Disability, Disadvantage, Vulnerability and Stigma

Week 11

This is the module that has stood out the most for me in the way nurses work with people and  how it needs to change. A person with a disability is a person first and a disability second, not the other way around. While there are many support services in place there is a great deal of room for improvement, especially in hospitals. From watching the interviews from Kay, Leeanne, Trudy and Kay, it jumped out at me that there is so much more that can be done when caring for people with a disability. One thing that I wasn't aware of is that not all people have a carer with them when in hospital so many things like feeding and personal hygiene are not attended to as the nurse thinks the carer will do it and the carers think the nurses will do it. As nurses we attend these issues for "normal" patients so why is it that disabled patients don't receive the same care?. Don't assume is another topic that stands out, as it is often assumed that a non verbal person also has a cognitive disability as well. Non verbal communication can be in the form of hand gestures, auslan, facial expressions and sounds (Phutela, D. 2015). By taking the time to watch and listen to a person you will get to know what it is they are trying to tell you and what they need. 

I think the main point it all comes down to is the holistic approach that we learnt in Foundations of Nursing 1 at the start of the year. A person is not an illness or the disability that they have, they are a whole person with beliefs and values, a family and an individual knowledge of self that only they know best (Stanley et al., 2015). When walking into a room to see a patient don't look for their disability or illness first, see the person lying there. Ask what do they need, how can I help them and are their needs being met. While we as nurses know what medications to give, how to attach a drip and re-dress a wound, only the patient knows what is best for them and what is it that they need. No one knows a person better than the person themselves, so that is where you start when looking to provide the best care.

References

Berman, A., Snyder, S. J., Levett-Jones, T., Dwyer, T., Hales, M., Harvey, N., ... Stanley, D. (2015). Kozier and Erb's fundamentals of nursing (3rd ed.). Victoria, Australia: Pearson Australia.

Phutela, D. (2015). The Importance of Non-Verbal Communication. IUP Journal Of Soft Skills, 9(4), 43-49. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.cqu.edu.au/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=f0c75f72-e841-441c-922f-260a769717c4%40sessionmgr4005&vid=2&hid=4211