NURSE ORIENTATION

Nurse Orientation



Executive Summary

Whilst a problem-focus is criticized by some, it remains largely unchallenged as the guiding light for nursing practice. A major reason is that the problem focused approach has strong cultural roots. It is deeply embedded in our thinking, and has become taken-for-granted and not often recognized or debated. Whilst problem-solving has an important place in helping to diagnose disorder and overcome difficulties, nursing needs to move beyond its borders because the role also concerns problem-free issues such as health and well-being. Creativity, imagination and focusing on strengths not problems are also important cognitive processes. Conclusion. A problem-orientated approach in nursing has had a constraining rather than enabling influence. By refocusing on a solution-focused approach, we could show how we are different from medicine, and how we aim to do nursing differently through using skills such as engagement, resilience-building, community development, primary health care and health education.

Table of content

Executive Summary2

Table of content3

CHAPTER I4

Introduction4

Impetus for the proposal5

Proposed problem-solving method6

Proposed Limitations of a problem-orientation7

Addressing the problem11

Issues for nursing11

Theories supporting a solution-orientation14

Hardiness and internal locus of control15

Resilience16

CHAPTER III- PROPOSED METHODOLOGY18

Orientation Development18

Field Experiment18

Construct Measurement19

Nurse education training24

Strategy that help in retaining and staff nurse satisfaction27

Proposed references31

Appendices33

Chapter I

Introduction

Most of us will agree that health is more than the absence of disease and that nursing work concerns health just as much as it does illness. We also know that nurses require skills in problem-solving to enable them to think logically and work effectively in the illness paradigm, but are we similarly familiar with the kinds of skills required in the health paradigm? In this paper I will argue that a problem-orientation is no longer sufficient to guide nursing work. Indeed a problem focus is deeply problematic and needs to be used judiciously. (Blegen, 2003, 36-41) Solution-focused Nursing provides a much-needed alternative for nurses aiming to work with clients to restore and maintain health and well-being.

The twentieth Century, with its emphasis on discoveries in science and technology, saw these dominant ideologies flourish. For example, technical rationalism, empiricism and paternalism as well as economic rationalism are dominant ideologies and each values logic, rationalism, order, individualism, autonomy, efficiency, outcomes and the problem-solving method. The problem-solving approach has long enjoyed a privileged status in thinking and knowledge development. (Blegen, 2003, 36-41) To some extent, this is a well-deserved position. Certainly medicine, health care and society have reaped enormous benefits from the contribution that technology and science have made to diagnostic and surgical procedures, drug treatments and devices to assist in rehabilitation from injury and some diseases. But this age of enlightenment, according to many social theorists, also has its dark side. Technical solutions to social problems have only been partially successful and agendas such as providing equitable services for all, promoting justice for marginalized groups, and building strength in communities have been largely overlooked. (Blegen, 2003, 36-41)

Impetus for the proposal

Thinking, or cognition, is the mental activity associated with processing, understanding and communicating information and is the subject of much interest and research in ...