Nursing Philosophy Core Values
The general definition of nursing is given as the ability of a nurse to protect, promote and prevent injury or illness, reduce or eliminate suffering via diagnosing and offering treatment, as well as advocating for a holistic type of care in individuals, their families as well as communities in general. This is the mainstream definition of nursing, nonetheless, my personal philosophy with regards to nursing goes beyond this. Besides all the facets of nursing, I have sought to add my personal goals and believes too in order to ensure that nursing bring an enriching outcome to my patients and the community that hosts me. Basically, it is the reason I chose nursing as a career in the first place. It was not about having a steady income but rather serving my community. I believe in touching the hearts of people because it will make the world a better place, eventually. When a patient fully recovers, I will have done my part in saving lives, thus thankful to my creator. The core values of my nursing philosophy include honesty, respect, being holistic, caring, and empowering myself and patients with knowledge, and patient privacy.
My own view of the four cores Metaparadigm ideals of nursing are as follows. The first paradigm, the person, is extremely unique because I believe that we all were created uniquely by our maker. I also believe that the person is the same everywhere. Only our families or social backgrounds may differ. However, these are matters of the environment , which should not be used to judge the person. I seek to treat people uniformly because they are unique being. This means that I should not discriminate anyone based on his or her social background. I am also predictable to factor in the individual likes and dislikes while offering care or surveillance at any other time. When it comes to the second paradigm, health, I believe that it should be tailored to suit the individual. When patients are ushered in through that door, all they seek is health, no matter what type of injury or disease they suffer. Therefore, my view is that as a nurse I treat everyone in respect to his or her ailment. The more the suffering the greater the care I shall offer. As professional nurses, I believe that we are here to ensure that the patient feels as comfortable as ever. They should not be feeling pain from their ailment or treatment techniques.
With regards to the third paradigm, environment, I believe that the environment surrounds patients has a lot of impact on their recovery. An ample and holistic environment should be able to get patients up to run again in the shortest time possible. With this in mind, I seek to offer all my patients the most positive environment they can receive. It is always a matter of giving hope to the individual because man is nothing without it. As most nurses would agree, things such as mentality, relapse, physical pain, or life at home with family impacts the context and length of recovery. To this end, the environment should factor in religious connotations, a person’s beliefs, and their cultural background as well as what their thoughts on matters of death or suffering.
The last and most important paradigm, nursing, defines the profession itself. I want to believe that nursing goes beyond mere diagnosing or treating a patient. Nursing embraces the individual as he or she is. It is about knowing who the patients really are. This appeals for compassion and care in the biggest sense possible. As a nurse, I am here to serve the people and ease their suffering whenever possible. Everyone is entitled to good health and care. This is why, emotions and ethics, I believe have to be the core of nursing. This is why, I love the profession because it gives me a unique chance to touch someone’s life with regards to their health and general wellbeing.
My view on the nursing process is quite simple – there are three things involved: professionalism, care, and accountability. As a profession, nursing teaches us to help other people indiscriminately. Prejudices and personal views aside, professionalism demands that a nurse treats everyone in accordance with the profession’s code of ethics, standards of practice, and nursing social policy. Our employers, regulatory bodies as well as major stakeholders also bind us besides our profession. Therefore, we ought to follow every detail to the latter and add more values that will help the patient. With this in mind, nursing requires that one devotes many hours to the practice without minding whether one is a stranger or not.
When it comes to care, I believe that nurses require understanding, compassion and tenacity while in this field. This will ensure that I provide quality care driven by every bit of patience and respect to everyone despite their social background. This is where a nurse is encouraged to be built a nurse and patient relationship that borrows on worth and dignity to human kind. It is all about professionalism and compassion. I believe that this is where accountability comes in. The general population holds us with high regards. Therefore, we are not supposed to be told what to do at all time. Accountability should drive us towards regulating ourselves even when no one is looking.
This is why personal knowledge comes in particularly handy. With a whole library of knowledge, one should be able to handle any situation no matter the severity. I ought to be learning on an everyday basis because it will help me become more confident as a nurse. I have never allowed negative energy to determine how I treat my patients; therefore, nurses should adhere to the shared responsibility that the profession demands of us. I believe that my philosophy perfectly fits bedside nursing at the neonatal ICU. As stated before, caregiving ought to be individual-specific, which basically means no discrimination whatsoever. Also, I should be able to devote long hours to whoever need my attention and care. To this end, patients in this section are guaranteed with the best care possible even if it translated to me spending extremely long nights while treating them. I believe I will be satisfied if they walk out of ICU as changed individuals with a positive outlook in life.
The strengths of my philosophy, I believe, are many. First and foremost, they stick to the profession. Therefore, I am bound to follow the rules and regulations, as well as the ethical conduct of nursing. Secondly, my philosophy shines when it comes to offering a holistic care because it takes care of everything else, including personal beliefs, privacy of the patient, as well as social background. I am not in any way supposed to turn away from a patient due to such differences. Nonetheless, I believe that there is one limitation. My philosophy fails to factor in my relationship with my employer or fellow nurses. I will find it hard to respond to situation where my authority or employer has asked me to do otherwise. I believe there will be a conflict of interest even when dealing with fellow nurses who may contradict what I believe in.
