My Personal Statement: My Philosophy Of Nursing

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As I made my way through the nursing program, I witnessed my ideas and perceptions of the nursing practice and what nursing means to me change over time. By examining my Philosophy of Nursing assignment from first year, I can see that my current perspective on the nursing practice is similar to what it was yet has expanded as a result of being able to work alongside various Registered Nurses over the past four years. My philosophy of nursing has also slightly changed. Although my philosophy is still based on the nursing metaparadigm, that is nursing, health, the person, and the environment, I believe that my understanding of each one has evolved. Therefore, I believe it is crucial for me to further explore my current perspective on the nursing …show more content…

I still believe that this profession revolves around the nursing metaparadigm, which involves the aspects of nursing, health, the person, and the environment (Bender & Feldman, 2015), but I now see that it is also grounded in critical thinking. This critical thinking allows for nurses to gain a deeper understanding into each aspect of the metaparadigm and without this aspect or lack thereof, Arli, Bakan, Ozturk, Erisik, and Yildirim (2017) believes that the care being provided could be negatively affected. Moreover, while reflecting on what my philosophy entails, I first inquired into what I believe nursing to be. For me, nursing is a profession unlike any other and contrary to what I used to believe in first year, only those who are registered under the College of Nurses can be a part of this profession. It is important to remember that although anyone can help bandage a cut, this does not mean that they are a nurse or part of the profession. The difference between how nurses bandage a cut and everyone else is that nurses do so in a way that is more therapeutic and patient-centred. Next, while exploring my beliefs on the concept of health, I noticed that they parallel the beliefs I had during my first year. To me, health is a holistic concept that will always convey a different meaning for each person. As a result of these differences, nurses must engage in conversation with patients about their perception(s) of their current state of health and what health means to them so that care can be guided accordingly. From here, I thought about the concept of the person and how I originally believed that a patient could only be a single, holistic individual who has specific needs that must be cared for. Despite still agreeing with this, my definition of who the person is has expanded to also encompass the patient’s family and even their community if either/or are said to be within the

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