Essay on Personal Philosophy of Nursing

Essay on Personal Philosophy of Nursing  

My personal values are driven by compassion, kindness, hard work, and the desire to help other people. These values help me to make critical decisions in my daily life as well as in achieving my goals. As a nurse, some of the values and beliefs that help me excel in my work are a combination of a set of principles that include altruism, human dignity, caring, and integrity. As a caring and professional nurse, I integrate these core values in dealing with my patients. The provision of a safe environment for patients is a duty that I take seriously because it determines patient satisfaction and outcomes. Essay on Personal Philosophy of Nursing

Essay on Personal Philosophy of Nursing

Reasons for Choosing Nursing

I chose nursing because I am passionate about helping others. Besides, I have a passion for helping people to improve their health. I come from a society where many people struggle with different illnesses and health problems. I made a decision to become a nurse to help people from my community and the nation at large to deal with health problems. Secondly, I chose to be a nurse so that I can educate people on how to live healthy lifestyle. As a young person, I watched some of my relatives and community members struggle with health problems that I later realized are easily preventable with the right information. I made a choice to become a nurse to educate and help people live healthy lifestyle.

Another reason why I chose to become a nurse is because I wanted to do something interesting and challenging but at the same time make a difference in people’s lives. While the nursing profession is very demanding, I do enjoy the routine involved in helping patients to recover. I get satisfaction when patients and their families have trust in me to take care of their sick. I get motivated when my patients are satisfied with my services. My intention of joining the nursing profession is to help patients and communities to improve their lifestyle to take charge of their health. Coming from a background where most members of the society experience an array of health challenges that result primarily from poor health choices, I wanted to make a difference by being an educator on healthy living. Essay on Personal Philosophy of Nursing

A framework for my personal practice of nursing

The conceptual framework that I use in my nursing practice relate primarily to factors that gravitate around care, interaction, technology, compassion, effective patient communication, and the context of work. These parameters help me to get clear and accurate patient diagnosis and identify areas of priority for myself and my patients. As a clinical nurse, I make critical decisions every day that impact the lives of my patients. Critical thinking for me is a necessary tool that helps to collect data from patients and apply effective methods of dealing with patients’ needs (Günay & Kılınç, 2018 Essay on Personal Philosophy of Nursing ). Some of my duties include generating relevant data from patients for accurate diagnosis and using appropriate interventions to deal with patient’s problems.

Key responsibilities that define the conceptual framework of my nursing practice are based on improved patient outcomes. Some of these duties include promoting patient safety, managing the patient environment, providing individualized care, creating a positive interpersonal relationship with patients, and using evidence-based practices in patient intervention. Concerning patient safety, a key part of my duties entails ensuring the safety of patients at all times. This factor means that I must create an environment where patients do not pick further injuries or diseases when in the hospital.

Regarding the use of evidence-based practice, my goal is to leverage clinically proven methods of interventions. As a nurse, EBP is a critical intervention method in dealing with patients because one is almost assured of the outcome rather than relying on trial-and-error methods (Hayestehfard et al., 2020 Essay on Personal Philosophy of Nursing ). This method makes me confident about patient outcomes and prepares me to deal with any unexpected side reactions.

The Core of Nursing/ Factors That Influence Nursing

At the core of nursing practice and profession are such values as integrity, professional conduct, and strong educational qualification. In my view, respect for human dignity is one of the critical codes of ethics that nurses must always observe. Respect for human dignity entail respecting the choices of patients whether we may not agree. Essay on Personal Philosophy of Nursing. It also entails being always humane and polite. Another critical code that nurses must observe is accountability, which refers to being always responsible to minimize human error during care delivery. It is also critical for nurses to account for their actions so that there are no cases of recklessness on their part. Accountability ensures that nurses give the best services to patients without compromise.

One of the ethical factors that affect the nursing practice is the issue of patient consent. Families of patients must be provided with detailed information about the procedures used in treatment so that they give full consent. Without full consent from patients and their families, it is difficult for nurses to offer quality services and treatment. Besides, lack of consent creates conflict between health care facilities and their patients as it may blur the line between what is ethical and what is necessary for better patient outcomes. Essay on Personal Philosophy of Nursing

Politically, one of the factors that affect the nursing practice is the fluctuating retirement age for nurses. In the U.S. for instance, many States have different retirement age requirement. Nationally, the government has not come out clearly to clarify on the retirement age for nurses. This factor affects nurses because they cannot properly plan for their lives. All employees require stability in their professional lives to perform well.

Interacting with my Patients/Colleagues/other healthcare professionals

Understanding patient behavior helps me to interact better with patients. In my experience as a clinical nurse, I have learned never to take patient behavior for granted or to assume them. Patients may behave in different ways depending on how they are feeling or their mental status. Observing patient behavior helps me to understand their unique needs and how to help them to avoid stress and anxiety that may emanate from their conditions (Barnejee et al., 2017 Essay on Personal Philosophy of Nursing ). Besides, I never take for granted what a patient tells me. Sometimes due to pressure from work, it is easy for nurses to dismiss what a patient tells them. In my practice as a nurse, I have learned to be a keen listener and recognize that what a patient says is important. I also ask probing questions to help me understand what they want and how best I can help alleviate their pain. As a nurse, I recognize that a hospital is a stressful environment for patients, and I try as much as I can to help them reduce their stress and anxiety levels.

I spend a lot of quality time with my patients and their families to help them cope with their pain. I have learned that spending time with patients and their families helps them develop trust in the treatment process. When patients develop trust in a nurse and the hospital, their chances of recovery are greatly improved (Olds et al., 2017 Essay on Personal Philosophy of Nursing ). This is because they put aside their worst fears and trust that they will overcome their challenges. When there is no trust between a nurse and patients, the latter may develop fear and negative attitude that affects their chances of recovery. Essay on Personal Philosophy of Nursing . I make the families of my patients have trust and faith in my abilities because this helps them to have a positive attitude about the outcome of the process. My interaction with other healthcare workers is based on sharing important information that can help to improve the health of our patients.

Beliefs and Values

One of the core values that I believe nurses should have is trustworthiness. A study by Strandas and Bondas (2017) revealed that that patient-nurse relationship built on trust help patients to recover faster. Consequently, nurses must cultivate the trust of their patients to aid their recovery. Another critical value that nurses should have is compassion. As a nurse, I believe that caring and promoting the dignity of patients must be observed. Patients must be cared for with empathy and the dignity they deserve including by acknowledging that they have the a say in their health matters. Essay on Personal Philosophy of Nursing

Concerning patient’s families, I believe that nurses must not let their personal cultures affect their duties. Since we live in multicultural societies, nurses and patients may have different cultures and personal beliefs that may affect their views on health. Essay on Personal Philosophy of Nursing . As a nurse, I have learnt that culture plays an integral role in treatment of patients. It is important that a nurse takes into consideration the personal beliefs and cultures of a patient. Culture affects medical treatment because it defines the perception of patients regarding critical matters such as causes of a disease, death, pain and grief, where to seek help, the kind of treatment, and the level of trust they have in the chosen treatment.

Just like patients, nurses other healthcare workers have their personal values and cultures that shape their perception of health. As a nurse, I believe that it is not right to dismiss the culture and personal beliefs of patients. Instead, it is critical to understand the reasoning of a patient and then advise them in a polite manner how that belief or culture impact their health. This approach makes patients to acknowledge different perspectives that help them to live healthy lifestyle while abandoning harmful beliefs and cultures. Essay on Personal Philosophy of Nursing

I believe that my health is primarily a factor of personal behavior choices and, to an extent spirituality. While disease and sickness is something we can not run away from, I believe that simple decisions such healthy eating, exercise, limiting the use of harmful substances such as alcohol and tobacco can greatly affect one’s health. However, I also believe that spirituality plays a role in how we take in health challenges. For instance, I believe among patients suffering from terminal conditions, spirituality can help them come to terms with their condition, making them appreciate the life they have lived.

Conclusion

My nursing philosophy is based on critical values and beliefs such as compassion, integrity, human dignity, and altruism. These factors enable me to get clear and accurate patient diagnosis and identify areas of priority for myself and my patients. Key responsibilities that define the conceptual framework of my nursing practice are based on improved patient outcomes. My core duties include promoting patient safety, managing the patient environment, providing individualized care, creating a positive interpersonal relationship with patients, and using evidence-based practices in patient intervention. Concerning patient safety, I aspire to always ensure that patients are always safe whenever they are seeking care services within the facility. Essay on Personal Philosophy of Nursing

Essay on Personal Philosophy of Nursing  References

  • Banerjee, S. C., Manna, R., Coyle, N., Penn, S., Gallegos, T. E., Zaider, T., & Parker, P. A. (2017). The implementation and evaluation of a communication skills training program for oncology nurses. Translational Behavioral Medicine7(3), 615-623. doi: 10.1007/s13142-017-0473-5
  • Günay, U., & Kılınç, G. (2018). The transfer of theoretical knowledge to clinical practice by nursing students and the difficulties they experience: A qualitative study. Nurse Education Today65, 81-86. DOI: 10.1016/j.nedt.2018.02.031
  • Olds, D. M., Aiken, L. H., Cimiotti, J. P., & Lake, E. T. (2017). Association of nurse work environment and safety climate on patient mortality: A cross-sectional study. International Journal Of Nursing Studies74, 155-161. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2017.06.004
  • Shayestehfard, M., Torabizadeh, C., Gholamzadeh, S., & Ebadi, A. (2020). Ethical sensitivity in nursing students: Developing a context–based education. Electronic Journal of General Medicine,17(2): em195. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejgm/7812
  • Strandas, M. & Bondas, T. (2017). The nurse-patient relationship as a story of health enhancement in community care: A meta-ethnography. Journal of Approved Nursing, 74(1), 11-22. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.13389

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