Running head: PERSONAL NURSING PHILOSOPHY 1

Personal Nursing Philosophy

Kelley Jenkins

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

NURS 3240 – Transition to Baccalaureate Nursing

March 3, 2019

“I pledge.”
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Personal Nursing Philosophy

Part of being a nurse is deciding how you want to perform in that role and what values you

will live by when you provide care to your patients. In this way, I have developed my own

nursing philosophy consisting of a set of principles that help to describe my practice. The theory

that I identify with and most closely aligns with my own values and philosophy is Jean Watson’s

Theory of Caring. Additionally, in working for the Bon Secours Health System for nearly my

entire nursing career, I have found that, incidentally, there are many similarities between the

values set out by my employer and the ones I have chosen for myself.

My personal nursing philosophy centers around the way I treat my patients on a daily basis.

From the moment I decided to become a nurse, I thoughtfully considered the type of nurse that I

wanted to be throughout my career. I wanted my patients to feel valued and cared for, so from

day one, I have consistently treated my patients with dignity, compassion, kindness, and respect.

In doing this, it creates trust between myself and my patients, and helps foster a relationship in

which my patients value my input in their health.

One of the other things I have found most important in my nursing career is using my

knowledge to educate my patients. I believe that by using every encounter with a patient and

taking it as an opportunity to educate them is absolutely essential. Talking with them about their

disease process(s), their medications and how they work, the impact or potential consequences of

certain comorbidities like hypertension or obesity, and explaining the importance of routine care

is vital in helping to optimize patient’s health. Education in healthcare is crucial to not only

improving the health of patients, but also reducing the number of hospitalizations and healthcare

costs.
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I also feel very strongly that it is important to not isolate a patient’s disease process and focus

solely on treating that. The concept of holistic care is not unique to my practice, but I do find

great value in making it a primary theme in the way I take care of my patients. A holistic

approach emphasizes the many characteristics of a patient and uses those components to play a

role in their care (Masters, 2017). This includes the physical, emotional, and spiritual (Masters,

2017). People are not just a disease; they have values, emotions, and beliefs, and attending to the

whole person helps to improve outcomes for that patient.

The final principle that underlines my practice is my desire to advocate for my patients. In

many circumstances, patients are not knowledgeable enough about their healthcare, and so they

rely on experts, like physicians and nurses, to guide their decision-making. As an “expert”, I feel

like I am responsible for helping patients get the absolute best out of their care, and often times

that means advocating for things that they need. This may be something as small as a lab or an

imaging order or something bigger, like a discussion about end-of-life decisions, but whatever it

is, they may not understand the impact that not doing these things may have on their outcomes.

As an advocate, I work hard to empower my patients, represent their best interest, and “plead the

cause for their rights” (Masters, 2017).

Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring identifies ten carative factors that serve as a guideline for the

interaction between nurses and their patients. Many of the principles in her theory closely relate

to my own personal philosophy. Watson’s theory views patients as a unity of mind, body, and

spirit and that we, as nurses, need to attend to all of these aspects to develop healthy caring

relationships (Masters, 2017). It also says we should practice with love, kindness, and self-

control in order to develop trusting relationships with our patients (Masters, 2017). Additionally,

nurses engage in a “teaching-learning experience” with a focus on holism (Masters, 2017). All of
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these principles are well imbedded in my own philosophy, promoting education, holistic care,

and treating patients with compassion, and kindness.

Bon Secours health ministry identifies a set a values that outlines their commitments to

patient care. These values include human dignity, integrity, compassion, stewardship, and service

(Bon Secours, n.d.). Many of these values are weaved into my personal philosophy, particularly

dignity, compassion, and service. I strive every day to provide the absolute best care to my

patients, and I like to treat them like a member of my own family. In many cases, I’m the person

who has the greatest amount of contact with a patient, and so I try to treat them with respect and

honor their needs to make them feel cared for and dignified.

There are many instances that I can think of in my nursing career where my philosophy is

well demonstrated. One particular encounter that I feel exhibits my philosophy well is when I

was a nurse in the ICU. I had a patient who was post-op from a craniotomy after removal of a

brain mass. He and his family were terrified after surgery because when he woke up, he had

some deficits that were not there prior to surgery. I provided consistent reassurance, and when

the deficits continued longer than would potentially be expected after surgery, I pushed for repeat

CT scans to ensure there was nothing going on that would be an undesired result of surgery. I

continually updated the patient and his family and provided regular education on what should be

expected after surgery, how long he could expect recovery to take, what his medications were

and why he was taking them, and answered any other questions they had. When the patient and

his family were tearful, I provided emotional support; knowing that they were Christians, I

offered to pray with them. I did anything that I could to provide care and support for this patient

and his family in the ways that they needed it, not just focusing on caring for his physical being.
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Advocating for my patient’s needs, providing routine education, and similar to Jean Watson’s

theory, treating patients with kindness, compassion, and dignity, and using a holistic approach are

the core values of my personal nursing philosophy. In this way, I live out many of the Bon

Secours values in my practice everyday. Regardless of the level of care my patients require, I

submit to being the absolute best nurse I can be at all times.

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References

Bon Secours (n.d.). Our Mission. Retrieved from https://bonsecours.com/richmond/about-

us/bon-secours-health-system/our-mission.

Masters, K. (2017). Role development in professional nursing practice (4th ed.). Burlington,

MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.