The profession of nursing involves a multitude of qualities that are needed in order to successfully provide care to patients. Our group has created a Coat of Arms depicting just a few of the key qualities involved in nursing. The Coat of Arms consists of five symbols, each representing an important quality in nursing. The first symbol is a dragon, which represents integrity. A dragon represents integrity, as it conveys strong morals, honesty, and accepting responsibility, this is also the reason that the color of the dragon is red, as this color often symbolizes strength. The second symbol within our Coat of Arms is the light bulbs on the chandelier, the light bulbs represent the quality of collaboration. The lights represent the different ideas of nurses, physicians, and patients coming together in unison in order to provide the best care possible, which is also the reason for the multicolors. The third quality we believe is critical to nursing is continuing education. This is represented by a book which is often used to signify knowledge and the color gold represents a wealth of knowledge. The next quality represented on our Coat of Arms is advocacy. This quality is represented by the speaker phones and scale. The speakerphones represent the voice of the nurses advocating for their patients, while the scales represent fairness needed within nursing practice. The color of this quality is blue as blue often symbolizes trust and responsibility, which are both important aspects of advocacy. The fifth and final quality that we believe plays an important role in nursing is self-reflection. This quality is symbolized by the mirror in the background of the Coat of Arms. The mirror symbolizes the nurse’s reflection as it is crucial for nurses to look at themselves and reflect on their actions and behaviors in order to provide the best care they can. Overall, the qualities of integrity, collaboration, continuing education, advocacy, and self-reflection are all important aspects of nursing and are needed in order to provide the best care possible.
In order to be a successful nurse one of the most important qualities one must possess is quality of collaboration. This quality was represented by the light bulbs. Collaboration plays a key role in a nurse’s day-to-day tasks. Throughout their careers, nurses must learn to work together with not only other physicians but their patients as well, and only then will they be able to provide effective care. An example addressed in the article Conceptualizing Collaboration in Nursing revealed how without the use of collaboration a patient’s life could be at harm. In the example, it mentions a case in which a 60-year-old female patient was brought into the hospital by paramedics after falling into a lake, the next day the patient complained about shortness of breath, however, this information was never relayed to the orthopedic surgeon who was on the case. Also, the nurse later found that the patient had been taking medication to lower her blood pressure, and when the nurse tried to relay this information to the surgeon they were angrily turned away and told to just follow orders. Due to this incident, the nurse decided not to administer the medication which resulted in the patient having low blood pressure and a worsened shortness of breath. Luckily, the patient was able to recover, however, this whole situation could have been avoided, had the physician and nurse collaborated professionally (Emich, 2018). This situation clearly proves the fatality that the lack of collaboration can have on a patient. Although this situation ended positively, due to a lack of collaboration there could be others that would not. Overall, the quality of collaboration plays a key role in the profession of nursing.
Another crucial quality needed in order for a nurse to provide the best care possible is continuing education. According to the article Continuing Education as a Core Component of Nursing Professional Development, continuing education is “a process that focuses on improving and expanding the knowledge, skills, and behaviors of nurses with educational opportunities and training”. This quality is represented by the book on our Coat of Arms. This quality is important to the nursing profession as it allows nurses to better themselves and overall be able to provide better care. In order to further their knowledge nurses, have the ability to gain different certifications. One certification includes NPD certification which is a “voluntary, specialty certification that benefits not only the RN but also the organization and the patients and families who RNs serve” (Shinners & Graebe, 2020). By participating in further education, such as NPD certification, a nurse is able to gain more knowledge and skills, and with the use of the knowledge and skills gained they can now provide a patient with even better care than before. Overall continuing education is an important quality for a nurse to have in order to promote and provide the best care.
The final quality I will elaborate on is self-reflection, which is represented by the mirror. Self-reflection is the concept of taking a step back and looking, thinking, and evaluating your actions, behaviors, thoughts, and attitudes. This is important to nursing as it allows a nurse to look at their failures and turn them into learning opportunities. By self-reflecting, a nurse has the ability to bridge relational spaces, create a caring environment, and improve nurse-patient interactions (Younas, Rasheed, Sundus, & Inayat, 2019). By being self-aware and truly understanding themselves, a nurse is more capable of building more meaningful relationships with their patients. Self-reflection is much deeper than just looking at your actions and behaviors, it also involves your motives and judgment which is why it is important for a nurse to know this information before caring for a patient. Ensuring that this is known, will allow the nurse to provide care to a patient without pushing their own views and allows them to aid without judgment. Overall, nurses must be self-aware as it is often difficult for one to understand others without understanding themselves.
After completing this Coat of Arms and researching these different qualities my ideas of nursing have both evolved and remained the same. When looking at the quality of collaboration, with my previous knowledge I had assumed that this quality is quite important but only after further research had I truly realized the true meaning of collaboration. After doing my research I came to the understanding that without collaboration between nurses, other physicians, and patients the outcome of care could end extremely negatively. I will now be able to use this information and knowledge within my own nursing experiences as well. My previous ideology on the quality of continuing education has remained the same. The research just supported my previous knowledge that continuing to educate oneself can help them with their knowledge in skills used within the nursing field. Finally, my perception of self-awareness has evolved, as with the research I was able to learn that it is extremely important for a nurse to truly have an understanding of themselves and that without being able to do so, they cannot truly connect and care for their patients. Overall, nursing involves a multitude of qualities which include integrity, collaboration, continuing education, advocacy, and self-reflection.