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Personal Nursing Philosophy

Alexis Hsu

College of Nursing, University of Arizona

NURS 478: Nursing Leadership and Management in Health Systems

Professor Mary O'Connell and Professor Sarah Hoogasian

April 19, 2024

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Personal Nursing Philosophy

Before high school, I had never considered nursing as a career. I was intimidated by

direct patient contact and the medical knowledge and skills required, which I had always thought

of as reserved for “smart people.” Coming from a low-income family where money was a

constant stressor, I was very worried about financial stability. During high school, I started

obtaining certifications, internships, and even remote jobs that I could work from home because

we lived miles away from any stores. I often used to joke with my teachers that, if all else failed,

I could always work as a janitor. Through a stroke of luck, however, I ended up in a CNA/LNA

program with transformational teachers who inspired me to start a career in healthcare and

eventually, even apply to the nursing program at the University of Arizona. I realized that, far

from being afraid of talking with a patient, I enjoyed patient interactions and it gave me a deep

sense of fulfillment to have helped someone in even the simplest day-to-day tasks.

Personal Attributes, Values, and Specific Ethical Principles that Inform You as a Person

and Will Drive You as a Nurse

Over the past two years, the nursing program has helped me develop several personal

attributes, values, and ethical principles that have not only made me a better person but also a

better student nurse. My attributes include adaptability, patience, respect, and empathy, which

form the foundation of my approach to nursing. Every new patient expands my mindset and

perspective, improving my skills and learning how to treat them the way they want to be treated

while taking the time to see each patient as a whole person. Along with these personal attributes,

my values include integrity, accountability, dedication, compassion, and inclusivity. These

values help push me to give my best to each patient while constantly learning and improving.

Staying dedicated and accountable to myself and the nursing profession involves putting myself
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in another’s shoes to accept different cultures, personalities, and experiences. These personal

attributes and values support guiding ethical principles such as autonomy, beneficence, and

fidelity. Patients should be given the same respect that the general public holds nurses without

compromising the ethical standards of the field. These principles help me advocate for patients’

rights to maintain as much dignity and control over their care as possible. Together, these

attributes, values, and ethical principles define my goal to be a dedicated, compassionate, and

ethically grounded nurse, committed to creating a welcoming environment for healing that

acknowledges and embraces each patient.

Integrative Nursing Principles

Nurses play a key role in the health and well-being of patients at their bedsides. The

principles of integrative nursing offer clear guidance on what “being-knowing-doing” looks like

in the nursing profession to advance healing and caring relationships at the point of care

(Kreitzer, 2015). Three integrative nursing principles that embody my nursing include 1)

recognizing human beings as whole systems inseparable from their environments, 2) prioritizing

person-centered and relationship-based care, and 3) focusing on the health and well-being of

both caregivers and those they serve.

These integrative nursing principles align closely with my personal attributes, values, and

ethical principles. First, as emphasized in my attributes of respect and empathy, I believe in the

significance of seeing human beings as whole systems by personalizing care to reflect each

patient’s unique needs, offering choices, and considering myself as part of my patient’s

environment (Kreitzer, 2015). This involves being self-aware of my attitudes and body language

to ensure I am fully present and to provide a calm, centered approach before entering a patient’s

room. For example, during my clinical preceptorship, I took the time to listen to the family
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concerns of a Mexican patient. By caring for my patient in the way they requested, I helped

reassure them that their family member was being taken care of while in the hospital.

Second, prioritizing person-centered and relationship-based care is tied with my values of

compassion and inclusivity because it entails making caring and healing relationships focused on

the whole person. This develops over time by building authentic connections and continuity of

care with the patient and family through actions that start as simple as greeting the patient and

their family by name and recognizing and connecting with the patient as a person and human

being (Kreitzer, 2015). One example of this is offering a tearful patient and his wife tissues and

giving them each time alone to express their worries and concerns about the other person

individually, which helped them process their emotions.

Third, focusing on the health and well-being of caregivers resonates with my ethical

principles of beneficence and fidelity. When I make a promise to myself and the patient to

provide them with the best care I can offer, that also entails incorporating self-care practices into

work and life to create a healthy physical and emotional well-being both for myself and the

healthcare team. In doing so, I honor the role of nurses in society and allow patients to receive

optimal, safe care resting on a strong foundation with self-care at its core. For example, a patient

who was scheduled for a procedure the next day was required to have nothing by mouth starting

after midnight three days in a row, because the procedure kept being postponed. Each night, I

made sure to give them time to have a snack and water before midnight when I had to clear their

side table, to set clear expectations and manage their physical needs. At the same time, I also

made sure that I took my break each night during my preceptorship and brought a water bottle

with me to stay hydrated. Therefore, the principles of integrative nursing described above help
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serve as a guiding framework for centering care on the whole person and the whole system to

improve patient quality and satisfaction (Kreitzer, 2015).

Future Impact on the Profession

As a nurse, there are several ways I can use my role to make a positive impact on my

organization and community, society at large, and the nursing profession. In my organization and

community, I can collaborate with other healthcare professionals to promote safe practices in the

workplace, and I can also promote preventative care and healthy lifestyles in the community. For

example, I can ensure I keep my knowledge current about my unit’s policies and evidence-based

practices when performing care, as well as volunteer in community outreach initiatives such as

vaccination, local shelters, and blood donation drives to promote public health and wellbeing.

Additionally, in society at large, I can make a positive impact by engaging in public policy

advocacy through attending community and neighborhood meetings as well as educating the

public about health-related topics at community events and local organizations. Furthermore, I

can make a positive impact on the nursing profession by mentoring new nurses and nursing

students to foster the delivery of quality care and uphold the high standards of the profession, as

well as pursue continuing education, certifications, and advanced training to stay updated on best

practices and keep evolving and expanding my knowledge and skills.

As a nurse, I am also guided by three of the American Nurses Association (ANA) Code

of Ethics Principles that are most closely aligned with my own personal attributes, values, and

guiding ethical principles including respect for human dignity, the improvement of the

environment and moral virtue, and the collaboration for health, human rights, and health

diplomacy (ANA, n.d.). Firstly, respect for human dignity, from Provision 1.1, demonstrates the

fundamental values and commitments of the nurse. Respecting that all patients carry the inherent
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human right to dignity and self-worth is a fundamental principle of nursing practice for universal

care. This is closely aligned with my values of inclusivity and compassion when I provide care

that respects the values of each individual, whether the person is a noncompliant patient with

multiple comorbidities or a person of diverse ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds

with unique needs such as a Hispanic patient who is also a father and head of household feeling a

sense of loss and depression over ineffective role performance as they recover from their

myocardial infarction and subsequent intubation in the ICU before they transferred to my unit.

Secondly, the improvement of the environment and moral virtue, from Provision 6.1,

exhibits the boundaries of duty and loyalty (ANA, n.d.). For example, I can contribute to a

morally good environment by fostering mutual caring, generosity, and kindness to another nurse

on the unit and applying these virtues to all nurses, colleagues, and patients. This is also aligned

with my attributes of respect and empathy when, for example, after my patients are taken care of,

I help provide empathetic and compassionate care to another nurse’s confused and disoriented

older adult patient who sets off the bed alarm multiple times throughout the night because the

patient forgets to press the call light before transferring herself to the commode.

Finally, Provision 8.2 describes how nurses must commit to collaboration for health, human

rights, and health diplomacy, which describes the duties of the nurse that extend beyond

individual patient encounters (ANA, n.d.). I can commit to achieving and sustaining health and

dignity for the common good of my patients and to develop their fullest potential. As a nurse, it

is important to address the context of health and healthcare disparities and advocate for the

protection of human rights. This is also aligned with my ethical principles of fidelity and

beneficence when I collaborate with other health professionals such as nutrition and PT/OT to

provide high-quality and safe care while resolving a patient’s needs before discharge, including
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encouraging ambulation, checking that they will receive a shower chair, and educating them on

their medications and activity levels.

Defining My Practice

To me, nursing is a professional career but also a guiding purpose that influences my

interactions with society, the community, and the people beside me. For a large part of my life

before college, I lived on one acre of land in the middle of the desert, only interacting with the

neighbors who lived on either side. I communicated with my classmates and teachers through a

screen and left the property two to three times a week for church and extracurricular activities.

However, as a nursing student who is preparing to enter the field, nursing has brought me into

the lives of the patients, families, and communities that I meet, and it has put me into a position

where I am actively growing and expanding my knowledge, skills, and personal sense of

fulfillment. Therefore, nursing, to me, is also a deep relationship with the well-being of another

person that goes beyond language, country of origin, and cultural-ethnic and socio-economic

backgrounds.

I define nursing as a diverse field that spans from compassionate acts of care and regard

for the basic needs and wholeness of an individual, to a highly skilled profession that utilizes

best practices as supported by current scientific evidence and a detailed understanding of the

human body to provide safe, excellent, and high-quality care. Nursing takes place in a wide

range of locations from hospitals to outpatient clinics, schools, community health centers,

military bases, and prisons. Nurses are at the front line of care. Nurses combine objective data

and subjective observations with skill and drive from rigorous training and a passion for the

health of an individual and treating a whole person and community’s physical, mental, social,

and emotional needs, encompassing the mind, body, and spirit. Nurses collaborate with a diverse
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spectrum of healthcare professions while maintaining a deep respect for human dignity and a

focus on genuine connections to promote health, advocate for patient wellbeing, and prevent

illness, all to address the unique needs of each individual.

My mission is to provide safe, compassionate, and excellent care for each of my patients.

I aim to listen, advocate, and promote the healing of the whole patient through evidence-based

practices to achieve their optimal level of health and wellness. My mission is driven by a desire

to make a meaningful impact on the health and well-being of others as one part of their health

journey through compassion, empathy, and dedication to nursing. In the professional sphere and

society, my goal is to use the knowledge I have gained to touch the lives of the people I meet and

make a difference in their care. My personal attributes of adaptability, patience, and respect help

me utilize my guiding ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, and fidelity to provide

integrative nursing that contributes to the overall health of the individual, the nursing profession,

as well as the environment we live in.

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References

American Nurses Association (n.d.). View the code of ethics for nurses. American Nurses

Association. https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/nursing-

excellence/ethics/code-of-ethics-for-nurses/

Kreitzer, M. J. (2015). Integrative nursing: Application of principles across clinical settings.

Rambam Maimonides Medical Journal, 6(2), e0016.

https://doi.org/10.5041/RMMJ.10200