Write an Op-Ed (opinion-editorial) piece that allows you to demonstrate an understanding of how issues relating to the dignity of the human person and the realization of the common good may be addressed by you in your professional practice now and in the future.

You will need to select an issue that relates to the degree program you are studying and write a concise but persuasive opinion piece on an issue or problem relating to the dignity of the human person and the realization of the common good that relates to your future professional practice.

Answer:

Opinion Editorial

In this opinion editorial, the profession that has been chosen to proceed towards is the nursing profession. This is one of the most highly regarded and respected professions in the world. The most important thing in this profession is the fact that it is deeply related with the safety of the patients. It is, therefore, associated with the common good of the people. However, there is an extreme requirement of the nurses to show the leadership qualities. It is a common case that most of the senior nurses lack the leadership qualities that are very much essential for doing the common good of the people in the society.

The dignity of the human person has to be restored because this profession focuses on serving the society in an intensive way. The issue that can be identified for writing this opinion editorial is the lack of leadership qualities in the nursing profession. The showing of poor leadership qualities will put into focus the inappropriate working skills among the nurses. It is very important for the senior nurses to motivate the junior staffs and the patients so that they do not get weak. The people who are suffering from serious illnesses need to be motivated by the people who are watching over them all the time. The nurses invariably are those persons. It is of utmost importance to have a good interpersonal leadership quality among them so that they can be able to execute their works in an absolutely perfect manner. If the senior nurses do not serve at their best, the hospitals will be giving poor service facilities to the patients. In turn, this will impact the reputation of the nurses and harm the common good of the society. In these cases, the dignity of the person and common good will be affected of the persons whom they are taking care of.

I have gathered some of those experiences in my life as part of my study courses. I have seen some of the nurses who had to bear severe work pressure and were not able to perform their jobs properly.

Such an instance was seen by me when I was admitted in a hospital for a surgery. It happened that a nurse began to behave with a patient in a very rude way since she was unable to cope up with too much work pressure. Her human dignity was affected by this incident and it proved that she had a very poor interpersonal communication with the patients. A bad impression was caused on her reputation.

It is a common thing that the medical staffs like doctors and nurses use such abusive languages with the patient families. As a common instance, the medical professionals have not paid any heed to the requests of the patients’ families. Some of the basic principles have surely to be followed in this scenario. The common good has to be served by keeping the dignity of the human beings by maintaining the ethics of nursing in several cases. The human dignity should always be the priority for the nurses at the time they are on duty.

Some of the basic principles should always be maintained by the nurses in the professional fields. These should be elemental in their ethics. They are responsible for preserving the human dignity in the realms of nursing profession. Not only the nurses but also every people from the medical profession should be maintaining the ethics of medical profession. They should focus on maintaining the welfare of the people who are under their care and responsibility. They should maintain a clear decorum as well. Some other things that they should maintain are the peace, stability and security of the patients. These things should be considered as a must for surviving in the nursing profession. Otherwise, they will not be able to maintain the common good of the society as well as securing the human dignity.

Another fact that I would focus on is the scarcity of nurses in the modern times.  If the number of nurses is not increased the existing nurses will not be able to take care of the patients perfectly because of immense work pressure on them. I recommend that the nurses should play a major role in keeping the atmosphere of the hospitals as sterile and peaceful as they can. If more girls come in this profession and serve the mankind, they will be able to do common good and secure their human dignity in a better way. The patients should not face such humiliations once again and the nurses should maintain their ethics strongly.

References

Barker, A.M., 2012. Advanced practice nursing. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Butts, J.B. and Rich, K.L., 2012. Nursing ethics. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Henderson, A., Cooke, M., Creedy, D.K. and Walker, R., 2012. Nursing students' perceptions of learning in practice environments: a review. Nurse education today, 32(3), pp.299-302.

Nieswiadomy, R.M. and Bailey, C., 2017. Foundations of nursing research. Pearson.

Shekelle, P.G., 2013. Nurse–Patient Ratios as a Patient Safety StrategyA Systematic Review. Annals of Internal Medicine, 158(5_Part_2), pp.404-409.

Speroni, K.G., Fitch, T., Dawson, E., Dugan, L. and Atherton, M., 2014. Incidence and cost of nurse workplace violence perpetrated by hospital patients or patient visitors. Journal of emergency nursing, 40(3), pp.218-228.