Maintaining patients’ dignity while undertaking hygiene requirements in clinical practice
Introduction
In two thousand and seven, about thirty per cent complaints were reported in relation to patients’ care and dignity (Downey and Lloyd, 2008) with emphasis on how care delivery can be improved by meeting patients’ needs accordingly (NMC, 2009). The importance of this means that I am required as an adult student nurse, to ensure patients receives the best care possible while in practice (NMC,). So, how will I ensure that patients are treated with dignity while carrying out required hygiene in practice? What exactly is dignity and hygiene requirement? Answering these questions, will be the main topic of discussion in this essay while considering how one of Nolan’s (2006) six senses of frame work can be supported with the actions involved.
Definition of Dignity and reason for choosing it
Dignity is a morally, ethically or legally used term whose meaning is based on the context it is used thus its various complex definitions. The RCN (2008) defined it as the evaluation of one’s self-worth or others in relation to feelings, thoughts and behaviours which could be a religious, cultural, social or personal preference. In nursing practice, it is a concept that entails treating all patients with capacity and those without as individuals with a respective manner of courtesy and decency in order to avoid causing discomfort or harm to them and others emotionally, socially and physically (NMC,2002). It is not measurable so varies on individual perception because what one patient finds dignifying might be vice versa for another and this also applies to them after death so it encompasses their human rights, identity and autonomy when alive and after they have died (RCN, 2008)
The decision to write about this concept is based on both the above mentioned complaints in the introduction and the recent crisis mentioned in the 2013 Francis report (RCGP, 2013) which...