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As a nurse it is my

Self-construct

As a nurse it is my responsibility to provide equal care to all individuals. However, in case of HIV/AIDS patients I feel uncomfortable to provide care. This is because I am afraid of getting infected while providing care to such patients, as it is transmissible in nature (Pickles, Lacey & King 2017). Also there is a social and cultural stigma, fear of isolation and blame, which contributes to my personal view. My public self and private self have different views about HIV/AIDS patients. Hence, I am facing challenges in reconciling my professional and personal views.

As per my beliefs, my private self restricts me to involve in the care process but my public self reflects my duty to provide adequate care to the patients with HIV/AIDS (Pickles, Lacey & King 2017). Some cultural, spiritual and societal values also play an important role in influencing my private view regarding the HIV/AIDS patients. Due to my personal perception I am willing to do basic things for them like serving meal, helping them with feeding, change their bed linen and can also take some vital signs because I know that such care does not require any special precautions (Välimäki et al. 2010). However, I hesitate in care process including shaving the patient, clean the urinary drain bag and other supplies, clean-up vomits and faeces, putting IV fluids and conducting blood transfusions because of safety and awareness issue (Välimäki et al. 2010). Stigma has been initiated within me due to the fear of getting infected during my service and for the blame and social isolation. I have also noticed that people suffering from HIV/AIDS are neglected and stigmatized by the society (Pickles, Lacey & King 2017). My negative perceptions have initiated due to such socio-cultural beliefs and values. For example, there is a perception that HIV/AIDS is self-inflicted and contracted by homosexual men and sex workers. HIV/AIDS is also prevalent in illicit drug users who are blamed for spreading their infection and society has ‘labelled’ them as bad people (Pickles, Lacey & King 2017). Such social beliefs have influenced my personal views regarding the care of HIV/AIDS patients. As a nurse, I want to provide equal care to all my patients but my personal views restrict me to fulfil my duty, thus affecting the quality of care. The conflict between my professional standard and personal view has created enormous challenges in reconciling them in order to improve my services.

Nurses work under regulatory body that provides standard of practice and code of ethics that is mandatory to maintain. Such conflict between the professional standard and personal values is an example of violation of rules and regulations of the regulatory body (Shahriari et al. 2013). It is important to eliminate such prejudice attitudes from the nursing practice. Nurses should reflect on their personal values and continually interrogate their personal beliefs in order to understand how they could help to improve their practice and not getting influenced by such negative thoughts while doing their duties. It would help to improve their quality of service and achieve expected outcomes (Burston & Tuckett 2013).

References:

  • Burston, A.S. & Tuckett, A.G.2013, ‘Moral distress in nursing: contributing factors, outcomes and interventions’, Nursing ethics, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 312-24.

  • Pickles, D., Lacey, S.D. & King, L.2017, ‘Conflict between nursing student’s personal beliefs and professional nursing values’, Nursing ethics, p.0969733017738132.

  • Shahriari, M., Mohammadi, E., Abbaszadeh, A. & Bahrami, M.2013, ‘Nursing ethical values and definitions: A literature review’, Iranian journal of nursing and midwifery research, vol.18, no.1, pp.1-8.

  • Välimäki, M., Makkonen, P., Mockiene, V., Aro, I., Blek-Vehkaluoto, M., Istomina, N., Kisper-Hint, I.R., Staniuliene, V., Koponen, N., Vänskä, M.L. & Suominen, T.2010, ‘Nursing and midwife students’ willingness to provide care to patients with HIV/AIDS–A comparative study in Finland, Estonia and Lithuania’, Nurse education today, vol.30, no.7, pp.674-79.

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