Psychology is a broad field that encompasses a person’s mental and behavioural aspects. It can be decided to apply to any career path, but none more so than nursing. Nurses are frequently responsible for providing emotional support to patients, so acknowledging how psychology applies to them is critical to their success. Every human being is a psychologist.
Nurses provide better care when they communicate with patients from diverse backgrounds. A psychology degree can equip you as a healthcare professional with the tools you need to provide the best care to patients and correctly determine mental health issues. This article will go over some crucial aspects of where psychology affects nursing and why it is critical for nurses to learn more about this subject.
Define psychology in nursing
Psychology is an applied science that studies mental functions, behaviour, and group and individual understanding. Nursing relies heavily on psychology and social psychology. At the same time, psychology is the research of individuals, their behaviour, and their thought abilities, and social psychology studies how social situations affect individuals’ behaviour or mental states. In other words, psychology focuses on how and why people act in the presence of societal circumstances or norms.
Importance of psychology in the nursing profession
Nursing is a profession with numerous subspecialties. To be a successful nurse, one must first understand psychology and its role in the trade. Clinical psychologists are frequently an essential part of the healthcare team. They assist patients in developing coping mechanisms for mental health problems such as anxiety or depression and educate them on behaviour modification for chronic pain management.
Clinical psychologists also assist patients in comprehending the consequences of mental illness on their own daily lives. Clinical psychology is essential in nursing because it teaches nurses how to change their behaviours to better assist patients with their own needs and desires. There are many different types of nurses, including those who work in schools as teachers’ aides for special education students and medical and mental health nurse practitioners who primarily work with children, young teenagers, adults, and seniors who have emotional or physical problems that interfere with the ability to function daily.
Psychological aspects of nursing
Nursing entails more than just charting and answering phones. You must frequently act as your patients’ proponent and support system. Understanding the emotions and mental patterns that our patients may experience during their stay can go a long way toward assisting them. The following are some of the advantages of applying psychology to the nursing field.
1. Improved patient interactions
Following psychologists’ best practices can help you treat patients of all ages, gender, identities, and backgrounds more successfully. For example, children may be afraid of interacting with adults they don’t know, so you can use psychology to make the young patient feel more at ease.
Earning your patients’ trust can improve the quality of care and the recovery process. They will feel more at ease communicating with you, conveying their desires and requirements, and complying with your instructions.
2. Correct patient evaluations
Patients may struggle to figure out how to express their emotions. They may even try to conceal how they are coping with a prognosis. It is critical that you can assess your patients’ emotional states. This allows you to make more informed decisions about their treatment.
3. More efficient care plans
Anxiety and depression, for example, can impact a patient’s physical recovery. Stress can cause high blood pressure, apathy can impede treatment, and depression can cause insomnia.
On the surface, a physician with high cholesterol only requires blood pressure medication. However, their anxiety could be the principal cause of the high pulse ox. Or perhaps you believe you have a miracle cure for a patient’s health problems but have you addressed their fundamental lack of desire to improve?
When developing care plans, you must consider all aspects of a patient’s health, both emotional and physical, because the two are frequently intertwined.
4. Improved communication skills
Knowing how to address and react to sick care is a crucial skill for nurses, and it requires knowledge of psychology.
For example, if a physician is in pain, they may become agitated. You’ll want to do everything possible to relieve the patient’s pain while remaining non-hostile. Perhaps your patient is nervous about a forthcoming procedure. You’ll want to communicate clearly what they should anticipate in a way that calms their fears and provides support.
Nursing careers in psychology
All nurses can benefit from the use of psychology in their nursing careers. It applies to all nursing professions and levels, from the entrance to executive leadership positions. Psychiatrists are an excellent resource for nurses because they offer insight into patients’ minds, allowing them to understand their patient’s needs better and provide more effective care.
Nurses with a psychology background may also work as advisors or case managers, utilizing their skills to provide counselling services or psychological testing on behalf of physicians.” Nonetheless, studies have shown that this therapy can help people overcome mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety symptoms, and reply stress disorder.
Psychology specializations
- Clinical psychiatry
- Educational psychiatry
- Cognitive psychiatry
- Medical psychology
- Criminal psychology
- Psychological development
- Biological psychology
- Sociopsychology
- Industrial psychiatry
Nursing jobs in psychology
· Psychiatric nursing: Also known as psychiatric-mental health nurses
These nurses care for patients suffering from mental illnesses such as depression. They provide counselling services and treatments like medication or psychiatric therapy (ECT). A PMHN collaborates with psychologists to create treatment plans and track patient progress. In some cases, they also serve as social workers, assisting patients in obtaining resources such as subsidized housing and vocational treatment programs.
· Hospice care nursing
End-of-life care is an essential and delicate service to provide. Clinical psychologists can assist patients in addressing emotional needs such as fear or confusion as they approach death.
They also offer bereavement counselling services after a patient has died, assisting family members in coping with their loss and avoiding severe emotional reactions such as distress or substance abuse issues. Although the field of palliative nursing is expanding, the demand for very healthy nurses continues to outnumber the supply.
· Nursing at home
Home care nursing, like hospice nursing, is a lot of work. This is because most older patients involve multiple services, one of the primary services home care nurses provide to their clients.
Whether in a clinic, private home, or nursing facility, self-care skills such as bathing, dressing, and using good hygiene products are taught. Home care nurses also assist with everyday routines such as meal preparation, light housekeeping, and financial management. Nurses who choose a specialty can expect to work long shifts – sometimes 12+ hours per shift, depending on patients‘ needs – with fewer moments off than other specializations due to rotating shifts.
· Nursing in schools
Working with school-aged children can be both challenging and rewarding. Children are frequently unpredictable, making it difficult to plan for a day ahead of time. School nurses must understand children’s psychology.
They understand that while children may start behaving well with grownups or other kids, there is no assurance that they will act well all day without something causing them to become upset.
Many issues can arise during lunch, recess, or after school hours (when no adult is present), and identifying potential problems before they occur helps avoid conflict between students and teachers later on.
· Nursing in the faith community
It is rooted in the Christian faith and is known as congregation or parish nursing. A church midwife or parish nurse’s primary role is to provide divine care and comfort to dying patients. Church nurses may pay home visits to terminally ill people, providing rehabilitation services such as bathing, getting dressed wounds, shifting bed linens, and assisting those who use catheterization or colostomy bags.
They may also advise patients on coping with their diseases and managing pain through medicine dosages and other means. Bible study groups can also be beneficial; they assist participants in developing coping mechanisms by analyzing doctrinal passages dealing with death.
Scope of psychology in nursing
The process of behavioural and mental processes is referred to as psychology. It has been used in nursing for many years and is an essential tool in treatment and diagnosis. Psychology is vital in assessing, diagnosing, and planning back to help individuals with mental illness who are hospitalized and those who can be treated ambulatory.
The American Nurses Association defines psychology as “the scientific analysis of behaviour and mental processes. In short, personality helps nurses comprehend how individuals behave to provide better health care. According to studies, psychologists have played essential roles in enhancing patient outcomes because they can appropriately assess their needs before suggesting any form of therapy or rehabilitative services plan; this includes factors like age, gender, and so on.
Small afterword
Psychology has a significant influence on the nursing profession. Nurses must understand psychology to treat patients better and assist them with their mental health. We aim to provide step-by-step, explained solutions to the problems as high-quality resources for interested students. We hope you now understand why philosophy is essential in nursing.
Although the patient may be challenging to engage, nurses must still provide encouragement and emotional support and devise strategies to tailor the treatment regimen to their psychological health. A nurse, for example, might set a few short-term goals for a patient, such as getting out of bed early in the morning for a walk all around the room and strolling out of the space for at least 10 minutes every day in the afternoon.
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