Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Individual Reflective Essay for Gibbs Model - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theIndividual Reflective Essayfor Gibbs Model. Answer: In this essay paper, I would give a reflection on the issue that emerged during the period of my clinical practice to build and apply the interpersonal skills that I possess so as to develop and maintain my therapeutic relationships with the patient am offering the nursing care services. In this individual reflection, I would reflect on the issue using the Gibbs (1998) reflective cycle and critically analyze the issue applying the Gibbs Model. Moreover, I shall come up with recommendations for addressing the problem in case it emerges again in the due future and state the appropriate ways of implementing the plan of action(Husebo, O'Regan, Nestel, 2015). The Gibbs model comprises of six steps to make up the cycle which is clear and precise with high capability of improving on my health profession and clinical practice for the better learning from the daily encounters while on attachment. The Gibbs cycle begins with a brief description of the issue at stake and proceeds to the critic al analysis of the personal feelings. Further, it aids in the evaluation of the encountered experience and offers the basis for critical analysis of the experience to make sense out of it. Lastly, the model involves drawing a conclusion on what I did, and the recommendations I would make for dealing with the same issue in case it arose again. According to Baird and Winter (2005, p. 156), the Gibbs Model of reflection becomes significant in the clinical practice since it enables the nursing students to acquire the necessary practice knowledge, adapts to different environments of placement, build on the self-esteem and satisfaction as they value and develop on their nursing professionalism. On the contrary, Sivitier in his publication of 2005, argues that the reflection gets focused on assisting us students to gain the self-confidence, establish when we should improve and aid us in learning out of our mistakes and the behavior(Kumar, 2016). Furthermore, Sivitier stated that the reflection would make nursing students value their patients perspectives, have self-awareness and acquire the vital experience in handling the future. At my disposal, am supposed to develop and maintain better therapeutic relationships with my patient which involves the patient-nurse relationship. In the patient-nurse relationship, therapeutic bondage gets established out of the sense of trust and the mutual understanding which exists between the patient and the nurse on duty. The good contact relationship between the nurse and patient helps to develop trustworthily and boosts the self-esteem of the patient resulting in the contemporary personal growth(Johns, 2017). Also, the therapeutic communication becomes essential in the improvement of the patients abilities in conducting the physical activities. It gets necessary for the nurse on duty to show total care, sincere, empathy, and trust to the patient to build a healthy therapeutic relationship. The nurses attitudes would only get expressed to the patient through the effective communication means and excellent interpersonal skills. Communication will include both the verbal which comprise of speech and the non-verbal communication that involves the use of sign language, change of postures, the body movement and facial expressions, change of intonation and the volume level(Weller, Boyd, Cumin, 2014). Thus, in this essay, I would give a discussion on the nurse-patient relationship applying the interpersonal skills. The reflection would revolve around the patient whom I shall not mention her real name so as to protect the confidentiality of her information as per the Nursing and Midwifery Council requirement. I shall call my patient as Mrs. Y. During my clinical placement, I was assigned to serve on the female ward to offer the necessary mental health care services in my third semester. At the health facility where I got clinical placement, there existed two psychiatric wards which were partitioned and separated to serve the male and females who had mental problems(Arnold Boggs, 2015). The two precincts shared a small cafeteria within the wards premises. Usually, the wards got always locked from a single and the main entrance. As a matter of interaction between patients, the female patients were advised and got encouragement to move out of their rooms mix freely with male patients at the cafeteria section during the meal time hours. At lunchtime, I spotted one of the female patients seated still on her ward bed. She was known as Mrs. Y, aged 78 years old, early on got diagnosed with the schizophrenia condition. She failed to control the tremor as a result of the side effect of the anti-psychotic medication for the Parkinson Disease(Riley, 2015). Due to the muscle problem, Mrs. Y could not walk so I had to take lunch meal to her and consume while on the bed. Unfortunately, she failed to manage to feed herself. As a student nurse, I assessed her diet and got some meal for her. I took up the role of feeding her until she cleared all the food. I approached my client and introduced myself before offering her meal. I tried as much as possible to develop a healthy therapeutic relationship with her since I did not want her to perceive me as a stranger given that I did not belong to either her family or relative. At first, I approached her politely asked her why she wanted to take lunch or not. My patient gets prescribed for just soft diet as she had some difficulties in the swallowing or simply the dysphagia condition(Crystal Crystal, 2016). I proceeded and sought permission from her so that I can feed her. At that very first moment, she just looked at me and kept quiet. In such a situation, I had to show up efficient and empathic listening skills as I fitted myself on her shoes assuming that I had a problem with hearing. Following Wold (2004, p73), empathic listening got viewed as that willingness to have a better understanding of another person without judging the person based on facts. I gently touched the patients shoulde r, continued talking and raising my tone a little bit since I had some fears that she had difficulty in hearing. I made some gestures at the same time I was speaking to her, the gestures would get interpreted as the eating action. I had to pause, pardoned my actions using simpler and local dialect words for my client. Fortunately, she looked instantly at me and shook her head in acceptance. The body gestures which I used assisted me a lot in the conversation. Meanwhile, I had some worries on whether she understood the first language, did not know her real mother tongue since did not talk at all. I tirelessly continued using the body gestures and the facial expressions. Personally, I thought that I should speak a bit louder and learn more about her language such that she would easily understand and make a good interpretation of the gestures I made. In the process of engaging my client, I felt that language barrier hindered effective verbal communication(Little, et al., 2015). But, luckily the patient seemed to understand the sign language and knew that I would feed her. At the time of feeding, I maintained eye contact so that my client would not shy off while eating. The eye contact would make my patient feel that am so much willing and interested in assisting her to take her lunch meal. I made her feel comfortable and enjoy the meal until was all finished. Based on the Gibbs evaluation, I felt that I made an informed decision of taking up the duty of feeding my patient. Also, I developed the therapeutic relationship between my patient and I. though the communication would be termed as task-centred since only a single element hindered the effective communication amongst the nurses, in my case I felt that nurse-patient relationship developed with communication which included both the effective patient-centred sharing and the task-centred communication(Lavelle, Dimic, Wildgrube, McCabe, Priebe, 2015). Personally, I had attended Mrs. Y as my patient with empathy since she would not manage feed herself and it turned upon me as my duty to feed her for her to receive better nursing care while in the ward. In this clinical practice, I had not been tied to only a single type of communication as task-centred but had an opportunity for building the therapeutic relationship based on the patient-centred process offering the genuineness, the warmth and the appropriate empathy towards my client. I managed to improve my personal skills for non-verbal communication throughout my conversations while feeding the patient. The non-verbal communication played a greater part in communicating with my patient since she had a hearing problem and would not understand the first language(Stevenson, 2014). Based on this case scenario, the non-verbal communication becomes significant in handling and caring for the elderly patients with hearing problems. Such communication gets utilized in the capturing of the attention of the patients with hearing impairment before they get to speak to me or any other nurse. Through, the non-verbal communication, my patient got to see me physically and drove out any fears she head, and I had an opportunity to learn and develop on the non-verbal communication skills. In accordance to Wold (2004, p.76) the use of gestures enabled me to deal with the language barrier that existed between my patient and me, body gestures forms one of the types of the non-verbal communication with a way of expressing ideas and gets significant for patients who would not speak any word. During the fee ding of my patient, I made use of the facial expressions to encourage her to finish the meal(Sarvestani, et al., 2016). The meal might have seemed not delicious to her since she would always withdraw after a short duration but I encouraged her to finish. I gave a smile on her and gave her assurance that the meal would improve her health and give her energy. Besides, the facial expressions were effective means of non-verbal communication as they got not curtailed to any particular culture or age bracket. In analyzing the issue, I had to make an evaluation that my non-verbal communication skills were significant to provide better and quality nursing care for my patient. Non-Verbal communication enabled I to break the language between by patient and I, given that she would not speak the official language and I knew a few words of her second language(Kumar, 2016). It seemed quite hard to have interpersonal communication based on the verbal communication since I would not speak her second language fluently. Though in some publications, such as that of White (2005, p.112), a nursing student is advised to learn some words or common phrases in the second language that would make the patient at ease of understanding better the care offered. Similarly, in this individual reflection, I learned how interpersonal communication played a vital role while I handled my patient in the process of delivering safe and quality care. My patient took some time in adapting to the situation of I feeding her. I concentrated much in my inner feelings and thoughts while feeding her, such that I would get the best way of improving on my non-verbal communication skills and render it useful(Ebrahim, Robinson, Crooks, Harenwall, Forsyth, 2016). Luckily, I managed to communicate with her easily, and she enjoyed the meal up to the last bite. I realized that it was important to create a strong rapport so that I would encourage her to learn on the use of both verbal and non-verbal communication. Furthermore, the ability of effective communication would enable her to share easily with the other nurses. My action plan for any future clinical placement involving the similar issue of feeding a patient would require me to prepare adequately to properly care such a patient with hearing impairment or unable to use the official language(Persson, Kvist, Ekelin, 2015). Since the key priority of healthcare is to offer the safe and quality nursing care for her client, therefore, I would take my time in understanding my patient well and strategize on how to render the best care to him/her. From experience, I came to realize that effective communication whether verbal or non-verbal would enable a health care provider to understand the patient and know about the health status in the process of nursing the client. Besides, good listening skills and maintaining eye contact plays a significant role in making the patient feel that her problems get taken into much consideration, and there is the feeling of empathy(Howatson-Jones, 2016). This would cause the patient feel free and fight any fears she might be having and openly narrate to you what she wants or how she feels. In conclusion, I would proudly mention that the Gibbs Reflective Cycle forms the better part of my reflective framework. Through the model, I managed to develop and build on the therapeutic relationships with my patient using the interpersonal skills. The reflective cycle offers critical stages which enable a health care provider to understand and apply each step in the nursing care for the patients. The Gibbs model allows us as the health practitioners to briefly and precisely describe a health issue, undertake an analysis and effectively evaluate the previous experience. References Arnold, E. C., Boggs, K. U. (2015).Interpersonal relationships: Professional communication skills for nurses. Elsevier Health Sciences. Crystal, B. S. N., Crystal, E. (2016). Improving Nurse-Patient Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication Skills: ICU Patients with Neurological Communication Impairments. Ebrahim, S., Robinson, S., Crooks, S., Harenwall, S., Forsyth, A. (2016). Evaluation of awareness level knowledge and understanding framework personality disorder training with mental health staff: impact on attitudes and clinical practice.The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice,11(3), 133-143. Ekelin, M., Kvist, L. J., Persson, E. K. (2016). Midwifery competence: Content in midwifery students? daily written reflections on clinical practice.Midwifery,32, 7-13. Howatson-Jones, L. (2016).Reflective practice in nursing. Learning Matters. Huseb, S. E., O'Regan, S., Nestel, D. (2015). Reflective practice and its role in simulation.Clinical Simulation in Nursing,11(8), 368-375. Johns, C. (2017).Becoming a reflective practitioner. John Wiley Sons. Kumar, K. (2016). Reflection and its uses in Problem Solving and Personal Development. Kumar, K. (2016). Reflection and its uses in Problem Solving and Personal Development. Lavelle, M., Dimic, S., Wildgrube, C., McCabe, R., Priebe, S. (2015). Non?verbal communication in meetings of psychiatrists and patients with schizophrenia.Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica,131(3), 197-205. Little, P., White, P., Kelly, J., Everitt, H., Gashi, S., Bikker, A., Mercer, S. (2015). Verbal and non-verbal behaviour and patient perception of communication in primary care: an observational study.Br J Gen Pract,65(635), e357-e365. Persson, E. K., Kvist, L. J., Ekelin, M. (2015). Analysis of midwifery students' written reflections to evaluate progression in learning during clinical practice at birthing units.Nurse education in practice,15(2), 134-140. Riley, J. B. (2015).Communication in nursing. Elsevier Health Sciences. Sarvestani, R. S., Moattari, M., Nasrabadi, A. N., Momennasab, M., Yektatalab, S., Jafari, A. (2016). Empowering nurses through action research for developing a new nursing handover program in a pediatric ward in Iran.Action Research, 1476750316636667. Stevenson, F. (2014). Achieving visibility? Use of non?verbal communication in interactions between patients and pharmacists who do not share a common language.Sociology of health illness,36(5), 756-771. Weller, J., Boyd, M., Cumin, D. (2014). Teams, tribes and patient safety: overcoming barriers to effective teamwork in healthcare.Postgraduate medical journal,90(1061), 149-154.

Saturday, April 25, 2020

The One Thing to Do for Paper Research Writing

The One Thing to Do for Paper Research Writing Things You Won't Like About Paper Research Writing and Things You Will A great research paper is essentially a sustained inquiry about a specific subject. After reading the thesis, there ought to be no doubt precisely what the research will be about. Explain how you want to start conducting your research. Thus, conducting research is just one of the most crucial portions of the paper. When you compose a research paper you build upon what you know about the topic and make a deliberate attempt to learn what experts know. Why don't you drop in today and let our crew of experts assist you with your research papers. As a conclusion, our group of skilled experts also provides a last verdict which will help you make a well-informed choice. In case you're not able to do the research paper because of any reason, you can rely on ProfEssays to write for you in accordance to your requirements. Now you have a comprehension of your subject, you're ready to begin drafting up that research question! In addition, the research methodology that has to be followed by particular research will probably be mentioned and all our work plan properly informed to our customers. The choice to implement a courseware management system may not be pieced together. Rumors, Deception and Paper Research Writing You're able to introduce the present comprehension and background information regarding the subject. Save yourself time writing content so that you can market your website or company in different ways. Download the internet Casino software today and you may play our completely free casino online, and be on your way to the fun and excitement of Vegas style internet casino gaming! Next tips will reveal to you just how to fulfill the ob jective of research paper introduction and remove the creative mess. In case you have any questions, you can get in touch with our friendly support team night and day and get immediate assistance. Marketing research has revealed that the business's brand and logo are readily recognized by the majority of categories of electronics product consumers. An individual should avoid businesses that provide either too pricey or too inexpensive research paper writing services online. At exactly the same time there are many businesses that provide research paper writing services for you. Order top-notch essay at the moment and certified specialists will do their very best to supply you with higher quality at fair price. Our writing assistance agency combines pocket-friendly prices and respective amenities for our customers to make sure an excellent customer experience. It's extremely important to read carefully essay services reviews, because you wish to steer clear of low superior services. The ideal writing service is one that's ready to complete numerou s varieties of academic paper with no fuss. Paper Research Writing for Dummies Writing a reaction paper may be true challenge, but at precisely the same time that it can help you to enhance your analytical abilities and share your opinion with the world! When you've completed all that, you're going to be prepared to begin contemplating making your research question. Most issues have at least two sides to them and an extremely analytical fashion of writing is to organize your research paper into different camps presented. Employing proposal examples is a superb method to learn from somebody else's experience and produce an outstanding powerful proposal. Paper Research Writing - What Is It? Students could rather seek the help of writing companies. It's obvious for students to find it tricky to compose a. Around the planet, students may join the exact class, share info, and learn together. As a consequence, such students search for the best essay help to make certain that their project is going to be produced at the maximal level in agreement with all academic standards. Completing an MLA outline will guarantee your research paper format is accurate. APA format can help you to organize your paper well. The MLA format stipulates the crucial guidelines for effectively writing an essay in line with the MLA standards. Many research paper formats even need an outline, as an integral area of the paper. Therefore a thesis statement could possibly be one of the end actions in writing. Generally, it will be placed at the end of the first paragraph of your paper. It should be complete, and the rest of the paper should be in line with it. To check when you have created a debatable thesis statement for the research paper, you must find out whether it's debatable.

Essay Topics For College Students

Essay Topics For College StudentsThe importance of Malayalam essay topics for college students should not be overlooked. College students are the future of the country, so it is imperative that they grasp the basic basics of English language, learn about writing and punctuation, and learn the nuances of grammar and composition.Essay topics can be found in Malayalam at almost every online or offline learning resource. Malayalam essay topics for college students that can help them in acquiring the right knowledge that can help them in gaining good grades and avoiding any sort of academic disaster.First off, note that most of the essay topics in Malayalam are very basic and do not take too much in advance to understand and comprehend. Instead, it is more important that the student starts with the basics of English, learn about writing and punctuation, and learn about grammar and composition. It is not uncommon to find that there are some basic sentences and words in each sentence that s tudents should master before they move on to more complicated subjects such as Hindi, Kannada, etc.English writing is not as easy as many believe. It requires proper grammar and basic sentence structure and usage. Students should also know what different aspects of grammar and punctuation are.Apart from grammar and punctuation, English also needs to know the difference between active and passive voice. A student should also know how to organize his thoughts well in order to make a proper sentence. After all, these essays are for class and not for earning money from it.Another important aspect of writing essays in Malayalam is knowing how to use the various techniques of writing. Students should know how to change a tense properly, use appropriate and clear writing techniques, and use appropriate vocabulary. Theyshould also know how to generate an appropriate topic and set a proper stage for the essay.One more point to consider when selecting the right essay topics for Malayalam essa y topics for college students is to look for topics that deal with both the practical aspects and the theoretical. These topics should discuss the important issues in the practical world of today's society.A number of writers have realized the importance of these topics and have included them in their literary works and in the syllabi of many colleges and universities. Essay topics for college students in Malayalam have really contributed to the literary field of art. They can be very useful for beginners and advanced students as well.

How to Write Hydrogeology Research Paper Topics

How to Write Hydrogeology Research Paper TopicsHydrogeology research papers cover all types of hydrogeological activity, ranging from sediments, reservoir features, rocks, soils, vegetation, hydrology, and sediments. It is the combined outcome of studying the hydrogeology of the earth and all its variations that we now know about. The big news with hydrogeology research is that the earth is continually changing as it undergoes shifts that occur due to climate change, especially those changes caused by human activities. Under these conditions, when considering what's to come, we can almost be certain that hydrogeology research will be the key to this continual change.Under hydrogeology research paper topics, there are several important factors which may affect the construction of a given study. Those factors can include, but are not limited to, climate, geography, culture, materials, people, and ecology. At the core of each one of these is the first and often the easiest to understand , climate. The climate influences the formation and distribution of materials, sedimentary and lithic materials, and vegetation patterns.For instance, research shows that climatic factors such as rainfall and temperature have an influence on the distribution of the sedimentary materials in any given area. Because of these variables, a field study will test various materials and sedimentary structures in order to determine how they may react to climate change. Is a more permeable material more likely to become eroded by a higher concentration of rainfall? Does a more resistant material be more vulnerable to ice melt? And so on.Once the parameters of the study have been determined, the possibilities of control measures are analyzed and potentially used to affect the conditions that govern these factors. Control measures can include such things as the placement of foundations, natural barriers, sedimentary structures, and vegetation.The next key aspect of hydrogeology research is the a rea of location. For instance, which rocks are most likely to respond to a given climate and which are more likely to respond to control measures? And can these rocks be effectively recovered when mining and other heavy construction activities cause subsidence, shifts, and erosion? These are only a few of the many environmental concerns that hydrogeology research can address.The environment also influences the production of the material that we need to do our studies. In areas with less plant life, for instance, the production of igneous and sedimentary rocks will be more susceptible to collapse. An ideal location, then, will contain the most intact or dense plant and animal life. And to combat erosion, and other problems, the greater the plant density and the greater the animal diversity, the better.Thus, hydrogeology research paper topics relate directly to the environment. This is especially true of research into the past, since the most stable environmental conditions occurred b illions of years ago. The future is also expected to be more unstable, since the conditions and various possible effects of environmental changes will change at least as rapidly as the materials and other resources used to build them.

Writing And Arguing - The Power Of Student Writing Samples

Writing And Arguing - The Power Of Student Writing SamplesFor a budding writer, student writing samples and argumentative essays are of extreme importance. They offer the writer a wealth of knowledge about what is expected of them while writing.Writing and arguing is a skill that must be practiced. Students need to be taught to write, read and think before they ever attempt to write an essay. Writing is the first step in writing an argumentative essay. The student's arguments must be coherent and understandable to the reader.Students must learn that there are no rules when it comes to writing and arguing. Just because your essay and examples are well thought out and complete, does not mean it will be read well. One of the most important skills required for student writing samples is a positive and respectful attitude towards the reader. A student must see their argumentative essay not only as an opportunity to present facts, but also as an opportunity to prove themselves to the reade r.Writing and arguing is as much about winning the reader over as it is about demonstrating your argument to the editor. Once a student has written a persuasive argument and presented it to the editor, the editor's job is to turn that argument into an argumentative essay. In most cases the editor will edit the argument and the original writing to try and make it more useful to the reader.Good student writing samples are useful in that they show what can be accomplished when a student is passionate about the topic at hand. One should remember that the proof of an argument is in the piece of writing itself. Students should also remember that essays in general are difficult to edit.When one writes a good argument, one must remember that it takes effort to make the argument persuasive. That effort should come from the student, not the editor. This means that students should read over their writing samples with an open mind. It is never wrong to change ideas, but to alter the ideas to ma ke them more persuasive.Overall, student writing samples and argumentative essays are valuable tools for students. When students learn how to write and argue, it will open up new opportunities for their career. As a student, it is important to remember that success is always a result of hard work and a positive attitude.

Friday, April 17, 2020

Social media effect on the purchase decision of the young generation in Saudi Arabia

Introduction Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have gained a lot of popularity in recent years among the young generation. Due to this popularity, social media has had a lot of influence on major decisions made by the young generation.Advertising We will write a custom proposal sample on Social media effect on the purchase decision of the young generation in Saudi Arabia specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More An increasingly higher number of individuals are now relying on social media while deciding on the type of products to purchase based on the opinions and recommendations made by their friends. The views and opinions of friends on social media sites like Facebook help to push users into making certain purchases. The aim of this research proposal is to determine the effect of social media on the purchase decision of the young generation in Saudi Arabia. Objectives of the study The study shall endeavor to explo re the following objectives: To examine the effect of social media on the purchase decisions made by the young generation in Saudi Arabia To assess the level of use of social media sites by young people in Saudi Arabia in making purchase decisions To determine if the young generation in Saudi Arabia visit social media sites for help with their purchase decisions. To determine the level of satisfaction among the young generation in Saudi Arabia in the use of the social media as a tool in making purchase decisions To determine if the young generation who use social media in Saudi Arabia have abandoned certain products following negative comments about them from social media sites Study questions The current study shall endevour to answer the following research questions: Which media site is most popular with the young generation in Saudi Arabia? Do social media affect the purchase decisions of the young generation in Saudi Arabia? To what extent does the young generation in Saudi A rabia rely of social media in making purchase decisions? Are young people satisfied with the social media as a tool for making purchase decisions? Do the social media influence decisions made by the young generation in Saudi Arabia to abandon certain products in favor of others? Methodology The study shall adopt the methodology outlined below: Respondents The study shall target the young generation in Saudi Arabia. In this case, the young generation has been defined as young people of between 18 and 35 years of age. Research design The current research shall use descriptive research designAdvertising Looking for proposal on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Research instrument A semi-structured and close-ended interview questionnaire shall be the research instrument of choice. It shall be administered to the study’s respondents in order to capture research objectives. Contact method The studyâ€⠄¢s respondents shall be contacted in person either online or via the telephone. Data collection Use shall be made of both primary and secondary methods of data collection. Secondary data shall be used to provide an insight into the background of the study by reporting on the findings of other related studies. On the other hand, primary data shall be obtained by administering a survey interview to the study’s respondents. Data analysis Once the data has been collected and complied, it shall be analyzed using statistical tools of data analysis such as the MAXQDA software. Limitations of the study – The study is anticipated to have a limited timeframe, meaning that only a limited number of participants can be interviewed. – Financial constraints will also limit the number of respondents who can take part in the study. This proposal on Social media effect on the purchase decision of the young generation in Saudi Arabia was written and submitted by user Ibrahim V. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Saturday, March 14, 2020

The History of the Taj Mahal

The History of the Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal is a beautiful white marble mausoleum in the city of Agra, India. It is widely considered to be one of the greatest architectural masterpieces in the world  and is listed as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Every year, the Taj Mahal receives visits from between four and six million tourists from all over the world.   Interestingly, less than 500,000 of those visitors are from overseas; the vast majority are from India itself. UNESCO has designated the building and its grounds as an official World Heritage Site, and there is much concern that the sheer volume of foot traffic may have a negative impact on this wonder of the world. Still, it is hard to blame people in India for wanting to see the Taj, since the growing middle class there finally has the time and leisure to visit their countrys great treasure. Why the Taj Mahal Was Built The Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan  (r. 1628 - 1658) in honor of the Persian princess Mumtaz Mahal, his beloved third wife. She died in 1632 while bearing their fourteenth child, and Shah Jahan never really recovered from the loss. He poured his energy into designing and building the most beautiful tomb ever known for her, on the southern banks of the Yamuna River. It took some 20,000 artisans more than a decade to build the Taj Mahal complex. The white marble stone is inlaid with floral details carved from precious gems. In places, the stone is carved into delicate vined screens called pierce work so that visitors can see into the next chamber. All of the floors are inlaid with patterned stone, and incised painting in abstract designs adorns the walls. The artisans who did this incredible work were supervised by an entire committee of architects, headed by Ustad Ahmad Lahauri. The cost in modern values was about 53 billion rupees ($827 million US).  Construction of the mausoleum was completed around 1648. The Taj Mahal Today The Taj Mahal is one of the loveliest buildings in the world, combining architectural elements from across the Muslim lands. Among the other works that inspired its design are the Gur-e Amir, or the Tomb of Timur, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan; Humayuns Tomb in Delhi; and the Tomb of Itmad-Ud-Daulah in Agra. However, the Taj outshines all of these earlier mausoleums in its beauty and grace. Its name literally translates as Crown of Palaces. Shah Jahan was a member of the Mughal Dynasty, descended from Timur (Tamerlane) and from Genghis Khan.  His family ruled India from 1526 to 1857.  Unfortunately for Shah Jahan, and for India, the loss of Mumtaz Mahal and the construction of her amazing tomb utterly distracted Shah Jahan from the business of governing India.  He ended up being deposed and imprisoned by his own third son, the ruthless and intolerant Emperor Aurangzeb.  Shah Jahan ended his days under house arrest, lying in bed, gazing out at the white dome of the Taj Mahal.  His body was interred in the glorious building he had made, beside that of his beloved Mumtaz.