Running head: PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY OF NURSING 1

Personal Philosophy of Nursing

Kylie Banks

NUR 4142 Synthesis for Nursing Practice

Dr. Turner

October 8, 2017

I Pledge Honor Code Kylie Banks

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Personal Philosophy of Nursing

Over these past 3 years in nursing school my personal philosophy of nursing has grown

and developed through many clinical and classroom experiences. When I first started my nursing

journey, I had no clinical experience and only had a vague idea of what nursing truly embodied.

Nursing is a selfless profession that involves truly caring for the patient and being their advocate.

My clinical nursing experiences have shaped my values, beliefs and have molded me into the

person and future nurse I will soon become. To truly identify ones own personal philosophy of

nursing, one must understand his or her personal values and beliefs and then apply them to their

nursing practice. A persons values and beliefs are validating and give meaning to life. These

values and beliefs should also align with the hospital or institution values, where you decide to

work and practice. Nursing philosophies guide an individuals nursing practice by impacting the

actions and behaviors of nurses, improving the quality of care each patient receives, and

promoting rapport between nurse and patient. My nursing philosophy is based off my personal

belief that I was called to be a nurse through my passion for caring for others especially those in

need. I believe that every patient deserves equal and holistic care that focuses not only the

persons body, but also their mind and spirit. I have displayed my philosophy through my many

clinical experiences and most recently my immersion experience. Using Benners Theory, I

discussed how my nursing practice has improved from novice to advanced beginner during these

past few years in nursing school.

The nursing profession involves caring for those who are sick and unable to care for

themselves. It is a selfless profession that focuses on advocating for patient needs, providing

holistic care, and educating patients and families on disease prevention and maintenance.

According to the Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing philosophy tenets, a nurse will
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provide holistic care to promote wellness, prevent disease, restore health, and to provide

comfort. Holistic nursing care involves analyzing the whole patient and treating their mind,

body, and spirit. The disease or illness may be the reason the patient is in need of nursing care,

however, their attitude, spirit, and mindset all affect their overall outcome and should be nurtured

back to optimum health. Another tenet that all nurses must maintain is that nurses are

accountable and are ethically, legally, and morally grounded. As patient advocates nurses are

responsible for making ethical decisions within their overall practice. This involves doing the

right thing and focusing on the well being of the patient. Nurses are also legally responsible for

their actions, patient care, and maintaining patient privacy under hospital and state policy. As a

future nurse I support the fact that nurses must be grounded in their morals and must want to be

good stewards for each of their patients. Having good morals involves being generous, honest,

upholding integrity, and being kind and considerate to all. A tenet that Bon Secours Memorial

College of Nursing that I believe is very important in the nursing profession is that nurses make

the commitment to be life long learners and implement new evidenced-based research into

practice. One of the great things about the nursing profession is that new and improved ways to

perform skills and promote patient well being are discovered every day. Nurses are at the

forefront of these discoveries and understand the importance of continuing to improve the

nursing practice and patient care. Staying up to date on policies, procedures, and continuing

researching must be a priority for every nurse in order to improve patient outcomes and hands on

nursing care.

Since beginning my nursing journey, my experiences in the clinical setting have helped

mold and shape my personal philosophy. I chose nursing as my profession because I have always

felt a strong desire to care for others, especially those who are ill or going through tough times. I
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believe that it is crucial to treat all people with kindness and compassion regardless of who they

are and what may have brought them into my care. I have cared for a variety of different patients,

from a laboring mother, a patient dying from cancer, and to a patient who overdosed on drugs. I

have experienced caring for patients from all walks of life, have providing them with the best

care of my ability and will continue to do so in my future nursing practice. As a nurse I will

continue to provide holistic care for all of my patients and focus on bettering their minds, bodies,

and spirits. I believe and have seen that treating the whole person and not just the disease or

illness will improve their overall outcome. I have sat with and comforted patients who just

received bad news about their health and needed a shoulder to cry on. Every patient has different

needs and in my nursing practice, I will continue to identify specific patient needs and help

improve patient outcomes. Educating patients on health promotion and disease prevention is a

priority that I will continue to uphold within my practice. In my clinical experience I have

educated several patients on post operative discharge instructions as well as chronic conditions

like heart failure and diabetes. My personal philosophy focuses on many aspects that are

important to me within my nursing practice. Providing kind, compassionate, and holistic care to

all patients and focusing on patient education are an important part of who I want to continue to

be as a nurse.

During my immersion experience, I was caring for a patient who was admitted to the

hospital for lithium toxicity. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder,

and a severe learning disability. Due to her varying conditions the patient required a sitter to help

keep her calm throughout her stay at the hospital. The patient lived in a group home with four

other residents in Farmville and was used to having someone with her for the majority of the

time. The unit that I worked on in immersion was primarily an orthopedic floor where I cared for
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patients who were recovering from hip or knee surgeries. It was a very rare occasion that I was

able to care for a patient in the mental health population on this unit. During the beginning of my

shift, the patient was calm, answered questions, and took her medications without any problems.

However, as the day progressed she became increasingly agitated because she wanted to go

home. At one point after finishing her breakfast, she grabbed her metal knife from the tray and

threated to hurt someone if they did not let her leave the hospital. Due to her violent and now

combative behavior, a code ATLAS was called on the patient. A code ATLAS is called when a

patient has become violent and is a threat to themself or others. The nurse, the security guards,

and myself were able to calm her down. I explained to her that the only way we could let her

leave today is if she was calm and cooperative until the owner of the group home could come

and get her. Throughout the day until her ride was there I treated her with kindness and

compassion and continued to redirect her before emotions got out of hand. This patients needs

were far different from others that I had cared for, however, I was able to identify what she

needed to keep her safe and calm during the rest of her stay. This situation displayed the

importance of implemented holistic care and focusing on the specific needs of the patient. I was

able to comfort this patient and provide a calming presence to her in her time of need. I provided

quality non-judgment patient care and help deescalate a situation that affected patient safety and

the safety of staff members.

In order to identify my philosophy I identified my personal values which include

compassion, kindness, holistic care, empathy, and health promotion. Compassion and kindness

are essential when caring for others. As a nurse I know that I will be caring for people on their

worst day, and I want to treat them with kindness and compassion to help them overcome and

improve their health. I also value holistic care and believe that all people have the right to care
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that focuses on their overall needs. These values are what I believe are important to implement

with my nursing practice. My values along side my beliefs are what helped mold my own

personal philosophy. Beliefs are essential to the nursing practice to help direct the important

decisions a nurse makes each day. I believe that all life is sacred and the patients needs should

always be prioritized over my own needs. I understand that this may interfere with patients who

may have had an abortion or those who refuse a lifesaving blood transfusion. However, if I am

confronted with these situations I will not let my personal beliefs affect the care that I give to my

patients. Through understanding my values and beliefs I am able to establish my personal

philosophy that will continue to guide my nursing practice.

The Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition states that a student nurse goes through five

levels of proficiency which includes novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and

expert. These varying levels show how nursing skills progress from new graduate level nursing

to expert skill level. The novice nurses skill consists of what was taught in the textbook and

basic skills such as assessing blood pressure, and intake and output. A novice nurse relies on

concrete thinking and the standard rules taught within the classroom setting and lacks confidence

in their skills. The next step in the skill acquisition model is the advanced beginner. At this stage

the nurse has been exposed to some real life situations beyond the school clinical. The advanced

beginner nurse is able to recognize changes and apply personal clinical experiences to their

practice. The novice and advanced beginner nurses are still new to various situations and rely on

the rules they were taught in school to maneuver in the clinical setting. A competent nurse has 2

to 3 years experience and starts to focus on long term goals and planning for the future. Even

with a few years experience, a competent nurse does not have enough experience to look at the

overall situation as a whole. They also lack the ability to be flexible and cannot cope with
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challenging situations as well as a proficient nurse. Nurses who are considered to be proficient

are able to look at situations as a whole and use their 3-5 years of experience to guide their

practice. A proficient nurse has the ability to distinguish pertinent information that is necessary

in guiding patient specific care in varying situations. These nurses are able to quickly identify

deteriorating patient conditions, make quick life saving decisions, and can easily handle complex

clinical situations. The expert level nurse has a tremendous amount of clinical experience and

can easily use intuition when assessing situations. They have the ability to focus on the problem

and identify various diagnoses and explanations. Recognizing data, patterns, and the problems is

like second nature for an expert level nurse. These expert nurses are used as resources for other

nurses and offer provide the best clinical judgments and patient care. The transitional journey of

a novice nurse to an expert level nurse can be challenging, however, these challenging situations

and experiences are what help mold nurses into the best that they can be.

As a graduating and soon to be new registered nurse, I am considered to be at the

advanced beginner level of nursing. I have learned the majority of my skills in the classroom

setting and implemented what I learned into the clinical setting. However, while in nursing

school I was considered to be novice nurse and more closely followed the standard guidelines of

practice that were identified in textbooks. All of my clinical experience was obtained in nursing

school and I have not practiced on my own and have shadowed or learned directly from an

instructor or preceptor. Currently in my immersion clinical I rely on making lists to help keep me

on track with my time management skills. In nursing school I learned the foundation for the

nursing practice and will have to build on this knowledge for years to come in order to move up

in the stages of acquisition. After completely well over 900 hours of clinical, my self confidence

has grown and I feel more equipped to handle situations as an advanced beginner. I am currently
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applying for registered nursing jobs and will soon be able to have more clinical experiences to

help grow in my nursing practice.

In order to move onto the next stage of acquisition, I will need to have 2-3 years of

nursing experience to help build my clinical skills and judgment. Exposure to diverse clinical

situations is one of the best ways that I will move up in the continuum from advanced beginner

to a competent nurse. After selecting a new registered nurse position, I will be on a new unit that

will offer a wide variety of learning opportunities. Each day that I attend work, I will be exposed

to new situations and challenges that will help improve my clinical reasoning and overall nursing

skills. Another way I plan on advancing to the next level of nursing is by continuing my

education and become certified in a specialized nursing field. Furthering my education will allow

me to have advanced knowledge on similar situations that I will continue to be exposed to and

help improve my confidence in my clinical nursing skills. After gaining more experience and

education I will then be able to focus more on my future in nursing and setting long term goals.

By taking time to set goals for my nursing practice, I am helping to promote my success and

experience level. Focusing on the future will allow me to assess my own nursing practice,

analyze the type of nurse I have become, and where I want to continue my growth and nurse

practice. By combining all three of these components, I will transition to the competent level of

nursing.

In conclusion, my nursing practice has taught me many things about myself and allowed

me to analyze the type of nurse I want to be. Nursing is truly a profession of compassion,

kindness, and empathy for patients from all walks of life. My personal philosophy consists of

many important aspects like providing holistic and compassionate care for all of my patients. I

know that I will continue to embody my personal philosophy within my practice and be the best
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nurse that I can possibly be. By identifying my personal beliefs and values I am able to have a

foundation for my personal philosophy and allow me to be grounded within my nursing practice.

I believe that my nursing philosophy will stay with me throughout my nursing career and help

me to continue to provide my patients with the best care.

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Reference

Benner, P. (2001). From novice to expert: Excellence and power in clinical nursing practice

(commemorative ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.