MASLOW'S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS (NURSING)

Hello, hello. My friend Christina here with nursingschoolofsuccess.com and today in this video, we are talking about one of the nursing principles that you've got to know in nursing school. Maslow's hierarchy of needs. You may or may not have heard of it before. So we're going to break it all down today in this video. So really the biggest, I would say the largest importance for you needed to know this is for nursing school exams and of course, clinical. So when I was in nursing school, I really, really, really struggled with answering nursing school questions. It's like rewiring your brain, right? You need to know what the best answer is and choose it. Among the sea of correct answers, you gotta pick the best, best one. So here's where Maslow's hierarchy of needs is really, really nice. I actually did not know about this principle in nursing school. A rn, she was in the RN program. A gal told me about it. She's like, okay, when you're answering nursing school questions, you have to use this, especially when it comes to nursing priority questions. So Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a tiered. It kind of looks like the US food pyramid, the old one where you have like your carbs or bread on the bottom, like the largest portion on the bottom, and then it kind of goes up from there and you got like sugar and fats on the top. So something like that. So Maslow's hierarchy of needs is similar to that where you have your first priority listed on the bottom. So it's kind of a pyramid. So your first priority on the bottom. Now that is physiological needs. So physiological needs come first. Now the second tier is safety needs. So safety needs come second. The third tier is love and belonging. The fourth tier is self esteem, like confidence and things like how you feel about yourself, self esteem, needs. And last tier, the final tier is self actualization, which is like moral, you know, how you feel, morally, how what you feel your purpose in life is, things like that. So it's kind of the highest tier. So in nursing and when you're answering nursing priority questions in nursing school, on your nursing school exams, your number one priority, your number one priority is that first tier, that bottom tier of physiological needs. Now I'm going to throw in here a second nursing principle that also really, really ties into this. And this is the ABCs, you may or may not have heard it before. We actually do have a whole other video on it. I will link to that down below in the description on the replay. I don't think it's there right now, but I will link to that on the replay and I'll also put a card somewhere where those pop up on the sides for the replay later. So the ABCs, these, this stands for airway, breathing and circulation. So these are really your top priorities for your patients in nursing school, as a nurse at clinical and on your nursing school exams. So of course we want to make sure that our patients have a clear airway, that their airway is clear, that they can breathe. This is called a pain patent airway of the times. I know that word kind of throws students off. Patent just means that it's clear, it's open, the air can move back and forth. So that's a patent airway. So make sure that their airway is clear, that they are breathing, their lungs are able to get oxygen in and get carbon dioxide out, that they're able to do gas exchange and breathe. And then the third principle of the ABCs is so circulation, make sure that their blood is circulating. Now this is really important, these three things. Obviously this is that bottom tier of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Pathophysiological needs or not pathophysiological needs, I'm sorry, physiological needs. The ABCs, that is part of that physiological need category. This is your first priority because if your patient does not have a clear airway, it. If they cannot breathe and if their blood is not circulating, girlfriend, like there, you, you really shouldn't be focusing on anything else. That is, that is life or death stuff right there. We need to fix those three things first before we can move on to everything else on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, moving on to those safety needs, the love and belonging, that connectedness with other people. Like we don't. Of course I care about that stuff, but I am not going to be super worried about that stuff until I make sure that they are breathing fine and their blood is circulating and that their airway is clear. You see what I'm saying? So that's kind of where Maslow's hierarchy really ties into those ABCs, that other nursing principle. So those two are really, really intertwined. Maslow's hierarchy of needs and then the ABCs. So those ABCs, again, stands for airway, breathing and circulation. So make sure their airway is patent, that it's clear, air is able to move in and out, that they're breathing fine, they're getting that gas exchange in their lungs, all is functioning well with that and that their blood is circulating throughout their body. Now, safety needs. That's so that to sum up, again, the ABCs is part of that first tier of Maslow's hierarchy, physiological needs. Now, that second tier that I mentioned is safety needs. Now, this is personally for me, I kind of like, intermix the two. I mean, obviously we want our patients to be safe, and I think that those ABCs really do fall into safety as well, like that safety category. But here, for safety needs for Maslow's hierarchy, they do separate them out. So safety needs in nursing, I'm going to say that it's more like making sure that they have their call light. You know, when you leave the room at clinical, make sure your patient always has their call light, that the bed is lowered. You know, you didn't keep their bed raised at all. They're not gonna let, you know, fall off of the bed. You know, if they're risk for falls, you know that you've got their room laid out correctly. So they're not gonna trip over any rugs or like, you know, rugs in a hospital room or whatever room. They're in IV tubing, you know, make sure that their IV tubing is clear, that. That it's not like, wrapped around anything crazy. And they're not gonna, like, trip over it or, you know, anything like that or, you know, get tangled up on it or caught in it. They're oxygen tubing, Same thing that it's not, you know, in some weird funky position. So those are all kind of safety things. There's no needles around. You know that you're always, always putting your needles in the sharps container. So there's no, you know, needles around. You know, you just. No, don't do that. Don't leave needles around in your patient's room. Come on, guys. So that's. That's part of safety needs. So your patient's safety, make sure that they are safe. You know, when you leave the room, always, always make sure that bed is lowered, call lights within reach, all of that. Now that third tier of Maslow's hierarchy of needs is love and belonging. So now after you've got their physiological needs taken care of and their safety needs taken care of, now this next tier is their connectedness to other people, their love and belonging needs. So this is, you know, for nursing students and nurses where we do patient education, or this is where you sit and listen to them, you know, get. Feel connected to them. This is their kind of, you know, relational. This is kind of that relational tier. So making sure that they really have healthy relationships in their life. So this could be probably as probably part of your psychiatric rotation in nursing school, or when you're always using those psychiatric skills, you know, the psychological skills, you know, active listening, making sure that you keep eye contact, things like that, that you're developing connections with your patients and making sure that they also have healthy relationships with people around them so that when they go home, they can, you know, leave healthier than where, when they were admitted into the hospital or on your floor in your clinical facility. See what I'm saying? So health for a patient, health for anybody is really, we're going more holistic. It's not just about the physiological needs and the disease or disorder. We actually want to make sure that they do they have healthy relationships with other people in all aspects of their life. Now the next tier of Maslow's hierarchy is self esteem needs. This is kind of the same thing. You know, you want to make sure that you are actively listening to them. This is kind of around a lot of patient education and just really just sitting and talking with them as, as time is available. So self esteem needs is when you just want to kind of assess how confident they are, you know, seeing how you can help in that way. So the self esteem is, you know, how, how do they feel about themselves? How, you know, are they? You know, I'm thinking of, you know, like teenagers these days, you know, if you're on a pediatric floor and you have kids, you know, how are they, how are they feeling about themselves? Like when you, when we think self esteem, I guess we think, I think more of teenagers, especially teenage girls. I know I was like totally not confident. I was a teenager. So I don't know, I just kind of think of that. So that's kind of what this tier of Maslow's hierarchy needs is talking about, is that confidence. How does the patient feel about themselves? So I guess I could kind of put it this way too. For nursing school and at nursing clinicals, it's really important that a patient have confidence in themselves because we want to make sure that they're following their plan of care. And if a patient is not confident in their ability to do that, they're not confident with themselves, they have doubts about kind of life in general, then they might have some trepidation or some concerns about following their plan of care. So we want to just make sure that they are actually learning, actually understanding what we're teaching them as nursing students and as nurses. So that's kind of that, that tier and how that fits in. Now, the last part of Maslow's is self actualization, where a patient, a person would want to live a morally aligned lifestyle with integrity based on, you know, their moral compass, having a purpose in life. Everyone wants to have a purpose in life. You know, this is where we get into that spiritual aspect with God and you know, those things for, for a patient, how do they're connected with connectedness with God and that, you know, how they feel their purpose in life is and if they are actually aligned with that in integrity, with their clear purpose and their moral compass in life. So that's that self actualization tier. That's kind of that highest tier. So, you know, the kind of the same thing with the other tiers that we talked about. Just making sure that you're assessing your patient. Where are they at? Do they feel like they're out of alignment with those things in their life? Same thing with what I had said before. If they are out of alignment, they might not have a very good grasp on following their plan of care. So you need to assess, you always need to be assessing and always need to be educating our patients. So those are really two of the huge, huge, huge, huge, huge things that we do as nursing students and as nurses is of course assessing and educating. So just making sure that they are able to follow their plan of care. So whatever is going on with them, we need to do education around that and make sure that they can stick with it as they go home so that they can then leave your clinical facility better than when they came, not only physiologically and with the disorders or disease that they're going through, but also in all other aspects of their life. So that's really where you come in and making sure that you're listening and, you know, making sure that you're, you know, taking the time to sit with them and actively listen and make those connections with them. That's that third tier of Maslow's hierarchy of needs is that love and belonging. That connectedness makes sure that they have healthy relationships not only with you, but with other people in their life. And so really those, those last three, the love and belonging, the self esteem and the self actualization, those are not things that we really deal with on say like a med search floor. Really, we are more focused on those physiological needs and the safety needs, of course, because that's, you know, kind of what they're there for, is to get healthy physiologically and then leave. But as nurses, as nursing students, we really want to look at the whole person. So that's where Maslow's hierarchy of needs really comes in we want to make sure that we're providing holistic care as much as possible. So I hope this helps to sum up Maslow's hierarchy of needs and its purpose for you in nursing school. Like I said, physiological needs really, really, really tie into the abc. So, so airway, breathing and circulation. Make sure their airway is patent, meaning that it's open and clear. B, for breathing, making sure that they can breathe air in and out, gas exchange, all that good stuff, and then C, for circulation that their blood is able to pump through their body and circulate through their body and you know, get all those, all those nutrients there and all that blood. So ABCs, that's another nursing principle that really goes hand in hand with Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Then safety needs, making sure that, you know, they don't have any IV tubing or oxygen tubing anywhere else, they're anywhere crazy, that they're not going to trip over anything, they're not going to fall out of bed, you know, making sure that you're taking all the precautions that need to be taken with that particular patient. Now, love and belonging needs is that third tier, assessing and educating them on their connectedness with other people, how they feel about other people, you know, how are their relationships with those people around them, their family and friends and things like that, self esteem, needs, how is their confidence, you know, do they have confidence in themselves? How can you help them with that? And then self actualization as well as kind of having that purpose in life, their connectedness with God, connectedness with, with what, what their goals are in life, what they're, you know, making sure that they're aligned with their vision and what they really, what their purpose in life is. I think it really just comes down to that. So those kind of three, the last three tiers that love and belonging, self esteem and self actualization, those are really more making sure that you're assessing your patient to see where they're at and teaching them, doing education on how they can make that better for themselves. So that is Maslow's hierarchy of needs and how it relates to nursing school. Now when you're taking nursing school exams, you will always look at the question that they're asking in that nursing exam question and choose the answer that is the highest priority. Typically, I mean, look at, look at the question and make sure that you're actually reading the question right. Oftentimes it will ask you what you will do first. What's your first priority? What's your first action? What's your Initial action. So all of those kind of phrases, what's your first action? What's your initial action? What's the first action the nurse would take? So those questions are asking you, what are you gonna do first? And this is where you really need to think back here to this video to Maslow's hierarchy of needs before, where you're going to solve physiological needs first, safety needs second, then love and belonging, self esteem and self actualization. That is the tier and that is the, that is the flow of it, of Maslow's hierarchy. And that's why it's so important, because we do want to solve physiological needs first and then safety needs and then everything else after that. So when you're answering nursing exam questions, make sure that you are solving physiological needs first. So take a look at those answers, what they include in there and in those answers and see if there is a answer that has something to do with physiological needs. ABCs, airway, breathing or circulation or safety needs. So making sure that the patient is safe, their environment's safe, and that they're in a safe place. Because most often than not, that will be the correct answer. Just make sure that you're solving those physiological needs first or safety needs first. Does that make sense? I hope all this is clicking for you. So, so that is that if you need more practice or help with answering nursing exam questions. Oh my goodness, do I have the best resource for you. It's the nclex RN Mastery app, girlfriend. I used it all through nursing school. I just had it on my phone. And you literally. It's set up so, so cool because it was set up basically how my classes were set up, like fundamentals, cardiac, respiratory, all those things like med Surg. They had all the categories like the body systems. So I would just literally go through, click a category and then I would answer questions. They just have like thousands of questions in there for those categories. So I would, I would just click on the category and then go through the questions like before I took an exam that way. This is really two things. Not only does it solidify the information in your mind, but it also helps you. You kind of rewire your brain like I said earlier, with how to answer these nclex style questions. Because nursing school questions are tough. Nursing exam questions are super difficult because there is one best answer in a sea of all the correct answers. They're all correct, but you need to choose the best one. So that's why this app, I think is super, super helpful. At least. It helped me a ton. It's called the nclex RN Mastery App. There is is an affiliate link down below in the description. Just a little disclaimer here. If you do decide to purchase this app through my link, I will receive a small commission. No additional cost to you at all. You know that I just love, love, love it and I am not sketchy or anything. So of course I would never ever recommend anything that I didn't love totally and hold dear to my heart. So you know that, that yes, this has my full backing. It did help me through nursing school. I loved it. So I just had it on my phone like I said and I literally just like walked through these questions before I took exams or as I was studying to really help me understand the information better and then also just get used to answering nursing school questions. It is so invaluable because that is one of the biggest hurdles in nursing school is just what we're talking about here, answering nursing exam questions using Maslow's hierarchy of needs. You using the ABCs, using these nursing principles to answer nursing exam questions. So I hope that app helps. There is a link down below to that. You actually do get 20% off if you use my affiliate link, if you're buying it individually. And then there is a 50% off group discount, which is fabulous. So if you have 10 or more people as part of a group, y' all get 50% off, which is super, super fancy. I'm so glad that they do that because that's pretty great. So I hope those resources helped and I really hope that this video helps you understand Maslow's hierarchy of needs better and how to answer nursing priority questions better for nursing school. So thank you so much for watching, friend. I will see you next time here on YouTube live. Now you know what to do. Go become the nurse that God created only you to be. And I'll see you right back here next time on the Nursing School show. Bye.