Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Frances Mandelbaum
I chose to become a nurse because I feel a strong desire to help those in need. Nursing is
a unique profession in that every day is an opportunity to have a positive impact on the lives of
of a patient’s situation or social standing. This type of care is essential to health promotion,
which is the true purpose of a nurse. Nurses promote health by filling the gap between an
individual’s actual physiological and safety needs and what their support system provides.
Respect for humanity is fundamental to nursing care. Health care is a basic right, and
each person should be treated as a unique, autonomous individual who deserves to be heard and
respected. Generally speaking, health is the physiologic state the individual needs in order to
progress through life. Health means something different to everyone throughout their lives.
As a nurse I seek to understand each patient and how they define health so that I can
advocate for them and promote their autonomy in a manner that is truly in line with their desires.
Nurses combine their understanding of the patient with the clinical judgements they have made
based off of assessment findings in order to create a holistic picture of the patient and provide
appropriate nursing care. Nurses must then be able to take responsibility for the clinical decisions
Standards of care change constantly as we are flooded with research findings, new
techniques, and new technology. A nurse must be committed to be a life-long learner in order to
continue to provide competent, safe care throughout their career. This can be done by using each
day as an opportunity to learn from patient interactions, publications, continuing education, and
other members of the healthcare team. My personal goal is to continue to learn throughout my