Significance of Humanities courses in Nursing

[Sam101]

Hey there!

I've been checking out the the course structures of the BSN nursing programs offered by different nursing schools across the country. One commonality I found in almost all them was the inclusion of Humanities courses! As someone who is looking forward in choosing nursing as a career, I'm actually really curious to know what is the main significance of courses like Psychology, Sociology, Philosophy and Ethics taught in nursing school?

[llg, PhD, RN]

1. To teach you about people -- why they do what they do, what is important to them, what it means to be human, etc. Nurses provide care for PEOPLE, not just deal with disease processes and treatments

2. To expand your ways of thinking -- how to form logical arguments, familiarize you with common ethical principles and with appropriate strategies for resolving ethical dilemmas, etc.

3. To gain an appreciation for the fact that the "hard sciences" don't have all the answers to all of life's questions and challenges

[Simplistic]

$$$. All about the $$$

[OsceanSN2018]

$$$. All about the $$$

Definitely.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

1. To teach you about people -- why they do what they do, what is important to them, what it means to be human, etc. Nurses provide care for PEOPLE, not just deal with disease processes and treatments

2. To expand your ways of thinking -- how to form logical arguments, familiarize you with common ethical principles and with appropriate strategies for resolving ethical dilemmas, etc.

3. To gain an appreciation for the fact that the "hard sciences" don't have all the answers to all of life's questions and challenges

I'll second this. Not everyone thinks like you do; not every culture is like yours. I took a humanities course that was a comparison of modern religions -- it was pretty useful in nursing. Many times you'll find that patients' cultural and religious beliefs are quite different than yours and successful patient teaching needs to consider their belief system, no matter how strange you may see it.

[araew2129, ADN]

1. To teach you about people -- why they do what they do, what is important to them, what it means to be human, etc. Nurses provide care for PEOPLE, not just deal with disease processes and treatments

2. To expand your ways of thinking -- how to form logical arguments, familiarize you with common ethical principles and with appropriate strategies for resolving ethical dilemmas, etc.

3. To gain an appreciation for the fact that the "hard sciences" don't have all the answers to all of life's questions and challenges

Definitely this. As someone who has a degree in social work and worked in that field for 10 years now, I can't tell you how invaluable it is to understand how people work. And not just in my career but also in life in general. I think that empathy will serve me well in nursing.

[LovingLife123]

Psychology and sociology are a part of nursing. Psych nursing is it's own specialty. You will have a mental health rotation in nursing school.

You will deal with people from all aspects of life. You have to understand the psychosocial aspect and how to help these people.

Nursing is not about giving meds or starting IVs. The actual nursing is about so much more.