NR-500 Week 3 Discussion Topic, Knowing Self (Three Versions)

It is important in our practice as nurses to have an understanding of our values and beliefs in order to make decisions and impact nurse-patient relationships. We all have core values that lead how we practice daily. Core values reflect an individuals capacity and proficiency in the nursing profession (Chun-Chih, Chin-Yen, I-Ju, & Pi-Li 2016). The four core values that I implement in practice daily include compassion, competence, communication, and committment. These core values aid in the ability to provide diligent care for the increasing diversity of patients. During my time working on a medical-surgical unit, I had a patient that made me question my values. The patient was an ex-war veteran that obtained a serious injury that left him as a quadraplegic. He was admitted from a nursing home for a UTI. While taking care of him, I also had 6 other patients under my care. I remember vividly being in his room constantly in order to try to meet his needs. Of course, I felt so much sympathy for him to have to undergo such dibilitation of not being able to use any of his limbs. Throughout the day, he would make several rude and snide remarks to me and I did not understand why. He constantly yelled and told me how worthless I was. He was an African American man and even said at one time that I did not care about him because he was a black man. I had spent most of my day in his room and neglected many of my other patients to help him, so this truly bothered me. He tested my value of compassion because I felt helpless and he made me feel that no matter what I did, he couldn’t be pleased. I informed him that I was doing everything I could to provide the best care possible. I found myself not wanting to be as committed because I felt that it wasn’t helping either way. Fortunately, I persevered and our relationship got better by the end of the day. I realized that he felt helpless and through that he didn’t know what else to do but show it through anger. I learned through this experience that with cultual competence I have the ability to understand diverse values, beliefs, and behaviors to better engange in cultural self-assessment (Schuessler, Wilder, & Byrd, 2012). I self-reflected on my behaviors that were used while caring for this patient and realized that maybe my non-verbal gestures such as facial expressions and lack of eye contact had reflected why this man felt that I was not providing him with the best care possible. I realized that I was experiencing cultural humility through this experience.