Essay Topic: Dignity and respect in nursing
Introduction
Dignity and respect are what everybody desires. Getting disrespected based on race, gender or culture is the last thing anyone would want. An individual strives to be appreciated and admired throughout their life. However, in some professions, some incidents of extreme disregard towards the people associated with the particular profession have been observed. Sadly, even the fields that are known to provide services in terms of healthcare are not untouched by the evil of discrimination.
Who are the bullies?
The nurses themselves!
Isn’t it weird! Yes, along with being true!!
When you look closer, this situation is not something unique in the case of this particular profession. Most of the time women have been seen creating inappropriate situations for other women.
Female nurses also indulge in making fun of the newcomers on the basis of experience, or unfamiliarity with minor details of the job. Even the freshers start picking on the experienced ones’ physical limitations. Male nurses do not respect female nurses and many times its the vice versa.
Even ganging up on nurses in other units by certain specialties has been reported so many times. And, one-on-one harassment is quite common when the victim is naive and alone. These incidents occur for no legitimate reason.
These incidents are less likely to thrive if the environment does not allow them to. Bullying culture is endorsed by the kind of leadership is leading the unit and the organization. An uncanny behavior of supervisors as well as managers fostering the same in their staff has been observed.
Immoral behavior of patients
When patients suffer long-term illnesses, their frustration level rises and generally, it has been observed that they take out their disappointment on nurses. They tend to forget that nurses are there for their well-being. Patients and the families of the sufferers believe that nurses do not have a significant role in their treatment as according to them, it is the doctor who should be respected for saving their life, not the nurses!
Nurses have to be strict with the patients and many patients find their behavior rude. They do not understand that being strict and stern is part of their job and if they do not show this side of their personality, patients may not take them seriously.
When a nurse was asked about the instances of the rudeness of the patients against her, she told us a very peculiar case of a person who was addicted to smoking. Whenever the assigned nurse tried to refrain that patient from smoking, he used abusive language.
Possible Solutions
The need for the decorum
The proper management in the hospital premises should be given priority to resolving the conflicts among nurses.
Leaders should encourage nurses to maintain harmony and peace in the environment. Proper education on communication and confrontation skills can show extraordinary results in the improvement of such issues.
To see the results of this implementation, nurses need to be assertive as managers are not present everywhere. Every nurse, a newbie or experienced one, should possess the skills so that they feel bold during times of conflict and let t no one exploit them. Also, education on conflict management and a friendly environment should be given to each member of the staff. Negative and hostile behaviors towards any other staff should not be tolerated.
Patients’ role
When nurses are not treated with the same level of respect as doctors, it can affect the quality of care a nurse is entitled to bestow upon a patient. Consciously or subconsciously, nurses won’t treat the patients and families with adequate care and attention.
We should not forget that nurses who generate healthy relationships with their patients are more likely to be able to provide proper guidance and other health-related information. A polite relationship can have significant, long-term positive benefits for the patients.
The bottom line
Professional behaviors should be insisted in the healthcare service departments and this should be made mandatory for all individuals present on the hospital premises. Proper checks should be done on each staff and individual interviews should be conducted to know about every small occurrence of misbehavior so that it can be resolved before becoming a menace for someone. These adverse behaviors should not be viewed as normal and must be evaluated from time to time.
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