Nurses: Navigating Complex Situations With Relational Inquiry - Essay Sample

Introduction

Nurses face various challenges in their workplaces that require them to evaluate various options that would improve the quality of decisions they make. They must understand various aspects of the nursing practice, including professional ethics and patient expectations and requirements (Spadoni & Sevean, 2016). In this context, relational inquiry helps nurses to understand different complex situations using various ideologies to balance the ethical and cultural requirements of the patients. It exposes nurses to workplace realities, and challenges. It enhances the provision of person-centered services since it focuses on the specific needs of patients. The essay discusses the impact of relational inquiry in clinical reasoning.

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The question of relational inquiry always emerges in first-year nursing students. They always wonder how they can attend and care for the spirit. They always ask questions related to how they can honor and respect spiritual forces behind the cultural values of their patients. Although there is an ever-growing knowledge of the body, the concept of spirituality is always applied in the nursing practice (College of Licensed Practical Nurses of Alberta, 2018). They often face dilemmas when trying to balance spirituality with professional ethics. In this context, the concept of relational inquiry was applied to balance the interests of the patient and professional requires. Considering the unique cultural background of the patient, nurses must apply critical thinking to improve the quality of care. One of the attributes of relational inquiry is that it trains nurses to be flexible and build confidence in their profession. In this regard, the first response of the nurses was to inquire the spiritual aspect of the patient, while they had to conduct a surgery on the patient. Therefore, they must balance the interest of the patient, as well as promote work ethics.

The concept influenced clinical reasoning in the sense that the nurses evaluated the situation of the patient and the effect of their cultural practices on the nursing profession. After processing information about the patient, the nurses understood that the religious object could not interfere with the surgery although it had religious meaning to the patient (Torring, Hoffer, Laursen, Rasmussen & Elgaard, 2019). It is essential for nurses to save lives and should not discriminate patients based on their religious beliefs of objects. Allowing the small religious object to accompany the patient could not affect the medication process. Refusing to conduct the surgery because of the religious requirement of the patient could amount to discrimination. Therefore, wrapping the small object in a non-conductive material was the best clinical decision. Therefore, a relational inquiry was applied in this context to balance the spiritual interests of the patient with professional ethics.

Secondly, the relational inquiry was applied in this context to optimize the health and well-being of the patient and the nurses. The instruction of relational practice in nursing improves the engagement of patients in planning the care process. The concept does not only involve communication but enhance the participation of the patients (Torring et al., 2019). In this case, the nurses made a decision based on the life and cultural experiences of the patient. There is no better way of administering health and social care services without involving the patients because many factors influence their recovery process. These factors include religious and cultural backgrounds, and through relational inquiry, they can share their experiences and knowledge directly related to their well-being.

More often than note, patients from different backgrounds come with complex, and chaotic situations, such as in this case. However, it is through relational activities that the nurses wanted to know more about the cultural beliefs of the patient and the potential impact on the nursing outcome. Achieving optimal patient outcomes requires professionals to be aware of the patients' requirements and factors that can affect the clinical process (Spadoni & Sevean, 2016). In this context, the practice helped to improve the nursing decision, as well as engaging the patient. Failing to consider the needs and interests of patients could lead to resistance and a poor working relationship and in the process; patients will not share full details, affecting the outcome.

Based on this case study, one of the relational elements that emerged is nursing presence. Nurses must be available and be willing to partner with the client to build a professional working relationship. Nursing presence means that nurses had the duty of putting aside everything and attend the patient. Although the practice does not seem easy to many professionals, being available to a patient requires attention and genuine care (College of Licensed Practical Nurses of Alberta, 2018). Wrapping the object in a non-conductive material illustrates that the nurses are genuine and they are flexible enough to optimize the well-being of the patient. Nurses must understand the social and cultural requirements of the patient, while the patient should understand the professional practice of nurses. Therefore, the nurses applied relational inquiry to engage the patient, optimizing the outcome.

Thirdly, a relational inquiry was applied in this context to enhance collaboration across differences. Building a strong working relationship between nurses and patients enhances the outcome. There could be differences between nurses and patients because of their cultural backgrounds (College of Licensed Practical Nurses of Alberta, 2018). The process of building a collaborative professional environment starts the moment nurses and patients meet. In the process of sharing information and experiences, they build trust that determines the quality of healthcare services. However, nurses must have a genuine interest. One of the worst fears of patients, when they visit healthcare facilities, is about getting nurses, who can listen to their concerns.

The nurses built a collaborative experience by listening to the concerns of the patients regarding their cultural practices. For instance, the nurses did not commence the surgery without the consent of the patients, as well as their cultural demands (Spadoni & Sevean, 2016). The nurse was keen to incorporate the needs of the patient, and gathering views from other professionals is a clear indication that the professional as interested in building a collaborative environment. Consequently, the nurses applied clinical reasoning to make the best the intervention by engaging the patient, and in the process build trust.

The nurse's action was appropriate in this context. It is because the patient could not sign the surgery consent without taking into account their needs. It could have delayed the process, worsening the healthcare condition of the client. Secondly, it helped to build a collaborative approach to the provision of healthcare services since relational behavior involved open communication (Spadoni & Sevean, 2016). Importantly, accompanying the small object could not affect the outcome of the surgery; hence, no need to deny the patient their cultural and religious rights. Before making a clinical decision, healthcare professionals should consider the impact of the cultural practices of the patient on the nursing process. Therefore, the decision involved the patient and their needs in the nursing process.

Additionally, the choice was appropriate because the quality of the nursing outcomes depends on the ability to understand the nursing context. Critical reasoning in the nursing practice requires looking beyond the surface to understand unforeseen factors that can delay the healthcare services or negatively affect the outcome (Torring et al., 2019). Nurses must understand spiritual factors, affecting the quality of the nursing outcomes. Therefore, it is a good practice to involve patients in the decision-making process to avoid conflict of interest or resistance to care services. Also, listening to nurses and talking to them directly helps to avoid making assumptions about their cultural beliefs and values, and this builds trust in the care process.

A non-appropriate decision the nurse could make in this situation is ignoring the cultural and religious beliefs of the patient to commence the surgery without their consent. The decision is not appropriate because the nurse could provide medical services contrary to the patient's needs. Also, the patient will have a negative attitude towards the services, affecting the healing process (Torring et al., 2019). It is essential to note that patients share more information about their health when they have developed a professional relationship with their care providers. The nurse could violate the rights of the patients since they do not guarantee them to exercise their beliefs. Thus, nurses should involve patients in the care process to avoid conflict of interest. However, they can only guarantee patients their rights if their religious beliefs and values do not negatively affect the care outcome.

Conclusion

Many factors are affecting nursing practice in contemporary society. Often nurses face various challenges due to the cultural complexities of patients, leading to conflict of interests. On this basis, relational inquiry improves the quality of healthcare since it improves communication between the patient and service provider to overcome potential factors that would affect the quality of the outcome. Also, it improves relationship and attitude towards one another, determining the extent of information sharing. Therefore, nurses must make clinical decisions based on relational inquiry.

References

College of Licensed Practical Nurses of Alberta (2018). Relational Practice: Beyond introductions and interviewing. Alberta: College of Licensed Practical Nurses.

Spadoni, M., & Sevean, P. (2016). Relational Inquiry-Attending to the Spirit of Nursing Students. Religions, 7(34), 2-27.

Torring, B., Hoffer, J., Laursen, M., Rasmussen, S., & Elgaard, E. (2019). Communication and relationship dynamics in surgical teams in the operating room: an ethnographic study. BMC Health Services Research, 19(1), 528.