Introduction
A nurse’s philosophy usually reflects her values, ideals, attitudes, and beliefs related to professional practice. Therefore, a good personal nursing philosophy should include concepts that guide a nurse’s decisions and actions, the personal interpretation of nursing meta paradigms, their association with the nursing practice, as well as possible strengths and limitations. This paper presents my philosophy of nursing with the focus on such essential components as personal values, beliefs, principles, and attitudes in the context of my professional practice and education.
Key Concepts of Philosophy
The key concepts of my nursing philosophy are based on my beliefs and visions of a nurse’s role in society. Thus, I believe that nurses are responsible for providing their patients with high-quality care. Moreover, I am sure that care should be patient-centered, and the focus should be on respecting patients’ needs and desires. The individual approach to each patient is the core of my philosophy of nursing. I also believe that the role of a nurse in society is to support patients, provide them with a secure environment, and help them cope with their health problems most appropriately and carefully. Therefore, I am sure that a nurse should be well-educated, skillful, and honest.
Metaparadigms of Nursing
Four specific nursing meta paradigms are the person, health, environment, and nursing (Masters, 2014). I discuss a person as a recipient of my care who can benefit from the provided services. Therefore, my care should be patient-centered, and my actions should be determined by patients’ needs. Also, a patient’s health in this context is a value that becomes a goal of nurses’ activities. I also view a patient’s health as his or her wellness in contrast to a patient’s illness. My practice is oriented to promoting health through care, treatment, and support. Furthermore, the environment is a complex metaparadigm that is related to understanding aspects which can influence a patient’s health concerning both external and internal factors. A nurse aims to influence a patient’s environment to contribute to this person’s health. Finally, I discuss nursing as a process of providing care, supporting patients, creating a safe environment, and overcoming diseases.
Application of Philosophy to Nursing Practice
While discussing the application of my philosophy of nursing to practice, I should state that it is based not only on theoretical assumptions and interpretations of other nurses’ beliefs but also on my own professional experience and knowledge. Therefore, my nursing philosophy can be discussed as a result of my analysis of nursing theories, principles, and techniques that are provided in the literature as most effective to be applied to practice (Daly, Speedy, & Jackson, 2014). I have focused on beliefs and ideas which are directly associated with my practice, and they can be easily applied to my daily activities and research because I use them as guidelines.
Strengths and Limitations
Strengths of my nursing philosophy are in my selection of only those ideals and visions which are applicable to practice. For instance, accepting the idea that the provided care should be patient-centered, I discuss the proposed treatment and alternatives with patients to select the most appropriate one and address clients’ beliefs and visions. Still, there are also limitations in my philosophy of nursing because, while accepting certain visions, I can ignore other important ideas. Therefore, my goal is to continue learning and develop my philosophy to reflect a range of nursing perspectives.
Conclusion
The development of a personal philosophy of nursing is a good experience to identify priorities in my practice and analyze their relevance in the context of modern professional environments. To address my career goals, I will improve my philosophy referring to practice and received knowledge. This approach is effective to guarantee that I will be able to contribute to the quality of the provided care in the future.
References
Daly, J., Speedy, S., & Jackson, D. (2014). Contexts of nursing (4th ed.). Sydney, Australia: Elsevier Health Sciences.
Masters, K. (2014). Nursing theories: A framework for professional practice (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.