Patient-Centered Care

The Nurse of the Future will provide holistic care that recognizes an individual’s preferences, values, and needs and respects the patient or designee as a full partner in providing compassionate, coordinated, age and culturally appropriate, safe and effective care.

Core values are beliefs that people have, that guide you through an ever-changing world. These values that we have help us to make the best decisions, become more productive, change the way that we see love, and many more just to name a few (Riley, 2021). Values guide our behaviors along with belief that life is meaningful. It is important to know what your own personal values may be. As we continue to grow up the values that we have as children may not be the same once we have children of our own. Love is one of my core values. I believe that love ties everything together. I believe that kindness is part of love and when you are kind to others you make the world a better place to live in. Family is an important value to me. With family by your side, I truly believe that you can survive anything that you are going through. Knowledge is power. When you have information, you are better suited to help others along with yourself. When you are able to have the knowledge, you are able to see the entire picture. Safety can be looked at from your workplace, your home environment, to where you socialize. I believe that it is important to be safe everywhere you are, even in your own skin. It is a way of life. It was really hard to narrow down only five core values but I would have to pick independence as my last value. To have the ability to make my own choices and be able to function on my own is empowering. Knowing that I have a choice in what I do allows me to be in control over any situation that I may be in. That doesn’t mean that I want to do everything on my own without my family but it’s the choice that I have knowing that I can make the choice. As our book says, “one’s values help determine the actions that one takes in his or her everyday life” (Guido, 2014).

Having awareness and knowledge of values is extremely important to the profession of nurses. If a nurse isn’t aware of what her own personal values are then the nurse may not be able to give the highest possible care or follow the standards that our profession has. Professional values are greatly connected to personal values. When a nurse is aware of their own personal values this may help promote the nurses’ competencies in clinical settings and deal with ethical concerns. Some nurses may find that their personal values and their professional values overlap or may be different in just a little bit. Having honesty, integrity, dignity, empathy, along with autonomy are some of my professional values. When we are able to internalize our values, we are able to make it a standard of our nursing practice and help to guide us in the behavior that is most becoming of our nursing profession. Having done this exercise made me more aware of what I value and how it is intertwined in the profession that I choose to be part of.

The top five nursing values, Human dignity to respect patients and their uniqueness. Integrity helps us to build relationships with patients, coworkers, and others. Integrity helps us to build trust with all of these people. Autonomy is respecting the patients’ rights. To advocate for their rights and what they want. Altruism caring for your patient’s wellbeing and welfare is so important. Social justice upholds moral, legal, and humanistic principles. All of these are basic human rights. That shows respect to patients and the patients’ families. I believe that my values are inline with the nursing values. With love you have kindness and empathy for all that you come in contact with. Family is making sure that you are watching out for the welfare and wellbeing of the people that you love the most. Safety is making sure that the patient is safe in what you are doing, for example look at surgery. You as the nurse are responsible for the safety of that patient while they are in your care and under anesthesia. It is no greater honor to be able to take care of a patient in this manner. Knowledge that you are able to give to your patient and the patient’s family while they are in your care goes right along with autonomy and respecting their rights. When you are able to give the patient all the information regarding their treatment and outcome so that they are able to make an informed decision is a great thing. I truly believe that when you are able to have core values and believe in them to use them in your daily life, they will guide your decisions and make you a better person. “Understanding one’s values helps you to understand the values of others” (Guido, 2014).

References

Guido, G. W. (2014). Legal and Ethical Issues in Nursing 6th Edition. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Riley, D. (2021, April 19). Living the life you want. Retrieved from Lifehack: https://www.lifehack.org/861427/core-values-list