Order from us for quality, customized work in due time of your choice.
The Nursing Profession during William James Era
William James was an American philosopher and a psychologist. He was considered the founder of the pragmatism school of thought and functional psychology. He was born in a wealthy family in January 1842. William James made a massive contribution to the field of Medicine. During this era, nursing had not been considered a profession. William’s first degree was in Medicine. He graduated as a medical doctor but never practiced it. It is reported that William went to Germany soon after graduation to seek treatment. While in Germany, he realized that he had a strong interest in philosophy and psychology (Hanson, Heims, & Julian, 1992). During his entire education, he had been taught neither psychology nor philosophy. However, he developed a strong interest in the two fields. He became one of the leading psychologists of his time.
During the era of William James, psychology and philosophy had not gained root in the United States. His views on individuals, society, health, and nursing were shaped by the philosophical ideas he developed while he was in Germany where he spent almost a year. According to Melia (1994), William tried to explain individualism using his pragmatism theory. In this theory, William says that the value of truth can only be found if an individual holding, it finds its proper usage. In nursing, this is relevant to the extent to which a given truth may be relevant to the patient. It is important for a nurse to understand the type of information that is relevant to the patient. It is appropriate to understand how a patient may react to a given piece of information. Any information that may shock the patient should be avoided. The individual nurse must, therefore, make the truth useful to him or her as far as protecting the patient is concerned. It may be important for a nurse to consider determining how to pass a given message to the patient in a way that may not have a negative impact on a patient’s recovery process.
William James was a medical doctor but he never practiced it because of his philosophical reasoning. During his era, most medical institutions did not consider psychology to be playing any major role in a medical facility. However, William believed that the environment and people around a patient play an important role in a patient’s recovery. According to DeArmey (1986), it is the radical philosophical ideas of William that played an important role in the creation of the nursing profession. This is because of his argument that a patient needs the support of people around him or her other than the doctor. He says that patients need constant encouragement from family members and friends to improve their rate of recovery. He also argued that it is necessary to have a soothing environment for patients. This scholar holds that it is not only the medical attention that doctors give that would help in healing patients, but many other factors within the environment, some of which are always ignored.
This means that the society must understand their role as the stakeholders in this field, and they should always be given an opportunity to play this role. William also gave focus to health, and how health practitioners should address issues related to healthcare provision. In this regard, William focused on the medical practitioners who by then were the medical doctors. He held that when offering medical attention, health of a patient should be looked at from a holistic point of view. Narrowing it to physiological medication may not be prudent. At times there may be need to offer psychological assistance to the patients. This means that a medical doctor must be in a position to determine if the health condition of the patient is a psychological problem or from physiological issues. If the physiological issues cause health problem, then the medical practitioners should offer a physiological solution. If the problem is caused by a psychological problem, then a psychological solution should be sought.
To nursing as a practice, William had an idea of what the role of nurses should be in healthcare facilities. It is true that during this time nursing as a profession did not exist. However, William realized the importance of having assistants in medical facilities. In his philosophies, William realized that doctors were overburdened by some tasks that did not require serious medical knowledge. Many scholars have supported this argument, including Viegas (2006) who says that doctors should be left to offer only specialized medical attention to patients. Such simple medical services as dressing wounds or attending to the needs of inpatients should be left to nurses. In his era, nursing did not exist as a profession. However, William noted that patients need nursing, especially when they are admitted as inpatients. William observed that this task should be left to other specialists who are not medical doctors.
My Beliefs in the Practice of Professional Nursing
I share a number of views with some of the theorists who came up with justification for the existence of nursing as a profession. The theorists who gave their views on the concept of the individual, society, health and nursing had insights in this field of nursing and healthcare provision. I am in agreement with the argument given by William James on the need to manage truth when dealing with delicate patients. Individuals who are responsible for taking care of patients must realize the fact that such patients are delicate. They should be treated with lots of care. I also believe that news that raise sudden emotions can easily affect them negatively. The practitioners must know the kind of truth that should be revealed to these patients in order to avoid sudden reactions caused by sudden emotional swings. I am in agreement with the fact that the society or the environment around a patient plays a pivotal role in ensuring quick recovery. The family members may help a patient have a quick recovery.
As stated above, the theorists believe that it is important to incorporate the environmental factors in the process of offering medical help to patients. I have a similar view when it comes to caring for patients. All the factors within the immediate environment of a patient play an important role in a patient’s quick recovery. This includes family members. This is because the recovery of a patient does not only depend on the physiological attention given to the patient, but also the psychological factors that a patient is exposed to in such conditions. This means that when offering medical attention to patients, psychological needs should be considered. This will help in eliminating stress agents that may jeopardize health conditions of a patient. By allowing a patient to be in a calm medical state, the patient will be subjected to an environment that would make him or her recover quickly. I believe that all these environmental factors should always be put together in order to speed up the healing process.
As William noted, doctors always offer physiological assistance to patients in order to restore their health conditions. However, he notes that this should go beyond offering physiological needs. It should also include offering psychological assistance to patients. William James elaborately speaks of the role of nurses when offering healthcare to patients although this profession did not exist by then. I strongly agree with this idea of having alternative specialists in hospitals other than the doctors. Doctor’s role in offering physiological help to patients is very crucial in healthcare facilities. However, nurses should assist them by understanding the general care for patients, especially the inpatients. I believe that a medical doctor may not have time to attend to patients’ needs such as assisting them while in bed or ensuring that they remain calm while receiving medical attention.
I am strongly in support of the argument that medical doctors should not be left to perform these simple medical tasks. Jameie (2007) observes that issues related to health are very sensitive and cannot be assigned to individuals who do not have medical background. This means that the need to have nurses was inevitable. Just as the name suggests, nurses should be able to nurse patients who have been admitted to healthcare facilities. This means that although these practitioners may need to offer physiological assistance to patients, especially when the process is simple and does not need specialized attention, their focus should be on the psychological needs of patients. In order to offer proper nursing care to patients, I also believe that it is important to understand their minds. This entirely depends on psychological understanding of the patients.
References
DeArmey, M. (1986). The philosophical psychology of William James. Washington: Center for Advanced Research in Phenomenology.
Hanson, S., Heims, M., & Julian, D. (1992). Education for Family Health Care Professionals: Nursing as a Paradigm. Family Relations, 41(1), 49-53.
Jameie W. (2007). The principles of psychology. New York: Cosimo.
Melia, K. (1994). The Task of Nursing Ethics. Journal of Medical Ethics, 20(1), 7-11.
Viegas, J. (2006). William James: American philosopher, psychologist, and theologian. New York: Rosen Pub. Group.
Order from us for quality, customized work in due time of your choice.