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Growing up, I could never picture myself doing anything but becoming a nurse. My uncle and aunt were both nurses and back then, I would listen to their stories about the touching and inspiring moments they had experienced daily. It was this real human connection that made me fall in love with the idea of nursing as my profession. It is my goal to be able to use my skills and comfort to aid people in the healing process.
This personal reflective paper aims to share the principles I gained in my nursing experience and develope my own version of philosophy in nursing. Nursing is a profession rooted in professional ethics and ethical values, and nursing performance is based on such values. Core values of nursing include altruism, autonomy, human dignity, integrity, honesty and social justice (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2016). My philosophy in my career in nursing is to establish a concept in nursing as not just a rewarding profession, but a special calling. I believe that as a caring nurse, it is my responsibility to ensure that my clients receive quality holistic care. Thus, the core values of nursing are essential and must be integrated in our everyday lives.
Nursing Paradigm
Fawcett (2012) conveyed four concepts of nursing metaparadigm as a basis for organizing nursing knowledge and beliefs about nursing’s context and content: person, environment, health, and nursing. In the nursing process, every single metaparadigm portrayed a vital part and is fundamental in providing patient care. I, myself, can also individualize my own description of the four nursing metaparadigms. I can ponder on my function and responsibility as a clinical nurse by using the framework not only in my client care practices but as well as in my day to day encounter in life.
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Person
As a nurse, I seek to engage in meaningful encounters and establish authentic connections with patients (Johnson, 2014). I must say that each patient is exceptional and must be regarded for as a unique individual. I appreciated the significance of establishing rapport to our clients and build a trust in the nurse-patient relationship. The nurse must also take note some important considerations when dealing with patients such as their physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and socioeconomic aspect. I also believe that the focus of care should be client-centered since our clients are our main recipient of care.
Health
I endeavor to understand the patients and communities with which I work in the context of the determinants of health, as emphasized by the Public Health Agency of Canada (2013). I describe health as the overall well-being of an individual. It is just not the wellness of an individual that I must note but as well as the access of the client in readily available services and facilities in the health care. It is also important that nurses should have a mutual understanding on the concept of health in a way that it aims on health promotion and disease prevention.
Environment
The environmental theory developed by Florence Nightingale (1860) has focused primarily on the environment, interpreted as all external conditions and influences that affect the life and development of an organism, that are able to prevent, suppress or contribute to disease and death. I support the advocacy that the environment is an important factor to consider in maintaining health as good environment allows healing to take place and help improve the status of the client whereas a poor environment can result in illness and distress. In addition, a safe, supportive and healthy environment promotes improvement in the success of a client’s care plan.
Nursing
Nursing’s relational practice and science are directed toward the explicit outcome of health-related quality of life within the immediate and larger environmental contexts (Thorne et al., 2014). Nursing reflects on how the nurse cares for the patients using the application of proper knowledge, skills and attitude. I can relate that nursing is not just a career but a special calling that needs necessary education and practice in providing care for the patients.
Personal Philosophy and Practice
Philosophy is an outlook and standpoint in life and reality that evolves from each nurse’s belief (Edwards, 2012). My personal philosophy in nursing gave me a solid motivational foundation and that is to deliver a holistic care to my client, their families, and to the community as a whole based on my values and beliefs as a person with compassion, empathy, commitment and integrity. I transpired my personal nursing philosophy in the inspiration of Theory of Human Caring by Jean Watson wherein it involves how the nurses express holistic care to their patients (Watson, 2015).
By profession, I was a clinical staff nurse in a tertiary government hospital and specifically assigned in Neurosurgery Ward and Intensive Care Unit for four years in the Philippines. I handle patients with neurological conditions that involve the nervous system and my role in the unit was to prepare the patients who undergoes neurosurgical procedure pre-operatively and post-operatively. During the pre-operative stage, I use a variety of strategies such as active listening and effective communication that can help alleviate and cope with the anxiety, emotional tension and fear that my patient and family are feeling. Meanwhile, my responsibilities during the post-operative stage are to ensure that my patient is geared towards pain management, wound care, up to the day of discharge for home management.
Composing my personal philosophy in nursing had given me an opportunity to reflect on myself not only as a nurse, but most importantly as a person. It was indeed a humbling and valuable experience to share my insights and impart my experiences as to how I was able to contribute to the society in general. It is also significant to recognize how the implication of our nursing practice influence other people’s impression on the nursing profession.
I admit that undertaking the path of nursing is not an easy road to take. Each nurse will experience a lot of struggles, obstacles and challenges may it be in a personal or professional aspect. However, at the end of the day, what matters most is the satisfaction you get after extending your help to save someone else’s lives, after you have seen the smiles on the faces of your patients and the family, after someone acknowledges your effort and are in depth gratitude of your presence making them feel comfortable and at ease. These simple gestures of appreciation are what upholds my personal growth and enhance my nursing philosophy.
References
- American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2016). The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice. Retrieved October 20, 2016 from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/education-resources/BaccEssentials08.pdf.
- Edwards, S. D. (2012). What is philosophy of nursing? Journal of Advanced Nursing, 25: 1089. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2648.1997.19970251089.xFawcett, J. (2012). Theory: basis for the study and practice of nursing education. Journal of Nursing Education, 24(6), 226-229. Retrieved from http://www.slackjournals.com/jne
- Johnson, J.L. (2014). A dialectal examination of nursing art. In W. Cody (Ed.), Philosophical and theoretical perspectives for advanced nursing practice (4th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
- Nightingale, F. (1860). Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not. Retrieved from http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/nightingale/nursing/nursing.html
- Public Health Agency of Canada. (2013). What Determines Health? Retrieved from http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/ph-sp/determinants/index-eng.php
- Thorne, S., Canam, C., Dahinten, S., Hall, W., Henderson, A., & Kirkham, S. (2014). Nursing’s metaparadigm concepts: disimpacting the debates. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 27(6), 1257-1268. Retrieved from www.cinahl.com/cgibin/refsvc?jid=203&accno=1998053784
- Watson J. (2015). Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado
