HNB3209 : Nursing Empowerment

Nurses need to be open about the treatment patients are receiving and the specific drugs. They should ensure that patients operate from the point of knowledge because it empowers and comforts a patient in addition to giving the clinic a good reputation (Metcalf, 2018).Nurses should purpose to provide excellent customer service and engage the patients with quality standards in mind. The nurses should find out what makes their patients comfortable and build good rapport with them. Patients should get a personal touch from all clinic/hospital staff (McCorkle et al., 2017)Patients need to be the center of attention for nurses. They need to listen to patients needs and react accordingly. Open communication is empowering to parents. Nurses need to be the voice of the patients and actively educate them.

When patients come to the hospital, they are disturbed or in pain; The nurses can empower term by being empathetic. The nurses need to understand what the patients are going through and attend to them with care. Sometimes the patient feels lost when they are not feeling well. The nurses should encourage the patients to know that they are the source of their ability to heal. The patients play a significant role in their ability to improve. The patients are the common denominators (Wesley, 2016).Knowledge and health literacy is very essential in empowering patients. The internet is incredibly a very democratic way for the patients to conduct issues that affect their health. Unfortunately for the patients, consulting Google can be very frightening for the patients. It is the role of the nurse to provide sites that are reliable and sites where they can access the information (Benard et al., 2018).

As a nurse I have empowered patients through the following ways: I have provided a list of trusted, authoritative online information charts that they can access information online. By empathizing with the patients and walking with them throughout their journey of ailment. Also by offering transparent communication to the patients about any information they may need. I am also responsive to the patient’s needs. My first priority is making patients the centers of my attention .I also engage the patients in any questions that they may have with regards to the treatment they are having.

Institutions can improve data by offering education and in-service pieces of training for nurses. The organizations should come up with policies to ensure that health outcomes are reached, and cost-effectiveness is ensured. The institution should develop meaningful partnerships with other health care institutions to improve the capacity of nurses. Institutions should also encourage investment in promoting the growth of the nursing workforce.

The data can back up the quest to empower nurses by: giving nurses a voice particularly in matters of decision making and communication. Giving the nurse’s control over decisions that they are mandated to do at the workplace. Have sufficient authority to go about their professional duties. By creating a leadership environment, nurses need to be empowered as servant leaders who can be used to drive the hospital’s goals and objectives. Viewing nurses as equal decision makers rather than being seen as second to physicians and empowers the nurses. Nurses should be considered to be in being in a position to make decisions without being viewed as second class decision makers.

References:

Bernard, A., Karlekar, M., Hixson, R., & Shifrin, M. (2018). Empowering Key Players: A Pilot Intervention to Improve Nurses’ Perceived Confidence and Ability to Utilize Palliative Care Communication Strategies (QI818). Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 55(2), 709.

McCorkle, R., Ercolano, E., Lazenby, M., Schulman?Green, D., Schilling, L. S., Lorig, K., & Wagner, E. H. (2017). Self?management: Enabling and empowering patients living with cancer as a chronic illness. CA: a cancer journal for clinicians, 61(1), 50-62.

Metcalf, C. (2018). Stoma care: empowering patients through teaching practical skills. British Journal of Nursing, 8(9), 593-600. Rheumatoid arthritis: A qualitative study. Nursing & health sciences, 8(3), 133-139.

Wesley, Y. (2016). Gaining Equity in Health Care: Building the Pipeline of Black Nurse Leaders. The Ashgate Research Companion to Black Sociology, 203.