Running head: Respecting the Patients Healing Environment 1

Respecting the Patients Healing Environment

Chris Rodeback
Dixie State University
Running head: Respecting the Patients Healing Environment 2


Respecting the Patients Healing Environment
Registered nurses have, throughout history, evolved today to become one of the most
trusted professions. This evolution is the product of a nurses desire to promote health and well-
being. Beginning in school, as a nursing student, I was exposed to nursing theorists that, through
their desire to heal others, moved the profession based on knowledge that they had attained
during their own career. Colley (2003) stated that a nursing theory helps distinguish what
should form the basis of practice by explicitly describing nursing. This theory is what defines a
Registered Nurses career and is developed in its infancy during nursing school. It is fostered
and nurtured through experiences that a Registered Nurse has during a career and each nurses
theory puts emphasis on different aspects of a patients care, but all include: person or patient,
nurse, health and environment. I have, through my experience, developed a theory that emulates
Florence Nightingale and emphasizes caring about ones surroundings to create an environment
that promotes healing.
Nursing Experience as a Student
As a student nurse I was very intimidated by the thought of spending eight hours in the
Intensive Care Unit.(ICU) To say I was nervous is an understatement. I received my assignment
and was paired with a nurse that was very confident in her abilities and seemed to know what she
was doing. Shortly after receiving report we settled in to the nurses station and per routine we
began to formulate our goals for each patient for the day. As we began, a fellow nurse
converged on our desk and initiated a conversation about a patient and family that had
complained to the supervisor about her behavior. During the conversation she was very loud and
obnoxious. Her dialogue was laced with expletives and abrasive language that travelled far
beyond the reach of the station we were seated. By this time a family member of one of our
Running head: Respecting the Patients Healing Environment 3


patients had arrived and was a witness to the tirade as evidenced by her shocked look of disgust
at the behavior. Throughout the day the behavior ebbed and flowed but seemed to cast a cloud
over the area. Each time the call light illuminated I timidly entered the room of the patient
whose wife was a witness to the tirade. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the wife was very
cordial in our interaction and showed excitement in my chosen career path. At a particular time
during the day I was present just after the prognosis was shared with the patients family. The
prognosis was bleak and the wife and daughter were engulfed in emotion and, through their
grieving, asked the pair of us what to do next. As I stood paralyzed in my own sentiment, the
nurse that I had been with eloquently responded and provided some comfort as we left them to
grieve.
Literature Review of Nursing Theory
Although the outcome was not ideal and the behavior was not what I had envisioned a
good nurse to be, the experience allowed me to formulate my own theory by contrasting the
behavior of the two nurses I shadowed. Through this experience I have developed an
understanding of the desire to have a patient in an environment that puts them in the best
possible situation to heal. Zborowsky (2014) Stated If one element is out of balance, then the
client is stressed, and it is up to the nurse to do what is needed to bring back balance to the
client's surrounding environment to relieve the stress. Two important points are brought out in
this quote. First is the character of the nurse and the ability to responsibly understand the
importance of the environment and second, to uphold the accepted/appropriate boundaries that
will enable the patient to heal. If one of these elements is not in harmony with the others it can
cause stress to the patient. The nurse in the ICU was oblivious to this idea and felt that her own
problems were far more important than the feelings of the patient and the family.
Running head: Respecting the Patients Healing Environment 4


It is important that the nurse must also be healthy, in body and mind, to provide good
care. If the nurse is experiencing stressors, inside and outside of the hospital, that stress leads to
an unhealthy environment and carries over to the patient. Importance should be placed on
resources to allow for expression of frustrations appropriately so that any unwarranted stress will
not be portrayed to the patient. A healthy nurse can focus on providing quality care and
recognizing the patients needs.
Conclusion
stated that a theory helps distinguish what should form the basis of practice by
explicitly describing nursing. Florence Nightingales theory focuses on environment and the
importance it plays on the patients health. It is within her theory that I structure the basis of my
theory around and begin to understand what nursing is. A healthy environment embodies a nurse
who shows empathy and puts the persons needs above her own. It also includes embracing and
fostering a physical environment as well as an atmosphere that is conducive to healing which
will provide the best possible opportunity for the patient to experience health.

Running head: Respecting the Patients Healing Environment 5


References
Colley, S. (2003). Nursing theory: Its importance to practice. Nursing Standard, 17(46), 33-7.
Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/219823000?accountid=27045
Zborowsky, T. (2014). The legacy of Florence Nightingale's environmental theory: Nursing
research focusing on the impact of healthcare environments. HERD : Health
Environments Research & Design Journal, 7(4), 19-34. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1551503625?accountid=27045