My Personal Nursing Philosophy

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.

While I was at my last job for a Jesuit University, I was introduced to Saint Ignatius of Loyola and his Ignatian Values, who was the author of these values in the Middle Ages, and they truly capture the tenets of the nursing profession. These values are Cura Personalis, Discernment, Finding God in All Things, Jesuit Pedagogy, Magis, Service of Faith and Promotion of Social Justice, and finally Women and Men for Others/Whole Persons of Solidarity for the Real World.

If I had to choose only one value of the seven in “Do you walk Ignation?” I would select Cura Personalis (Mooney, 2004, p. 2). In Latin this means “care of the person” (Mooney, 2004, p. 2). It is easy when one is busy and dealing with many patients to get caught up in diagnoses and chart updates ultimately forgetting that the patient is a person. Their well being is not merely their pulse or temperature and it is more than simply giving them their medications. This part of the nurse’s position does not address other aspects of the patient such as emotional well being, only their physical requirements. Without recognition of another level besi...

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...ves in any profession.

I am grateful to be at an institution of higher learning that understands and respects faith. My philosophy of nursing cannot be explained without God and Jesus. They are a part of each one of us. The reason that someone goes into a healthcare professional is usually to favorably treat a patient’s health. Spirituality of mind and body cannot be separated completely in my nursing philosophy. In this vein, nursing cannot be wholly separated from faith.

Works Cited

Masters, Kathleen (2009). Role Development in Professional Nursing Practice. Sudbury, MA:

Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Mooney, Debra K. (2004). Do You Walk Ignatian? Cincinnati, OH: Xavier University.

Union University, School of Nursing. (2010-2011). Nursing Student Handbook. Retrieved from

http://www.uu.edu/programs/nursing/bsn/BSNHandbook1011.pdf