The Quality Caring Model of Nursing Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Quality Caring Model of Nursing - Term Paper Example It is not difficult to imagine that an uncaring hospital staff and bureaucracy lead to an enhanced potential for medical errors and other dysfunctions. When the perception exists that the staff is simply doing the job, that they have become hardened to the suffering around them, and that each patient that enters their doors is simply a number and a disease, the consequences to patients’ morale could be as damaging as delivering the wrong dosage of morphine. Here, the prospect exists of elevated stress levels, pain or discomfort that may go ignored, and general disappointment and/or dissatisfaction. It is a noteworthy issue in the sense that not only could patients’ medical outcomes be negatively impacted, but also, even from the most pragmatic and cynical perspective, extremely dissatisfied patients – even when they do recover – may lead to a bad reputation of the hospital, which could impact potential donations. Even if serious complications do not occur, inconsistent or inattentive medical staff and procedures can also delay healing and recovery, and this can create a financial burden for the patient and increase the risk of nosocomial infections through extended hospital stays, if surgery and healing are not expedited with efficiency. Thus, the issue of caring in nursing is not only a matter of bolstering spirits but also a matter of added medical burdens that can be avoided by the staff which is deeply passionate both about the job and the patients’ health.... On the one hand, some level of detachment is a necessity in the medical field. Excessive emotional investment in any particular patient could compromise judgment or debilitate the healthcare provider if that patient should in fact perish or take a turn for the worst despite the implementation of all appropriate procedural measures. There is always another patient, so doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals would be doing a disservice to other patients if the previous one consumed too much of their attention and emotion. Yet detachment is also an enemy promoting the carelessness described above, making the patient feel uncared for and unappreciated, and enhancing the statistical likelihood of a medical error. Thus, there must be a corporate culture that institutes an appropriate level of attention and compassion in the implementation and management of medicine. It is a standard to teach nurses and doctors to 'care', but with the constant demands of a large hospital, with an e ndless patient-after-patient time consuming process and a great deal to be accomplished independently, the reality rarely lives up to the rhetoric. Time constraints in a large setting also limit the prospect of getting to know a particular patient on an individual basis. Bereft of the potential for attachment, one is easily dehumanized. Thus, a balance must be sought between an emotional entanglement, especially in terminal patients that can emotionally damage doctors or nurses, and a laissez-faire factory farm attitude where no outcome has any emotional impact, leading to frequent mistakes and a clear perception of indifference on part of the patients, enhancing the negative