Suffering

Essay # 49461

Medical and Health > Nursing

Suffering

A concept analysis of the term "suffering" in nursing practice.

2,273 words () | 6 sources | MLA | 2004 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how the goal of medicine is to reduce and try to prevent suffering and how suffering is sometimes ignored due to the difficulty of quantifying suffering into readable data. It looks at how critical attributes are characteristics of the concept that appear over and over again in the concept's many definitions and how these characteristics help to distinguish the concept from other concepts. This paper gives examples of a model case, a related case, an illegitimate case, and a borderline case. It also talks about empirical referents, statements, propositions, and implications for practice. It shows how nurses care for those who suffer and how understanding the concept of suffering could assist nurses in recognizing the behavioral cues of those suffering, as well as assist in responding to suffering.

From the Paper:

"The concept of suffering can be used in several situations: in practice, in education, and in research. For nursing practice, understanding suffering is important to provide holistic care. Since suffering is more than simply pain, holistic treatment can include addressing patients' individual feelings of completeness, purpose, and threats to these feelings (Rodgers & Cowles, 1996, p. 1051). To further health education, identification of the concept of suffering leads to include suffering into nursing curriculum. It provides the content information for teaching the concept. In nursing research, insight into suffering leads to the opportunity for further inquiry. Concept analysis establishes the problems to be studied. It identifies the phenomena to be examined. It creates measurement tools of the concept. And further research of suffering can lead to the development of theories related to suffering."