Running head: MY NURSING PHILOSOPHY

My Nursing Philosophy

Katherine Vest

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

NUR 4140: Synthesis for Nursing Practice

Marcella Williams, DNP, RN, CMSRN

October 27, 2020

Honor Code “I pledge”

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Definition of Nursing

My personal definition of nursing is defined as an act of service that includes health

promotion, disease prevention and compassionate care to those in need. Bon Secours Memorial

College of Nursing provides values that I believe embody this definition of nursing. As a new

nurse, I will continue to strive to always put forth these values. By encompassing these values, I

will be sure to provide culturally appropriate, compassionate care which will provide good help

to those in need.

A critical aspect of my nursing definition is nursing education. The field of nursing and

community wellness is everchanging and in need of constant reassessment and the development

of new solutions to promote wellness. Nurses must devote themselves to a career of lifelong

learning in order to provide safe, efficient care to their patients. A nurse embodies the

characteristics of a caregiver: compassion, empathy and acceptance. It is important for nurses to

be aware of their internal biases and to be able to provide care to all individuals regardless of

their background or diagnosis.

Above all values that are involved in nursing, I believe the most important value to

include is compassion. Compassionate care is what assists in driving patient advocation, the act

of service as well as maintaining the respect and dignity of your patients in their time of need.

Time and time again in the healthcare setting, I witness compassion as well as a lack of

compassion for patients while nurses are providing care. As a nursing student, I have the benefit

of observing different healthcare providers and what their own nursing style is. When I see a

compassionate nurse, I see that the patient tends to be more trusting. When that ties into the

organization as a whole, I believe compassionate care will reflect in the form of patient
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satisfaction. To be sick or injured is to be in a time of need and to have a nurse who provides

care surrounded by these values, will provide the patient with more adequate care.

Personal Philosophy

I have been on the path to nursing for two and a half years and am getting ready to fully

submerge into my new graduate position on the Cardiovascular ICU at St. Mary’s Hospital.

Upon reflecting on my time becoming a nurse, I tend to find myself thinking about why I chose

this path to begin with. I chose to become a nurse because I wanted a career in healthcare. The

healthcare industry interested me, I enjoyed learning the process of disease and health promotion

and above all I simply wanted a profession where I would help those in need. As a new nursing

student, I had no idea how this path would change who I am as a person and my beliefs. I recall

taking a survey that would assess what I know about the nursing profession, and it opened my

eyes to how much nursing entails that the non-nurse would be unaware of. I knew that as a nurse

I could make a difference in multiple patients’ lives and provide holistic, compassionate care. I

believe I hold the qualities that make a great nurse, such as compassion, intelligence, empathy

and kindness. Nursing is important to me because I know the affect that nurses have on their

patients and their community. 

My nursing philosophy has evolved within the past two and a half years as my education

has heightened and I have gained more experience in the healthcare setting. My views on the

definition of nursing have not changed drastically, but I have a more in-depth understanding of

the nursing role in community health and patient advocation. Throughout my global and

population health courses, I was able to learn how vital nurses are in promoting good health in

their communities. There is so much more a nurse can do rather than just work in a hospital, they
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are able to advocate for their communities and implement that change because they are

established in research and healthcare policy.

My motivation as a nurse is to provide the most efficient, safe care to my patients. I aim

to make a difference in their lives and in their health. To me, the most beneficial factor to health

is knowledge. I believe above all nursing duties, the duty to educate the patient is the most

important. In order to prevent illness or worsening of existing conditions, it is necessary for a

nurse to provide education in the most uniform, appropriate fashion for the patient to understand.

Americans attempting to achieve health can be very difficult, with the constant changing

research and the internet giving contradicting health advice. It is the nurse’s duty to provide

patient-centered care and education to promote health for that one patient specifically. With

efficient education, a patient can lead a life on the path to optimal health. Throughout my nursing

career thus far, I have truly found myself being the most comfortable and involved in providing

education to others.

I classify myself as an advanced beginner in my nursing career, according to Benner's

Novice to Expert (Benner, 1984). Upon first developing my philosophy as a novice in 2018, I

cannot help but recognize such a change in my confidence and character development. I have

solidified my understanding of the nursing profession as well as have a more in-depth

understanding of the role of an interdisciplinary team and how much a nurse has an effect on a

patient’s outcomes. A nurse's philosophy is everchanging as development occurs throughout the

lifetime. I have incurred more wisdom, empathy and kindness for people of all backgrounds. My

values and beliefs have not changed, but as I begin my practice as a nurse, I understand how to

implement my values in my care. In order to advance to the next stage in Benner's Novice to
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Expert model, I am in need of more healthcare experience in order to gain more insight into how

to be a better nurse.

Values and Beliefs

There are many values that I hold close to in my nursing career. Compassion, humility,

accountability, human dignity and social justice are values that I hold close to my heart as a

nurse. While there are many core values that surround nursing, I believe that these five values are

ones that I find myself true to apply and follow with each day.

Compassion is a value that I find to be frequently mentioned throughout nursing school

and hospital organizations. To be compassionate is to be caring and empathetic toward a patient

who is suffering and to do what you can to decrease that suffering in the individual. It is also

important to be humble. A nurse who has humility is able to better connect with others and put

their patient before themselves. Another value I hold is accountability. I hold myself accountable

for the things I say and do. It is important that my patients view me as accountable that way we

are able to form a trusting nurse-patient relationship. In a nurse-patient relationship, it is

important to respect your patient and their dignity. To be ill is a time of crisis and patients may

be unable to complete the tasks they once did. I aim to always treat my patients the way I would

want to be treated as a patient, or as I would want my family treated as patients. To respect a

patient’s dignity is to know and understand that all human beings are worthy of your respect.

Unfortunately, many people do not find all human beings worthy of respect and it is important to

identify what patients may be at risk. Social justice is a value that I hold very close and always

want to educate others on. It is important to recognize social injustice as it occurs within your

patient's care with their interdisciplinary team. To have social justice as a value means to be

accepting of all people no matter their social construct and how it differs from yours.
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With the utilization of my values and beliefs, I know I will make a great impact on my patients

and organization. With the knowledge provided in my nursing synthesis course, I am able to take

my education and experiences with me and act as a change agent at Bon Secours St. Mary's

Hospital. I hope to bring great change to the Cardiovascular Intensive Care unit as a new nurse

by utilizing the skills I have learned as a future leader and efficient communicator.

Nurse Patient Encounter

My junior year of nursing school, I had a male patient with colon cancer during my Adult

Nursing Science clinical rotation. After meeting him for the first time, I could tell he was kind,

understanding but suffering. This man, I will honor HIPAA and call him Jim, was in a lot of pain

and no member of his team was advocating for him and his concerns. He had not seen his family

in weeks, he was not being cared for efficiently, and he felt as if his dignity was slipping away.

At home, Jim had a wife and children, he talked about how he missed putting them on the bus in

the morning and how he missed his wife's meals. I could tell that Jim was looking for

connection.

As my morning went on with Jim, he spoke about how they were performing a certain

procedure that morning and he was planned to be discharged the following day. Only to shortly

find out later, that when I was walking with him and transport down to his procedure, the plans

had changed and he was only receiving another CT, with no procedure or discharge plans in

order. Jim was devastated, yet he was still so kind and understanding toward the staff. I knew it

was my duty as his student nurse to get the answers to the questions he was continuing to ask. I

sought out my instructor and asked for her advice. She led me to the nurse practitioner to ask her

about the patient's procedure and plans from the CT. The nurse practitioner told me she had just

got back from vacation and my best bet would be to browse his notes. While I had already done
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that, I decided to go to the nurse I was working with and tell her about my findings. She was able

to get the specialist on the phone to figure out why the procedure plans changed and bridged the

gap in the patient's care. I was able to get a fair amount of Jim's questions answered and provided

him a bit of relief. I did what I could to make him comfortable and listened to his stories along

my way. I could tell I made a difference in Jim's care that day.

I think about Jim whenever I have a patient who’s plan of care is unclear. As a nurse, it

can be frustrating when you do not have the clearest guidelines for a patient's plan of care and

what tasks you should be accomplishing to promote their health and get them on their way to

discharge. Jim gave me perspective on how scary this situation was for him as it would be for all

patients. In his mind, he was going downstairs for an invasive procedure that he had been NPO

for all night, but the nightshift nurse simply forgot to tell him that it was just going to be a CT

that day and change his diet order. Looking back on this encounter, I think about the professional

care model that Bon Secours promotes and what aspects of that model I achieved. I displayed

compassion through just lending my patient a listening ear. I provided person-centered care by

including Jim in his care when he felt as if he was being left behind. I collaborated with Jim's

interdisciplinary team to explain to them his concerns and gained advice about what steps I could

take to make the situation better. It is taking these steps in my nursing care that will make me a

successful nurse. There have been many nurse-patient encounters that I walk away from learning

something new, and I am fortunate to carry those lessons with me into my practice because that

is how one may achieve expertism.

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References

Benner, P. (2001). From novice to expert: Excellence and power in clinical nursing practice.
New Jersey: Prentice Hall.