The significance of nursing practice can be realized when nurses provide holistic care for the general well-being of society. This care involves the provision of spiritual, physical, and psychological care to the patients. I believe in the Christian doctrines but they do not map my values and my spiritual beliefs. Hence, my belief in God as a spiritual being is significant in supporting religion and medical interventions to work together for the well-being of the patient. This paper will support ethical principles by my values in regard to quality, cost, and social issues in health care policy. Moreover, an analysis of the impact of my upbringing, professional experiences, personal beliefs, and political factors on my current perspective on health care policy will be conducted. In addition, I will focus on the inconsistencies between my personal beliefs and healthcare policies.
Personal Ethics and Spiritual Belief
Spirituality is a multidimensional as well as a complex part of the experiences of humans. It is an internal system of belief where an individual adheres to some practices and rituals. Moreover, religion is not a requirement for an individual’s spirituality (Joint commission, 2016). The important aspect of religion is the personal belief in God and I value my personal connection to God for my spiritual and overall well-being. This frame of belief is a basis for my professional ethical practice while caring for and treating the physical, mental and spiritual conditions of my patients. People have assumptions about how life should be and how they should be but I believe that individuals have the capability of deciding how their lives should be. The existence of free will in life gives an opportunity for people to choose between practicing good and evil in life. Accordingly, nurses should practice well through holistic care which involves self-care, spirituality, self-responsibility, and reflective thinking concerning personal lives and professional lives (Best et al 2016). As a result, a nurse is able to teach self-love, appreciation, and acceptance to their patients.
Cost
When things don’t go as assumed, self-defeating and self-judgment take over people’s lives as they attempt to correct the situation. In addition, the patients will suffer emotional breakdown which prevents the expected healing process from occurring resulting in poor health. Thus, choosing to do good through the provision of holistic care such as the incorporation of religious systems would go a long way in ensuring that the risk of malpractice and further loss of resources is reduced.
Quality
Holistic care is not only important for the well-being of patients but also for the provision of quality care to the patients. Through holistic care, nurses are able to balance the spiritual-physical and psychological needs of their patients, their families, and themselves in a professional manner (Thomas & McCormick, 2014). As a result, through holistic care, the patients’, families and the health care provider s’ care of care will have been improved to a larger degree. More importantly, a deeper analysis of the spiritual dimensions of the conditions of every healthcare issue is significant for the achievement of higher quality of care.
Social Issues
The current diseases hailing the global population can not possibly be classified in the category of standard medical ill health but causes a lot of pain and suffering to the people. Some of the circumstances which cannot be included among the standard ill health in society is the illhealth in the environment like pollution and social diseases like war, violence, and crime. Others include illhealth affecting the education sector such as abuse and disrespect and health in the economy like corruption, greed, and opportunism. Religious ill in society such as harmful and superstitious practices and the inappropriate belief and interpretation of concepts concerning religion and God play a major role in my perspective on healthcare policies (Thomas & McCormick, 2014). Hence, spirituality can be used as a major aspect of holistic care in such circumstances. This can be done by accepting spirituality as a significant long-lasting solution that leads to wholeness, well-being, and connectedness even after these types of ill health.
Influential factors
My father was a pastor and my mom was a teacher. They taught us to be noble people in society with the fear of the lord and do good by being the pillars of our family. I learned about good and evil all my life which led me to choose a career in nursing so that I could do good in society. My religious background and my personal belief in God played a bigger role in my current belief situation. In addition, my work experiences while working with trauma patients in the mental health department played a significant role in my current perspective on health care policies. I learned that apart from medical attention and financing from the government these patients needed religious interventions to help in their healing processes.
Inconsistencies
Recently, science has been able to make a positive connection between approaches to ill health based on science and on religion. Regardless of the milestone made in the field of medicine medications cannot function alone. Often the medications administered to patients encourage unhealthy styles of living. Patients are given a chance of survive after an illness or trauma by the administration of medicines making them heavily dependent on the medications for the most part of their lives (Aldwin, 2014). As a result, the patients develop unhealthy lifestyle and mindset which disconnects them from their spirituality. Therefore, they are not able to heal properly and continue with life after an illness.
Conclusion
Healthcare policies have not based their concepts on spirituality making the healing process of patients to be incomplete. Incorporating spirituality in the treatment plan for patients would eliminate the symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress. Thus, holistic care gives an opportunity for the nurse to get connected to the patient, their families, and themselves through self-acceptance and letting go of stress and guilt making them free from mental disturbances and ill health. Therefore, the physical, mental, and psychological aspects of ill health should be addressed simultaneously for better patient outcomes.
References
Aldwin,C.M. Park,C.L. Jeong, Y. Nath,R. (2014). Differing Pathways between Religiousness, Spirituality, and Health: A Self-Regulation Perspective. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 6 (1), 9
Best , M. Butow , P. & Olver, I. (2016). Doctors discussing Religion and Spirituality: A Systematic Literature Review. Palliative Medicine , 30(4), 327 – 337.
Joint Commission International Accreditation Standards for Hospitals. (2014). 5th. Ed. Retrieved from http://www.jointcommissioninternational.org/ assets/3/7/Hospital-5E-Standards-Only-Mar2014.pdf
Thomas R. McCormick, D. (2014). Spirituality and Medicine. Retrieved from https://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/spirit.html
