Urgent - Seeking Answers from Nurses for school assignment

LydiaGreen · Sep 30, 2004

Hi,
I was given an assignment in my 1st year nursing class today (to interview a nurse) and need to have my paper turned in by tomorrow. If you are a nurse could you please answer the following interview questions for me? THANK YOU!
1. How do your values influence your practice as a nurse?
2. Were your values altered through your nursing education?
3. Has your nursing practice influenced your values?
PS
Values -- are freely chosen, enduring beliefs or attitudes about the worth of a person, object, idea, or action. Values are important because they influence decisions and actions, including nurses' ethical decision making.
Example: I value good health so I eat a healthy diet and excersise regularly.

Oh, I hated those last minute, interview a nurse assignments. Why? Because where do you find a nurse the evening before the assignment is due? Don't phone one at work, she/he is busy. Don't phone one at home, she/he might have to get up at 4:30 a.m. for dayshift. And, not every nursing student knows a lot of nurses that they would be comfortable phoning at the last minute for an assignment.

I'll try to help but, as my name implies, I am a "green" nurse (graduated in May of this year).

1. How do my values influence my practice as a nurse?

Family is very important to me so, I'm not a clock watcher when it comes to visiting hours. I can appreciate that a Mom who just had a hysterectomy for medical reasons and is feeling a little depressed, NEEDS that little extra time with her kids. I've had patients who simply couldn't care less about their own health and recovery because they were so worried about the kids at home and I definitely encourage the families to be as involved in the recovery process as is possible. My own children were a part of my father's rehab when he had a CVA - they played catch with him and sat patiently while he read them a simple bedtime story. He was very noncompliant so this was a way to get him to participate in his recovery without him knowing. He was depressed and couldn't be bothered to work with the PT but, bring the kids in and he would do the same activities happily without even knowing that he was doing it.

I believe strongly in the calming effect that a person receives from their pet. I know that when I have had a horrible shift, I can't talk to my husband about it (confidentiality and all) and he wouldn't really understand anyway because he isn't in the health profession - my dogs however are wonderful therapy, they don't ask questions and they don't pass judgement. Pets are allowed in our hospital, although they don't advertise it. If I have a patient who is a little depressed or especially a palliative patient, and they have a pet at home that they are close to (that THEY are close to, not their son-in-law's dog or something), I encourage the family to bring the pet in for a daily visit. When my father had his last CVA, he wasn't going to recover and we began taking turns sitting with him - I would bring his dog with me for my evening shift and lay the dog in his bed with him. At that point, my father couldn't speak, couldn't see, and only had control over one hand. The whole time Duffy was laying beside him, my father would stroke him very softly. His pain was lessened by the presence of the dog, he required less morphine when the dog was there. I know it was a comfort to him. So, the value of the importance of a pet to a person is something I hold dear and it does influence my practice.

I value children and their right to innocence above all else. Once had a patient on the ward who had been convicted of a certain type of crime a multitude of times over the previous sixty years. I did what I needed to for him as a patient, but I didn't go above and beyond the way I try to for other patients. I did nothing wrong, he received good nursing care, but I didn't do anything extra for him either.

2. Were my values altered during my nursing education?

A resounding yes! Big time. I used to be the most judgemental, arrogant, and ignorant person in the world. I used to be incredibly angry and judgmental about anyone who was suicidal - certain that they were the most selfish, self-centred, spoiled-rotten people on earth. And then I took psych and did the placements. Mental illness is a disease just like diabetes. Only with mental illness, there is an imbalance in brain chemistry rather than an imbalance in insulin/glucose. Seeing the suffering of a person struggling with mental illness and the havoc it wreaks on not only their minds but on their hearts (poetically speaking as in love and emotion, not physically speaking), I finallly came to realize that I am in no position to judge a person for choosing to attempt or succeeding at suicide. Perhaps the pain that they are in is just too overwhelming for this world? I don't know, but I came to realize that I should not judge what I do not know. The same lesson was learned in community health where abortion was concerned. I was so anti-abortion before nursing school (my husband and I had great difficulty conceiving our kids and before they were born all I could think about women who had abortions was that they were selfish and should let childless couples adopt). Then, in community health nursing, I saw reality. Teens whose parents are a part of a very strict religion, who would be ex-communicated if it were known they had had premarital sex. Teens who were possibly forced by more than one man and were simply too terrified to go to the authorities and certainly not wanting or even able to have that baby. And, I learned that they don't always tell you what happened - sometimes they just say that they don't know who the father is but there is much more to the story that they won't tell you. And, they have the right not to tell you. Again, I have learned not to judge.

3. Has my nursing practice influenced my values?

This seems to be a part of question 2 as well so, I will refer back to that as far as abortion and suicide go. Negative experiences with families, where a child was not loved as much as they could be (but not quite a bad enough situation where you would involve child and family services) have made me appreciate my family and especially my kids that much more. Nursing has also influenced the way that I parent my children. I was very controlling as a mother before nursing school and before nursing. I wanted them to be perfect and wanted everyone to think they were perfect. I was just stressing them out. After seeing some of the family situations out there with teens and preteens and even younger kids, I have learned to pick my battles. It's not the end of the world if they don't put their towel in the hamper immediately after their shower. It's not the end of the world if they stay up fifteen minutes late to watch the end of a show or finish reading a story. Again, nursing has made me appreciate my family a little more and learn to parent my children rather than control them.

I hope that that has helped you. I don't know if my being fresh out of nursing school is a help or a hinderance when answering such questions, but I hope it was a help. Good luck with the assignment.

jannecdote · Sep 30, 2004

Good job! And very thorough.:)

northwest20 · Oct 1, 2004

Thank you SOOOO MUCH for answering these interview questions. You are a HUGE help and answered in such a clear way, i dont know if I could have gotten a better person to interview! you may be fresh out of nursing school, but you're a nurse and perhaps being so fresh out of school makes it easier to write in this type of way (im sure you had your share of this type of writing). anyway, you made my nite, i just got off work and came home happy to see someone had written me back. i do know some nurses but like you say.. they are the busiest people i know and some are nite shift, etc. and feel rude calling them up for this if they are sleeping, etc. so thanks again, you made my evening a lot better.. i have 2 big tests tomorrow and just wanted to get this finished first. take care and thanks for helping me!

I hope that that has helped you. I don't know if my being fresh out of nursing school is a help or a hinderance when answering such questions, but I hope it was a help. Good luck with the assignment.

LydiaGreen · Oct 1, 2004

No problem whatsoever. Glad I could help.

And thank you, Jannecdote.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Oct 1, 2004

That was very good ofyou Lydia! Nice answers!