Personal Philosophy of Nursing - Research Paper Example

Personal Philosophy of Nursing Introduction A personal philosophy refers to a personalized system of thought or set of principles that guide practical activities. Personal philosophies are derived from one’s knowledge, experiences and environmental factors (Singh, 2012). A personal philosophy of nursing therefore means ones system of principles, values, theories and thoughts that guide one’s practice of nursing. Nursing is a healthcare profession that focuses on providing healthcare to individuals, families, and the wider community in order to people to attain and maintain a great quality of life that is free of diseases. Nursing differs from other professions in healthcare with respect to training, scope and approach to providing care to patients. Nurses operate with greater diversity. In this paper, I will explain my personal philosophy of nursing; how it incorporates nursing knowledge, how I will relate it in my nursing practice, and how this philosophy will help me contribute to the development the field of nursing in general. Personal Philosophy I am of the belief that nursing has its roots in commitment to providing quality healthcare to the public and those in greatest need of healthcare. Nursing is therefore more than just treating diseases, but rather more about delivery of quality care that takes care of specific needs of every patient. Based on this belief, my personal philosophy of nursing is to deliver holistic patient care, with compassion, integrity, respect, dignity and responsiveness to cultural and personal needs of patients and their significant others. This philosophy will enable me become a strong advocate for patients and provide quality service based on clear communication, critical thinking, effective decision making, and application of my nursing knowledge in to practice. My personal philosophy of nursing will not only help me improve my professional practice, but also give me an opportunity to play a major role in social change in the community and improving how people perceive health issues in the wider community. This philosophy will seek to improve relationship between nurses, patients and other stakeholders in the healthcare profession. My understanding of nursing as a profession is informed by my nursing knowledge, experience and insights from interacting with other professionals and stakeholders in the profession. According to me, nursing is a noble profession, which should deliver quality public service in an ethical framework with a holistic understanding of human beings in terms of their emotional, physical and social aspects. Nursing should be holistic in nature, responsive to patient needs, and respecting values of patients. Nurses should therefore strive to provide quality service and create a favorable environment for patients to heal. Nurses should also display greater understanding of human beings, desire to learn and acquire new skills and knowledge, research skills, and great professional standards (Fulton, Lyon, & Goudreau, 2010). In order for nurses to be successful, they should entertain inter-professional relationships with other professionals in the health sector in order to promote values such as knowledge sharing and improving the quality of service given to patients (Meleis, 2011). As a professional nurse, I will be committed to a lifelong process of learning, through both formal and informal education as well as learning from hands-on- experience in order to improve on my skills and knowledge. The most important element of nursing, in my opinion, is the ability to save lives through offering quality patient care, advice, and a favorable environment for patients to overcome their health challenges. When I think about nursing, I visualize images of relief, quality service delivery, and consolation. A good environment for nursing is one where nurses and patients understand each other and interact freely and where there are adequate resources and equipment to foster the healing process. My professional practice in nursing will be based on an ethical framework and personal knowledge. This will help me create a trustworthy relationship with my clients and use my personal knowledge and experience to bring out the best patient outcomes possible. My nursing practice recognizes that nursing is a science and therefore places more priority on empirical evidence and scientific theory. As a science, nursing theory entails research, theories, technology and empirical knowledge. Nurses have to employ the scientific method in their approach to treatment of patients. Nursing also has an element of art, which is also important for consideration for any professional (Nightingale, 2010). With this recognition, my nursing practice will encompass both artistic and scientific elements of practice. While the scientific element of nursing revolves around systemized knowledge, the artistic element of it involves the various processes, products and mediums. As a nurse, I will have to transcend between these elements in trying to provide the best possible care to patients. Nursing Knowledge A very important element of the nursing profession is nursing knowledge. Contemporary nursing relies heavily on an evidence-based approach, which requires practitioners to utilize their nursing knowledge and research skills to deliver quality care and service. Evidence-based approach requires all treatment approaches to be backed with reliable theories and scientific knowledge. Evidence based approach in nursing seeks to bring together relevant knowledge from various disciplines in order to help create a holistic understanding of human beings and the various factors affecting human health. This nursing approach also aims at consistently applying relevant knowledge, judgment and skills in nursing practice (Andrist, 2006). It is very important for nurses to incorporate nursing knowledge in their practice. In order to make the nursing profession responsive to modern needs of patients and other players in the nursing field. Nursing knowledge has to be up to date and relevant in order to be reliable in treating and preventing contemporary diseases. As a professional nurse, I will endeavor to apply nursing knowledge in my practice through the evidence-based approach. In trying to apply nursing knowledge in my professional career, I will rely on nursing theories, models and frameworks that I learnt during my training. I will also make use of other theories from other disciplines such as humanities and other natural sciences that are relevant and consistent with nursing in order to have a wider understanding of patent needs and how to respond to them. I will achieve this by constantly updating my knowledge through constant research, further education, adopting modern technology and interacting with other professionals in healthcare in order to share different viewpoints (Barker, 2009). My nursing practice will involve a lot of knowledge from nursing theories. I will borrow a lot from other great scholars that that have contributed positively to the nursing profession through formulating theoretical frameworks that are useful in shaping the profession. Nursing knowledge shares a lot with knowledge from other disciplines such as humanities and other natural sciences. Both nursing and humanities focus on understanding individuals and their environments in order to improve living conditions. Knowledge from humanities can enrich my nursing practices by enabling me to understand social aspects of diseases, and understanding how patients interact with other members of the society. Nursing should be at the forefront of promoting social justice in the society through helping people realize their full potential in their societies. My professional practice borrows a lot from other nursing theories and models including Casey's Model of Nursing and Callista Roy’s adaptation model of nursing. These two models of nursing deal with the basic elements of nursing such as relationship between patients and nurses as well as the environment for nurse practice. Contribution to the Nursing Profession As a professional nurse, one is obliged to contribute to growth and development of the nursing discipline and profession. The nursing professional has existed for several years and continues to remain relevant today due to contributions from different nursing scholars and professional nurses. Contemporary nurses have benefited from contributions of other people; it is good to give back to the professional by contributing at any level in order to ensure continuity and relevance of the nursing field in to the future. A nurse can contribute to the development of the profession in various ways including being part of critical decision making in management of health facilities, training other young professionals in colleges, promoting new technology and emerging treatment approaches, through offering scholarly advice to other professionals through publications such as nursing journals and books (Allen, 2011). One can also contribute to growth of the profession by being honest, ethical and consistent with professional values of the nursing professionals. This entails a nurse being a good example to others in the professional or to younger professionals joining the field. One therefore has different avenues to contribute to the growth of the nursing profession regardless of the level of their career (American Nurses Association, 2010). In my professional prasctice, I will strive to promote values of the nursing profession and contribute to development of the discipline through mentoring young students or professionals in the field. This will help me nurture future professionals and ensure that the profession continues to grow. I will also strive to be at the forefront of changes in the profession in terms of technology and contemporary responses to diseases. I will also advance my knowledge in nursing in order to be a resource and a consultant in the profession (Peterson, & Bredow, 2009). Another way in which I will contribute to the nursing profession is through research and developing theories that improve the quality of service in the profession and enrich relationship between nursing practitioners and other stakeholders in healthcare, including patients. Nursing Paradigms and My Philosophy Nursing practice is based on paradigms that consist of beliefs, theories and values that one acquires overtime and makes them an essential part of their practice (Basavanthappa, 2008). Paradigms inform methodologies that a nurse chooses to employ in their practice. My nursing practice, for instance, emanates from various beliefs, values and empirical knowledge that I have acquired over the years. My personal paradigm is based on beliefs such as hard work, consistency, research, ethics, and deep religious values. All these values and beliefs help me to understand my environment and my clients. Incorporating these values with my nursing knowledge, I am able to expand my comprehension of the nursing profession and improve my interaction with patients. This paradigm is also compatible with evidence-based practice in contemporary nursing, which I hope to use in my practice. My nursing practice would be very different if I omitted a single element from my personal paradigm. If for instance I did away with my religious values, or ethical values, my professional practice will be affected a great deal. For instance, I will not be able to relate well with my clients and I may be tempted to get involved in unethical behavior in the course of my practice. Every single element in my personal paradigm is very important for my practice. An "aspects of reality" perspective of paradigms can enrich my professional practice in a number of ways. This will make my view of nursing to be more precise, sensitive and responsive to needs of my patients. My practice will also incorporate other complementary paradigms through integrating with other nurses and healthcare professionals and learning from them. References Allen, J. E. (2011). Nursing home administration. New York: Springer Pub. American Nurses Association. (2010). Nursing: Scope and standards of practice. Silver Spring, Md: American Nurses Association. Andrist, L. C. (2006). A history of nursing ideas. Sudbury, Mass. [u.a.: Jones and Bartlett Barker, A. M. (2009). Advanced practice nursing: Essential knowledge for the profession. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Basavanthappa, . (2008). Community health nursing. S.l.: Jaypee Bros. Medical P. Fulton, J. S., Lyon, B. L., & Goudreau, K. A. (2010). Foundations of clinical nurse specialist practice. New York: Springer. Meleis, A. I. (2011). Theoretical nursing: Development and progress. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Nightingale, F. (2010). Notes on nursing. Lexington, KY: ReadaClassic.com. Peterson, S. J., & Bredow, T. S. (2009). Middle range theories: Application to nursing research. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Rodgers, B. L. (2005). Developing nursing knowledge: Philosophical traditions and influences. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Singh, N. R. (2012). Nursing: The ultimate study guide. New York: Springer. Read More