Nicoelette Swing

Prof. M. Ogbara
English 1A
23 February 2015
The Nature of Nursing and Ageism
Nursing Discourse and/in the Oppressed
INTRODUCTION
I.

Introduction of Nursing Discourse

a. A group of people who share a set of discourse, understood as basic values
and assumptions, and ways of communicating about those goals. The nursing
discourse communities would be the individuals in the medical field. Doctors,
paramedics, and health care professionals would have the same basic
knowledge a nurse would know.

I.

Diversity of a Discourse Community

a. In the article written by Ann M. Johns, Discourse Communities and
Community of Practice: Membership, Conflicts, and Diversity she indicated,
Musicians, lawyers, athletes, and physicians, for example, may share certain
values, language, and texts with others within their larger community, through
their first allegiance is for their speculations. This conveys diverse
communities are somehow related by certain identical traits. These
professionals must be pundit in the field of composing and orally imparting or
exchanging information to give care for the patients. The nurses within the
discourse community can engage with other nurses discussing their genre

knowledge as they engross others with their daily activities. For example, the
nurses working in a hospital facility can participate in a conversation using the
term franklinic taste, which means a metallic or sour taste produced by the
application of static electricity to the tongue. Nurses can effectively
communicate with other nurses about the patient with the condition. Whereas,
family members might not understand what is going on due to the confusing
term.
II.

Nursing Discourse Community

A. How does nursing function as a discourse community? We are surrounded by a
discourse community. The innumerable amount of discourse communities from
school faculty, family related, or political parties can be portrayed as a group who
share a set discourse. Communication plays a compelling part within academic or
professional discourse communities due to the fact of sharing experiences or
stories. An example would be a group of nurses studying medical journals written
by doctors to maintain the use of practice when active in the hospital. Doctors,
paramedics, and health care professionals like caregivers are within the nursing
discourse community based on basic knowledge on how to handle a patient.
Nurses must also have to change their personality to empathize individuals. The
nurse who would show no emotion and give no condolences might gives families
the distrust in the health care system. Caring is an important factor in a nursing
profession, but literacy is much more relevant because it is textual evidence of a
diagnosis. Plus, the vigorous education to become a nurse is often complained; it
is effective for patient care. The proper procedures must be performed safely and

providing a language in a health care facility that can be used to effectively

communicate within the nursing discourse community. Nurses must carefully
communicate and show attention to reduce mistakes. Within the nursing
discourse, mistakes are treacherous because the nurses are also communicating
with doctors and pharmacy workers. When communicating with a doctor, it is
vital the information given is thorough. Doctors depend on nurses to provide
correct information because they dont spend as much time as the nurse does in a
hospital facility. Nurses cannot always verbally communicate with doctors so it is
also important nurses have everything written down. There are also a large
number of patients being cared for and not all information can be remembered.
This method is called, charting. It helps nurses eliminate unnecessary procedures
and issue tests to scan the illness of a patient. Charting can also help reduce the
chances of errors. For example, charting can help by keeping track of when
medication is given. Therefore, nurses must be detailed when writing information
about the patient because doctors have little time to speak to all patients.
B. Many people assume nurses believe in ageism, prejudice or discrimination on the
basis of a person's age. The assumption where families portray an idea their loved
one is let to be in the process of their death bed rather than letting them live for
the upcoming years. An example of ageism is an expectation from a new graduate
is often needed because they may bring new innovating ideas to the health care
work force. Nursing skills will also be fresh from a new graduate rather than an
older nurse with experience. Whereas, a nurse with more experience has the
proper skills to demonstrate the proper care for a patient.

C. An issue in the field of nursing is discrimination against individuals based on their

chronological age, a phenomenon that is often termed ageism. There are two
branches of research about nurses attitude towards older patients or older patients
in acute care. Acute care is a short term medical treatment, usually in a hospital,
for patients having an acute illness or injury or recovering from surgery. Negative
prejudice and ageist attitudes among caregivers and nurses toward older people in
acute care are notable in the health care system (Holroyd, Dahlke, Fehr, Jung &
Hunter, 2009) The facility can argue the patient would be too old to recover from
the lack of blood cells or negative bone marrow results. While some claim there
are no such things as ageism within hospitals, I argue due to the levels of control
in hospitals. The defects of discourse analysis are the limitations of research since
there is a broad horizon of different discourse communities in the medical field.
Plus, there are countless modus operandi and arguments upon the disbelief and
belief of nursing inquiry should be done one method or several methods to finish
a task.
Methods
I.

I interviewed Cynthia Alelis, a neuroscience nurse from Detroit, Michigan who

works at the William Beaumont Hospital. Shes been working at William
Beaumont Hospital for 14 years and has been a nurse since 1984. She graduated
from University of Iloilo, which is located in the Philippines. The interview took
place by a phone call after her shift, February 12, 2015 at the hour of 6pm (Los
Angeles, CA) - 9pm (Detroit, Michigan). I took shorthand notes over the phone
call and was conducted over a series of questions. The viewpoint brought a form

of personal view of the nursing discourse community. This can also provide
patient history and what the nurse has experienced and diagnosis made.
II.

The questions started of with her opinion on discourse analysis and whether it can
produce more research on ageism and if nurses are committing a crime. She
elucidates the discourse community as a research field. Discourse analysis as a
useful method to conducting research whereas reasoning relies on diverse
knowledge, but the same medical field. It can draw perspectives from professional
health care providers such as doctors. With their expertise and techniques, they
can create a growing knowledge to share with other healthcare professionals. The
understanding of the processes of clinical practices can combine a greater chance
for the patient to live. The discourse community can investigate which effective
method should be used to start the procedure like tests to determine why the
patient is ill. In addition, they are to formalize an individual space for the nursing
discourse community to root in social justice, advocacy, and social theory to
explain to families about the critical situation a patient may be in. She also
mentions there are several types of nurses in the floor such as the staff nurse,
clinical nurse specialist, nurse case manager, head nurse, and supervising nurse.
The patients they receive are those after surgery whom had brain/spinal cord
neoplasm, head/spinal cord trauma, seizures, and cerebral vascular accidents.
Most of these patients are within the older age group. Any nursing staff must
complete a level of education. Nursing assistants must be evaluated through tests
after attending classes and clinical hours. Clinical hours are spent in medical
facilities to shadow a worker in the nursing field that can give hands on

experience. Alelis does not believe in ageism because she believes everyone
should have a chance to live again. She has also experienced family members
approving the death of the significant patient because of old age. Most people
give up on their loved ones because they take note of their age. Family members
should ask their loved one if they want to continue to live or not. In addition, she
personally would not let her family member die unless she is told they want to
give up on life. She also mentions how communication plays a big part. There are
several styles of communication such as verbally, written, and gestures depending
on the patients need or staff member being involved. Patient interaction is always
involved through verbal or through gestures and a nurse must explain how to
recover no matter how small the situation may be. For example, some adults are
in denial of aging such as menopause or erectile disorders. Nurses must use a tone
that is calming in order to communicate with the patient. They must also use a
vocabulary for the patient to understand. In other hands, nurses communicate
amongst themselves with abbreviations, codes, and medical terminology.
III.

The interview helped me shaped my view towards hospital care. The care given
towards the elderly patients may not be the full proficient care expected in
hospital facilities. A nurses expertise within the development of care can also fool
caring family members because a nurse may also be sadistic. Some registered
nurses admit they have been careless in screening patients. The complaints were
not about cold scientific care, they were the lack of care from insensitive nursing
treatment; patients who felt ignored and in danger. (Ellen Davidson Baer, 2001)
Some nurses enjoy watching the pain of individuals mourning due to a

psychological disorder. These certain individuals take up nursing to see those in

pain to create their form of amusement. According to the six characteristics by
John Swales in The Concept of a Discourse Community, my research was
mostly on common public goals, experts and novices, and specific lexis to
understand how language functions in the discourse community.
Results
The nursing discourse community identifies the conflict to put purpose to use. The
process of providing discourse community analysis is a research strategy to determine the
influences of nursing with the practice. The authority figures besides the nurses are also
affected by the discourse analysis due to the connections to other discourses. The process
of categorizing and constructing a nursing discourse community can relate to ranking of a
nurse, level of experience, or what patients they deal with. The contributions of the
nursing discourse community can also influence the practices of nursing to shape a bigger
international information by categorizing in the beginning to determine the use of what
can be done if we are to use whether critical language and study degrade the nursing
inquiry or help advance the nursing inquiry toward the study of ageism.
Common Public Goals
The nursing discourse community has a common goal of recovering each and
every patient in need. Their job is to effectively cure any form of sickness and manage
infections. The nursing discourse community also may participate with what the group
offers. For example, day-by-day experiences can be shared by working members within
the hospital. There are also groups made online to communicate with others working in
the medical field. Nurses must continue gaining knowledge to determine the next proper

procedure to use to a patient. They must be up to date when examining a patient. They
also must be up to date with medical terminology because of new discoveries made
throughout time in the nursing discourse community. There are new findings of new
diseases or drugs that can be used for patients. Health care providers must also use other
options in case the first thought may be wrong. Finally, the discourse communitys main
goal is to incorporate their expertise to care for patients.
Experts and Novices
There are several kinds of nurses. For example, a neuroscience nurse is different
from a forensic nurse. They may be both nurses, but have a different goal to determine.
They gain several educational pathways. Some pathway of nurses may be a two year
program, associates, or bachelors degree. Nursing students must also pass a test called,
NCLEX. (National Council Licensure Examination-Registered Nurse) All boards of
nursing require candidates to pass this exam in order to be a licensed nurse.
Specific Lexis
There are many medical terminology used in the nursing field. For example,
alexia is an acquired disturbance of reading due to brain injury. The nursing discourse
community may know the term due to the excessive studying of terms. Nurses must keep
up with vocabulary and symptoms in orders to determine the illness of a patient.

Conclusion
Ageisms influence in a nursing discourse community is not often well observed.
It may also be considered as malpractice. Nurses must also be assessed to assure caring
for the elderly is imperative. As the population of older adults expands, the need of nurses

increases which can give jobs to the community. Plus, the elderly uses one half of all
hospital days. Most nurses care for the elderly, which gives them jobs.
Work Cited
Johns Ann M. "Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice: Membership,
Conflict, and Diversity." Text, Role, and Context: Developing Academic Literacies.
Cambridge, New Yoric Cambridge UP, 1997.51-70. Print.

Lis Wagner, et al. Expectations Of Becoming A Nurse And Experiences On Being A

Nurse. Nordic Journal Of Nursing Research & Clinical Studies 31.3 (2011): 15-19.
CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Web. 14 Apr. 2012.

Holroyd, A., Dahlke, S., Fehr, C., Jung, P., & Hunter, A. (2009). Attitudes toward ageing:
Implications for a caring profession. The Journal of Nursing Education, 48(7), 374-380.

Baer, Ellen Davidson. Enduring Issues in American Nursing. New York: Springer Pub.,
2001. Print.

Swales, John. The Concept of Discourse Community. Writing About Writing: A

College Reader. Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins,
2011.