Nursing Care Philosophy Essay

Nursing should not be looked upon or practiced as a mere physical approach to healing. Nursing should encompass the aspect of restoring each individual patient to his/her maximum physical and emotional state of being. In order to achieve such a goal, a patient must be able to bond with her caregiver on a personal level (Blais & Hayes, 2011). Jean Watson’s caritas factors sets an environment where the patient can obtain optimum health benefits (Blais & Hayes, 2011). The goal of this paper is to state my philosophy of nursing, the important dynamics and values that led me to adopting this philosophy, and the reason why I choose nursing as a profession. I will further explain how Jean Watson’s principles of philosophy is

“If a patient is cold, if a patient is feverish, if a patient is faint, if he is sick after taking food, if he has a bed-sore, it is generally the fault of not of the disease, but of the nursing. I use the word nursing for want of a better” (Nightingale, 1860, p. 8). While Nightingale stressed the impact of one’s environment to promote healing, Virginia Henderson aimed to establish on the fundamental needs as a knowledge base to guide Professional nursing practice. Henderson emphasized on fourteen components required for effective nursing care which includes: breathing normally, eating and drinking adequately, elimination of body wastes, movement and posturing, sleep and rest, select suitable clothes-dress and undress, maintaining body temperature, keeping body clean and well groomed, avoiding dangers in the environment, communication, worship according to one’s faith, work accomplishments, play or participate in various forms of recreation, and learn, discover, or satisfy the curiosity (Fernandes et al., 2015). Her division of the fourteen components acknowledged patient needs with a holistic approach that is applied through the nursing process in a clinical setting.

Regrettably, the existence of nursing depends on the medical inadequacy of others. Unfortunately, nursing exists because people get hurt, cannot care for themselves, or need assistance with daily activities. Carol Taylor (2011), author of Fundamentals of Nursing: The Art and Science of Nursing Care, writes, “Nursing care involves any number of activities, from carrying out complicated technical procedures to something as seemingly as holding a hand” (p. 5). Taylor explains it is the duty of a nurse not only to learn the pertinent skills but also to bond with and comfort others. Nurses have to do and become many things: They must be stern when necessary, compassionate when needed, open minded

In my personal philosophy, it is my goal to assure that my patients receive the upmost quality care. Although each working shift I am faced with many undaunting challenges, it is still my calling that the patients who remain under my care for 12 hours remain without harm. According to the Arkansas State Board of Nursing (2017),” The mission of the Arkansas State Board of Nursing is to protect the public and act as their advocate by effectively regulating the practice of nursing” (para. 1). Once completing my education and seating before the NCLEX boards, I took an oath to act in accordance with this mission. In my current student status, transforming my diploma degree into a baccalaureate degree, I will now learn to integrate new Quality and Safety Education for Nursing competencies into my philosophy.

According to Barbara Caper as cited in Chinn and Kramer (2011, p 1), people generally develop the knowledge about based on what’s they belief or valued in that. Therefore, the personal valued is the key creating or generating the knowledge. Similarly to nursing perspective which it based on nursing philosophical lens is the key to develop theory of nursing sciences. In other words, philosophy in nursing reflects nursing-knowing of perceiving or understanding in a particular phenomenon and expresses or communicates it as the knowledge to others in many forms including the theory of nursing sciences (Chinn & Kramer, 2011; Meleis, 2012).

This author’s personal philosophy in practice is to provide holistic care to my patients and their families. This author feels that encompassing the whole family or the patients support framework in the plan of care is the best approach to returning the patient to their optimum state of health. It is important to this author to evaluate the all of the aspects of the patient’s lives that they will share. It is important to evaluate the patient’s learning style,

Bringing these two concepts together is like having an umbrella during a rain storm; individually they are helpful and necessary but together they are the perfect combination. Caring is that feeling deep down that drives nurses to strive for and promote the notion of human flourishing. To help patients achieve the best possible health that they can. It is important to utilize nursing skills of honesty, taking risks, critically thinking, compassion, creativity, and caring (MacCulloch, 2011). To care is to feel and understand what your patient is going through influencing action to help the patient achieve their best possible self, and then allow both the patient and one’s self to grow in every aspect of life; to flourish inside the body and as a member of the community.

Human caring is what sets nursing apart from other professions. As Watson (1998) stated, “care and love are the most universal, the most tremendous and the most mysterious of cosmic forces: they comprise the primal universal psychic energy. Caring is the essence of nursing and the most central and unifying focus for nursing practice” (p. 32-33). It is important to establish a good nurse-patient relationship in order to create a healing environment that would meet patient’s needs on all levels including physical, mental/emotional and spiritual, promote recovery, maintain health, and create positive outcomes. Jean Watson emphasized the importance of human

All these include caring behaviours, without which cannot render nursing services. Any other attitude outside of caring is like punishing the patient and will make the patient feel that I am wicked and mean harm instead of good. Therefore, the concept of caring is the essence of nursing.

The art of human caring is one of the most essential parts of the nursing profession. Caring is not something that you learn to do, but something that is within you. In nursing, it is important to know what kind of nurse you want to be as well as the care you intend to provide to your patients. The patient is the center of nursing, and it is your responsibility to make sure they are receiving the best care that they can receive. One of the most important things is to be able to set aside personal beliefs and morals in order to provide patient centered care. The way that you approach and care for a patient is either going to make or break the effect of the care you will be implementing to the patient.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the personal nursing philosophy I intend to use in my career as a nurse and to explore my values and beliefs about the four metaparadigms – the patient, the nursing practice, their health and the environment, and the discipline of nursing in addition to discussing the nursing concepts relevant to my practice as a nurse practitioner. This paper also discusses the nurse of the future and the Synergy model definitions of the four metaparadigms and how they fit into my personal philosophy.

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

The greatest aspect about nursing is that it is never going to be just a job and is even more than a merely profession. Instead, it is a belief system or way of life and not a discipline that can simply be practiced then abandoned to the dictates of a time clock. To simply say that “I love people” or want to “help people get better” does not demonstrate the drive behind this feeling. Articulating my philosophy is not an easy task, to better explain my philosophy of nursing, I am going to use some values that I have learned. These tools truly explain how I feel and what has motivated me to pursue nursing as a career.

Before looking at the concept of caring, one must realize that nursing is an evolving art. When one thinks of a nurse and a nurse’s duties, thoughts of medicine, small talk, and general care come to mind. One might also think of their nurse’s smile, gentle way of handling situations, or genuine concern. Gayle Stuart, a Registered Nurse who works in the psychiatric ward with the Singing River Hospital, believes that the objective for nursing has evolved for the better. A patient expects a certain treatment now; this treatment includes not only medicine or operations for their physical ailments, but also a degree of tact, generosity, and level-headedness. This seems to be due to the timing in which the concept of caring reached a point of standard procedure. In turn, the concept of caring would be taught in college and vocational nursing programs (G. Stuart, personal communication, October 14, 2015). When a patient comes to expect this type of treatment from ALL health care professionals, they may be disappointed.

I believe at the heart of nursing is the provision of care. Caring is the fundamental tenet behind all that we do and say in our relationships with patients. Caring is a value I possess. Caring, is also a trait that must be nurtured and cultivated in all nurses to be therapeutic and of value to patients. Nurse educators facilitate students ' development of effective care.