Question

• What would you do when your personal beliefs conflict with a patient's belief?

Answer 1

Nursing is a unique profession which render collaborative care to the patient's irrespective of their age, nationality, race, cast and creed. Patient or the client is the central or integral part of nursing care.

When a nurse's personal beliefs conflict with a patient's belief in order to avoid complications

1. A nurse should collect proper history from the patient including physiological, psychological, spiritual and cultural factors during the time of admission which gives us a clear information about their personal belief.
2. A nurse shouldn't discuss her personal belief with patient, which may affect trust between them.
3. When it comes to carrying out a procedure, nurse should explain about it in detail and patient has every right to deny it. A nurse should respect it and the conflict can be avoided by finding alternative procedure which is acceptable to the patient.
4. A nurse should be culturally competent to avoid such conflicts. She should be well behaved and patient friendly in the course of time.
5. Maintain therapeutic nurse patient relationship during nursing practice. A nurse should not be flexible in her decision making and she should be emotionally balanced.
6. A nurse should have a strong bond between mind and body (spiritual belief and psychological balance). She should not be influenced by the patient at any given tough situations.

Whenever a nurse's personal belief conflict with patient's belief all the above said points to be taken in mind and act accordingly. Advanced specialty nurses should not sway by any cultural sensitivities of the patient such as different family structure, different family relationship and different cultural belief.