Dealing with Pain and Activities of Daily Living

When someone is in pain, the painful stimulation must be removed in order for them to function. In looking at the activities of daily living such as hair brushing, dressing, and many others, makes anyone in pain lack motivation to function.     When physical therapy is ordered for patients, especially in the home setting, they at times lose their motivation because of the same thing, it is too painful.  But if we as nurses write the plan of care and recommend to the physician to have medications given to the patient about 20-30 minutes before therapy, then the patient may be able to work through the therapy that may be otherwise painful.

With dependent care, it is always a difficult thing if the patient is coherent enough to know that they need help.  As home care nurse, I saw this frustration in many of my patients because their mind was intact, but with an injury or disease process that prevented them from taking care of themselves.  This is when our compassion as a nurse can show the patient that there are ways that they can still remain independent by giving them choices whenever possible.  For instance what foods they like to eat within their diet, what time of day they want their bath. Everything depends on when they have the help available, but at least whenever they can make a decision, give them that option so that way they can feel that they have some decision making power (Alligood, 2013).

References

Alligood, M. (2013). Nursing Theorists and their Work (8th ed.). Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com/books/9780323091947

Dr. Rosie Moore https://justrosiemoore.com/


Source: Rosie’s Nurse Corner

Theoretical Models and Research

There are several theorists that can fit the neonatal population, but the one that I am selecting today is Florence Nightingale.  Although she is one of the oldest theorists, her model can still be applied to everyday nursing.  All patients are prone to getting an infection; however, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is particularly at risk.  Florence Nightingale gave us some principles that would help many of our patients.  She believed in keeping the environment clean, therefore observing good infection control.  She also believed in keeping the patient in the best condition and letting nature take its course or “God.” So Florence did have a spiritual connection which made her sensitive to cultural awareness of others (DeNisco & Barker, 2013).

I believe Florence Nightingale’s research model is quantitative.  She believed that if an environment was kept clean, that the patient would not develop infections.  She believed that nurses needed to wash their hands frequently.  Back in that era, this was not a highly common practice.  Bringing it to this generation, looking at the NICU, it makes sense.  The NICU believes in keeping a sterile environment allowing only certain visitors to see the babies and frequent hand washing and scrubbing for the staff and the parents.  When parents are sick, they are asked not to come to the NICU, if a baby is sick, the parents are asked to wear a mask, gown, and even wear gloves, depending on the baby’s condition. This is an example of keeping the environment free of infections so as not to spread it to the babies (Alligood, 2010).

References

Alligood, M. (2010). Madeleine M. Leininger: Modern Nursing. In Alligood Introduction to the Nursing Theory (7th ed. (p64). Retrieved from Vital Source Bookshelf

DeNisco, S. M., & Barker, A. M. (Eds.). (2013). The slow march to professional practice. Advanced Practice Nursing (2nd ed., pp. 6-17). [Vital Source Bookshelf].

Dr. Rosie Moore https://justrosiemoore.com/

 


Source: Rosie’s Nurse Corner

Nursing Diversity

Nurses need to be culturally sensitive to patients, just because it is something that we do not do in our day to day lives, does not mean that someone else does not do it for religious or cultural beliefs (Alligood, 2010).  We cannot assume that because someone looks homeless that they are. If a patient is arriving by ambulance, he should be seen by someone.  It is understood that the other patients also need help, but the nurse needs to prioritize.   As a nurse, we have to observe the body language and see what the patient is feeling.

I had a friend who was an anesthesiologist and stopped at an expensive diamond store to get his wife an anniversary gift.  He was dressed down in jeans and a t-shirt and a hat nothing special said he was a doctor by his dress code.  He inquired in the most expensive jewelry and the salesperson said to him, oh let me show you this section here this may be more affordable and we can offer you payment plans.  She naturally assumed because he looked like an ordinary Joe in jeans, that he did not have the money to pay outright for his gift.  He asked for a manager and she complied, to which he stated, I am Dr. so and so head of anesthesiology at ABC hospital.  He proceeded to explain that he came in to look for a gift for his wife and was not allowed to select from the section he was looking at because his salesperson assumed that he did not have the income to afford those items.  He provided his card and stated that he would take his business elsewhere where he is not judged on his appearance. We as nurses have to be careful that we do not do the same to our patients and treat them equally the same.

References

Alligood, M. (2010). Madeleine M. Leininger: Culture Care Theory of Diversity and Universality. In Alligood Introduction to the Nursing Theory 7th ed. (pp. 417-434). Retrieved from Vital Source Bookshelf

 


Source: Rosie’s Nurse Corner

Strategies on Cultural Competence

In my own nursing career as a supervisor for field case managers, I have encountered patients and staff that come from diverse cultures. Every two weeks, our entire region would participate in Grand Rounds and during those rounds, our medical director reviewed four cases that had been submitted prior to the meeting in order to evaluate them for a better plan of care to help the patient.  My team consisted of a mixture of different cultures.  I had some wonderful nurses from different Caribbean Islands, some of them had a very strong accent, but that did not stop them from providing good care.

During our grand rounds, the medical director selected two of my case managers to present their case.  The case was presented in our own team meeting and as a team, we thought it would be a great case to present.  The one case manager we will call her Ms. R. presented a case about a member that had too many cats in the home and she was having difficulty staffing the case with home health aides because no one wanted to go in the home with so many cats. The medical director gave his evaluation of the case and the case was closed with the new information for the nurse case manager to implement.

During a manager meeting with about six other managers, the topic of case presentations came up and how each team needed to submit two cases per week, even if they were not selected for grand rounds.  A manager from England, who spoke with an English accent, stated that my team presented a lot of cases all the time.  I confirmed and stated that our strategy was that in our team meeting as an exercise we would bring two every week so that everyone had a chance to comment and it helped the presenting nurse in case her member was selected for grand rounds.  The English nurse manager asked me how I even understood Ms. R. and a few other staff from the islands that I had.  I politely let her know that I did have a diverse team and every one of them was a great nurse or social worker and did their jobs quite well.  As for understanding them, I listen to what they were saying intently and I did not multitask when they were speaking so that I could capture every word they said. Her response was “I am glad that they are on your team (Clark et al., 2011).”

A week later, I resigned from that position and unfortunately for my staff four of the team went to this one manager and the other nine went to someone else.  But of the four there was one from Haiti, one from Grenada, one from Puerto Rico and the other one was African American.  I  heard from all four about the poor treatment they were receiving from this manager. I, of course, could only listen, since I was no longer working there, but this is a perfect example of how not all nurses follow the code of respect of others cultures.

With patients, it is the same thing,  as nurses, we are not always going to understand what someone is saying whether it be a language barrier, dysphagia from a stroke, or dementia, but as nurses, we need to be able to read the body language.  We need to fine-tune our ears to try and understand what the person is saying. Living in Florida I am exposed to many cultures.  I myself am of Hispanic descent and although born in the states, I understand the diverse cultures that there are here.

In integrating health teachings, many materials are available in Spanish and Creole, However for the ones that are not, the use of translation companies are available through hospitals or managed care companies to help with the teaching that we are offering the patients.

References

Clark, L., Calvillo, E., De La Cruz, F., Fongwa, M., Kools, S., Lowe, J., & Mastel-Smith, B. (2011, May-June). Cultural Competencies for Graduate Nursing Education. Journal of Professional Nursing, 27(3), 133-139.


Source: Rosie’s Nurse Corner

What is a Father’s Role When the Doula is There?

The doula never takes the father’s role in the birthing process.  The doula enhances and compliments the father’s role during the entire birth.  In this generation, more fathers are becoming involved in the process of birth.  However many fathers still want to be there for their partner, but maybe not in the coaching aspect for fear that they may do something wrong.  Have no fear dads, you cannot do anything wrong.  When the doula is there, she will guide you through the process of being your partner’s support system.  With the doula there it gives the father flexibility to rest, has a bathroom break, eat, and most importantly learn the techniques that will be needed during the difficult time of labor.

www.windermerebabyandfamily.com

 


Source: Rosie’s Nurse Corner