What Does It Mean To Be A Nurse

A nurse is so much more than someone who administers medication, performs physical examinations, and establishes treatment plans. Nurses do not just listen to their patients needs, they advocate for them. They do not just take care of the suffering and ill, they have empathy for them. They do not just treat injuries and wounds, they heal the mind body and spirit. Being a nurse is not just a job title, it is an identity. It involves many core concepts and incorporates many values and beliefs. Being a nurse includes the concepts professionalism and patient and family - centered care. Both in which relate to the Benedictine values of the College of St. Scholastica.

When people think about nurses, many ideas come to mind. They think of the hideous old starched, white uniforms, a doctor’s handmaiden, the sexy or naughty nurse, or a torturer. The media and society have manipulated the identity and role of nurses. None of these ideas truly portray nurses and what they do. Nurses are with the patients more than the doctors. People do not realize how little they will encounter the doctor in the hospital until they are actually in the hospital. People quickly realize how important nurses are. Because nurses interact with their patients constantly, nurses are the ones who know the patients best.

As I prepare for my first classes in nursing school, I recognize my unique position to examine the values that I will bring into my nursing career. Without any experience, my values remain relatively unshaped regarding healthcare. In contrast, the values of nurses who have already accumulated a variety of experiences tend to be more nuanced and informed. For this exercise, I met with one of these experienced nurses—CC, a cardiac-catheterization laboratory nurse who just welcomed her third child. Together, CC and I explored the differences in our upbringings, how we were each sucked into nursing, and how our values have changed throughout different life experiences. Above all, I intended to delve into the story of her fifteen-year career in order to discover how an experienced nurse philosophizes patient care.

My philosophy of nursing comes directly from my desire to help people. I want to be a nurse because I enjoy being around people in their times of need and I get internal satisfaction by serving those that need help. I remember when I did some volunteer work for a hospital and that is when I realized my passion for nursing. I believe that the cure for many of the people's ailments is not just in medicine, it is in the care that they receive as patients in hospitals and their homes. This is where I believe that I can make a great difference in people's lives by helping them recover from their ailments.

Everyone’s values and beliefs about the profession of nursing are all different. The four concepts of nursing are interrelated and all mean something different to every person, too. Throughout this paper, I will be reflecting on my values and beliefs about nursing through the four concepts while comparing them to a nursing theorist with views that are most similar to my own.

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.

The profession of nursing tends to be seen as a career that only consists of taking vital signs and “following the doctor’s orders”. When in fact, nursing is a multifaceted occupation which consists of nurses being a direct care taker, advocator, educator, and much more. The movie, The American Nurse: Healing America, follows 5 excellent nurses who specialize in different areas of nursing. Yet they all have a story to tell as to why they chose to be a nurse, and how they want to make an impact on the health of their patients in a holistic approach. This movie shows the hearts of millions of nurses around the country. The nurses in the movie not only worked in the hospital, but cared for the incarcerated, patients in nursing homes, hospice patients,

In today’s society, nurses are held on pedestals for the work they do at their jobs. Nurses help save people’s lives and make their worse days a little bit better by providing the care their patients need. Nurses are there to provide the care necessary for people to live and survive in a world where it is not always safe. They are there to save lives and make a difference in their patient’s lives when they feel like it will never get better or like it is the end of their world.

Nursing is a worthy career that allows the specialized nurse to improve healthcare. I believe that nursing is not only caring for the sick and injured, but also making the patients your priority. They should be treated with care, kindness, dignity, respect and compensation and not judged. In return, they should be able to trust you and be comfortable in their environment for a healthy development. The nurse should be able to understand human being on all emotional, physical and mental levels. My personal nursing philosophy characterizes the discipline of nursing using the four metaparadigms:

Nursing is an esteemed profession that has developed over many years. This paper will explore the factors that influenced the development of the nursing profession, the roles and responsibilities of nurses, the many different career opportunities available to nurses as well as the origins of my passion to pursue nursing.

Every profession has its rules, beliefs, theories, and principles. This aforementioned are the podium upon which the value and philosophies of the success of each profession is based. These philosophies and values do not operate in a vacuum. They influence the way which professionals carry out their day to day activities for maximum success. Consequently, Nursing and Nurses are not immune to the great influence of values and philosophies, be it at personal or corporate levels. This is because, nursing as a profession deals with the constant interaction with patients; therapeutically providing quality, cost-effective care, promoting health and wellness, they are constantly guided and influenced by their personal and nursing philosophies in

As long as I am working in this profession, my philosophy of nursing will always be a work in progress. However, it all started to develop years before I became a nurse. When I was 19-years-old, I became pregnant and decided I wanted to keep the baby. At my 20 week prenatal appointment, the doctor could not detect a heartbeat so he completed an ultrasound. He informed me instead of a fetus, I had a mass of cysts in my uterus which contained the pregnancy hormone. Since these cysts contained beta hCG, they made my body think it was pregnant when in fact, I actually had a type of uterine cancer. Over the next three years, I had five surgeries, seven rounds of chemotherapy and multiple trips to the emergency room because I would hemorrhage. While most people my age were going to college, I spent what felt like an endless amount of time in hospitals. During that time, it became evident to me that out of everyone involved in my care, the nurses had the greatest impact on my day to day life. That moment of clarity was when I decided instead of being a teacher, I wanted to be a nurse. I truly believe being a patient first gave me a very unique perspective on nursing. It created the framework for values, beliefs, and practices which I still follow anytime I care for someone.

While the nurses have built that foundation, we are continuing to grow from that. We as modern day nurses are responsible for educating much like they did in the 1900s. Nurse’s responsibility has changed and gone beyond just physical care to requiring more trust from the patient. Nurses have become it’s own self-governed entity. We developed a more needed team effort that is necessary for the health of the patient making constant communication with staff, patient, nurses and doctors. We’ve learned that compassion and genuine care is essential to the healing process of the patient. As we spend the most time with our patient, we as nurse will know their health more intimately than anyone

My interest in becoming a nurse derived from my desire to help and care for others. Possessing great opportunity, nurses become a positive aspect within the patient’s life and not only fulfill the role as caretakers, but also a friend. Pursuing the various roles of a nurse takes a special someone, and that someone is me.

When one thinks of the field of nursing, generally, the first word that comes to one’s mind is caring. While it is true that nursing is a caring profession, the scope of practice is more elaborate. Furthermore, since the dawn of nursing, the vocation has evolved significantly, embracing advancements in education and responsibilities. In essence, nursing has developed into a proud, highly educated, multifaceted discipline, and undoubtedly an intricate art.