Running head: WRITING IN THE PROFESSION OF NURSING

Writing in the Profession of Nursing

Melissa Coates
Northeastern University









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The American Nurses Association describes nursing as the protecting, promotion
and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of
suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response and advocacy in the
care of individuals, families and populations. The nursing scope of practice in the
healthcare field encompasses a wide range of responsibilities including teaching, clinical
and research roles and holds its roots firm in the values of compassion and empathy.
Some nurses embrace the role of the educator, spreading their knowledge to future nurses
and healthcare professionals at accredited institutions all over the world in the classroom
and clinical settings. Other nursing roles include research roles alongside physicians
where they help to execute and manage research in clinical trials. Despite the various
roles and responsibilities of each sector of nursing, all focus on individuals, families and
communities to help them achieve optimal health.
The traditional role of the nurse, working under the scope of a physician, has
shifted over the years with a great number of registered nurses choosing to continue their
education. A registered nurse can receive their advanced practice degree to become a
nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist, nurse anesthetist or nurse midwife. These
advanced degrees can allow for a nurse to even be able to prescribe medications, a
privilege that was once left to physicians. These advanced practice nurses have helped
and continue to help pioneer the future of healthcare alongside physicians, physicians
assistants and other health care providers. In the coming years, easier access to advanced
practice registered nurses will be available due to provisions under the Affordable Care
Act. (Hodnicki, Lanthrop, 2014)
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I have always had an interest in the healthcare field, but it was not until my
mother was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma when I was sixteen that invoked
my passion for nursing. According the American Cancer Societys website, non-
Hodgkins lymphoma is a cancer that that starts in the lymphocytes, which are part of
the bodys immune system. My mother received both chemotherapy and radiation to
treat her cancer, so my experience with hospitals and the role of nurses became familiar
quickly. Although her physicians and various other healthcare providers possessed
compassion and did their best to optimize her care, it was the nurses who had the upmost
respect for my mothers dignity and viewed her as a person, not just another patient. The
compassion, empathy and humility that was shown to my mother during that time
encouraged me to pursue a career in nursing and I hope to pass these qualities on to the
patients I will someday be responsible for. While I am a person of science and I know
that my mothers cancer went into remission because of the treatment she received, I do
believe that part of her remission was due in part to the quality of patient care she
received, improving her outlook. Upon graduation, I plan to continue my education to
become a Nurse Practitioner focusing my concentration on hematology and oncology.
The only way to optimize the patient experience is to have an interdisciplinary
team that communicates effectively. With the technology that is currently available, we
have various mediums in which patient information can be transcribed to and from each
member of the patients health care team. Communication with the patient includes
providing options about their treatment plan, healthcare education and addressing
concerns. Whether it is verbal or written, communication is a major responsibility of
nurses in particular in all healthcare settings. The close relationship and bond that the
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nurse develops with the patient results in a strong rapport causing the patient to look to
their nurse for information and to help them make decisions about their healthcare. This
rapport provides the opportunity for the nurse to create an individualized healthcare plan.
Patient education can come in the form of verbal explanation, information sheets,
and pamphlets amongst other media that are tailored for the patient audience. Patient
education materials can be further individualized to cater to specific patient needs
including visual representation, textual materials, education in another language and
catering to a patients literacy level. At the inpatient level, they are provided with various
education tools and materials including information sheets on any new medications that
have been added to their regimen.
Healthcare providers, not just nurses, need to be careful about their use of medical
or technical jargon when providing education to patients. The use of medical jargon and
the style of writing varies depending on what audience the writer is aiming for. Upon
discharge, patients need instructions that they will be able to understand so limiting the
use of medical jargon is preferred. The same information will certainly be much different
if passed on from provider to provider in a progress note. In that case, medical jargon
and abbreviation is accepted, as both parties will be able to comprehend the information
clearly. Nurses are responsible for writing informal progress notes on each of their
patients once a shift which includes the patients vital signs, major events of the day,
medications, psychological support, wound care and other significant events.
To provide optimal patient care to patients undergoing chemotherapy, radiation or
other various treatments, to patients struggling with their diagnosis and to the families
who are struggling just as much, compassion is essential. One artifact from the
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healthcare field that highlights just how important compassion is in patient recovery is a
blog written by Dr. J. Lenard Lichtenfeld, MD, MACP on the American Cancer Societys
website. Dr. Len is Deputy Chief Medical Officer for the American Cancer Society
and director of the Societys Cancer Control Science Department, which focuses on the
early detection of cancer, as well as emerging science and trends in cancer.
His blog entitled Data, Data, Data Should Never Replace Care and
Compassion aims two audiences. One audience is the general public and the other
audience encompasses all healthcare professionals who are involved in the cancer care
team. The blog focuses on a gentleman that Dr. Len met at a function for Strides Against
Breast Cancer volunteers whose wife had passed from breast cancer. The widower
discussed how all the doctors discussed was the data, the data, the data and not
translating it into what we needed to hear, what we needed to do, how we should
respond. (Lichtenfeld, 2012) Dr. Len goes on to discuss how the gentleman and his wife
craved care and compassion but were only faced with the data. Dr. Len goes on to write
this message I believe has to heard by all of us. The audience in this instance is to
target healthcare professionals involved in the cancer care team. Too often, we as nurses
and doctors and various other providers get caught up in the numbers creatinine levels,
BUN (blood urea nitrogen) levels, hematocrit levels, white blood cell counts etc. that
essentially are just a mixture of numbers to our patients that hold no true value. For
example, Dr. Len even goes on to say, we are the ones who are supposed to
understand statistics, not our patients. Dr. Len establishes that it is our duty to translate
these numbers into a language our patients can comprehend and be comfortable with. Dr.
Len writes that we spend a lot of time me included in talking about evidence based
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medicine. We need to be more effective and more rational about what we do in
medicine furthering the point that it is easy for healthcare providers to get caught up in
our practice. (Lichtenfeld, 2012)
He keeps this in mind with the way he styles his blog it is concise and to the
point without any medical or technical jargon or even any physiology behind cancer. He
strives to make the public understand that we can tend to get caught up in the science
without stopping to make sure that our patients are comprehending the information we
provide them with. The first person voice Dr. Len uses in this blog as well as it coming
from a personal experience makes it seem more personal and makes it easier for the
audience, whether it be healthcare providers or the general public, to personally connect
to Dr. Len. Because this blog is published on the American Cancer Societys website,
this blog is likely to be viewed by cancer patients in all stages of treatment as this is a
reliable website for information on various cancers and the many treatments available.
There is a lack of advertisements on the page where the blog is located. Instead
there are links on the right side of the page of related topics to the blog including breast
cancer, diet, and early detection amongst others to further educate readers. There are also
links to other posts that relate to Dr. Lens blog along with recent comments on related
blogs. These links are easily accessible to assist readers in navigating around related
topics to further educate them. The lack of advertisements allows the reader to feel
confident that this is a reliable blog and makes it appear scholarly. Information about Dr.
Len is provided in a side box on the right with a link provided if the reader wishes to
learn more about Dr. Lens education, degrees, responsibilities and family allowing the
reader to develop a relationship with him.
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This blog is a prime example how education can be presented not only to the
general public but also to healthcare providers in the same artifact. Dr. Lens blog aims
to educate the public and health providers how compassion and humility cannot be
forgotten but also why sometimes it is not given as much as it should be on the provider
side. Patients do comprehend that professional teams taking care of cancer patients may
have to put up shields to protect themselves from the pain, suffering and loss they face
everyday but providers need to understand that we must take down these shields to offer
humility and compassion to each and every patient. (Lichtenfeld, 2012) By using
language that providers and patients can both understand, while imputing both views as
well, this artifact is a powerful one.
Compassion and humility are two qualities that I hope to pass on to my patients
now and in the future. They are necessary traits of any nurse, but especially of a nurse
responsible for the care of cancer patients no matter what stage they are in. We have an
obligation and responsible to never, never, never, let the evidence and the data get in the
way of our humanity to our fellow human beings. (Lichtenfeld, 2012)








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References
Hodnicki, D., Lanthrop, B. (1 April 2014) The Affordable Care Act: Primary Care and
the Doctor of Nursing Practice Nurse. Retrieved from
http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPerio
dicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol-19-2014/No2-May-2014/Articles-Previous-
Topics/Affordable-Care-Act-Doctor-of-Nursing-Practice.html. Accessed May 16,
2014.

Lichtenfeld, Leonard J. (30 April 2012) Data, Data, Data Should Never Replace Care
and Compassion. Retrieved from
http://www.cancer.org/aboutus/drlensblog/post/2012/04/30/data-data-data-should-
never-replace-care-and-compassion.aspx. Accessed May 15, 2014.

I believe that this would be a nice addition to my portfolio, as I want to pursue a career in
oncology so this would definitely fit in nicely. I also have not written a paper like this
before and I struggled at the beginning. However, I am proud of my work now and I
would like to showcase that.