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Personal Nursing Philosophy: Nursing is a Work of Heart

Jennifer Forbes RN

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

NUR 3240

Professor Trina Gardner

4/24/2021

“I pledge”
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Philosophically speaking, nursing is a work of heart. Just like a heart, patients have many

working parts. When one of those parts is not functioning properly, it can cause other parts to fail

or not work at full capacity. The “heart of the patient” is not the heart in the physical sense but

those things that directly impact the care they will receive. Therefore, assessing the patient and

addressing these needs is imperative to delivering good nursing care. Virginia Henderson

believed the same. It was her belief that she needed to “get inside the skin of each of her patients

in order to know what he needs” (Masters, 2020). Like Henderson, my approach to nursing is

focused on the “heart” of the patient. A person is more than what bought them to the hospital

therefore getting to know them in a way which allows me to evaluate for barriers, address needs,

provide care and offer support is the true definition of nursing. Similarly, Henderson separated

nursing into 3 categories: doing for the person, helping the person, and working with the person

(Younas, 2015).

As a nurse, caring for and about the person is just as important as the care they receive.

Caring for the heart of the patient begins at our initial meeting. I immediately begin my

assessment of their needs; physically, mentally, and spiritually (when applicable) and how they

will define the care I will provide. By asking and addressing questions such as family presence,

cleanliness of the patient and surroundings, and mental state, allows me to tend to those parts of

the patient to foster the healing process.

On my initial conversation with Mrs. Jones, she was a pleasant, 86-year-old with chronic

heart failure. During this conversation I learned Mrs. Jones was a homemaker and a widow after

being married for over 50 years. She did not have any children or family nearby. During a post

hospital follow up call for acute exacerbation of heart failure, I asked if she had a scale. She
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voiced she did and weighed herself a few times a week because the doctor told her to. Mrs. Jones

expressed no one had every told her why she needed to get on the scale but just to do it. I

explained to her the importance of weighing daily, how much weight gain would be concerning,

and when to call the doctor. At the end of the call, I asked her to weigh herself every day and

write it down on her calendar and that I would call her in a few days. When I called Mrs. Jones

for follow-up, she reported her weights. There was a 5-12 lbs. variances from day to day. I

requested she get on the scale during the call since she had just woken up and had not eaten. She

again reported a weight difference of 10 lbs. from the previous day’s weight. I asked Mrs. Jones

what type of scale she had and how old it was. She told me it was white scale with a dial that she

has had for 15 years. Mrs. Jones admitted that her vision was not the best and the scale was

sometimes hard to read. I agreed to drop off a digital scale to her PCP’s office so she could pick

it up on her visit the following day. Over the next 2 weeks, Mrs. Jones recorded and reported her

weights daily with no significant weight gain. Treating Mrs. Jones with kindness, respect, and

dignity made the difference.

The nursing concepts of Virginia Henderson aligns with my philosophy of nursing. She

recognized nurses need to address all the parts of patient. The person (patient) is the first aspect

of Henderson’s Theory of Need followed by environment, health, and nursing. Starting from the

inside out, nursing works towards the center of the patient by dealing with aspects of health and

environment. Henderson’s Theory of Need consisted of 14 nursing components that align with

Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs and are the foundation of nursing diagnoses (Younas,

2015). She too believed that attending to the heart of the patient are attributes of basic nursing

care.
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The attributes of human dignity and compassion are ones every nurse should possess.

These characteristics are so vital to healthcare that Bon Secours Mercy Health adopted them as

part of their core values. Because nurses meet patients at their worse, we must remember that

every patient is someone else’s loved one. When we keep this in mind, it makes it easier to act

with compassion and respect. By treating every person (patient) with human dignity and

compassion, I carry out basic nursing care while caring for the heart of the patient.
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References
Bon Secours Health System. (2019). About Us: Bon Secours International. Retrieved from Bon

Secours International: https://www.bonsecours.com/about-us/mission

Masters, K. (2020). Role Development In Professional Nursing Practice, 5, 56-58. Burlington:

Jones and Bartlett Learning.

Younas, A. &. (2015, May-August). Intergrating nursing theory and process into practice;

Virginia's Henderson need theory. Retrieved from International Journal of Caring

Sciences, 8(2), 443-450:

http://www.internationaljournalofcaringsciences.org/docs/23_ahtisham.pdf