PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY OF NURSING 1

Mikayla Crookshanks

Personal Philosophy of Nursing

NUR 4142 Synthesis for Nursing Practice

October 15, 2018

Christine Turner PhD, RN

“I pledge…”
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Personal Philosophy of Nursing

Definition of Nursing

Nursing is a complex profession that combines both an extensive knowledge and

understanding of medicine with a person’s values and beliefs. Together these aspects are

incorporated into how nurses treat, care for, and serve their patients. As a graduating senior at

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing (BSMCON), our education and clinical work has

been framed around the values of compassion, quality, and service. Compassion is a crucial part

of any nurse’s practice because illness can be a confusing and frightening time not only for the

patient but also for their families. Simply being present for your patients, whether they just need

someone to listen or someone to help them navigate their hospitalization, can make a huge

difference in their experience. Also included within compassion are the principles of respect,

integrity, and justice which are all equally important in the care we provide. As nurses, we must

always ensure our actions and our nursing care is of the highest quality. This can be

demonstrated through a commitment to lifelong learning and continued education within our

nursing practice. Lastly, the care we provide should always be aimed to serve and empower our

patient and their families.

BSMCON also upholds us to their philosophy statement which is based around five main

tenets: nursing, nursing education, caring, health, and service. In terms of nursing, the profession

is considered both an art and a science. It includes adapting to ever-changing policies and patient

needs while remaining morally, ethically, and legally grounded. Nursing is also about providing

evidence-based, holistic care to our patients in order to promote their wellness and deliver

comfort during times of need. When considering nursing education, it is important to devote our

practice to lifelong learning and to utilize all available opportunities to further our personal and
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professional growth. Caring is incorporated with the value of compassion and is closely related

to the way we treat our patients and the respect we give them. Our caring philosophy is also

deeply rooted in the concept of holistic care and treating the whole patient, not just their physical

ailments. The reason we provide holistic care is because health, the fifith tenet, is a dynamic and

complex state involving many factors and influences. The last tenet of our philosophy here at

BSMCON is service which is about how our mission as students, nurses, and educators is to

provide “good help to those in need”. While serving this mission, we must always consider the

core values of respect, compassion, justice, integrity, quality, innovation, stewardship, and

growth.

Personal Philosophy

When I first started nursing school, we were asked to develop our own personal

philosophy of nursing and explain how we planned to incorporate it throughout our education

and into our future career. Throughout that paper, I explored my beliefs and values of holistic

care, the “golden rule”, selflessness, and lifelong learning. After deciding exactly what nursing

meant to me, I came up with my personal philosophy of nursing: “Treat patients not only

holistically, but in the manner you would wish to be treated and without the expectation of a

reward. Always remember life is a learning process and to keep the mind open to intellectual

growth”. My philosophy is reflected throughout my nursing practice in that I treat my patients as

a big picture by considering all of their needs, not just their physical ones. Also incorporated into

my practice is the “golden rule” which I utilize by treating all of my patients with the same

respect and justice that I would wish for myself or any of my loved ones. Lastly, my philosophy

of nursing reminds me to never stop learning and to keep an open mind to new concepts,

knowledge, and ideas.

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Nurse Patient Encounter

A nurse-patient encounter that demonstrates application of my personal philosophy of

nursing took place this semester on the first day on my clinical immersion. One of my patients

was an older male client with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). He originally had the

LVAD placed multiple years ago as a bridge-to-transplant alternative. However, his health

continued to decline and the effectiveness of his heart failure medications were decreasing. Parts

of this were due to his underlying heart failure and other disease processes such as hypertension

and diabetes mellitus. However, the patient was highly non-compliant with his care and

unfortunately had a poor outlook on his life greatly affected his emotional health. The holistic

care aspect of my nursing philosophy came into play here because not only was his physical

health suffering, but his emotional and spiritual wellbeing were imbalanced as well. Often times

having unhealthy emotional or spiritual wellbeing can prevent patients from maximizing their

physical wellbeing. Throughout the couple days I was assigned to this patient he remained angry,

distant, and non-compliant with his medications, assessments, and vitals. My preceptor and I

attempted therapeutic communication and addressing what barriers he felt were preventing him

from his care. We also consulted patient advocacy, palliative medicine, and even pastoral care.

We did all of this not only because it was our job to empower the patient and his health but also

because we felt it was right.

Unfortunately, the impact of our work is not completely clear as the patient decided to go

home on hospice services and have his LVAD discontinued. As I explained in my philosophy

statement earlier, I believe it is important to treat any patient with the same dignity, respect, and

compassion that you would want for yourself or any of our loved ones in their time of need. As

for the intellectual growth aspect of my philosophy, I had never taken care of an LVAD patient
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before and was given the opportunity to learn new knowledge about the associated LVAD

equipment, assessment for proper function, medications to increase the effectiveness, and the

sterile driveline dressing changes. During this time, I remained open-minded with an eagerness

to learn and expand upon my nursing skills. At the end of our time with the patient, my preceptor

and I both felt that we did our best to empower the patient and maximize all domains of his

wellbeing. Our patients always have the right to refuse care and we respected his wishes for a

more palliative/hospice approach upon discharge.

Values and Beliefs

Although it has been three years since I developed my personal philosophy of nursing in

NUR 1100, I would still choose those values and beliefs to incorporate into my practice. One of

the most important things nursing school has taught me is to treat all of my patients with

kindness and respect no matter their situation or circumstances. We as nurses never truly know

what a patient is going through and our actions should always be aimed to serve and empower

them and their families. At times, it can be easy to pass judgement about patient situations but

our patients deserve a nurse who is there is help them, not downgrade them. Nursing school has

also reinforced the part of my philosophy that life is a constant learning process and it is

important to keep our minds open to both personal and intellectual growth. Throughout my

experiences in various clinical settings and lectures, I have noticed again and again that there in

always more knowledge to obtain. Going into work as a nurse believing you know everything

not only restricts your growth but it can also endanger the health and care of your patients. For

this reason, I always try to present myself with an eagerness to learn new information and

perform new skills.

Benner’s Theory
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Dr. Patricia Benner developed the nursing theory “From Novice to Expert” which defines

the stages of clinical competence and experience nurses go through in their careers. According to

her theory, first year nursing students are a great example of stage 1 or novice. These students

have minimal experience, limited abilities, and are strictly guided by instructors and guidelines

in the clinical setting. However, once these students graduate nursing school and start their new

graduate positions, they become advanced beginner nurses also known as stage 2 in Benner’s

theory. At this point, new graduate nurses have the knowledge and ability to recognize

significant components of patient care. However, they lack the in-depth experience to put patient

situations into perspective and plan long-term goals. Next is stage 3 where a nurse is termed

competent. These nurses have had a couple years of experience in the field which increases their

ability to recognize deviations in patient condition and interpret their significance more quickly

than advanced beginners. Stage 4 is where the nurse is considered proficient and now views

patients as a whole rather than in parts. These nurses also have an idea of what to expect in

certain situations and can modify the plan of care in order to reach certain goals. Last in Benner’s

theory is stage 5 or where the nurse is now considered an expert. Nurses in this last stage no

longer rely on rules or guidelines to plan their care. They have the in-depth experience and

knowledge needed to intuitively explore patient situations and successfully plan their care while

considering both short-term and long-term goals. Expert nurses are also able to perform their

daily work efficiently, effectively, and in fluid motions. These five stages of clinical competence

help guide nurses in their practice and set goals for continued education and growth.

Skill Acquisition

Using Benner’s theory and stages of skill acquisition, I believe advanced beginner most

accurately represents my current nursing competence. I have gained various experiences and
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knowledge throughout the past three years of nursing school which has moved me out of the

novice stage. In the next few months, I will be graduating and beginning my first new graduate

registered nurse position. I believe I will be able to recognize significant patient situations and

changes in condition. However, I will still lack the in-depth nursing experience necessary to

effectively interpret these as a whole, utilize techniques such as advanced planning, and set long-

term goals. I do not expect to start my new graduate nursing job knowing everything, nor do I

expect to ever be the perfect nurse. Having this mindset is not only unrealistic but also endangers

your patients. I may have a slow start and I’m sure I’ll make mistakes but as I gain more

experience, I’ll become more comfortable, confident, and fluid with my patient care.

Action Plan for Moving Forward

Following the stages of skill acquisition, I will spend the next couple years working to

achieve stage 3 or competent nurse status. One way I plan to work towards this goal is to

encounter every patient situation with an open mind and eagerness to learn. As I stated before in

my personal philosophy of nursing, I believe you can never stop learning and recognizing this is

an important part of the nursing profession. Each and every patient situation can teach you

something new whether it is about a physical illness, symptom, or medication or how to

recognize patient needs and individualize their plan of care. Second, I plan to utilize all of my

resources and opportunities to continue my education and personal growth. Some examples of

these opportunities can be researching new conditions and medications as I come across them,

participating in committees, education seminars, accepting advice and constructive criticism

from preceptors or more experience nurses, and enrolled myself in specialized training. Another

part of this is exercising a sense of humility, knowing my limitations, and asking for help when I

need it. Lastly, I am going to keep up with my care planning and concept map techniques taught
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to us throughout nursing school. Even though these assignments where often times frustrating, I

truly believe they have helped me view patients as more of whole rather than many parts. They

also helped connect the dots between certain aspects of patient care such as their specific

diagnosis, how their labs and tests are affected, and why they were taking different medications.

I believe these three goals will aid in continuing my knowledge, experience, and development in

order to become a competent nurse.