Nursing is the application of clinical judgment in the provision of care to assist patients to improve their health and to achieve the best possible quality of life (Baker, 2007). Nurses provide care to people who lack the necessary strength, knowledge and will to provide the care for themselves. Psychology, on the other hand, is the scientific study of behavior including all of human beings' outward actions and reactions like facial expressions and talking, and mental processes like thinking and feelings (Ciccarelli & Meyer, 2006). It seeks to understand why humans behave and think the way they do in all aspects of their lives including health. Psychology also aims to predict and change the behavior of persons to enhance their wellbeing and
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Biological Psychology is one such perspective. It assists nurses in understanding patients' behavior using the physiological changes in their bodies. As a point of view, biological psychology believes that biological function and structure determines the behavior of a person (Baker, 2007). An example is a case where the patient is an elderly woman who is always in pain, appears agitated, lacks concentration and whose memory is deteriorating. A nurse can apply biological psychology to assist the patient in diagnosing the patient. Upon monitoring the patient, the nurse can discover that the patient’s pulse, temperature and blood pressure are raised. The nurse can then be able to deduce that the patient might be suffering from constipation. After availing to the patient the right medication and advice on eating a well-balanced diet, her health improves. By applying biological psychology, the nurse observed the influence of physiological functioning on the behavior of …show more content…
For the general reasons, psychology helps nurses in the management of patients’ ailments. For nurses to effectively manage patients who have different diseases, nurses apply psychology to understand a patient's feelings, pain and to assess his condition. While some patients may be optimistic about their conditions, some may react negatively. A nurse will, therefore, need to understand a patient's response to an illness so as to device means of evaluating and manage the patient's disease (Ciccarelli & Meyer, 2006). Psychology also helps to build trust between nurses and patients. Patients are usually willing to open up to nurses with a background in psychology as they believe that such nurse will relate to them and their issues. The trust enables patients to be more responsive to the instructions that these nurses give them. Nurses with a background in psychology, therefore, have an advantage over those who lack such a
Biological Psychology is one such perspective. It assists nurses in understanding patients' behavior using the physiological changes in their bodies. As a point of view, biological psychology believes that biological function and structure determines the behavior of a person (Baker, 2007). An example is a case where the patient is an elderly woman who is always in pain, appears agitated, lacks concentration and whose memory is deteriorating. A nurse can apply biological psychology to assist the patient in diagnosing the patient. Upon monitoring the patient, the nurse can discover that the patient’s pulse, temperature and blood pressure are raised. The nurse can then be able to deduce that the patient might be suffering from constipation. After availing to the patient the right medication and advice on eating a well-balanced diet, her health improves. By applying biological psychology, the nurse observed the influence of physiological functioning on the behavior of …show more content…
For the general reasons, psychology helps nurses in the management of patients’ ailments. For nurses to effectively manage patients who have different diseases, nurses apply psychology to understand a patient's feelings, pain and to assess his condition. While some patients may be optimistic about their conditions, some may react negatively. A nurse will, therefore, need to understand a patient's response to an illness so as to device means of evaluating and manage the patient's disease (Ciccarelli & Meyer, 2006). Psychology also helps to build trust between nurses and patients. Patients are usually willing to open up to nurses with a background in psychology as they believe that such nurse will relate to them and their issues. The trust enables patients to be more responsive to the instructions that these nurses give them. Nurses with a background in psychology, therefore, have an advantage over those who lack such a