Dignity In Nursing Essay

The establishment of dignity is foundational within all professional and interpersonal relationships, and it is vital to the development and maintenance of the therapeutic relationship within the practice of nursing. The exact meaning for dignity remains complex and unclear due to the fact that it is a multidimensional concept, however the Collins English Dictionary states that the word dignity comes from two Latin words: ‘dignus’, meaning worth, and ‘dignitas’ meaning merit (Colling English Dignitionary, 2015.). They continue by defining dignity as “(i) the state or quality of being worthy of honour and a (ii) sense of self-importance” The four defining concepts of dignity consist of: respect, autonomy, empowerment and communication. These
The purpose of this paper is to specifically explore and expand the concept of dignity as it relates to the pursuit of person-centered care within the nursing profession. This paper will further explore the meaning of dignity in relation to a patient encounter, define and analyze the concept of dignity, expand on dignity as it relates to professional caring in nursing and lastly, with the aid of the Tanner Model (2006) this paper will expand on the concept of dignity as it guides clinical
The notion of dignity entails a variety of meanings, which work simultaneously to define the phenomena. Human dignity has become a central concept in today’s society, specifically due to the role it plays in human interaction. From revising various literatures, there is no one definition of dignity, but rather, various definition that are gnerally based on the framework that the author or researcher studies. Dignity is a difficult term to define and is generally easier understood when applied in practice. Dignity is experienced as a continuum throughout life, initially beginning from contraception and continuing until death. Dignity is an inherent characteristic that humans compose, it can be both subjectively and objectively felt. Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher who is considered a central figure of modern philosophy is often considered to be the source of the idea of human dignity, or in his words the idea of “intrinsic worth”. He motioned the concept that dignity must be learned, as an individual’s dignity is affected by the treatment received from others. Birnbacher (1983) states that “even in it’s everyday use, then, and most noticeably in its, legal use, there is no unitary and homogenous concept of human dignity, nut rather a family of meaning, the members of which behave differently no only systematically but also