For example, Nurse B. recently treated a man who had been diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. He was afraid of becoming dependent upon insulin his entire life. Explaining how dietary changes and exercise, reducing his weight, and taking proactive steps of self-care could reduce his blood sugar helped the man regain a sense of control over his life. This does not mean that the patient must stand alone. Wellness is a dialogue between nurse, environment and patient. Stressing how professional resources such as dieticians were there to help manage his nutrition and involving the man's wife in the way family meals were prepared also had a great impact in diminishing his sense of helplessness (Chinn 1983, revised 2006: 77).
Nurse B. noted that many members of the staff were young and untrained, and often she had to use some helplessness reduction with her staff. Orlando stresses firstly: "What the nurse says to the individual in the contact must match (be consistent with) any or all of the items contained in the immediate reaction and what the nurse does nonverbally must be verbally expressed and the expression must match one or all the items contained in the immediate reaction; (2) the nurse must clearly communicate to the individual that the item being expressed belongs to herself [sic]; and, (3) the nurse must ask the individual about the item expressed in order to obtain correction or verification from that same individual" (cited by Chinn, 1983, revised 2006: 78).
This means that the nurse must reflect what she orders in her own actions, for example, showing respect to patients, rather than merely telling other nurses to show respect to patients, and she must follow up with questions to ensure her orders are understood. Learning by doing and repetition is an essential part of nursing practice -- hence, the use of residency education. But...
Taking the younger and less experienced nurse through the physical process of, for example, checking a patient's blood sugar for the first time is helpful in instilling what is necessary during the process.
A nurse should be a leader, but also an instructor in her role as a leader and manger, to enable health and wellness promotion amongst patients, and also to help the people she manages engage in similarly effective wellness-promotion activities. Ultimately, Nurse B. said she would like to use the tools of leadership and empowerment not simply within the clinical environment, but to help all members of the community live a healthier lifestyle. She hopes they will use their sense of health empowerment to demand more affordable healthy food in local supermarkets, better recreational facilities for themselves and their children, and to modify their cultures' traditional favorite foods so they could eat a better diet yet still feel connected to the traditions of the past.
Works Cited
Chinn, P. (Ed). (1983). Advances in nursing theory development. Rockville, MD: Aspen
Systems. Chapter 5, pp. 63-87. Used with permission from Peggy Chinn. Last Revised 2006. Retrieved 13 Oct 2007 at http://www.uri.edu/nursing/schmieding/orlando/schapters/files/chinnnjs.pdf
Valentine, Susan. (2002). "Nursing Leadership and the New Nurse." The University of Arizona College of Nursing. Retrieved 13 Oct 2007 at http://juns.nursing.arizona.edu/articles/Fall%202002/Valentine.htm
According to the APA Publication Manual, because a personal, unpublished interview consists of unrecoverable data, there is no need to cite it in the Reference List
Referenced on 13 Oct 2007 at http://www.library.arizona.edu/search/reference/citation-apa.html#apabk7
