Personal nursing philosophies are critical for nurse practitioners and students because they allow them to articulate their personal values and beliefs about the profession and its practice. Therefore, a nursing philosophy at a personal level is about critical reflection so that the nursing student or practitioner build theoretical understanding and enhance confidence in either nursing or practicing in healthcare settings (Hood, 2014). Imperatively, a personal nursing philosophy is about the reflection of my beliefs, principles, and values that affect my practice as a nurse (Thompson, 2017). In this personal philosophy on nursing, I identify and discuss my philosophy, changes that have occurred to it over time, and the factors that have impacted the change on the philosophy.
My Nursing Philosophy
My nursing philosophy focuses on the intrinsic values and beliefs that I hold about giving care and the concept of nursing (Thompson, 2017). Imperatively, I focus on holistic, patient-centered care that is culturally sensitive, and being compassionate, using my knowledge and demonstrating respect, dignity, and autonomy to a patient under my care. I believe that patients require not just physical wellbeing when under my care but also spiritual and emotional health is essential in attaining a holistic healing process. Further, my personal nursing philosophy is based on the need to ensure that a collaborative work environment exists in healthcare and community settings for the benefit of the patients, their families and communities that nurse professionals serve. Further, it is critical for me to advocate for patients, provide necessary care and information, and be a leader in the provision of care to patients. As a nursing professional, I believe that my obligation is beyond fulfilling my duties in my workplace but ensuring that I seek collaborative approaches with the aim of attaining life-long learning and skills development for better delivery of care in a fast changing healthcare industry. In addition, my nursing philosophy is influenced by the four-domain meta-paradigm as proposed by Fawcett that include person, environment, health and nursing (Bruce, Rietze & Lim, 2014).
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Firstly, I believe that the nursing profession is about people and care consists of the entire aspects of a patient and not a single illness or health concern should be treated in isolation of the whole body. The holistic approach to care looks at all phases of a patient’s life and facilitates optimum quality care for better outcomes. Secondly, as a practicing nurse, I view health as a dynamic state of being based on the health-disease continuum. Health is impacted by beliefs and behaviors and is holistic since it encompasses physical, physiological, spiritual, emotion and social facets of an individual’s life (Hoeck & Delmar, 2017). Whenever I encounter patients, I seek to ensure that I can understand all the facets of their health status so that I can help them attain optimal and quality outcomes.
Thirdly, the environment of a patient is essential to their care and better outcomes (Hood, 2014). Patients live in communities and interact with their environment in different ways. The environment consists of their cultural and social life, economic and political influences and how these components affect their access to affordable and quality health care services. Therefore, my compassionate care, emotional understanding and scientific application of acquired knowledge and experience must consider all the factors in the environment when delivering care to the patient. Fourthly, nursing is about facilitating, supporting and assisting persons, families, communities and societies to improve, maintain, and recover health and mitigate the effects if illness. Therefore, as nursing professional, I should use my nursing knowledge, evidence-based care, and the components of the nursing process to offer optimum healthcare services to patients. Further, it implies that I must use my knowledge and experience to make decisions in complex situations in delivering care to patients.
Changes in personal Philosophy over time
My personal nursing philosophy continues to transform with time because of the need to align with the changing healthcare goals and trends. The recent changes in legislation and the expanding healthcare sector mean that nurses should change their philosophies with the aim of enhancing quality care and delivering patient-centered approaches in their nursing practice (Bruce et al., 2014). Therefore, my nursing philosophy has changed especially due to the environment paradigm. The nursing environment continues to change because increased diversity in the population, expansion of healthcare services due to the enactment of legislations like the Affordable Care Act 2010, and use of technology through telemedicine among other factors (Salmond & Echavarria, 2017). As a result, I believe that my philosophy should encompass being a culturally sensitive and competent nurse that understands how diversity in population requires adjustment. Secondly, my philosophy has changed because of the need to understand nurse informatics and how to exercise autonomy with the advent of big patient data and how it can be used to enhance quality care.
Consequently, the transforming healthcare sector due to its expansion and increased access, use of technology, and the increased diversity in the population are factors that have influenced change in my personal nursing philosophy (Hood, 2014). These changes imply that as a nurse, I must look beyond the four facets of nursing but other merging issues that are critical to healthcare service provision. I need to ensure that I attain cultural competence so that I can deliver effective and quality care to patients from diverse backgrounds; especially at a time when the minority are set to be the majority.
Conclusion
It is evident that the nursing profession will transform and require nurses to have nursing philosophies that respond and align with the inevitable changes. The paper has outlined my nursing philosophies, how it has changed over time and the factors that have influenced the change. Imperatively, I believe that the paper provides a reflection of the values and beliefs that I hold in my professional practice.
References
Bruce, A., Rietze, L., & Lim, A. (2014). Understanding Philosophy in a Nurse’s World: What,
Where and Why ? Nursing and Health , Vol.2, No.3, pp.65-71. Retrieved from http://www.hrpub.org/download/20140701/NH2-16802412.pdf
Hoeck, B. & Delmar, C. (2017). Theoretical development in the context of nursing—The hidden
epistemology of nursing theory . Nursing Philosophy , vol.19, No.1. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nup.12196
Hood, L. J. (2014). LEDDY & PEPPER’S: Conceptual Bases of Professional Nursing, 8 th
Edition. Baltimore, MD: Lippincott-Raven Publishers.
Salmond, S. W. & Echavarria, M. (2017). Healthcare Transformation and Changing Roles for
Nursing. Orthopedic Nursing , Vol.36, No.1, pp.12-25. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5266427/
Thompson, C. J. (2017 October 24) How to Figure Out Your personal Philosophy of Nursing.
Retrieved from https://nursingeducationexpert.com/personal-philosophy-nursing/
