wallace 1999). Staff are often expected to undertake such activity in their own time, possibly contradicting the ethos of a learning organization, and due to high work demands are reluctant to do so. As no funding is being provided it is difficult to determine how this will be delivered in a system already chronically short-staffed and underfunded (2003).
Motivation is also important in order for one to succeed in the field of nursing as a career. According to (2000), motivation is built on three basic elements. First, motivation starts with a need, vision, dream, or desire to achieve the seemingly impossible. Second, a person should develop a love-to-learn mentality, accept risk, and continually seek new opportunities. Finally, a person can learn from failures and discover how to bounce back; he willing to start over and overcome barriers. Ideas, visions, and goals are the common denominators of motivation (2004). We are all in search of something, and I believe it is significance. Everyone is important and has something to offer, and it is up to each of us to find out what that is–both in our personal and professional lives.
It is essential that nurses be knowledgeable regarding health promotion and disease or illness prevention. When the nurse is providing total care, he or she should think beyond current health problems to the client’s general well-being and future risks for illness and injury ( 2004). Thus a nurse should be able to see ways that he/she can influence the work environment. A nurse should be aware of his or her own self so that he or she can change for the benefit not only of the clients and co-workers but for himself or herself also.
Student nurses’ as well as practicing nurses’ personal growth and self-awareness are the foundation blocks for their confidence in their role. It is through such growth that they learn to question and build expertise about clinical situations. Working with international nurses exposes them to new ways of working and broadens the student’s personal and experiential growth and knowledge by redefining their understanding. This could relate to patient care issues or ethical considerations, which are often deep-rooted in different cultures (Woods, 2003).
Nurses have an ethical responsibility to teach not only their clients but also other health care workers. The nurse has the responsibility to teach the information that other health care workers need. The nurse also often clarifies information provided by physicians and other health care providers and may become the primary source of information needed for adjusting to health problems (2004).
Nursing today emphasizes specialized education to support the work in health care. Nurses teach preventive care and health maintenance, assist medical treatment, aid rehabilitation, and attend the dying. Most nurses work in hospitals and nursing homes, with others in public health agencies, offices, schools, and industries. Nurses are also educators, supervisors, administrators, and independent practitioners.
Assessing and adapting educational information and approaches to the needs and preferences of the health care support workers enhances the success of educational efforts. Not all individuals are comfortable in class settings or in support groups. Educational programs that use these methods should have other educational opportunities available to the health care support workers that needed to be educated. Nurses must at all time also remain creative and responsive to other health care workers when providing education.
Nurses are responsible for making accurate and appropriate clinical decisions. Critical thinking is very important as no two clients have the same needs. The nurse after assessment and diagnosis has to employ critical thinking skills for a client’s particular condition.
Intuition is simply a result of common experiences and applied to new ones. After a nurse has been exposed to a certain situation and is exposed to another similar situation, the nurse uses her intuition along with her critical thinking skills to develop an approach for the client. Intuition in nursing thus develops as a nurse’s clinical experience increases.
A nurse is always challenged to observe each of his or her clients closely, search for and examine ideas and judgments about the problems that the clients face. Additionally the nurse has to consider scientific principles that he/she have learned and relate this to the clients’ problem, recognize the problems, and develop the right approach to nursing care as appropriate to the situation and problem of the client.
Intuition is thus considered by authors as a trigger which brings about in the nurse an analytical process that leads them in a search to acquire data that confirms what they have sensed in the client or in a particular situation. Intuition thus triggers the nurse to apply his/her critical thinking skills in a situation in order to come up with the right thing to do or the right answer to a problem being presented. Nurses must not make snap judgments just by their intuition alone. This could jeopardize the client’s situation and perhaps affect the nursing quality of care for the patient.
As a student nurse, knowing and understanding what critical thinking is and its importance very important. (1995) points out that a student nurse has to develop this skill. Critical thinking begins for a student when the student seriously asks questions, and in continuing way attempts to answer questions like “what do I really know about this nursing care situation?” or “how do I know it?” This is actually a process which is developed within the student nurse with the aid of other individuals like the educators.
Students in nursing must learn nursing by consciously practicing reasoning skills needed in nursing. Students in nursing must also critically reason their way through nursing principles, concepts and theories as much as possible so that appropriate and accurate application of knowledge occurs naturally in clinical practice.
According to (1995), the purpose of reflective, critical thinking is to ensure that the nurse has the depth of knowledge necessary to immediately comprehend the practice situation so that safe, effective, quality nursing care is provided to the clients. Intuitive practice and critical thinking can significantly affect the quality of care delivered by the nurses to their patients.
It is important to remember that the quality of nursing practice depends on the nurse’s ability to use all types of cognitive and emotional cues associated with a situation to trigger critical thinking and then to select effective nursing interventions. A nurse cannot safely act on intuition alone that is why critical thinking and intuition both have to go together in order to achieve expertise in the nursing profession. Intuition requires critical thinking as much as critical thinking needs intuition.
Practicality-wise, the recent increase in demands for nurses here and abroad and the prospect of financial gains are motivating factors why I took up nursing. But it is not only about the money and being “in.” Being a nurse entails a lot of patience, dedication and responsibility. To succeed in the nursing profession, one must love what he or she does. It counts a lot. The opportunity to help and influence the lives of other people is something worth cherishing and something to be proud of. The nursing program will require a lot of hard work and patience. A nursing student must go through these and all other obstacles and challenges. Student nurses must also strive hard and do their best to succeed in the nursing program.
This paper has emphasized that nursing is not a static, unchanging profession but is continuously growing and evolving as society changes, as health care emphases and methods change, as lifestyles change – and as the nurses themselves change. Nursing at present continuously draws on the social sciences and other fields as the focus of nursing care expands. Over the years, the nursing profession has evolved to include many functions. Nurses are active in social policy and political arenas. Nurses and their professional organizations lobby for health care legislations to meet the needs of the clients, particularly those who are medically underserved. Nurses are also active in local government planning to ensure that health care resources are available in all client communities. However, with all the changes, the nursing profession still remains to need nurses who exhibit critical thinking, lifelong learning, personal motivation, and self awareness. This should be exhibited not only during nursing student years but more importantly when practicing the nursing career.
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