Licensed Practical Nursing Research, Essay Example

I chose to analyze the LPN/Nursing profession because I am going to be an LPN. I recognizably find this part of the medical field interesting. I love to help others that are ill and help to rehabilitate them.  Interview three nurses in the field and find out why they are nurses, how they contribute to society, what they like and dislike about the occupation, and comment on their attitudes of the position including their similarities and dislikes about the occupation. Use quotes from various texts to do such illustrations. All mothers were in fact nurses going back to early ages. Nursing was modeled back to the early teachings of Christ, whilst caring for the sick, poor and feeding the hungry. Nurses further participated in the burying of the dead. The most notorious nurse was Florence Nightingale. Nurses and mid-wives were notorious for delivering babies and giving home health care in the early days as assistance to registered physicians.  I interviewed three nurses; one at Oschner Hospital, a doctor’s office and a home health nurse. The nurse at Oschner Hospital enjoys her work because she is able to work weekend hours and make enough money to support her family while spending time with her children and husband. She dislikes the long hours on her feet. She like the many illnesses she is exposed to in the large hospital. The doctor’s office nurse works five days a week and is exposed to the same illnesses daily. She finds her work rather routine but likes to bond with the regular patients and like working straight days. The home health care nurse enjoys going out to elderly patients, especially those on hospice to make their life more comfortable. She also enjoys the flexible hours and the spirituality involved with her position. Karen the hospital nurse stated, “The hours are very long at the hospital but the rewards are very lucrative at the end of the day. The patients make me smile when they tell me I have been an asset to their recovery.” Lisa states, “My work at the local home health care facility gives me the chance to help the patients that are ready to pass to heaven. This is a blessing from God for me to be allowed to help ease their suffering, counsel the families and be a part of sending the hurting patient away to heaven with peace.” Michelle state, “She is quite happy at the nursing home, but wishes there were better nursing facilities to adequately serve the poor people that reside there. She could do a much better job if the federal government would fund better equipment.” Nurses must undertake much education in the sciences and math as well as be very compassionate and spiritual to be successful in their career. They must be able to be organized and multi-task and take direction under physicians.

Plato sees man who hides as an unjust man. He believed there was another world beyond the one in which we live. Philosophy lends itself to the interpretation of the religious idealist. It further lends itself to certain beliefs of no absolutely perfect examples of courage or justice. We can only imagine perfectly moral standards. Three nurses I interviewed worked in doctor offices, nursing homes and hospitals. I choose to analyze all three working environments in order to get a clearer picture of what each nurse offers to patients in each specialty area. Nurses are adhered to ethics, morals and certain medical standards of education to take care of patients the best they can with compassion, education and the best of their ability. A nurse that does not possess moral and ethics cannot survive in the field of medicine. He/She must be of good character and morals in order to treat a patient with the best care available and to ensure she is administering the best available care. People’s lives are dependent upon the choices a nurse makes.

Explain how Plato sees the community as an unjust world in which we live. Explain his ideas on justice and work. Which of Plato’s rules are needed for a just society in a community work environment to prosper? For a community and society to prosper it must be governed by philosophers who understand what makes a community strong and understand the underlying principles that make a community strong.  Analyze how your role in the community leads to a just society and your role as an LPN Nurse play an effective role in such a just community. LPN’s are role models for the community and serve the community as caregivers and role models for children and older adults. Nurses must adhere to a creed to live by a code of ethics and morals to serve their patients and their community. The Code of Ethics for Nurses states a nurse must follow practices with compassion, inherent dignity, unrestricted by social or economic status, personal attributes or health problems. Further, the nurse’s primary commitment is to the patient and he/she is accountable to the tasks delegated to her with optimum patient care. He/She must preserve the utmost integrity and safety of her patient. She must further her education as applicable to the developmental efforts to meet health care needs of the patients and the medical association.

Plato believed in living by the Socratic dialogue of a perfect world of just order and character and anything else would be against the beliefs of philosophy. A philosophy ruled by kings and philosophers and guardians were proposed by Plato as being just and fair. The Republic was one of Plato’s most influential works with respect to just and fair play.

Find laws that govern your job as a nurse. What common and current laws restrict your current job as a nurse? State the applicable state and federal laws. You may want to speak to someone who runs a business. Cite your opinion of the laws and how they affect how you do your job. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is a federal agency that protects all nurses from discrimination under federal statutes. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act is there to protect nurses against termination of employment based on pregnancy or discrimination with relation to color, race, religious beliefs, etc. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 is preset to outlaw any such discrimination of wages against any employee. All of these acts can affect my job if they are not adhered to according to state and federal laws especially if someone of a minority color is hired to work. Further if I belong to a union position, the company may try to eliminate wage increases. The unions negotiate pay raises and the unions fight to protect such increments in raises for workers. No one in the medical field can be discriminated against based on religious affiliation, color, race or national origin. Equal treatment amongst all is promoted in the workforce.

How does Locke show textual support for the basis of capitalism with relation to the nursing field?  Locke beliefs in the use of pragmatics in the nursing field. This is the use of figures and the people who make use of them in their line of work.  Would you prefer to do your line of work under a pure capitalistic, pure socialistic or mixed form of government? I would prefer to do my work under a form of direct or public social ownership which is called socialistic government. This would allow a person to make more choices in a socialistic or mixed form of government. The economy would not be stagnated as it would be stagnated in a pure capitalistic form of government. A mixture of both might be good because land is the means of production which makes the economy grow, however we have to be wary of the agriculturalist becoming too strong hence eliminating the nursing and other jobs.  What did Marx mean when he stated workers are alienated from their work in ways in which he thinks is bad? Why does Marx think religion is used as a means to repress workers? How does this Marx theory apply to nursing? Do you agree with Marx anti-capitalism views and why? Religion changes people natural way of thinking and makes them thing a way in which other sway them to think. Karl Marx believed that truths were half beliefs and were based on what one heard and not saw. He felt they served as a huge ideal to political function rather than moral value.

Genesis and Ecclesiastes explain why and how people should work. It further explains the values they should have as they work. Work ethics are influenced by the mistakes of Adam and Eve thus people should make choices according to what is divine and ethical. Bob

Black believed in the abolition of work altogether. Discuss the extent of which religious ideas and values apply. Apply Sonnet and Cobb’s Theory to my job of nursing as an LPN. This is a theory of social class. Our self-perception is bound by what other think of us hence; can they actually deepen authentic self-knowledge or hinder it? Does this perception make us dependent upon others? “Female aesthetics who disguised themselves as males will benefit from these paradoxes. Mortars have raised questions of what it has meant to be a Christian. Stephanie Cobb has essentially believed in the values and ideals of masculinity” (Cobb, S. 2008). Sonnet and Cobb’s Theory further goes into discussion of nervous and mental disease for those who wish to endeavor into the field of psychiatric nursing. At the basic level, LPN’s can further their education to the Baccularette level and be basic psychiatric care givers under the supervision of doctor’s and psychiatrists at doctor’s offices and mental health facilities. They can aid patients and their families on how to best plan, implement and evaluate doctor’s plans of action. Crisis intervention and counseling services are often rendered by psychiatric nurses. LPN’s can act as psychiatric technicians who aid B.S. nurses in daily activities on the floors of psychiatric hospitals and out-patient facilities.

Research a racial discrimination suit in the field I am working in. Comment on Richard Wright’s poem, “I Have Seen Black Hands”. How is the historical message applicable today? Find a sexual harassment case in the field and comment on how it has affected the nursing field today. Richard Wright’s poem gave rise through an era of revolutionary radicalism where black and white fists were raised equally as the injustices before man. He thought someday a burst of red fists would rise which would bring an end to injustice and the end of a revolutionary period between the races. His hopes were to bring rest between political protest and violence. Today there is some unrest with political unrest but there has been much fight at the capital for human rights and political unrest through the leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and many other abolitionists for abortion. These people have suffered unjust at the hands of the police and have been jailed and tortured. Unfortunately, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has done little to nothing to prevent racial discrimination when considering admission of African American people to nursing homes, particularly speaking of those patients who receive Medicare or Medicaid. Essentially they are still being denied ‘equal access to nursing homes based on their race. The research shows the finding has been submitted to the federal government and they have done nothing to prevent such infringements of civil rights. As a result the poor Africans “are two times more likely to be forced to reside in poor quality homes than the White race.” (Yearby, R., 2007). These actions are no longer legally actionable at the Supreme Court level based on the premise based on the theory of disparate impact, leaving only redress at the Appellate level. The law currently states, “Nursing homes seeking participation in Medicare and/or Medicaid have to certify that they do not discriminate based on race before becoming eligible to participate in these programs. If they do the remedy for violation is: Termination.”

Chicago Nursing Home Complaints due to Violations based on Medicaid and Medicare

What does Bob Black say about work and why? How can you make the job more fun without compromising the functionality of it? What are specific things employers and employees can do to turn it into a game?

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Civil Rights Act of 1991 mandates formal protection for all male and female employees in the workplace to be able to work under conditions without the worry of sexual advances, verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature and unwarranted sexual harassment by another employee or member of the staff including management. A hostile work environment is defined as “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors in return for a promotion or to keep your position, or physical or verbal conduct for the purpose of interfering with a person’s daily work performance.” (Ibid). The law permits punitive and compensatory damages for all sexually harassed victims. “In a study of 188 critical care nurses, 46% reported suffering from sexual harassment, which included offensive sexual remarks, unwanted physical contact, unwanted verbal attention, requests for unwanted dates, sexual propositions and one physical assault. Physicians represented the largest percentage of offenders, followed by co-workers, and supervisors. The majority of the incidents are unreported, perpetuating this public health problem.” (Sandberg, McNiel & Binder, 2002). Victims most often show apparent increases in absenteeism, poor job performance and psychological problems as a result of harassment. For the simple sake of human dignity and the proper care of the patients sexual harassment needs to be stopped in the medical field. Employers need to become involved and express a strong distaste to sexual harassment when hiring new employees as well as continued disapproval through meetings and postings in the medical field. Victims need not be afraid to turn in harassment suits for fear of losing their jobs. Nurses should confront the harasser, document the incident and report the incident. These are the keys to ending harassment in the medical workplace for good. The victim should specifically tell the harasser that the attention is ‘unwanted’.  They should strive for professional at all levels and all times.

Which issues are more important to be successful as a nurse? Explain their relevancy. What are the best means to access quality nursing needs? It is very important to have good nursing practices for these practices have a strong impact upon patients, business as well as the supporting community. The obvious perception of good nursing is associated with personal perceptions by either patients or observers. “Nurses are deemed to access the individual needs of patients, plan appropriate care or intervention, provide the care and evaluate the effects of the care.” (Papps, 1994). Often other medical providers do not fully understand what the nursing process is and this causes a dilemma for nurses. “The Rush Process Medical Audit is one schematic tool used to focus on the nursing process to monitor and access through patient classification as a critical part of the audit.” (Papps, 1994). If medical professionals do not fully understand the audit it does little to the nursing profession. Obviously the patient’s input is very important to a nurse’s career. Quality, costs and nursing is an important perspective to the future of nursing. It should be realized that a nurse’s ability to care for patients is in direct relation with the nursing community in which they work. A nurse should be able to give good care at a reasonable economic cost to patients. Nurses do have a direct impact on future costs of medical care. In order to improve nursing care it is equally important to use the views of patients as well as the views of the nurses.

Conclusion

Nurses are very important to the medical field as they are the liaison to the medical doctors. They help to take care of the ill and to rehabilitate the patients under the direct supervision and orders of the doctors. Bachelor degreed nurses often run IV’s and administer drugs that are prescribed by the leading physicians. LPN’s are sometimes allowed to observe surgical procedures and assist with other important medical procedures such as handing tools to the doctors during surgery. Most avidly, an LPN is responsible for the day to day care of a patient at a hospital to ensure they are comfortable by taking their temperature, blood pressure and charting their vital signs. They report these finding to more educated nurses and doctors. Together with other nurses and medical professionals, LPN’s play an important role in the day to day recovery of patients. They have daily contact with patients. It is essential they have moral and ethical values and possess compassion when responding to sick patients. LPN’s who work in doctor’s offices often conduct small tests such as urinalysis and pregnancy test. They are not allowed to run an IV. They do not have the proper education to do so. Many LPN’s who work are continuously furthering their education to become a Registered Nurse.

When Marx spoke of labor alienation he meant there was a major problem with the ideals of capitalism and there was too much value placed on the product produced rather than the qualities the humans that produced the product had to offer. Marx sees religion as an  illusion that people need and with the abolition of religion can people only experience true reality and happiness in their lives and their workmanship. To be a successful nurse one must apply only essential skills of compassion, education and not theology. God will not save a person, only t rue nursing skills applied adequately according to Marx’s theory. Religion takes away the freedom of autonomy and free expression to think logically and scientifically. Marx believed in anti-capitalism more than capitalism because he shared the view that change could come slowly. He did not believe in corporate conglomerates. He thought rapid industrial movements such that in Europe forced injustices such as unfair labor conditions.

Genesis and Ecclesiastes speaks of the meaning of life and work ethics. The actions of man are vain, transitory and meaningless without work. Man should take time to enjoy the simple pleasures in life as well as working hard each day to have a fulfilling life. Gifts from God are work, play, children amongst the basic necessities in life.

References

Flores, J. (2007) Discrimination on the Job Retrieved April 21, 2010 from, http://www.malenursemagazine.com/discrimination.html

Cobb, S. (2008) Dying to be Men: Gender and Language in Early Christian Martyr Texts Retrieved April 21, 2010 from, http://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/6862_7434.pdf

International Journal for Quality in Health Cart, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 59-«0, 1994

The Journal of Mental and Nervous Disease Retrieved April 21, 2010 from, http://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Citation/1953/06000/Index_To_Volume_117.11.aspx