As I reflect on the memorable moment that inspired me to pursue nursing, it seemed like yesterday when I was sitting in the hospital waiting room in tears, feeling confused and lost. My eldest sibling had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. In the blink of an eye, I felt like I lost a part of him and all of our childhood memories just completely vanished. During that moment a nurse entered the room placed her hand on my shoulder. She spoke comforting words and reassured that my brother was under the best possible care. Her simple presence and kindhearted words brought light to that tragic day, she made me feel like everything would be okay. It was then that I realized nurses are more than just healthcare professionals, they are caring and compassionate people who uplifts your spirits in times of need. So five years later, I am writing this essay pursuing my life-long goal of becoming a nurse. It brings feelings of joy to know that the empathetic and compassionate nature of that nurse greatly influenced my desire to help others. From that moment forward, I knew nursing was the right pathway for me.
Intrigued and excited to explore my newfound career field, I
I grew mature to recognize ways in which I could improve my weaknesses. Following my degree completion, I maintained full time employment while attending San Joaquin Delta College to complete nursing prerequisites and enhance my overall GPA. In doing so, I maintained an average post-baccalaureate GPA of 4.0 and became a member of the Alpha Gamma Sigma Honor Society. One course I undertook that was particularly helpful was a Time Management class. I studied how to prioritize tasks, minimize stress, and successfully manage my academic and personal responsibilities. This included utilizing my free time to attend office hours, preparing for lectures in advance, and setting aside an adequate amount of study
My Personal Philosophy of Nursing: Nurses are responsible for life long care, continuing education, and accountability for the practice of nursing. The philosophy of nursing is what I believe to be true about nursing, and provides a basis for the profession. Without reflecting on the philosophic system within the components of nursing, patient care may generate false generalizations. This can lead to unwarranted conclusions.
Knowing I wanted to be a nurse I took many classes in high school to help prepare me. I took anatomy and physiology, sports medicine 1 and 2, and health science technology. I was and am still excited to learn anything related nursing.
According to American Nurses Association, Nursing is “the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, groups, communities, and populations” (American Nurses Association, 2016). Nursing today has evolved from the days of Florence Nightingale, spreading all over the world nurses have not only provided bedside care but have taken their voice to Congress fighting for policy changes. Nursing to me is about providing dedicated care and compassion to each and every patient I encounter as well as being a patient advocate.
According to Chitty & Black (2014) the philosophy of nursing is defined as beliefs and values that are the bases for how we think and act in our nursing careers. Similar to a nursing philosophy, a personal philosophy includes a person’s specific beliefs and values. The purpose of this paper is to start evolving my own personal nursing philosophy that contains my own beliefs and values that I will take with me throughout my career as a registered nurse.
The philosophy of nursing consists of values, beliefs and ethics that shape the way a nurse thinks, performs their duties, and behaves. “Philosophy is the intense and critical examination of beliefs and assumptions. Philosophy gives coherence to the whole realm of thought and experiences" (Burkhardt, Nathaniel, & Walton, 2014, p.25). Nurses follow their personal philosophies, but also need to adhere to the professional standards and guidelines set by their governing body. This paper will discuss my personal nursing philosophy including my values, beliefs, ethics and clinical practice. I will outline my definition of nursing philosophy and how this relates to standardized practice guidelines
What is the philosophy of nursing? Many of the nursing theorists have different answers to this question, but all of them share the main concept and idea of nursing: a philosophy, which focuses not on the treatment of a disease but on the wholeness of human being. Florence Nightingale concentrated on the surrounding environment of the patient and how it affected the patient’s health (Creasia & Friberg, 2011). Her findings had incredible impact on the philosophy of nursing today. Along the environment factors Betty Neuman believed that nursing should be primarily concerned with appropriate actions in stress-related situations to help patients, their families, and society achieve and sustain wellness (Creasia & Friberg, 2011). The ideas of Jean Watson focused first on the commitment to self to be able to commit to others. A philosophy of nursing addresses four different meta-paradigm concepts known as client, health, nurse, and environment (Creasia & Friberg, 2011). In the movie Wit, Emma Thompson’s character Vivian Bearing was treated like a test subject with no sense of human dignity, respect and decency. The movie started with Dr. Kelekian telling Vivian that she had stage four-metastic ovarian cancer and that the treatment involved a vigorous course of therapy. There was no explanation to what that meant. He simply told her diagnosis in medical terms. The human factor was not present at all, and the rapid decline in her health was thanks to the lack of empathy, kindness, and humanity. The only character that was on the human side in the hospital, the one that had the understanding of basic human decency and cared for Vivian’s condition was the nurse Susie. She was caring, companionate, provided comf...
Nursing has many aspects that contribute to its profession. Generally, when speaking with a nurse about why they went into this profession, you will hear it was to help people. Nurses tend to have a very caring attitude when it comes to others. This is one of the reasons I myself became a nurse, and why, I have chosen to further my career by seeking more education. One of the ways that I can educate myself is by learning what nursing means to me, and how I can grow in this profession. Seeking knowledge about how nurses before me saw the field as a profession and, what they thought nursing really meant is one way to do this.
This paper is a first attempt at forming and articulating my own philosophy of nursing.
The greatest aspect about nursing is that it is never going to be just a job and is even more than a merely profession. Instead, it is a belief system or way of life and not a discipline that can simply be practiced then abandoned to the dictates of a time clock. To simply say that “I love people” or want to “help people get better” does not demonstrate the drive behind this feeling. Articulating my philosophy is not an easy task, to better explain my philosophy of nursing, I am going to use some values that I have learned. These tools truly explain how I feel and what has motivated me to pursue nursing as a career.
This paper explores the personal philosophy I have as a nursing student and what I intend to convey throughout my nursing career. A philosophy is “an analysis of the grounds and concepts expressing fundamental beliefs (Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, n.d.). Before entering into any profession it is important to evaluate your personal philosophy about the profession, as it pertains to values and principles in which believe in to guide your practice. The field of nursing is more than treating a physiological ailment, but it involves providing quality care for the individualized needs of each patient, hence being client centered. My philosophy of nursing integrates the importance of knowledge base practice of medicine, combined with addressing holistic needs of the patient and family, including the physical, psychological, cognitive, emotional, spiritual and social care (Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, 2010). Additionally, a vital aspect of nursing is effective interpersonal relationships with other healthcare professionals to promote quality patient care. Moreover, my philosophy includes the importance the client-nurse relationship to aid in health promotion to prevent illness and increase the level of health of clients.
My journey to nursing began with my personal healthcare experience, and has continued to evolve since entering the nursing program at State University. My personal philosophy of nursing is related my life experience and my personal philosophy of life. Using reflection-on-action, I have begun to understand the influences that have lead me to nursing. I discovered client and family centered care to be an important quality when I look at the influential nurses in my life. To develop a positive therapeutic nurse-client relationship, nurses must integrate all 5 dimensions of the therapeutic nurse-client relationship into their practice (CNO, 2006). When it comes to providing client-centered care, the dimensions of trust, empathy and respect are particularly important (CNO, 2006). Illness can be a traumatic experience for patients and their families, and it is important to be empathetic to the patient’s needs, while still trusting the patient to be an expert in their illness and care.
A study conducted by academics found that undergraduate nurses feel reflection is the key to changing and improving their practice. (Bulman, Lathlean, & Gobbi, 2011). Reflection assists nurses to enhance their nursing abilities by encouraging them to reflect on negative experiences, in order to overcome similar experiences in the future. This essay will aim to demonstrate the importance of reflection within nursing, additionally providing me with a platform to reflect on my decision to become a nurse. I will begin by reflecting upon the factors that influenced me to choose nursing, followed by an explanation of the benefits that reflection has on nursing. The essay will conclude by summarising how I will put reflection in practice throughout
I chose nursing as my profession because nursing is my ideal profession. In nursing, I can provide others with the care and the knowledge they need to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I can also give others the love and attention they need to be proud of the life they live. I think that society is very vulnerable and I want to make great contributions to the world of nursing. I don’t just want to be a nurse. I want to be a great nurse who is looked up to because of my experience, knowledge, and competence as a healthcare professional.
The following essay is a reflective account on an event that I, a student nurse encountered whilst on my second clinical placement in my first year of study. The event took place in a Fountain Nursing Home in Granite City. I have chosen to give thought to the event described in this essay as I feel that it highlights the need for nurses to have effective communication skills especially when treating patients that are suffering with a mental illness. Upon arriving to the Nursing home for the second time on Thursday November 14,2013; assigned the same patient as before. On meeting my patient the first thing I noticed myself doing without even thinking about it was giving her a visual inspection. Before nursing school I never really looked at someone at face value and inspected him or her physically. While interacting with my patient I felt as if I was taking to my grandmother, it was very comfortable and easy. Her neurological assessment was good, she had eye contact with me, was able to follow some simple commands such as showing me her hands and squeezing my fingers. Being in the nursing home-made me feel like there was so much medical information to acquire, I viewed it as my own personal practice space for my nursing skills. When taking with my patient she reflected on her life a bit and her stories made me get emotional. The Patient, admitted to the nursing home as a permanent resident after the death of her husband.
Nursing is a discipline of knowledge acquired through formal education and through life experiences. My philosophy of nursing is to always see the beauty in the art of being a nurse. I chose nursing as my profession as caring for people and the nursing profession is a true art form.