My Nursing Philosophy of Basic Nursing Care
Based on Virginia’s Henderson Need Theory
My nursing philosophy is to identify my patients’ needs, provide care, relief and support without discrimination, to advocate for them and promote their health and understanding about their condition and treatment to help them regain their independence and well-being.
According to Henderson, Health affects the personal ability of patients in functioning independently and being able to perform their basic biopsychological needs. Additionally, patients’ health affects their ability to manipulate the environment which in turns influence their health, recovery or death (Virginia Henderson's Need Theory). For example, a patient who was a victim in a motor vehicle accident, his or her condition after the accident will affect the ability to perform the activities of the daily life because of trauma, immobility or pain. If this person has a mayor trauma, his or her
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The nurses’ function is to assume the role that will assist patients unable to perform the tasks for basic biopsychological needs because of lack of knowledge, physical strength or will to accomplish their needs "assisting individuals to gain independence in relation to the performance of activities contributing to health or its recovery" (Henderson, 1966). The nurses’ roles are substitutive, supplementary, complementary. In the substitutive roll, nurses have to act for the patients in order to meet their biopsychological needs. In the supplementary role, nurses help their patients in doing their activities to meet their needs; and in the complementary role, nurses work with the patient in order to improve their independence as soon as possible (Virginia Henderson's Need
This paper explores the personal nursing philosophy I plan to convey in my personal career. This philosophy is going to be described in my own terms to explain what being a nurse means to me. I believe that there are a number of factors that are important to be successful in the nursing field. I believe that being a nurse it takes commitment to accountability, professionalism, and compassion for the ill. I will explain each one of these in my paper and what they mean to me.
I also believe that nursing is about empowering patients through teaching and positive reinforcement, giving them the autonomy to direct their own recovery or health maintenance. In doing so I believe that we are respecting their individuality and dignity.
Upon reading the title of this paper, one may ask themselves why it is termed “take one.” As I have learned in many of my freshman year classes, everything in life exists on a continuum; from health, to the completion of psychosocial tasks, to one’s opinions on various moral issues, nothing can be succinctly and eternally summarized, especially not at the juvenile age of eighteen. For this reason, what follows is the first take of my own personal nursing philosophy, one that is not only prone to change but will enact an evolving bidirectional influence on my nursing practice, that is, as my practice changes, so will my philosophy, and vice versa.
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.
In this paper I will explore the elements of nursing theory and how I believe they are all tied together. I believe that a man’s health will be directly affected by his environment and his nursing care.
My personal nursing philosophy focuses on compassionate, holistic, and preventative care to my future patients and their close friends and family. I believe that compassion is the most important characteristic for a nurse to have. When dealing with a patient, you are not just dealing with the physical illness, but you are dealing with the emotional distress of the patient as well. Nurses also have to care for the emotional distress of the family members or friends of a patient in critical or fatal conditions. This requires compassion.
Each nurse has a personal philosophy of nursing whether he or she is cognizant of it or not. Caring for the whole person is what called me to the nursing profession. The Neuman Systems Model most influences my nursing philosophy as it focuses on unique individualistic care that includes psychological, sociological, and developmental human needs. This holistic care model is particularly relevant to the geriatric population; the population I most desire to serve. By utilizing the Neuman Systems Model and how it pertains to the elderly, I am able to develop my nursing philosophy.
The basis for the philosophy of nursing discussed later is deeply rooted in the beliefs I have on human nature. I believe that man is generally good and wants to do what is in the best interest of both self and others. Human
Nursing is about caring and trying to understand human beings on all emotional, physical, and scientific level. A nurse must be open to new cultures and able to accept the differences in people. Nursing focuses on the care of people, their families, and communities to achieve an overall goal of relative health and quality of life throughout life. My personal philosophy characterizes the discipline of nursing using the four metaparadigms concepts: person, environment, health, and nursing.
For us to talk about nursing philosophy, I believe that one must first decide what philosophy means to them. There is not one clear definition of philosophy, but according to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English language (2000), philosophy is an “underlying theory or set of ideas relating to a particular field of activity or to life as a whole.” I believe this definition ties with my nursing philosophy, because every nurse has different ideas of their own. Therefore, my nursing philosophy is to provide holistic patient centered care, to deliver compassionate care and to care for my patient with the best of my ability using all my knowledge, I believe that education plays a significant role in my philosophy. Continued education gives me more knowledge, which allows me to provide better care every day. Nurses need to use that knowledge to help those who are unable to help themselves.
First of all the definition of metaparadigm is a set of theories or ideas that provide structure for how a discipline should function. Furthermore, for a nursing discipline, these theories consist of four basic concepts: the patient as a whole, the patient’s health and well-being, the patient’s environment and the nursing responsibilities (Fawcett & Lee, 2015). The Metaparadigm is important to nurse theory because is encompassed the keys concept of nursing theory; it is the areas of focus of patient care. Therefore, nursing impacts the health of individuals, families, groups, and populations through situated caring which shows level of emotional involvement in the nurse-client relationship. The care structure considers the person’s spiritual
A human being is an individual with the capabilities of performing self-care agency. People strive to achieve their maximal human potential and move toward maturation. In order to do so, people must incorporate physical, psychological, interpersonal, and social aspects to their lives. People must be diligent and learn to meet self-care needs; it is not an innate action. People who are deliberate and capable of performing self-care meet their self-care needs and do not need a nurse. Should the person be unwilling to learn, or does not have the mental capability to perform self-care, a provider of service is needed to intervene. I believe that people can benefit from nursing as health deviations and health limitations can hinder the ability to perform self-care. I believe that people are knowledgeable in their abilities to perform and learn self-care because of the importance placed on autonomy in society. If the person suffers physical, psychological, social, interpersonal, or environmental loss, it may affect the person’s ability to perform self-care. I
For me born and raised in African I grew up experiencing shortage of help in the health care field. I have seen people die because there was nobody to care for them or the help did not care if these people lived or died. I think my past experience lead me to career of nursing.
After examining the 5 predominate health education/promotion philosophies and reflecting my current skill/duties, I have concluded that I utilize all five of the philosophies in some manner. However, the two most common philosophies I utilize are cognitive-based philosophy and behavior change philosophy. For example when a patient is admitted to our unit due to a new diagnosis of heart failure the nursing staff, dieticians, and other rehab service lines collaborate with the patient and identify ways to for the patient to implement lifestyle changes but identifying risky behaviors. Meanwhile, allowing the patient the freedom and accountability to make good or bad choices. Educational materials are provided such as pamphlets, a series DVD's,
As a nurse working in the healthcare industry for over thirty years, my beliefs on the nursing philosophy help my profession in many fields of nursing. It also assisted me to become an advocate for my patients. That is why I believe that in nursing it is vital for a nurse to have