Personal Philosophis, And My Personal Philosophy Of Nursing

According to Petiprin (2016) “A philosophy of nursing is an approach to nursing, usually created by individual nurses in their own daily practice in the field. A nurse uses his or her philosophy of nursing to explain what he or she believes nursing is, the role nursing plays in the health care field, and how he or she interacts with patients.” Ethics are also addressed in a philosophy of nursing. Petiprin (2016) also states “A philosophy of nursing guides a nurse as he or she practices each day. Personal philosophies of nursing are guided by nursing theories or models which help the nurse interact and provide the best care he or she can for the patient.” The Theory of Comfort by Katharine Kolcaba helps guide my personal philosophy of nursing in my everyday nursing practice. Working on a Surgical Oncology unit, comfort for the patient and their families is essential in their care and the healing process for both. Comfort is subjective and individualized. Several factors including physical, environmental, social, and psycho-spiritual each affect the comfort level of a patient. Comfort is individualized and perceived differently by each patient and the nurse

I want to get my patient as close as I can back to their baseline. It is an ongoing process from the time the patient is admitted until the time of their discharge. I work with each patient teaching them about the types of surgeries they had, what kind of pain to expect, how to provide comfort through different interventions including pain medication, types of positioning, and ambulation, what types of nutrition and diet they need and how to care for the wounds they have or new surgical alterations that need teaching including stomas from a urostomy, ileostomy, or colostomy. Putting the patient at ease and providing comfort during this time helps with the healing process and helps patients achieve optimal health and