Developmental_Psychology

Shirley Shepherd Psychology 2314 May 9, 2010 How Developmental Psychology Relates To Nursing I have chosen nursing as my career path. For this reason, I worked in a nursing setting for fifteen years as a nurse technician. I spent many years in this setting and feel that I have a pretty good understanding as to what goes on day to day. Before I chose to become a nurse, I examined myself to see if I had the right qualities for this demanding job. Qualities such as caring, compassion, a strong desire and willingness to help those in need, patience, honesty and above all, good health. The strength I have gained in my psychology course will help me fulfill my duties caring for patients and their families. Developmental psychology is a requirement to earn a degree in the nursing profession. Psychology has many sub-categories and different stages. My goal is to become a pediatric nurse. I worked with mother and baby while working at the Women Hospital Of Texas. Those were the best years of my career as a nurse technician. Developmental psychology will be a great asset in my new career as a nurse. Applying the basis of developmental psychology will assist me in the initative of giving the best care to patients. Applying psychology in my new career as a nurse will enable me to understand why people behave and think the way they do. As a nurse, I need to know psychology because nurses are often right in the midst of life events of their patient’s death, births, major illness, rehabilitation and recovery. Understanding psychology will help me to anticipate what the patient and his or her family will be feeling and the way they may react. This will help me to better plan nursing interventions. Knowing the different aspects of psychology will help me to use reverse psychology to get patients to be calm and cooperative in their care. The use of psychology and my compassion for people will help me be the best nurse I can be. Developmental psychology will come into play when it comes to understanding patients growth, development, and change throughout the lifespan. To determine how individuals change with age can be done using two different approaches. Longitudinal study is studying and measuring individuals of different ages over a period of time to observe age-related changes. Cross-sectional study is comparing different ages to determine age-related differences. No two children are born with the same vulnerabilities, such as a genetic disorder. Nursing involves knowing the different stages of prenatal development. Conception, germinal, embryonic, and fetal are all stages of prenatal development. Fetal behavior can be observed through the use of ultrasound. Fetal growth, sex, and development can also be detected through ultrasound. Fetuses exhibit a wide range of differences in activity level. Mental retardation and other genetic disorders can be detected early through ultrasound. Maternal illnesses can interfere with normal development of a fetus. Infants born to mothers with certain illnesses can cause infants to be born with physical and behavioral abnormalities. These abnormalities can range from heart disease, retardation, to still born. Developmental psychology also deals with reflexes and motor development. movements and reflexes of a newborn is different greatly when compared to those of an older infant. The movements of a newborn are unlearned and automatic response to certain stimuli. The movement and reflexes of an older infant are learned and is considered to be classical conditioning as described by John Watson. Habituation is the simplest evidence of learning in infants. When an infant become accustomed to a stimulus, they stop responding to it. By the time an infant reaches twelve months, their way of learning changes. They learn by observing others. Developmental psychology helps to understand temperament, behavioral style, or characteristics of an individual when making an assessment on them. During an assessment of a child, dimensions of temperament can predict behavioral problems that may appear later in adolescence. A Child’s temperament affects future behavior, because children who are impulsive at a young age tend to become aggressive adolescence. Pediatric nursing involves knowing the progression of motor development of infants. Maturation is the main factor in motor development and each infants own genetically determined biological pattern of development. Most infants develop motor skills in sequences. Speeding up an infant’s motor development has no effect on the child’s future physical abilities. Psychology plays an important role in nursing when caring for a patient. The nursing process consists of five stages where psychology comes into play. The first step is assessment of the patient needs. The second step is diagnosis, third is planning of the patient’s care, fourth is implementation of care, and fifth is the evaluation of the success of the implemented care. The nursing process not only focus on ways to improve the patient’s physical needs, but also on social and emotional needs as well. Although nursing and psychology is two separate fields, they are still linked. In the nursing field, the focus is on helping individuals with their health and recovery. developmental psychology on the other hand is the study of how humans grow, develop, and change throughout the lifespan. Nursing and psychology are linked because to help people adequately recover from their health problems, a nurse must often understand the behavior and emotional state of a patient. This is vital for a nurse for a nurse who desires to help patients recover from diseases or disabilities.