Nurses Care: Nursing’s Culture of Care

When nurses care for someone, they use training that comes from within a culture of care. The nursing culture is unique in the world of medicine. That’s because nurses make patients and their care the central focus of their practice.

You may know about the culture of care from your own experience. The care and touch of a nurse is often one of our first experiences as a baby. Many have also experienced some kindness offered by a nurse in the midst of an otherwise cold clinical setting.

But when nurses care, is it really more heartfelt than when others do? We don’t think so. And that’s not what the culture of care is all about.

When Nurses Care

For nurses, the word “care” has become a technical term rooted in the simple act of caring for a sick person. Florence Nightingale, is the founder of modern nursing. She used science to show that simple care, like keeping things clean, saved lives. Then with compassion, she put that science into practice. Since those early days, nursing’s role in healthcare has become more complex. But the ideas of care and compassion are still at the heart of nursing.

When nurses care, it goes beyond heart felt action. Care must work to benefit the patient. Both a doctor’s practice and a nurse’s care are backed by the same rules from science. And high quality healthcare is only possible when these rules are properly used. Nurses focus on these rules because their professional pride in providing quality healthcare is an important part of the culture of care.

For nurses, the word “care” means compassion bridled by the professional pride of providing quality healthcare. Proper care is when nurses do a good job advocating for their patients. And compassion is meaningless if it doesn’t help the patient.

So for nurses, care is a mix of compassion and a drive to provide the highest quality healthcare. And both of these things are needed to provide proper care. These are the things that define the culture of care. And these are the things that make experts in care.

Advanced Practice Nursing

Advanced practice nurses (nurse practitioners) are able to practice primary care in the same way as a general practice doctor. They can diagnose, treat, and prescribe medicines just as a doctor does. And seeing advanced practice nurses in primary care is a growing trend in America.

But aren’t real doctors better than nurses? Don’t doctors provide higher quality healthcare? Scientific studies say no. Instead, the studies show that you get basically the same results from doctors and nurse practitioners. And in some cases, nurses may even provide better results than doctors.

So for your best care, it’s really more important who your provider is than whether they are a doctor or a nurse. We find that patients prefer providers from the culture of care. But the healthcare provider you choose is a personal preference. Above all, they should be someone you can communicate with.

About the Quality of Your Healthcare

Experts have done a great deal of work on the quality of our healthcare in America. According to the movies and media, quality healthcare is all about high tech medical hardware and magic bullets. But America’s leading authority on quality healthcare, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), doesn’t really agree with that.

The findings of experts clearly show that our healthcare hasn’t been as good as it could be. For instance, a NAM sponsored meeting of America’s leading experts said that, Very large numbers of Americans are harmed by the poor quality of our healthcare. And this statement launched a push to improve the quality of American healthcare.

Over time, experts have found many ways to improve our healthcare. And the NAM even made some rules or guidelines to help improve quality. But sadly, adoption of these solutions has been less than robust. In any case, here is a brief list of the NAM quality guidelines:

At Floriamed, we feel that the bulk of these rules are standards of nurse training going back well over twenty years. In other words, nurse training and the NAM quality guidelines are hard to separate.

Nurses and the Quality of Your Care

Nurse practitioners (NPs) can help improve the quality of your care. Of course, NPs are experts in general practice medicine. But they also have skills that are unique to nurse training. Specifically, they are experts in care, trained in the art and science of care. And it’s these special skills, unique to nursing, that do a lot to improve your care.

All nurse training has one goal. Namely, to successfully advocate for patients. Here are a few areas of nurse training that help nurses achieve that goal:

As a result of this training, good nurses naturally comply with the NAM quality guidelines. They do so as a matter of course in their efforts to advocate for their patients. And this is one important way that NPs improve the quality of your care.

How Nurses Improve the Quality of Your Care

The safe and effective medicine required by the NAM quality guidelines comes from protocols or rules based on science. Healthcare providers use these protocols to diagnose and treat. So, it’s just plain common sense that quality care depends on the careful use of the protocols.

Nurse training includes a strict approach to following protocol. But nurses are also trained to be team oriented and cooperative. So in contrast to rugged individualists that go their own way, nurses are team members who follow rules. As a result, they will study hard to keep up with the ever changing medical protocols. And nurses will spend the extra time needed to make sure every visit is done right and by protocol. Their training compels them to do this in order to assure that your care is both safe and effective.

The patient centered care required by the NAM quality guidelines is natural for nurses because of their training. That is, nurses traditionally respect their patient’s preferences, needs, and values. They do this by looking at all aspects of their patient’s care, including family, social, and cultural. And this effort is enhanced by their training as communicators and educators.

Equal quality care

The NAM’s requirement of equal quality care for all is similar to their guideline to respect the preferences, needs, and values of patients. For instance, bigots are clearly unable to respect the preferences, needs, and values of the people they are prejudiced against. So they are unable to provide equal quality care for all. And therefore, they are incapable of delivering proper care.

It’s very clear that racism in healthcare has lowered America’s quality of care. Training in patient advocacy has helped nurses respond: We cannot tolerate that our patients continue to experience poor access to health care, lack of transportation and nutritious food, inadequate housing and more due to historic, systemic racism. Racism is, in fact, a public health issue. But reasonable responses aside, effective action against racism in healthcare is still long overdue. This is obvious because many people in America must struggle to get proper care just because of who they are. And it’s a fact that many Americans go without healthcare because of racism.

And racism is not the only thing blocking equal quality healthcare for all. Our healthcare system discriminates against people in countless ways. For instance, a patient’s economic status can make it very difficult to get healthcare. And COVID-19 has made the discrimination against seniors more than obvious. This list goes on and on. The conclusion is clear. In order to actually achieve equal care for all, there is still a great deal of work to do.

A Visit With a Nurse Practitioner

A visit with a good family nurse practioner can show you what quality care looks like. What you should see are the results of nurse training and the NAM quality guidelines in action. In short, you’ll experience the culture of care.

Good NPs will not put time limits on a visit. If allowed to practice freely, they will take all the time you need to get the job done right. You will also find that NPs listen. They will want to know your story. And they will address all of your needs and concerns.

NPs will ask you plenty of questions. And they will speak with you at length. They will explain your case and their recommendations in detail. And they teach you how the medical protocols work in your case. But mostly, they will answer all of your questions with care.

Nurses always want to hear about anything affecting your health. So if you are short on funds, they will suggest the best priced medicine. Or if you have work or family problems they will try to help. In other words, nurses will care.

Finally, good NPs will take notes during your visit to create a good medical chart. Your chart is important to your health because your provider uses it before every visit to better understand your healthcare needs. And good NPs will make a chart that also helps you better understand your visit. That way, you won’t need to take notes during your visit.

Nurses Care at Floriamed Telehealth

At Floriamed, we seek out providers that live in the culture of care. We feel that this culture allows us to bring you the highest quality care and service. That is, better healthcare. Experts in care treat you with respect and compassion. They will advocate for you. And they will work hard to make sure you get the best.

Floriamed online care is made possible by the care of nurses. Because nurses care, Floriamed online care can offer you quick and easy access to high quality healthcare. And because nurses care, Floriamed is online care priced to be accessible. These things could not exist without the hard work of Floriamed NPs.

Also, nurses make it possible for Floriamed to offer you a Cost Protection Policy. This policy is designed to help you avoid cost when your case is not suited for online care. And it can only exist because Floriamed nurses care.

We care at Floriamed. Our goal is to provide online care with compassion, respect, and quality. You and your family’s health and safety are our chief concern. So please join us. Have a visit and experience care.