Developing Nursing Philosophy

According to Merriam-Webster (2016), philosophy is “an analysis of the grounds of and concepts expressing fundamental beliefs” (para. 1). Most people have a philosophy that is either a vague, general idea or a distinct guiding principle that is based on beliefs relevant to the individual, to their patients, families, communities, and colleagues. The beliefs that comprise a person’s philosophy influence the choices that person makes. Many base their choice of profession on their beliefs, thereby ensuring that the principles of their career are consistent with their personal expectations. For example, getting a job or taking actions that are inconsistent with someone’s beliefs is one of the causes of stress and burnout. Therefore, it is healthy for individuals to clarify their philosophy to help guide them to make choices and to live a life consistent with their

Developing a personal philosophy of nursing and patient care is essential to the development of every nurse. The development of a personal philosophy begins in nursing school. Nurses incorporate our personal beliefs within our nursing practice and as we grow and mature as nurses and human beings our philosophy changes. Exposure to new beliefs, cultural differences, and researching the views of a variety of nursing theorists assist nurses in developing an expanding their own philosophy with the culture of care.

Every individual typically holds a personal philosophy about life which includes beliefs and values that help shape our choices and lead us to specific life path or in a certain direction. Very similarly every nurse has a philosophy about nursing and their career. Every nurse has guidelines that they choose to follow and motives for why certain choices are made. In order to develop a philosophy of nursing a nurse must reflect on the characteristics that they abide by and by which they base their nursing care. A nursing philosophy defines the motives behind why the nurse puts their heart and soul into their career. A personal nursing philosophy produces an individual viewpoint for nursing care, research, and education (Hood, 2014). In order to have a personal philosophy or a nursing philosophy, a nurse needs to understand themselves. Not one philosophy is permanent, right, or wrong and a personal philosophy is subject to change at any time (Hood, 2014).

The development of a philosophy related to the profession of nursing is important in that it provides a framework for the nurse to base his/her work on. Philosophy is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means”. In other words, philosophies are based on beliefs and assumptions with an overall goal of obtaining an objective which states the nurse’s purpose in the profession. In my undergraduate nursing program I was exposed to multiple nursing concepts that guided my practice. Coupled with my ten years of experience in the nursing field, I was enabled to formulate my own framework or guide to nursing. The paradigm which resonates with me the most is the interactive-integrative perspective as it views practice “as having multiple, interrelated parts in relation to a specific context.” (Newman, Sime, & Corcoran-Perry, 1991, p.38). My framework includes three main components: the client, the professional nurse, and the nurse-client relationship.

anything thrown your way, yet sympathetic enough to be understanding of it. There is so much

A nursing philosophy coincides with self-awareness. Nursing philosophies are developed by each individual nurse regarding the nursing practice and are important in understanding what is fundamentally important to each nurse, along with their values and beliefs. Self-awareness, in short, is knowledge of one 's self, feelings, motives, and desires. In order for nurses to develop their own nursing philosophy they must first have a good sense of self-awareness. As a future nurse it is important that I recognize my own self-awareness so I can continue to build onto my beliefs and values of the nursing profession and gain a better understanding of what is fundamentally important to me as a nurse. In this paper I will discuss why I chose the nursing profession, my beliefs and values, and what I feel is fundamentally important in the nursing profession.

Nursing is based on caring in nursing. Compassion and concern for protecting and enhancing the

It is every person’s wish to progress or, move from one point to another in life. Everybody loves being successful. However, there are a number of factors, which should be put into consideration in order to be successful. These are fundamental things that got you where you are, but will not get you to your destiny. On this note, this paper will discuss at length, the important factors that should be taken into account, so as to be successful. The paper will start by introducing the relevance of success, and later delve on what factors will get you there, and sum up by giving an overall view on the topic at

A nursing philosophy is concepts or values that a nurse embraces within his/her practice and allows these concepts and values to shape the way he/she practices nursing and drives the purpose of their nursing care. It is important for each nurse to develop his/her philosophy of nursing to be a purpose driven nurse. Each nurse will have his/her own nurse philosophy because each believes differently. Nursing philosophies might come from different understandings but still point to one thing. They point towards the benefit and for the good of the client. Nursing philosophies can have several key concepts that are used in nursing models that include: client, health, environment and nursing.

A nursing philosophy is the thoughts and beliefs about the job of a nurse based on one’s values. My values that have formed over the years have influenced me to purse a forever career as a nurse. I grew up in a small town Smithfield, Pennsylvania with my parents and younger brother. My community consisted of close relationships between the residents. Every one helped and cared for one another when needed. The practices of my community guided me to want to become a nurse. I want to continue to care for my community and give back to them by treating their illnesses and providing them with better health care. I am particularly interested in caring for pediatric patients. My goal is to try to provide every infant a chance to live their beautiful life created for them by God. While doing this, the primary focus of being a nurse will be to accommodate my patients and allow them to become a healthy person again.

A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step, a Chinese proverb that I have come to live by through my journey of nursing. I never thought in a millions years that I would have become a nurse. When I was younger nursing was the only profession my mother pushed. It was as if everyone in our family had to be a nurse. Honestly, I think I rebelled from the thought of being a nurse simply because it was my mothers desire for my life. I went from wanting to become a lawyer, to a therapist, to a pharmacist, to even a radiology tech. Ultimately; nursing became the clear path that God wanted for me. Interestingly enough I have come to realize my personal

To understand nursing philosophy, you must first understand what nursing means to you as an individual. To me nursing as well as nursing philosophy involves providing individualized holistic care to a patient, family, community, or even one’s own self. Holistic care is providing care involving the mind, body, spirit, and environment.

My personal philosophy of nursing is based on my understanding and knowledge of medicine combined with practical, compassionate patient based care that culturally respects each patient while at the same time fulfilling their healthcare needs. My philosophy focuses just not on delivering patient based

The environment in which the patients are in plays a big role in their healing process. Florence Nightingale founded her nursing theory and philosophy on enhancing environmental factors to improve the patients overall health, healing and well-being. Nightingale's attention to environment has added significance to the role environmental conditions play in human health status (Shaner, 2006). In Nightingale’s book, Notes of Nursing, she reflects on how air and water quality, noise, light, and diet and nutrition enhance the healing process. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is similar to Nightingale’s theory of nursing. They both believed that one’s basic needs must be met before they could achieve an optimal level of

The profession of nursing has matured from the time of Florence Nightingale. Nursing has gone from just treating dying soldiers on the battlefield to helping guide people through their entire lives from birth to death. The maturation of nursing has led to changes in nursing philosophy and allowed for practitioners of Nursing to meld these philosophies together to form their own philosophy. In this paper I will explain my philosophy of nursing and compare it to Virginia Henderson 's definition of nursing along with discussing some of the changes to Nurse philosophy I will also discuss some of the difficulties to being a patient advocate.