Core Beliefs and Values
Beliefs Statement
As a nurse I believe it is important to develop a trusting relationship with each and everyone of my patients. In order to accomplish this I think the foundation to a trusting relationship is being accountably, withholding upmost respect, including all aspects of wellbeing in my practice and collaborations for the best patient care. When you have established trust and respect patients will feel more comfortable expressing their concerns, symptoms, situations that could have substantial effects on their overall wellbeing. Being accountable is extremely important, following through with meeting the needs of your patient, being present and sticking to your word can develop a sense of security and trust. These core values will help me navigate though all situations and aspects of care with my patients
Core Values
Respect
Respect is a core value that I believe needs to be provided immediately. No matter what the diagnosis, capacity of the patient or situation respect should always be practiced. Asking for consent to perform a test, evaluation or assessment, allowing the patient to have some control over when and what is being completed as much as possible is a great way to show respect. While there may be times our own personal thoughts may be different than those of the patient its important to respect the decisions of the patient and be a supportive provider. Showing a level of respect for the patient, their decisions and choices is a crucial step into building a therapeutic relationship and one I hope would be shown to me when it is my time to make important decisions with my own health.
Wellbeing
Wellbeing is very important for patient care. Having the spiritual, mental, physical, emotional care all supported and provided in turn will establish trust, respect, show accountability and help your patient experience top tier care for the best experience. This is applicable to all scenarios. In the scenario of palliative care, cancer treatments, acute medical injury, chronic medical issues, mental illness, childbirth exc. The right to practice your spiritual and religious practices free of judgment will have positive impacts on your overall wellbeing. Being able to provide small gestures or conversations that can provide emotional support to your patient can help take some stress or worry off of their plate. There have been times when I have just been a listening ear to an anxious patient, sat with a dying patient in their last moments so they were not alone, arranged for spiritual care in hospital, braided the hair of my patient for spiritual needs, set up for virtual church services, extensive skin care for a palliative African American patient who was feeling very disturbed about the state of their skin. Following these tasks you can almost immediately see an improvement in their overall emotional wellbeing and its something I feel is very important to good patient care.
Accountability
Accountability is a great way to develop trust within your patient. If you for example tell a patient you will be back with pain medication, ensure to the best of your abilities you will return as soon as possible with those medications. If you tell a patient you will assist them with a shower today or help them wash their hair as they have been asking , making sure you are able to provide them with that and put as a priority in your day. Accountability also means being accountable for ourselves and our practice. Nursing is a busy, high stress environment where you can often get thrown curve balls and work short staffed. During these times is can be tempting to take short cuts in order to get things completed but being accounting means taking the appropriate steps, doing your triple checks for medications, checking orders and consents correcting, ensuring orders are appropriate for your patient and if you need to ask for assistance or delegate appropriate tasks to appropriate disciplines than this is a way to be accountable without jeopardizing safety.
Collaboration
Collaboration is important in every aspect. There are many disciplines in healthcare and all play a vital important role. In my experience I’ve worked in long term care, acute medicine units, rehabilitation, and mental health. In this field of work I have seen many professions disrespected by others in the profession as they are “ just a psw, or just a nurse” as a few examples. Each role has a valuable impact and valuable knowledge it is important to collaborate with each profession required for that patients care. If I am in a setting like long term care where I am working primarily with personal support workers it is vital for me to collaborate with them to know of any concerns with that patient as they are the ones working closest with that patient. If my patient is struggling with food , swallowing I need to get a referral for a dietician, struggling with mobility a physiotherapist or occupational therapist would be beneficial. There are many challenges a patient might face and knowing who to collaborate with to bring that patient the best care is important and vital for that patient overall wellbeing.