Write a 700-word opinion editorial that critically analyzes the challenges of realizing aspirations of the common good in the nursing community, locally and globally.
General Instructions:
• Create an evocative and engaging op-ed that explains the euthanasia associated with realizing aspirations of the common good in the nursing community, locally and globally.
• The Op-Ed should clearly explain to readers what the issue or problem (euthanasia) is and how your understanding of the knowledge you have acquired in the unit addresses the issue or problem.
Answer
nursing community
According to Roman Catholicism, the term common good refers to “the sum total of social conditions that allow people, either as a group or individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily” (Velasquez et al., 2017). Although nurses do not use theological perspectives to address the issue of the common good, they more often than not handle related concepts and outcomes related to the common good, like a whole person’s concerns in a community and distributive justice, respectively. In line with the Roman Catholic point of view regarding the common good, nurses also deal with the quest to strike a balance between respecting social integrity and upholding personal dignity. Besides, nurses, unlike Catholics, have an extra task in addition to the above roles of upholding ethical standards when handling patients. However, they face a number of challenges in realizing their aspirations for these roles, as analyzed below.
Locally
To begin with, it is in itself a challenge to determine ways in which the common good, as opposed to other related concepts, affects both practices and professional advancements in nursing (Meux, 2013). The interplay of the discernment that nursing plays an essential role in safeguarding the health-related facets of the common good and the consistent support from society are key features behind the existence of nursing as a profession. Societies have a long history of supporting and strengthening nursing as a profession, such as through the continuous promotion of conceptualization, support of students’ professional education, development of advanced nursing professions and practices by nursing practitioners, and implementations. Additionally, societal forces also play a central role in shaping financial support in nursing for research priorities like the contemporary emphasis on the relationship between disease prevention, health-related behaviors, and genetics. Therefore, communities govern the crucial aspects of the common good, which are the key priorities for nurses to address. Moreover, the communal assumption that nurses promote both the societal and the common good is the basis on which the nursing profession thrives in many societies.
On the contrary, some societies do not recognize the nursing community as an essential aspect of both the societal good and the common good, thus subjecting its existence to oblivion (Cochran, 2017). In view of this, taking into account societal good in addition to the common good holds an inherent potential for strengthening and facilitating the power base and benefits of the nursing community in society. The elements of professional nursing, such as concern, compassion, and caring, could be on the verge of extinction and potentially be managed by technicians and machines and replaced by technology in case the nursing community fails to demonstrate its importance in the community by enhancing the common good. The latest changes in the nursing sector show an increasing profession’s vulnerability to extinction.
Secondly, it is challenging to ascertain whether the common good has pragmatic importance when analyzing the role of the nursing community in society. The significance of the common good as a constituent in the construction of guidance for nursing practices and theories is worth establishing (Cochran, Hume, & Bouchard, 2016). For instance, a constituent of the common good has helped in advancing public health services such as increased accessibility to antibiotics and widespread immunization. However, utility issues such as the linkage between the common good construct and the development of knowledge remain unsolved. Other pending issues include, but are not limited to, the interplay between the practice of different contextual disciplines and the position of the common good construct within theological contexts; and how the functional meaning of the common good construct evolves in relation to the changes in society.
Globally
On the other hand, the nursing community is faced with the challenge of evidence-based practices. Nursing, just like other professions, requires a core or base of proof to substantiate particular nursing actions and interventions (Baalen & Jansen, 2015). In this context, there has to be the best available proof that a nurse must show that supports the action taken. Additionally, the profession requires that nurses show evidence of their knowledge, which must emanate exclusively from data that is derived either from the examination of clinical results or from research. However, if the available evidence base does not tally with a particular nursing action or activity, the profession treats it as having dubious value or benefit.
References
Baalen van M. & Jansen V.A. (2015) “Dangerous Liaisons: The Ecology of Private Interest and Common Good,” Oikos, vol. 95, no. 2, November 2015, pp. 211-224;
Cochran A, Hume J, & Bouchard C. (2016) “Catholic Healthcare and the Common Good,” Health Progress, May-June 2016, pp. 34–40; Hamel R., “Of What Good Is the Common Good?” Health Progress, May-June 2016, pp. 45–47.
Cochran C. (2017). “The Common Good and Healthcare Policy,” Health Progress, May-June 2017, pp. 41-44, 47.
Meux, E. P. (2013). “Concern for the Common Good in an N-Person Game,” Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, vol. 28, no. 3, December 2013, pp. 414–418.
Velasquez M. et al. (2017). “The Common Good,” Markula Center for Applied Ethics, available at www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/commongood.html; “Common Good: Restoring Common Sense to American Law.”
