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Nursing Values

Megan R. O’Toole

James Madison University

NSG 463: Professional Role Transition

Dr. Nena Powell

Sept. 27, 2020

APA 7th edition

 Abstract

Being a nurse includes developing patient trust, providing respect, and quality patient centered

care. Nurse-patient trust leads to positive patient outcomes due to patients feeling more

comfortable with being involved in their plan of care. Respect every patient and treat him/her as

if they were family. Patient centered care improves satisfaction, provider reputations and

reduces hospital expenses. Nursing is more than treating patient illnesses, it is caring for the

whole person.

Keywords: nursing, trust, respect, patient centered care

 More Than a Nurse

For me, nursing is one big cliché. “Because I want to help people,” is such an ingrained

response when ask “why did you become a nurse.” Being able to care for other beings is who I

am as a person, that simple. Even though it took some time for me to find my way to nursing, I

pride myself on developing patient trust, providing respect, and quality patient centered care.

The Journey

Nursing was not my first choice as a career, but to be honest I did not know what I

wanted until I was in my mid-twenties. Growing up, I was not he most ambitious child, so I

never had a good answer for when people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. In high

school, I had a business pathway only because AP Spanish was not a requirement. In college I

changed my major a few times, undecided, biology and lastly health science. My turning point

was not until my senior of college.

Going into my senior year, I traveled to Tanzania, Africa as a medical volunteer. I knew

I liked health related things so why not travel almost 8,000 miles to figure it out. In Tanzania, I

learned more about my personal beliefs and values than I did about health. I am so grateful for

the experience and for the nurse I met when I was flying home. She was a neonatal intensive

care nurse who travelled to Tanzania for six months out of every year to help with pre and

postnatal care in the surrounding villages. After the encounter, a switch flipped in my mind and

I knew I wanted to be a nurse. I graduated with my bachelors in health science then went on to

obtain my associated degree in nursing while working as a certified nursing assistant (CNA).

I believe I am an empathy by nature but being a CNA really allowed me to learn how to

care for people’s needs and better understand how patients feeling while in the hospital. A nurse

can give medications and assess a patient all day but that is only a fractional of being a nurse.
 Personal Values

Trust

The Oxford Dictionary defines trust as “the firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or

strength of someone or something” (Trust: Definition of trust, n.d.). Developing nurse-patient

trust is extremely important when it comes to positive patient outcomes because patients feel

more comfortable actively playing role in their care (Ozaras & Abaan, 2018). I love when my

patients say they are happy to see me because they had a bad night. One patient specifically had

developed hospital psychosis, nighttime rolled around and she became fearful and crying. I sat

at her bedside for almost an hour to comfort and reorient her. This was my third day with her,

and she told me I was the only one she trusted. She said I was honest with her even when she

did not want to hear it. Developing trust requires a nurse to meet patient needs, pay attention to

time, have open communication and respect (Leslie & Lonneman, 2016).

Respect

Koskenniemi et al. (2019) wrote, “respect has an ethical quality: maintaining human

dignity, preserving integrity, protecting privacy, enhancing autonomy and self‐determination”.

Every patient I encounter I treat as if they were my own family. Having this point of view is

very important because I believe a nurse is more likely to have respect for the patient and make

care personal.

Patient Centered Care

Patient centered care means “holistically take(ing) into account what is known about the

patient and understand the patient as a unique human being before forming a diagnosis of the
patient’s illness” (Håkansson Eklund et al., 2019). Patients gain more autonomy with active

decision making and collaboration with a given plan of care. Patient centered care improves

satisfaction, provider reputations and reduces hospital expenses. Ultimately, the patient feels in

control of their health.

Conclusion

Although being a nurse encompasses many more aspects; trust, respect and patient

centered care are values I hold to a high standard. Without trust a nurse cannot gain respect and

vice vera then the patient is the one who suffers. Patient centered care gives the patient control

when they do not feel like they have any. Nursing is more than treating illnesses; it is about

creating trust, providing every being with respect, and quality patient center care.
 References

Håkansson Eklund, J., Holmström, I. K., Kumlin, T., Kaminsky, E., Skoglund, K., Höglander, J.,

Sundler, A. J., Condén, E., & Summer Meranius, M. (2019). “Same same or different?”

A review of reviews of person-centered and patient-centered care. Patient Education &

Counseling, 102(1), 3–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2018.08.029

Koskenniemi, J., Leino‐Kilpi, H., Puukka, P., & Suhonen, R. (2019).

Respect and its associated factors as perceived by older patients. Journal of Clinical

Nursing., 28(21-22), 3848–3857. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15013

Leslie, J. L., & Lonneman, W. (2016). Promoting trust in the registered nurse-patient

relationship. Home healthcare now, 34(1), 38-42. doi: 10.1097/NHH.0000000000000322

Ozaras, G., & Abaan, S. (2018). Investigation of the trust status of the nurse–patient

relationship. Nursing Ethics, 25(5), 628–639. https://doi.org/10.1177/096973301666497

Trust: Definition of Trust by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.com. (n.d.). Retrieved September 27,

2020, from https://www.lexico.com/definition/trust