Running Head: MY PROFESSIONAL NURSING PHILOSOPHY 1

My Professional Nursing Philosophy

Taylor N. White

Delaware Technical Community College: Owens Campus

NUR300-2W1 RN to BSN Transition

Professor Bowie

February 21, 2021

2
MY PROFESSIONAL NURSING PHILOSOPHY

“A philosophy of nursing is a statement that outlines a nurse’s values, ethics, and beliefs,

as well as their motivation for being part of the profession… helps you identify the beliefs and

theories that shape the choices you make on the job everyday” (What is a Personal Philosophy of

Nursing and How Can It Help My Career, 2020). Every nurse has a reason they chose to be a

nurse, they all have something they believe in so passionately that they strive to include it in their

practice every day. Over the past several weeks we have explored different aspects of our

nursing philosophy, and now it’s time to discover what I view as my nursing philosophy.

As a nurse, I believe we should be up to date and educated on as much as we can in our

field, I feel we should take every education opportunity available to us. Studies have shown that

nurses who pursue further education, like there BSN, reduce medication errors and actually save

patient lives. You are more trustworthy as a nurse with your BSN, you are given more

opportunities in your profession, because you took the time to expand your knowledge and

improve your skills as a nurse. “Studies have been conducted using large data sets that support

an association between BSN hospital and lower incidence of pressure ulcers, post-operative deep

vein thrombosis, hospital acquired infections, and post-surgical mortality” (NurseJournal staff,

2021). Gaining your BSN gives nurses the ability to adapt to different environments and succeed,

when you have your BSN you are more accepted in hospitals and more likely to get a job, many

research and high demanding hospital prefer nurses with their BSN rather than graduates

without. Therefore, I believe that if I want to be a well-rounded, dependable, safe nurse obtaining

my BSN is a great start.

There have been many inspirational nurses in our history that have shaped different

nursing theories and philosophies for nurses today. People like Florence Nightingale, Virginia

Henderson, and Jean Watson. Personally, I relate most to Florence Nightingale’s nursing
3
MY PROFESSIONAL NURSING PHILOSOPHY

philosophy the most in my career as Nightingale emphasizes the importance that “the focus is

primarily on the patient and the environment, with the nurse manipulating the environment to

enhance patient recovery” (Masters, 2018). Nightingale believed that if peoples basic needs were

met then this increased their chances of survival, and decreased stress for the patient. As an ER

nurse, most of the time my patients are highly stressed, whether I think it is or not, this is

normally the worst day of their lives when they come to see me. I personally believe that it we do

basic needs like keep our patient warm, provide adequate lighting, keep them fed when able, and

decrease unwanted odors, then this can greatly improve their mood and stress level and overall

outcome. Nightingale worked vigorously during her career to change the view of the nursing

profession, she decreased infection rates in soldiers, and even to this day people rely on

nightingale’s nursing theory to give excellent care to their patients. Florence Nightingale

concluded “many concepts in her theory, not only have endured but also have been used to

provide general guidelines for nurses for more than 150 years” (Masters, 2018). I strive to fulfill

my patients needs every day as a nurse just like Nightingale, even if I can’t make an impact on

every patient I meet, if I can change even half of the people’s lives, I meet through basic needs

like nightingale then I would be satisfied with this outcome.

Every day we preach to our patients about ways to make their lives healthier, ways to

reduce stress, and how to eliminate unhealthy habits in our lives. I am a firm believer that we

need to practice what we preach; our patients and community view us as role models. It is our

jobs to be the best role models we can for our patients, which means we need to be the healthiest

version of ourselves. We need to make ourselves do 30-60 minutes of exercise most days of the

week, we need to eat well balanced meals including fruits and veggies, we need to keep up with

our social life and make sure we stay interactive with our community. Instead of just helping
4
MY PROFESSIONAL NURSING PHILOSOPHY

people at our jobs, we need to attend health fair’s, join community groups, and reach the most

people we can and make sure we are doing all we can to keep our community and patients

informed about current information. Being a nurse isn’t just about taking care of our patients, I

think sometimes we get lost in being the best nurses. We can lose sight of our own needs, we lost

track of what we need and before we know it, we are unhealthy, stressed, and most of the time

unhappy with what our lives have come to. We have to work hard to avoid this, we need to make

sure we are taking care of ourselves, so we are able to take care of our patients.

During your career and life, you will interact with many different people which will mean

dealing with different personalities which can cause conflict. This is unavoidable in life, which is

why we all have to find strategies to deal with it and resolve the conflict. I was given the

personality type of adventurer, I am an introvert, artistic, spontaneous and bold. My personality

is able to move past conflict and almost pretend that it never happened, which is a great strategy

technique. But being bold and outgoing or spontaneous can be overpowering to other

personalities, they can feel this as threatening which can cause conflict. But since my personality

type is sociable and easy going it would be easy for us to make a compromise and come up with

ways to avoid conflict. Personally, I do not like conflict, especially with coworkers, we are

supposed to have each other’s back and be there when things go wrong or when we need help.

Especially as nurses this is essential, trust is very important in the medical field, if you can’t trust

your doctors, other nurses, or nursing assistants then teamwork will lack. Therefore, when

conflicts arise in the workplace, they need to be resolved the best way available, I think dealing

with them upfront and right away is the best. If the personality type is uncomfortable with doing

it with the opposing person, then management should be involved to help (16 personalities,

2011-2021). I would like to be believe that Florence Nightingale would agree with this conflict
5
MY PROFESSIONAL NURSING PHILOSOPHY

management strategy. She was very focused on wanting to make sure her patients trusted and felt

comfortable with her. She stuck up for her patients and worked to change things she believed

was unfair.

The 6 QSEN competencies are the best ways to improve teamwork and keep our patients

safe. These competencies include patient-centered care, teamwork and collaboration, evidence-

based practice, quality improvement, safety, and informatics (Hunt, 2012). Using these

strategies, we include the patient in their care, we make sure we are up to date on the newest and

most accurate information, we improve on mistakes made, and use the newest and safest

technology available. Its shown that using the newest technology has decreased death by 33% for

our patients. Every nurse philosophy and theory made before has incorporated these

competencies into their work. Florence included patients in their care by listening to their needs,

she used teamwork with other nurses and the doctors to help keep patients comfortable and

decrease infection and mortality rate, stayed up to date on upcoming strategies for her practice

and made evidence-based practice herself, made changes to her practice until it worked, and as

always kept her patients safe which is why death rates lowered. The competencies are one of the

most important things to add to my own nursing philosophy. These competencies were made for

nurses and nursing students to follow as a guide to provide good quality patientcare, if every

nurse follows these and stay educated about them then medical mistakes and patient deaths will

be eliminated.

As nurses we are all leaders, whether we pursue a roll as a leader or not. We are leaders

for our patients and communities, we give medical advice, and these people trust us to follow it. I

reviewed an article provided to me about 9 principles of leadership, and it talked about “Measure

the important things” (“Nine Principles”, 2021). This principle discusses service, quality, people,
6
MY PROFESSIONAL NURSING PHILOSOPHY

growth, and finance. Which relates to providing the best patient satisfaction, giving the best

quality care by incorporating appropriate and safe measures into daily practice, being a role

model for the people or our patients, grow as a nurse with my department and fellow workers,

and use best practice to save money and be cost effective (“Nine Principles”, 2021). These are all

things that I have discussed throughout this paper that relate to my professional nursing

philosophy, and plan to strive to follow throughout my career.

Overall, everyone’s nursing philosophies will include similar topics. I base the majority

of mine off of Florence Nightingales theory. Every day at work I try to tend to the simplest needs

of my patients to keep them calm and comfortable, in the craziness of the ER. I want to be able

to coach my patients to change their unhealthy ways for healthier ones knowing that I do the

same. Not just for my patients but also for my community and be more involved in my

community to be able to reach more people and educate them. I want to feel comfortable in my

work environment, decrease conflict and find ways to get past it when personalities collied. I

want to live by the QSEN competencies and make sure I use them every day, so my patients are

safe and given the best care they are able to receive. In conclusion, these are all the aspects that

make up my nursing philosophy, a philosophy that I will strive to live by every day of my

professional nursing career.

7
MY PROFESSIONAL NURSING PHILOSOPHY

References

American Nurse Today. (2012). Nine principles of successful nursing leadership. Retrieved

February 15, 2021, from https://www.myamericannurse.com/nine-principles-of-

successful-nursing-leadership/

Hunt, Deborah. (2012). QSEN competencies: A bridge to practice. Nursing made incredibly

easy. (10)5. pp. 1-3.

Masters, K. (2018). Frameworks for professional nursing practice. In Role development in

professional nursing practice (5th ed., pp. 56-88). Jones & Bartlett Learning.

NurseJournal Staff. (2021). 10 reasons why RN’s should pursue their BSN degree. Retrieved

February 15, 2021, from https://nursejournal.org/articles/reasons-why-rns-should-pursue-

their-bsn-degree/

What is a Personal Philosophy of Nursing and How Can It Help My Career? (2020). Retrieved

February 15, 2021, from https://www.usa.edu/blog/philosophy-of-nursing/#:~:text=A

%20philosophy%20of%20nursing%20is,being%20part%20of%20the

%20profession.&text=patient%20care%20ethics.-,A%20philosophy%20of%20nursing

%20helps%20you%20identify%20the%20beliefs%20and,on%20the%20job%20every

%20day

16 Personalities. (2011-2021). Retrieved February 5, 2021, from

https://www.16personalities.com/isfp-conclusion