Journal 2
Qualities of an active Psychiatry Nurse.
Working as a registered psychiatry nurse (RPN) is a challenging responsibility as it demands more passion, dedication, sacrifice, empathy and awareness to care for people living with mental disorders. The RPN has to have extra unique qualities on top of the general nursing qualities as they care for patients who need understanding, trust, confidentiality and respect so as to establish a therapeutic nurse-patient relationship which is objective and goal oriented for better outcome.
Psychiatry nurses demonstrate awareness, in terms of self and others. Having self-awareness will help the nurse focus on their own strengths and weakness. The nurse should understand their values, beliefs, motivation, spiritualism, emotions, norms, behaviors, environment and culture; these will assist the nursing in knowing their limits and capabilities especially when dealing with different clients. Self-awareness also enables the nurse to respect and be aware of others in terms of their feelings, emotions, beliefs, value, cultures and religion. The awareness creates mutual respect between the nurse and the patient in the orientation phase of therapeutic relationship, it also improves the outcome of the therapy as the nurse understands the client and themselves very well and can set realistic goals.
The nurses should have self-acceptance and patient acceptance. These quality leads to building of trust between the nurse and the patient. The nurse should not be judgmental to the client, as most of the psychiatry patients have conditions that need extra care and compassion or else the patient’s condition may worsen. For clients to open up and speak they need an unconditional acceptance from the nurse. The nurse should also have self-acceptance of their abilities and limits and they should show interest to patient as a person allowing them to express their strongly held feelings.
The nurse should maintain professionalism with regards to ethics, accountability and responsibility when caring for the patient. The nurse should have a code of conduct and acknowledge the rights of their patient. These patients need confidentiality and privacy as some may be suffering from disorders that they would love to be personal. This quality will drive the client to open more about their problems which will bring better results.
Having consistency and being available for the patient as a RPN will build security for the patience hence alleviating their fears and anxiety. Nurse should always be there when the patient need them if not the patient may relapse due to lack of a routine care which is essential for their recovery.
Good communication, interviewing and observation skills will also assist the nurse to develop better therapeutic relationship with the client and accurate diagnosis. Appreciating the verbal and non-verbal communication is key to the nurse as it will aid the nurse in making a diagnosis. Some mental disorders manifest through abnormal and repeated mannerism and characteristic of speech as to volume, rate, flow, quality and clarity. Accurate diagnosis leads to better outcome for the patients. Nurse should their verbal and written communication to ensure quality documentation in the care of their patient that can be used in the legal matters.
Empathy and not sympathy is a quality the RPN should possess. Show interest in patient’s problems. Agree that the patient has a problem and think along with him to solve it. This is because the patient’s behavior is changed through emotional experience and not by use of reason. The nurse should be objective and avoid bringing their personal feelings and emotion when caring for the patient.
The nurse should be in good health and fitness. Health being not just the absent of the disease but complete physical, mental and social well-being. The nurse who is mentally healthy may misdiagnose a patient. Physically ill nurse may not be consistent and available for the patient. Socially ill nurse may not be able to establish and maintain a good therapeutic nurse-patient relationship.
I thought I knew myself until I completed the four surveys. The surveys have shaped my journey toward preparing to be a RPN. They have given me an insight of my personality, values, wellness and my learning styles and I can now appreciate my strengths and weakness that will assist be to become a better RPN. Pre-survey I viewed myself as less conscious, more negative and introvert and during the survey I started realizing they are minor issues that I had ignored but had a great impact on my qualities. Post survey has really changed the way a view myself and has made be to self-reflect on my self-awareness.
From survey on the big personality traits, I found out that am low on neurotism (anxiety, anger, depression, self-consciousness, immoderation, vulnerability), high on extraversion ( friendliness, gregariousness, assertiveness, activity level, excitement-seeking, cheerfulness), high on openness to experience ( imagination ,artistic interests , emotionality , adventurousness , intellect liberalism), high on agreeableness (trust, morality, altruism, cooperation, modesty, sympathy), high on conscientiousness (self-efficacy, orderliness, dutifulness, achievement-striving self-discipline, cautiousness).
I am a multi-sensory learner as scored equally the same scores in the three sections of the auditory, visual and kinesthetic. The wellness survey has given be on insight on my physical wellness as a there is a need to improve on my lifestyle that has an impact on my health. The values survey has challenged me to be have interest to a patient as a person and avoid judging the patient from their behaviors, cultures, background, environment, lifestyles, emotions, feelings and race.
The surveys have given me a self-awareness lesson. I can be trustworthy, available, consistence and friendly with confidence and comfort. They have also challenged me to improve on interest of the patient as a person, physical wellness and assertiveness for me to become a better RPN.
Moving forward I have to work on my challenges and improve on my accomplishments so as to make a better nurse who cares for their patient holistically resulting in better outcome for patient. I now appreciate the unique roles that the RPN nurse plays in the health care system and the distinctive qualities they possess to handle their patients.