nursing profession | Distance Learning Systems (DLSI)

The Importance of Psychology in the Nursing Profession

Despite the coming completely from different disciplines, Psychology has a huge relevance on the nursing practice. Many aspiring nurses have wondered the need fro them to devote hours in studying Psychology. They don’t realize that both are interrelated with each other.

Nurses work in a setting where they’re required to interact with other professionals in an effort to bring the best quality care for their patients. They need to fully understand how other people behave and act in certain situations – this is where Psychology comes into play.

In managing patients with different illnesses, both nurses and psychologists not only work in understanding the physical pain associated, but also change their thought and attitudes to improve well-being.

When assessing a patient’s condition, nurses also consider how patient’s respond to their illness. Some patients are optimistic and easily cope with their illness, while others have a negative reaction where they become angry and stubborn. Nurses may find it very difficult to handle such patients and need to include them as part of their evaluation of the patient.

With the help of psychology, nurses will know how to interact with their patients based on different factors such as gender and age. For instance, young patients may be more afraid than adults. They may have difficulties in understanding their illness. A nurse can apply his knowledge of child development and psychology and relate to the young patients in a way their apprehensions are alleviated. Thus, psychology can help improve the nurse and patient relationship. As a result, patients can openly interact and communicate with them and inform them about their specific needs.

With psychological knowledge also, nurses are able to get the trust of their patients. This makes the patients more responsive with the instructions they are given. Sometimes, they even take a positive role in their own wellness.

Fundamentals of Nursing Course

Nurses play a big role in the Healthcare industry. In fact, they are the most dominant in terms of their numbers. They are advocates of wellness, decision maker and an aid to the patients’ recovery. The nursing learning process will help students apply principles of biological, physical, as well as social sciences. Basic elements of health, nutrition, pharmacology and disease will be presented among students. Basic concepts of nursing are introduced and basic nursing skills are taught and practiced in the nursing lab.

The Fundamentals of Nursing course will provide lessons to students to give them ideas and perspective about the nursing history, current issues and updates of nursing as well as its history. Basic skills and values will also be taught to students such as therapeutic communication, nursing diagnosis, infection control, ethics and legal issues, basic physical assessment and competent care. There are laboratory exposures which trains the students in taking vitals, using gadgets and apparatuses, even teaching you how to put-up an NG tube.

Dealing with pressure and stress will also be part of the course. The nursing profession will require enough patience and sufficient skills to deal with different clinical conditions and settings. Stress will always be a part of the job and learning to deal with it will be important for the nurse to endure the job. Different schools offer different approaches in teaching their students the fundamentals of nursing. This may also depend on how their professors or nursing educators build the teaching program. These instructors must be highly qualified and trained to pass on the learning and skills to the students. Choosing a program or school that matches the needs of the student is vital in building his future as a nurse or nursing educator. It will also all depend on the student on how he applies his learning to his profession.

National League for Nursing Leading the Way

America’s 3 million nurses are enjoying their leadership positions in health care during the 2014 National Nurses Week, from May 6-12. The week concluded on the birthday celebration of Florence Nightingale, a recognized leader in the profession. Not every health professional will become an international trailblazer for the profession, but every health professional has an opportunity to advertise quality patient care and take care of growing issues within the profession, that shows leadership. And that’s why this year’s concept, selected by the American Nurses Association, is Nurses Leading the Way.

“I am so pleased this is the concept,” said Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN and CEO of the National League for Nursing. There are many different ways nurses lead: from navigating sufferers from the bedside to back home and changing guidelines within their companies to providing on boards and forming policy, the National League for Nursing CEO also stated. “With more than 3 million nursing staff on the front-lines of medical care, we are critical to enhancing our nation’s health and are providing leadership to address many difficulties such as the increasing number of people with serious disease conditions and enhancing medical care results while reducing cost,” added Debra L. Fowler, PhD, MBA, RN, CNE, associate professor of nursing systems and track director of MSN in nursing leadership and administration at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Nursing. Nurses provide leadership to their sufferers by supporting them to improve their individual wellness and cause their health professional co-workers by using evidence-based exercise, Fowler outlined.

“We need to be leaders in evidence-based practice and medical care change,” said Bernadette Mazurek Melnyk, PhD, RN, CPNP/PMHNP, FAANP, FNAP, FAAN, dean and professor in the College of Nursing and professor of pediatrics and psychiatry in the College of Medicine at The Ohio State University in Columbus. “In particular, we need to be leading the health marketing and prevention paradigm throughout the United States.”

Nursing Education as an Investment

The registered nursing profession is hot, with no cooling trend predicted in the near future. It braved the storms of recession, job layoffs, and cuts in college that, a short while ago, ruined the greater U.S. economic system. Therefore, it is no mystery that traditional and online applications offering degrees for RNs are so popular. Thousands of nursing roles were continually added to the U.S. economic system each month over the past two and a half years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), even as other employment areas were pummeled by massive job losses.

Yet nursing, this stalwart heir of harmful economic winds, is a beckoning light house calling to those who seek a promising safe home for the precious investment of tuition money, studying and career hopes for the long run. Cautious expectation of an increasing growth in the wellness care sector has generated even more interest in nursing, excited by the constant unfolding of President Obama’s long-awaited plan for national wellness care change. The predicted availability of comprehensive wellness care coverage for all Americans alerts the need for tens of thousands of trained medical professionals to fill upcoming roles.

Today, RNs head to graduate schools with nursing management levels in order to develop business management techniques. Through nursing management master’s programs, motivated RNs may carve out a profitable leadership niche in a fast-growing field. Still, the RN to BSN program is the popular leading degree for RNs who are fully-licensed, yet need a college diploma to be eligible for roles in management, nursing education or nursing areas of expertise. Many of these RNs finished 2 or 3-year nursing programs in community institutions, professional educational institutions, or medical centers. And although they passed the RN certification test, specifically the NCLEX-RN, they are better certified for marketing opportunities with a bachelor’s degree under their buckle.

There is a reason that inspired career hunters target the registered nursing career for career achievements. Nursing is satisfying, nursing offers relatively high incomes and nice benefits, and nursing results in a variety of opportunities and areas of expertise. But most of all, a sufficient investment of money in nursing education will cut a strong direction to future achievements in the growing medical care field.