Nursing and Sociology

Why Sociology Is Important to Nurses

In the old days, the study of sociology can only be conducted inside a classroom. A student simply can’t discuss the topic online like a subject in a class. Today, even those online nursing schools are offering sociology as one of their subjects.

Sociology is a field in science that concerns itself with social behavior. The origins and the development of a particular society takes its cue from the study of sociology. Sociology, at the outset, is not so much related to the study of nursing, but nurses who are knowledgeable in the study of sociology have at least an advantage over those who don’t. The study of sociology is so loaded with research, particularly on topics such as social processes or social change. In fact, many of those who are into sociology are into social policies as well.

If a nurse has at least an understanding of these social processes, that nurse might be able to conduct a patient assessment in a more circumspect way. Nurses interact with a lot of people. And the demographics of this crowd is quite diversified. This is where knowledge in sociology comes in. If a nurse has a comprehensive know-how on certain sociological issues, that would make his or her work a notch higher than a mere auxiliary to a doctor.

Not that nurses need to consider sociology as an entry pass to a more fruitful nursing career, but that every nurse should understand the relation of their duties with the social structure of their patients. Nurses provide care to their patients. And at times, providing care is not so much about giving them what they need, it is about knowing what to do with what kind of patient they have. They can only do that by having a clear grasp of their sociological backgrounds.

The Relevance of Sociology in the Nursing Profession

Sociology is defined as a study of human behavior inside the societal context. Despite its huge importance in politics, organizations, and other statistical fields, nursing students struggle to see its relevance in their chosen career.

Basically, there exist two kinds of sociological knowledge in the nursing course: sociology in nursing and sociology of nursing. Both these knowledge give nursing a different light. It’s like students are given a new pair of glasses, and look at everyday occurrences in a whole different way. But how?

The practical relevance of sociology in the profession depends on how an individual perceive what nursing is all about. If they want to find ways to cater the needs of their patients, nursing students need to understand their experiences with health and illnesses, what’s their basis of health, what is it like to live with similar disorder, and how society views of these people. In short, if one thinks nursing involves critical thinking and patient experience, then sociology has a lot to give.

Most students are intimidated with this subject matter and find it difficult. At a glance, one cannot easily connect sociology to the current practical context of the nursing practice. However, when students engage in wider social issues, they develop reflecting skills. Having these skills let a nurse become a care provider rather than just being too technical with their job.

The remainder relevance of sociology lies on focusing on contemporary research especially in patients with learning difficulties. The significance of this research lie on changing the stereotypical perception of people with learning disabilities that they are incompetent, inadequately capable of speaking for themselves, and thus needs to be given care. It also gives students valuable insight to what these people are going under to have a better understanding of their needs. Sociological research continues to expand and has become useful in the nursing profession.

Role of Sociology in Nursing

Nursing is more than just taking blood samples, recording patient data or assisting the physician. Nurses are well-educated and prepared to handle sophisticated tasks and procedures to best assist the patients towards recovery. Additionally, learning the medical terms as well as the procedures is not their only job. Nurses, to be more effective, must be able to learn the proper way of approaching their patients. They must also be able to understand how people think, feel and react. This may seem like a job for a psychologist, but it is very important to be able to provide quality and effective health care services.

As a nurse, you will be able to experience different types of patients with different health issues and from different social backgrounds. Patients react differently on a particular condition or medication which will have a direct impact on their recovery. Through the knowledge of sociology, nurses will be able to look past what is obvious. It will give them another perspective of the situation which will give an idea on what approach or medication to take.

Incorporating sociology in nursing helps develop skills that will make nurses provide nursing care to patients in a more effective way by considering many other factors and forces that directly affect recovery and care. Determining the factors that may hinder recovery or promote it may help avoid malpractice and fast track recovery.

The fast recoveries of the patients don’t just depend on the quality of the medicines the patient took or the use of the advanced medical facilities, it also depends on how well the nurses determine the true needs of the patient.

Sociology assists a nurse in understanding more the patients, how they think and react to certain medications, the same way psychology really does. The only real distinction is the fact that sociology does it from a “group” or “community” viewpoint. These are generally essential simply because apart from medical understanding, a nurse genuinely has to be kind, considerate and compassionate. The details learned by even a basic study in those fields might play a role toward being a kinder, milder, nurse. Furthermore, there are several ethical questions in medicine which may be partly covered using the research of sociology.

Nowadays, nursing goes past concentrating on disease and pathology to include a significantly wider concept of both ill health and personage. Nurses are significantly linked to producing sense and giving objective to life, disease and death.

Sociology is involved in study regarding human societies. Sociologists have concerns with comprehending society in a disciplined way. Sociology deals with difficulties which are generally subjects of major dispute in society, like the relationship between cultural class and illness, the changing function of religion, the rising of separation and divorce rate and the altering dynamics of work.

Sociological inquiry can light up that assistance and help understand the relationship between private difficulties like illness, premature death, and cancer of the lung and public concerns such as tobacco advertising.

Sociology may be of value to nurses in order to question the values and beliefs of their expert and the organizational framework in which they work. We have to comprehend the social forces which usually shape and restrict our lives to be able to modify them.

Being familiar with many people is very important. Think about this – a nurse has to inquire about if a customer is using illegal drugs. Without knowing this detail may cause the doctor to prescribe incorrectly. But how are you able to ask to get an honest answer? Knowing how people think can lead to learning how to phrase the question. Also being familiar with cultural differences is highly essential for too many good reasons to go into here. Nurses work with people, and they need to comprehend them. The participant who said – no significance is clearly ignorant.