Running Header: MY NURSING PHILOSOPHY

My Nursing Philosophy

Whitney Friend

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

3/18/17
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As I am coming to the end of my educational career at Bon Secours Memorial

College of Nursing I reflect back to all that I have learned and what my personal nursing

philosophy is. To me nursing is being able to provide excellent care to my patients in

order to guide and help them on their way to recovery. Nursing encompasses being a

patient advocate, preventing illness, providing a healing environment, and providing

education to our patients. Three tenets of Bon Secours nursing program philosophy

statement that speak to me are about nursing, caring, and service. When looking at the

tenet about nursing the quote Nurses provide holistic care to promote wellness, prevent

disease, restore health and to provide comfort, it represents to me how I focus on

providing care to my patient with a holistic vision. As a nurse holistic care is key in

providing our patients with excellent care. We must tend to our patients emotional,

mental, physical, and spiritual needs. Our care cant just focus on the patients diagnosis

but must focus on them as a whole. When looking at the tenet regarding caring through

my semesters I have come to better understand the statement, Self-care and self-

reverence are requisites to caring for others. In order for me to be at my best and help

others as a nurse I must keep myself healthy. I feel as a nurse this is key to being

successful and being able to provide the best care we can. It is important that we take

care of our mind, body, and soul. Lastly I feel service is an important aspect of nursing.

Bon Secours encourages students to develop and apply the values of respect,

compassion, justice, integrity, quality, innovation, stewardship, and growth while

providing good help to those in need, this statement from Bon Secours philosophy

guides students and staff to abide by the values to provide great service. Each of the

above values helps to guide my care for patients. I feel the field of nursing is always
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changing and we work with many different people. Despite these differences these core

values can lead nurses to success when caring for our patients. I wanted to become a

nurse in order to use my knowledge and expertise to help others.

My personal nursing philosophy is based on the values and beliefs my family

instilled in me. My family has always believed it is important to treat others the way you

wish to be treated. When people are admitted as patients to the hospital they often feel

vulnerable. I believe that a large part of the role of the nurse is to treat the patients with

respect, compassion, and with integrity. These values are key to my nursing philosophy

and I feel they have allowed me to have better connections with my patients. By showing

my compassion to patients and having empathy for their situation I have been able to gain

trust and have open communication. I also make sure I show the patient respect no

matter their socioeconomic status, race, religion, or sex. This has allowed me to focus on

treating my patients without judgment for their differences. Integrity is key to nursing

because we need to be the patients advocate and nurses need to be able to voice concern

when appropriate.

During my immersion in the emergency room I have noticed that having

compassion, respect, and integrity can go a long way in gaining the patients trust. I have

noticed that patients are not always as honest with you when they first arrive to the

emergency room. Once I gain the patients trust sometimes they will add key information

to their story. This is important for all staff because it helps us to provide better care for

the patient based on what happened or what truly has brought them into the hospital. I

think this is because people are worried about judgment from the doctor and nurses. By

showing them compassion and actively listening to the patients needs they gain
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confidence and become more comfortable. An example of this was when we had a young

girl who came in after doing heroin during my shift. At first we were treating her for an

overdose but she also had signs of infection as well. After getting to know the patient she

was more honest about her heroin use and talked with us about how she shared needles

because it was difficult to obtain clean needles. It was important as a nurse to educate the

patient without offending her. I made sure the patient understood I was not judging her

but just wanted to educate her on the dangers of drug use and sepsis. I personally cant

understand what the patient is going through but I can provide empathy and supportive

care to the patient despite. The doctor also put in medication orders to provide pain relief

and to prevent pain and withdrawal. It is important to give these medications on time and

without judgment.

As a nurse it is important for me to provide patients with holistic care. Over the

last four years I have grown as a nursing student. My core values and beliefs are still

based on what I have grown up learning. My values include honesty, integrity, and

compassion. I believe my clinical experiences have allowed me to grow and have more

experience in using my values to help others. I have learned how to speak up more when

I think something could be wrong or if I have a question. At the beginning of my nursing

school journey I was not as open in communication with other staff and patients. I have

learned how to ask questions and when it is appropriate. I still have the belief that two

minds are better than one and when I am unsure of a situation now more than ever I know

to go with my gut feeling and ask for help. I have come to realize that patient care is all

about the interdisciplinary team working together for success.

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Patricia Brenners theory describes the five levels of proficiency a nursing student

goes through. The five levels of proficiency include: novice, advanced beginner,

competent, proficient, and expert. Students begin in the novice stage this reminds me of

my first clinical experience. Students in this stage are put into new situations to start

development of skills. This is when I learned to take patients vitals, weight, and intake

and output. The next part of the student journey is the advanced beginner stage where the

nursing student still needs the guidance of educators but is learning to educate patients

and pick up on patient cues. The nurse in this stage is also learning to interpret and notice

differences in assessment data for the patient but the student is only beginning to perceive

meaningful patterns in clinical practice (Benner, 2001). The next stage is competent; this

is stage 3 and often achieved after being in the same situations for 2-3 years as a student.

During this level the student is able manage many facets of clinical nursing. This student

would have deliberate planning to help organize the patients care. This nurse is able to

use critical thinking and multitask when taking care of patients. The fourth stage is

proficient. The key for this stage is all about perception and the nurse having the ability

to look at the situation as a whole. Proficient nurses typically learn from experiences and

case studies. These nurses are able to recognize patient problems before changes in vital

signs. This stage typically takes a student nurse 3 to 5 years to achieve (Benner, 2001).

The fifth and final stage is expert. In this stage of Brenners theory the nurse has a large

background of experience and can zero in on the true issue at hand. The nurse typically

had a deep understanding for the situations at hand and excels on completing tasks

without guidelines or a model. As I have reviewed Benners stages from novice to expert
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I realize that experience is what can guide a nurse to be most successful in completing the

stages.

I feel like I have been able to grow during my time as a nursing student at Bon

Secours. When I think about Benners stages I feel like I am at the competent stage

currently. The competent stage is the third stage in which a nurse has typically been on

the job for 2-3 years. This stage consists of the nurse being able to plan ahead and to

consciously focus on the more important aspects of care (Benner, 2001). I place myself

in this stage because I feel I have become organized and can provide efficient care to my

patients. I am able to use critical thinking skills and experience to determine what needs

to be done first. This is important for nursing students because we work with multiple

patients and must be able to categorize patients based on severity of their needs. I feel

that I am on the trail to reaching the proficient stage over the next few years. In order for

me to become a proficient nurse I will need to focus on three main goals. One goal is to

gain more speed and flexibility when working with patients. I have gained speed since

this last semester during my clinical immersion with documentation and assessments.

This is important in the emergency room because I am looking to find what is wrong for

that patient. I still feel that I have room to grow and become more efficient. The second

goal I have is to focus on gaining experience on a single unit over the next few years.

This will enable me to gain insight on the same types of issues and diagnosis. I believe

this time will allow me to get to the point of not having to analyze each situation

separately. Lastly to become proficient I need to learn more about giving patient

education at an ideal time for the patients learning. Since I am currently in the

emergency room we give patient education at time of discharge most often. I have
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learned to make sure I educate when I have the patients full attention. I think this area

still has room for me to grow because I want to work with pediatrics in which education

can be critical for both patient and family and can sometimes be far more complicated

than in the emergency room. I will need to learn how to better assess the patient and

familys education level and how they learn best in order for me to become proficient in

this area. If I can focus on making these changes I can become a better nurse and provide

the very best care for my patients.

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Reference

Benner, P. (2001). From novice to expert: Excellence and power in clinical nursing

practice (commemorative ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.