Breaking Down Barriers: Advocacy for Integral Health and Human Caring

July 27, 2011 / Wendy Marks, DNS, ANP-BC / 2 Comments

As we participate in our personal and professional environments how do we break down barriers by advocating for shared power to promote integral health and human caring?

The Peace and Power process breaks down barriers by challenging ideological beliefs and behaviors that alienate and divide us from one another (Chinn, 2008). This process begins with an honest personal inventory and evaluation of sociocultural mores and conditioning that inform our beliefs. It is from this starting point that we can begin to see the power of our thoughts and feelings. How we act and react creates experiences of nurturance and shared power; or of conflict and derision. “Power is the energy from which action arises” (Chinn, p.17). There are many kinds of power, but Chinn’s definition here spurs the notion of advocacy for the use of power as energy. Energy to free, to heal, to care, to make a better, more loving, understanding, healthy, kind and just world.

What are you thinking and feeling right now about what power means to you and your current (personal and professional) life experiences?

Consider the French philosopher Michel Foucault’s (b.1926- d.1984) ideas of power: Foucault (1982) said “Power is everywhere and in everything.” He believed the effects of power are linked with knowledge, competence and qualification; and that power is a socialized and embodied phenomenon. He also believed that power is discursive rather than (but can be) coercive. Discursive means “running to and from” and involves the use of language (discourse). Indeed, power is communicated in language (verbal and nonverbal).

We often think power means “power over” and attach negative meaning to it, but for Foucault power takes on a socialized, knowledge based meaning; and helps us to see what Peggy means by “power as energy for action.” For a further explanation of Foucault’s beliefs and influences please follow the link below:

http://www.powercube.net/other-forms-of-power/foucault-power-is-everywhere/

As we critically examine the concept of power, we can look at the socialized and embodied beliefs, behaviors and practices that divide and join us.

Watson (2012) suggests we ask “who is this spirit filled person before me?” As we interact with our environment, and those in it, we can ask this question, and go deeper and wider to ask: what are the sociocultural, internal, external, subjective, even global and historical influences and experiences that inform this person and her or his views of self, other and world? What are the influences of power upon and within this person?

Breaking down barriers to personal and professional advocacy for integral health and human caring can begin with examining power in all its many manifestations.

References

Chinn, P. L. (2008). Peace and Power: Creative leadership for building community. Jones and Bartlett. Sudbury, Ma.

Foucault, M. (1982). The subject and power. Critical Inquiry, 8(4), 777-795.

Watson, J. (2012). Human caring science: A theory of Nursing. Jones and Bartlett. Sudbury, Ma.

Looking at the Nurse Manifesto: The Vision Statement

July 7, 2011July 7, 2011 / Carey S. Clark, PhD, RN, AHN-BC, RYT, FAAN / 2 Comments

In 2000, Richard Cowling, Sue Hagedorn, and Peggy Chinn came together to write the Nurse Manifesto, which is the backbone of the Nurse Manifest Project grassroots movement. I thought that over these summer months, it would be interesting to look at the Manifesto itself, and relate how the Manifesto can be used to support change in our practices and ultimately help facilitate our sovereignty as a profession.

Taking a look at the Nurse Manifesto Vision statement is a good place to start:

Vision

We believe in a world in which:

Nurses practice healing with transformative results.
Nurses support, mentor, and nurture one another through participation in learning, researching, and practicing.
Nurses act from our most fundamental values.
Nurses control our own work lives.
Nurses are strong and creative in the face of adversity.
Nurses are powerful as healers and as participants in caring and healing processes.(Cowling, Hagedorn, & Chinn, 2000).

I believe the vision requires close attention, to today I will focus on the first concept, that nurses practice healing with transformative results.

I know that the vision statement can be enacted in the academic setting, and that the academic setting is a good place to start with creating change in the applied practice setting. I would love to see a world where nurses are supported to their full healing abilities; I recently finished teaching a summer Reiki course with RN- BSN (and a few ASN) students. Reiki is a hands on healing modality that is gaining acceptance and popularity in many settings from acute care to cancer care centers. The results of the class were amazing, as students began to focus on their own self-care and self-use of Reiki in order to be able to share Reiki with their patients, colleagues, and loved ones.

Reiki is a hands on healing modality.

As the students learned Reiki techniques, they felt empowered to use Reiki at the bedside with dying and demented patients, newborn infants and their mothers, and in support of their colleagues who suffer from workplace stress, which shows up as symptoms such as headaches and burnout. They used Reiki to help themselves and loved ones sleep at night, to provide distance healing for those in need, and to address a number of personal emotional and traumatic experiences that likely relate to their effectiveness as healers.

Reiki transfers healing universal life energy, "Ki", to the recipeint; it can do no harm.

I believe this sort of applied healing experience begins to support nurses in acknowledging and experiencing their natural ability to act as healers. Most nurses are initially drawn to nursing to act as healers and to support folks in their transformative experiences, however the academic and workplace settings regularly fail to support nurses in enacting their calling toward healing.

I would love to hear what you are doing to “support a world in which nurses practice healing with transformative results”.

References: Cowling, R., Chinn, P.L., & Hagedorn, S. (2000). The Nurse Manifesto. Retrieved July 7, 2011 from https://nursemanifest.com/manifesto.htm

As Nurse Week Comes to a Close: Nursing Theory

May 15, 2011June 7, 2011 / Carey S. Clark, PhD, RN, AHN-BC, RYT, FAAN / 3 Comments

This last week here in the USA we celebrated Nurses’ Week and then Nurses’ Day on May 12. May 12 is the birth date of two of the founders of contemporary nursing, Florence Nightingale and Martha Rogers. Nightingale ushered in an era of modern nursing beginning in the 1850’s, where women could work in a hospital setting after undergoing professional training. Just prior to Nightingale’s efforts, nursing was generally not thought of as a respected profession. Over 100 years later, Rogers brought to us a theory of Unitary Human Beings, which helps us to better understand our patients’ needs, and guides our own journey toward emancipation as a profession.

Florence Nightingale

Martha Rogers

These two women, each with their own controversial and spiritual views of nursing, have greatly impacted nurses and the profession. I strongly believe that each and every nurse can also create change in the workplace. We need to find ways to first care for ourselves, and then communicate better with each other, our patients, our administrators, our legislators, and the general public. We need to bridge the gap between Continue reading →

Nurse’s image: “The Heart Attack Grill”

May 6, 2011May 7, 2011 / Carey S. Clark, PhD, RN, AHN-BC, RYT, FAAN / Leave a comment

I would like to wish all nurses a wonderful and joyous celebration of Nurses’ Week. I believe we remain the world’s most caring and trusted profession, and I know for myself that the rewards of being a nurse and teaching nursing are beyond compare. We are blessed to be part of a diverse body of professionals that use interpersonal skills, caring modalities, and medical interventions in order to create healing spaces for those who are suffering or in need.

So, I was shocked and saddened the other day to learn that there exists in our society places such as the “Heart Attack Grill” in Chandler, AZ. The heart attack grill is a hospital themed restaurant, where waitresses are referred to as nurses, and specialties include the triple and quadruple bypass burgers. Patrons or “patients” can be weighed in and if the scale tips over 350 pounds, the patron eats for free. This restaurant came to my attention when I saw that their 29 year old spokesperson Blair River, who weighed in at 575 pounds, died of pneumonia following Continue reading →

Academic Integrity: State of the Issue in Nursing

April 22, 2011April 22, 2011 / Carey S. Clark, PhD, RN, AHN-BC, RYT, FAAN / 10 Comments

I was recently in an “all school” meeting at my University, where we offer courses via a variety of modalities. Some of the what I might call “more traditional” faculty expressed concerns about online learning and maintaining academic integrity. Having been an online student for both my MSN and PhD degrees, and having taught in nursing education programs online for the last 6 years, I must admit that I was sort of internally laughing at some of the concerns presented, such as “what if the person is not really posting their discussions?. “how can me be sure there are the student’s papers”, and “how do we know it is the student taking the exam?”. I mean we have to assume a certain level of academic integrity and honesty from our students, right?