Common Good in Nursing
Instructions:-
Write a 700 word opinion editorial that critically analyses the challenges with realising aspirations of the common good in your professional community, locally and globally.
You will need to select an issue that relates to the degree program you are studying. You should read the article on LEO that explains how to write an Op-Ed piece, and the two examples provided before commencing this assessed task. General Instructions:
• Create an evocative and engaging Op-Ed that explains a challenge associated with realising aspirations of the common good in your professional community, locally and globally.
• The Op-Ed should clearly explain to readers what the issue or problem is and how your understanding of the knowledge you have acquired in the unit addresses the issue or problem and relate to the discipline area you are studying in.
• Please note that you do not have to come up with the ‘definitive solution’ for the Op Ed, this may form part of Assessment 3. Your tutor is looking for a well-argued view in order to move forward on the issue or problem.
• The Op-Ed is to be no more than 700 words long (papers which fall beyond this word length will be penalised). The idea is to express your thoughts clearly and concisely and make your argument as directly as you can – just like a journalist or writer. Do not assume that this assignment is easy given the word length. The challenge is to present a persuasive argument in a concise manner!
• Although Op-Ed’s do not usually require referencing, for this academic work, referencing is required. References do not count in the word limit. See referencing guidelines on the UNCC300 LEO page (You can find it under Assessment > How do I reference course materials for UNCC units?).
• This assessment will be worth 30 marks
Solution
Common Good in Nursing
Introduction
Common good is a term applied in different settings in order to categorize actions or results that have some importance that is definable and spreads further than personal gain (Chausa.org. 2017). The concept of the common good has been addressed in various fields of professional such as nursing, ethics, health care, the environment and political actions. Besides this, it has also been addressed in common literature including advocacy and web sites that have special interests (Chausa.org. 2017). In analyzing the various uses of the term common good, it is deceptive that the term often represents a purpose through a specific group as to what institutes the good. Thus, the term common good more suitably reflects the apparent good of a society. Under this editorial opinion, I focus on addressing the challenges to find motivation for common good in nursing community.
Nursing, Health Care and the Common Good
The inspecting literature on the relationship of the common good to nursing as well as other health professions largely refer to the common good as a motivation for action in the field (Chausa.org. 2017). Collected works that covers the idea of the common good as applied in nursing and health care are in a great way inadequate. Although, nursing is considered as a promoter of common good. Furthermore, the expansion of nursing as a separate profession replicates the recognition of a society which the gathering of service offered by the nursing profession is in support of the common good (Kane, and Ouellette, 2011). The nursing literature addresses the concepts related to the entire concern of an individual in a community and results related to the common good in a clear way, the best example is distributive justice.
Challenges to find motivation for common good in nursing community
There are a number of challenges that exist in nursing and health care despite the benefit of incorporating the common good. In the first place, there is a challenge that deals with identifying the way in which the common good, as different from other concepts, plays a critical role in shaping the advancement of the nursing practice and profession (Kane, and Ouellette, 2011). Nursing exists as a result of the support from the society as well as the perception that nursing is beneficial to the preservation of the aspects related to the common good. Forces in the society has reinforced nursing through the support of students in the professional education and promotion of theory, execution, and development of advanced practice in the roles of nursing. Forces within the society have also designed primacies in funding of research in the field of nursing in areas such as prevention of diseases, genetics, and other behaviors related to health (Kane, and Ouellette, 2011). Therefore, the elements of common good are shaped by the society which nursing as a profession selects to address. On the contrary, if the society may not perceive nursing as a constituent of common and societal good, the entire profession of nursing could end up being outdated.
Besides this, a lot of activities and measures under scope of practice of an individual’s health profession have consequently been taken over by other professions (Chambers, 2002). For instance, activities focused in nursing such as risk prevention and public health have been assumed by medicine while other procedures in medicine have been adopted in nursing. Such examples in shifts includes a nurse assuming the role of explaining conditions in critical care units such as out in telemetry and electrocardiograms (Chambers, 2002).
Additionally, there seems to be a rise in specific non-discipline roles within the health professions. For instance, the practice of physical examination can be assumed by different kinds of people. To conclude, the focus of evidence-based practice and cost, however significant, is reductionist and may fail to capture the unique contributions of nursing to health care and by inference to the common good.
Another challenge to motivate the common good in the practice of nursing is financing. Lack of agreement within the society in relation to the manner through which the cost of health care is balanced over the benefits creates another challenge in motivating the common good in the society.
A different challenge is viewed in relation to whether the common good is practically beneficial for assessing the nursing contribution to the society. There has been an establishment of the value of common good in the nursing profession to enhance the theory of nursing and control in the practice. For instance, major advancements have been made in public health through the support of common good in areas such as more access to antibiotics and immunization (Drew, 2011).
Conclusion
The Op-Ed has analyzed some of the challenges to find motivation for common good in nursing community and included the role of common good in implementing change in nursing. Through the analysis, it is evident that the community at large is facing the challenge of common good.
References
Argandoña, A. (n.d.). The Common Good. SSRN Electronic Journal.
Chambers, M. (2002). Mentorship in Community Nursing: Challenges and Opportunities Mentorship in Community Nursing: Challenges and Opportunities. Nursing Standard, 16(36), pp.29-29.
Chausa.org. (2017). Nursing and the Common Good. [online] Available at: https://www.chausa.org/publications/health-progress/article/november-december-2006/nursing-and-the-common-good [Accessed 14 Apr. 2017].
Drew, D. (2011). Good Clinical Research Cannot Replace Good Clinical Care. Cancer Nursing, 34(3), p.252.
Kane, R. and Ouellette, J. (2011). The good caregiver. 1st ed. New York: Avery.
