Assignment 4: Nursing as Relational Practice—a Formal Essay

Nursing as Relational Practice

I. Introduction

A. The role of nurses in healthcare

· Coordination and provision of care

· Promotion of health

B. Need for leadership skills

· Direct and support patients

· Influence patients

II. Case

A. Client characteristics

· 33 years old male black immigrant

· Married

· No stable income

B. Situation characteristics. 

· Mr. Jones was diagnosed with hypertension.

· Does not have an insurance cover.

· had a preference for herbal medicine

C. My role. 

· Employed at Hope Methodist hospital as a nurse.

· Mr. Jones was my neighbor

· I have attended to Mr. Jones before.

D. Kind of leadership.

·   The kind of leadership that I need is transformational leadership.

· Mr. Jones need to be motivated to change his belief

III. Leadership Role, Style and Communication Strategies

A. Nurses are leaders in providing patient care

· Nurse need to facilitate decision making

· Nurses can influence the decisions and views of patients.

· Mr. Jones perception of modern medicine and herbal medication needs to be shaped

B. Transformational leadership style is ideal for providing care to patients

· Transformational leadership style provides a framework to inspire and motivate patients to adopt new behaviors.

· Transformational leadership style ensure nurses and their patients have a good working relationship.

· Transformational leadership will be key for shaping the views of Mr. Jones of herbal medicine.

C. Different communication strategies were applied during the interaction with the patient

a. Including a care-give

· Mr. Jones had to be included in the communication process, as she will play a critical role in medication compliance.

b. Teach-back method

· Involves asking the patient restate the given instructions

· Important for reinforcing patient education

IV. Challenges and enablers  of relation practice in the case

A. Challenges

a. Cultural difference

· Created misunderstanding between the healthcare provider and the patient.

· Made it difficult to motivate the patient to adhere to medication.

b. Role of medication cost

· Patient viewed the medication as costly

· Patient wanted a cheaper option, which was provided by herbal medication.

B. Enablers

a. Role of the patient

· Willingness to change by the patient

· Willingness to learn by the patient.

b. Role of literacy

· Mr. Jones was education

· Easily understood and accepted new concepts.

c. Family-wife

· Was supportive and played a critical role in convincing the husband.

· Facilitated communication

V. Reflection

· Nursing relational practice played a critical call in addressing the care needs of Mr. Jones.

· I think I can maintain and enhance the caring relation with Mr. Jones. 

· I have learned that as leaders, nurses have the role of addressing the needs of patients (Lutz & Green, 2016).

· I have learned that communication strategies between nurses and patients determine their working relationship (Sibiya, 2018).

· I have learned that nurses need to be advocates of their patients.