NUR4031: What is Nursing? Essay Assignment sample

Nursing is a challenging profession that requires nurses to have ethical awareness, effective communication, scientific knowledge, and evidence-based practice to deliver person-centred care. NMC stands for Nursing and Midwifery Council, which provides clear standards that help nurses practice effectively, promote professionalism, ensure safety, and prioritise people. 

The assignment we are undertaking covers four key aspects of nursing practice, which have clear links to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Code 2018. These four areas cover the role of biopsychosocial factors in understanding illness and health, the importance of communication in health and nursing promotion, key aspects of evidence-based practice in providing safe and effective nursing care, and ethical and legal implications.

Together, these discussions demonstrate how nurses can provide holistic, ethical, and high-quality care in modern healthcare settings.

Biopsychosocial Factors And Understanding Health And Illness

To understand health and illness on a larger scale, the biopsychosocial model is an ideal way of recognising the overall health of the human body. The biopsychosocial model states that health is not only influenced by biological factors, but also by psychological and social factors as a whole.

Biological factors include physical health and genetics; on the other hand, psychological factors include mental health, beliefs, emotions, and social factors include culture, housing, and family relationships. All these factors or parameters act differently and contribute wholly to a person’s health. 

It is important for nursing staff to be professional in dealing with patients of all types. They should be fully trained and aware of all the 3 Biopsychosocial factors, so that they can treat patients keeping in mind all the possible health factors and their cure or treatment.

For example, a patient may gone through severe pain, so it can be because of any of the 3 Biopsychosocial factors. So overlooking any of these factors can be of high risk in patients. 

This Biopsychosocial approach correlates and aligns with the NMC Code(2018), which prioritises people. Here, nurses treat people keeping in mind the patient’s complete health condition and needs.

They focus on physical, psychological and social factors of people’s health and bring out the most satisfying outcomes in patients’ overall health. This is how the nursing practice goes along with the Biopsychosocial factors.

Importance Of Communication In Nursing And Health Promotion

Communication is the most essential part of nursing practice, as it builds up the patient’s beliefs and willpower. To deliver effective care, nursing staff are trained to provide comfort, safety, and care to the patients. Nurses communicate not only with patients, but with their families, and other medical professionals, too.

They communicate through their skills and ensure good health for the patients. Lack of communication skills can lead to misunderstandings and can be considered a medication error. So, effective and ensuring communication is the key to good nursing. 

Under the NMC Code(2018), nurses must communicate effectively to avoid confusion. They must follow a simple and appropriate language, active listening, and empathy towards patients.

They should always understand and explain treatment plans in a simple and convenient manner, which makes it easier for patients to understand. Communication acts as a superpower in making the patient’s mind work in our direction. It empowers patients to maintain their health.

For example, if a nurse is promoting healthy eating, her words and communication skills play a very important role in promoting good health. Just giving advice will not work; rather, the nurse has to talk and focus on the patient’s lifestyle, beliefs and much more. This approach proves to be the most effective patient-centred approach in nursing. 

For nurses, establishing an effective communication mechanism with patients is a little challenging, as cultural and language differences become barriers. But professional nurses adapt their communication styles and deliver safe and effective health care to the patients.

Consent in Healthcare: Legal and Ethical Considerations

Consent is the basic principle in the healthcare industry. This consent means that the patient voluntarily wants to get treated and cared for by the nursing institution after they have provided the required information. To make sure that the consent is accurate and valid, it must be transparent.

Consent should be informed and given freely to someone who can make the decision. Nurses have a crucial role in making the whole consent process valid by making the patient understand all the information that is provided to them, which enables them to make the decision accordingly. 

If we see consent from a legal perspective, providing care or treatment to the patient without any prior consent can expose the nursing institution involved to legal consequences such as negligence or assault.

Nurses should follow all the guidelines of national legislation and policies of their organisation that are related to consent. Basically, consent can be linked with giving respect to patients' choice, dignity, and their autonomy. Patients have the choice of accepting or refusing consent or refusing to get treated. 

According to the NMC code (2018), consent must give priority to the patient, as it states that nurses must give respect to right’s of patients. Nurses should also understand that a patient might need more support in understanding the terms of consent, or making things easy for someone who has learning difficulties or faces language barriers.

One of the challenges in practice sessions is that nurses should be able to explain the consent to patients within a given time period. However, this is not done in real life scenario, as making sure that the patient has understood everything is the most important thing, and it is one of the key responsibilities that supports ethical practice and trust.

Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing

EBP stands for evidence-based practice, which combines the best clinical expertise, research evidence, and patient preferences to inform healthcare decisions. Nurses must understand how to find, evaluate, and apply research evidence to ensure that care is safe, effective, and up-to-date.

When a nurse uses poor-quality or outdated evidence, it can put patients at risk and reduce the quality of care. The 2018 Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Code states that nurses currently practising should practice effectively and use evidence to guide practice and reduce the risk of harm.

For example, evidence-based guidelines for infection prevention help reduce healthcare-associated infections. Nurses also use critical thinking skills to assess the quality of research and consider its relevance to each patient.

Evidence-based practice significantly improves patient outcomes and supports professional accountability. It presents challenges, such as time constraints and limited access to research.

Despite these challenges, nurses have a responsibility to engage in lifelong learning and reflective practice. By using evidence appropriately, nurses can provide high-quality care that meets professional standards and patient needs.

Conclusion of What is Nursing

In conclusion, this assignment has demonstrated that effective nursing practice requires a strong understanding of biopsychosocial factors, effective communication skills, ethical and legal principles such as consent, and evidence-based practice.

Each of these areas is closely aligned with The NMC Code (2018) and supports nurses in prioritising people, practising effectively, and preserving safety. By applying these principles in practice, nurses can provide holistic, ethical, and high-quality care that meets the complex needs of individuals and promotes positive health outcomes.

Nurses who integrate knowledge, communication, ethics, and evidence into their practice are better prepared to meet the challenges of modern healthcare

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