Nursing Philosophy

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.

“The concept of person refers to the recipient of nursing, including individuals, families, communities and other groups, regardless of their physical,

Most important to my philosophy of nursing is the health and well-being of the entity seeking nursing care. To further define, nursing can be called upon to treat not only one individual, but a group of individuals, or a community. In my personal experience, I have worked almost exclusively with one individual, however I feel my philosophy could be applied to groups and

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

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.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss my personal beliefs pertaining to the profession of nursing. As well I will discuss the (4) metaparadigms in nursing which are known as; human beings, environment, health, and nursing, and my personal beliefs on these concepts and how they have similarities to the nursing philosophy of a nursing theorist.

Philosophy is a set of ideas, values, and beliefs behind what a person does (Merriam- Webster Dictionary, 2015). All nurses have beliefs about what nursing is and is not. It is important to stay true to one’s personal, moral, and ethical values at all times. Nurses are morally and ethically responsible for their patients, decisions, and actions (Lindh, Barbosa, Berg, & Severinsson, 2010). Every nurse brings something different to healthcare because they have different philosophies and/or believe in different nursing theories that guide their practice.

I believe environment in nursing is having an atmosphere where everyone can function appropriately. When I say that, I am referring to being in a place where co-workers are able to ask questions and we are able to lean on one another. An environment where patients feel comfortable asking the doctors’ questions or even asking the nurses questions without feeling inadequate. The environment of the hospital helps play a huge role in patient care because if we work in a stressed place we then in turn display that in our care.

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.

Developing my personal metaparadigm began with me asking myself questions, such as, “what does nursing mean to me?” In researching theory more and more, I have found my personal philosophy has many similarities to Kolcaba’s metapardigm. Person, to me, would be defined as the patient and family I am caring for. The person requires unique assistance in their illness, while keeping in mind their different needs based upon their own culture, religion, and goals. Each person is distinct in that one person’s level of comfort is different from the next family I will be taking care of.

Masters (2012) described that philosophies “set forth the general meaning of nursing and nursing phenomena through reasoning and the logical presentation of ideas” (p. 49). The mind-map provided presents the personal philosophy of this author’s nursing practice in relation to the four concepts of the metaparadigm of nursing. The compatibility of this author’s personal philosophy with existing

Throughout the history of nursing, there have been many nursing theorists who have each made significant contributions towards the shaping of nursing knowledge. Each of these theorists have differing perspectives and interpretations of how each domain of the nursing metaparadigm fit into their respective theories. The four domains of the nursing metaparadigm are: person, environment, health and illness, and nursing. The purpose of this reflection is to provide an overview of the domains related to the metaparadigm of nursing as well as to introduce this author’s perspective on their developing personal philosophy of nursing. In this paper, the author will take a closer look at each of these areas, how they are individually defined, and how they each fit into the nursing metaparadigm as a whole. At the conclusion of this overview, readers will be introduced to how these theorists and their perspectives have enabled this author to begin to create their own philosophy of nursing.

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.

Theory is a cluster of concept or ideas that propose a view concerning a phenomenon to guide nursing practice (Chitty, 2005). The four concepts basic to nursing that are incorporated in this paper are nursing, person, health, and environment (Cherry & Jacob, 2005). The goal of this paper is to describe the core concept of nursing shared amongst Dorothea Orem and Virginia Henderson’s theories. The comparison and analysis of concept definitions between these two theories will also examined. Finally Henderson’s theory of concept statement, metaparadigm and her philosophy will be explored.

Orem’s four metaparadigm principles are important in understanding the theory as a whole. Nursing is the actions performed by nurses to assist patients towards the goal of self-care. Health describes a patient being structurally and functionally whole. An environment that promotes self-care is equally as important as human’s being allowed to function at their highest self-care level.