If you have ever spent time in a large hospital, then the odds are good that you understand what it is like to feel like a number. Even when your caretakers are gentle, considerate people, it can be hard to feel secure in a system that assigns you a bar code or a serial number when you come in the door. Some people even think that this "dehumanization" of patients actually interferes with the healing process. To counteract this effect, humanistic nursing was born.
History
Humanistic nursing was created by Josephine Paterson and Loretta Zderad, both nurses who believed that a simple, scientific approach to nursing education would not be sufficient to create truly effective and content nurses. They believed that nursing education should be largely founded in experience, and training should focus as much on a nurse's ability to relate to and interact with various patients as on a scientific background. The pair's Theory of Humanistic Nursing was first made public in 1971.
Function
The function of humanistic nursing, just as any other nursing, is ultimately to enable the patient to recuperate or heal. However, humanistic nurses believe that the essence of everyday nurse-patient experiences has as much to do with the healing process as medicine. As a result, humanistic nursing focuses very closely on the development of a relationship with a patient as well as on the patient's health.
Significance
Humanistic nurses are trained just as thoroughly as any other nurse. They go through nursing school and have the same medical background that is required of more conventionally-schooled nurses. However, a humanistic nurse has a different frame of reference that places her relationship with the patient at the center of her focus, with the patient's health benefiting from that relationship rather than solely from medical or educational experience.
Types
While all humanistic nursing is based on the theory advanced by Paterson and Zderad in 1971, there are many schools of thought on humanistic nursing. Some focus almost exclusively on developing the relationship between the nurse and the patient, with the medical aspects of care coming in a significant but distant second. Others prefer to factor in relationship development, but still spend a great deal of time on medical background and healing. The latter is best if you are going to nurse in a hospital, but many people who need private nursing prefer the former.
Benefits
Humanistic nursing has some serious advantages over traditional nursing. Terminal patients in particular appear to be far more receptive and responsive to humanistic nursing over traditional nursing, and live longer and more content lives when nursed in this manner. Often, relationships are what give people the strength to heal in the face of major adversity, so a humanistic nurse can dramatically improve a chronically ill patient's odds for survival if he is receptive to this type of treatment.
Warning
While humanistic nursing can provide hope and strength for a patient and her family where traditional nursing might not, you should never change your nursing staff or medical treatments without consulting all of your team of doctors. Also, many nurses who have not been trained in humanistic nursing still utilize these methods on a regular basis simply because they are good, empathetic nurses. Do not write off a medical professional just because she has not been officially trained in humanistic nursing.
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