Importance of Psychology in Nursing

Nursing is a field in medical sciences that involves offering care to patients. Nursing mainly involves activities such as administration of medication to students. Although physical care is the primary duty provided by nurses, they as well evaluate the mental states of the patients and identifying ways to interact with them. It is common for nurses to interact with different types of patients, hence nurses are required to be able to interact socially with all clients despite their distinct backgrounds. Healthcare professionals undergo psychology training that offers the fundamental skills to provide the best healthcare in the most appropriate and professional manner. Nursing practice involves extensive psychology training that enables nurses to develop a foundation and working knowledge of human behavior. For instance, healthcare professional use phycology to identify any mental health conditions in patients. Considerably, psychiatric nurses are more professional in assisting patients to cope with their mental health issues. In this sense of thought, psychology in nursing is essential in ensuring nurses treat the physical and mental health conditions of patients. This paper outlines the different aspects that psychology plays a role in healthcare.

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First, psychology in nursing is important in the educational training of nurses. Nurses undergoing training focus on patient care in their formal education to earn their degree. In the final stages of training, nurses focus on psychology. In this sense, they learn how to deal with different patients. Patients exhibit a broad range of emotions and behaviors that the nurse must focus on in offering patient care. Patients may appear angry or depressed about their health status. Fundamentally, psychology enables a nurse to understand the patients based on their emotions (DiCenso et al., 2014). Ultimately, all nursing courses at advanced or basic levels involve extensive training in psychology that focuses on patient’s mental condition.

Secondly, in the practical field of nursing, nurses have to be caring for patients. Psychology is significant when offering care to the patients since it influences the way the nurses interact, attend to and communicate with patients. Psychology assists the nurses to understand the emotional, physical and mental status of the patients. Moreover, understanding psychology is critical in identifying how patients react to their mental condition. Psychology thus enables nurses to promote positive thinking to the patients through their interactions. Medical researchers indicate that positive thinking and optimism help decrease the time spent in health care facilities. Psychologist nurses offer compassionate care and empathy to patients to ensure the patients receive the best healthcare. Psychology thus enables to be compassionate, positive thinkers, optimistic and effective communicators which ultimately plays a role in offering best healthcare to all categories of patients.

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Lastly, psychology in nursing influences the patient experience in the way the healthcare professionals assessed them, offered treatment plans and developed the patient-nurse relationship. Psychology influences how nurses interact with the patients based on their distinct characteristic in personality, culture, and age. For instance, nurses may understand that young patients may be frightened about their medical state compared to adults. Nurses ought to be knowledgeable about the fundamentals of psychology that assist them to understand better how to interact with patients in a manner that eases the emotional reactions of patients. Brinkmann (2014) mentions that psychology assists in developing and improvement of the patient-nurse relationships. Consequently, this results to open communication between the patients and nurses which enables patients to be open about their mental conditions, symptoms openly. Psychology assists nurses in encouraging patients and consequently influencing the healthcare experiences. It is likely that patients who are assisted by nurses will follow the nurses’ instructions and be responsible in their personal healthcare.

In conclusion, psychology in nursing cannot be neglected. Training focuses on instilling the fundamental aspects of psychology and ensuring that nurses exhibit the psychological knowledge in their profession. Psychology in nursing assists nurses and patients in developing a patient- nurse relationship that is necessary for offering professional physical and mental healthcare to patients.

References

Brinkmann, S. (2014). Interview. In Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology (pp. 1008-1010). Springer New York.

DiCenso, A., Guyatt, G., & Ciliska, D. (2014). Evidence-based nursing: A guide to clinical practice. Elsevier Health Sciences.