Running head: PERSONAL NURSING PHILOSOPHY 1
Abstract
This paper discusses my personal philosophy of nursing as a sophomore year nursing student.
Through different aspects such as theories, knowledge, and personal experiences thus far, I have
gathered the important points to touch on when discussing how important nursing really is. This
philosophy will help me as I continue through my nursing school years and throughout my
career. Within this philosophy, I go into what nursing means to me, nurse-client relationships,
the role of nurses, as well as theories and teaching points that I have learned thus far that
contribute to my beliefs. Key aspects that are major factors in this profession include:
knowledge, compassion/caring, respect, selflessness, responsibility, and patient privacy. These
bring together why I chose this as my profession.
Personal Nursing Philosophy
Nursing Philosophy 2
Background
When someone hears the word “nurse”, there are many different variations of what that
might mean. One person thinks of scrubs and needles, while another thinks of giving an elderly
patient a bed bath. Some might say that being a nurse isn’t the most glamorous job in the world,
but I believe it to be just that. What is more glamorous than being able to say: “I saved a person’s
life today” or “I saw a patient crying and I hugged him/her until he/she felt better”? For me, that
says it all. About ten years ago, something clicked for me about nursing. I can’t really describe
what triggered it, but I knew I wanted to become a nurse. At nine years old, I wanted to be a
nurse because I was caring and I wanted to help people. Granted, that still holds true but there is
so much more depth and understanding that I didn’t know then. It is more inspiring to see how
much there really is to understand about nursing in what I am learning right now and what I will
learn in the future.
As I progressed through my high school years and began college, I began to learn more
and more about what nursing is. I was not initially accepted into the nursing program, so I
worked as hard as I could during my freshmen year and got accepted just a couple months before
starting the new school year. Throughout this time, I started to develop a real understanding of
what this profession really is. From my own knowledge, I knew that nurses were caring and
compassionate people that do anything to help their patients. I knew that it was an extremely
well respected career and every person that is a nurse that I know has said the same thing: “I love
my job, I wouldn’t change a thing”. Although I didn’t have as much knowledge as I do now, I
feel that I had a solid basis of what nursing is and what it would mean to me to say, “I’m a
nurse”.
Nursing Philosophy 3
Dating back to Florence Nightingale, nursing began to be very profound and as time went
on more and more people were realizing how important nurses are and the how special the work
is that they do. In Notes on nursing, Nightingale refers to the responsibilities of a nurse by giving
the following scenario: “If a patient is cold, if a patient is feverish, if a patient is faint, if he is
sick after taking food, if he has a bed-sore, it is generally the fault not of the disease, but of the
nurse” (Nightingale, 1969, pg. 8). This stuck out to me in her book because the responsibilities of
a nurse should not be taken lightly, and a nurse has to be very responsible when caring for
patients.
According to Nightingale, health is, “not only to be well, but to be able to use well every
power we have to use” (Nightingale, 1969, pg. 24). Health is what nurses and other health care
providers preach about; health is what we all want to maintain in a good way. Being in good
health physically, mentally, and emotionally is one of my main goals to achieve with every
patient that I have over the course of my career.
I feel that responsibility and caring go hand in hand, and with caring comes compassion.
Tronto’s four elements of caring (in “Applying the Ethics of Care to Your Nursing Practice”) as
cited in Lachman (2012) give a great understanding as to what it means to care, and the elements
that are required within care. Tronto’s (1993) four elements of caring are as follows:
attentiveness, responsibility, competence, and responsiveness of the care receiver (p. 127). It is
important to note that responsibility is one of the four elements and above I mentioned how
crucial is it for a nurse to be a responsible person and to know his or her
responsibilities/obligations. Attentiveness is straightforward; if a nurse is not attentive then his or
her patients will not receive the best possible care. The same goes for competence and
responsiveness of the care receiver. Communication is another aspect that is so crucial for this
Nursing Philosophy 4
field. If nurses do not have good communication skills, it is unlikely they will be able to
converse with patients and their families, coworkers, and other health care providers.
Nursing-client interaction is probably the essential way to know what kind of experience
the client is going to have while at a health care facility. If a patient immediately feels that their
nurse does not seem caring or compassionate or understanding, then the patient will be
uncomfortable throughout their stay. My main concern is to make sure that my patients know
that they can be one hundred percent comfortable around me and that they can be open and
honest and know that they will not be judged. Privacy of the patient is part of creating comfort in
that a nurse must always maintain the patient’s dignity. I want to help them be stronger and
healthier so they can return home to be able to perform their daily activities.
Going back to the basics of what I believed and what I still believe nursing is- nursing is
helping people. But to just say “helping people” is not enough. The little things almost always
mean the most to patients, whether it means sitting by their bedside holding their hand or
walking them around the floor to exercise. Being able to watch my patients get stronger every
day is something that I look forward to the most. This is one of the many reasons why I know
that I am right for this profession- I don’t see helping someone as “going out of my way” or
“doing it because I have to”. I want to be there to comfort my patients and for them to know I
will be there for them. I help because I want to help and I know that that will make me a great
nurse.
Nursing Philosophy 5
References
Lachman, V.D. (2012). Ethics, Law, and Policy: Applying the Ethics of Care to Your Nursing
Practice. MEDSURG Nursing, 21(2), 112-114.
Nightingale, F. (1969). Notes on nursing: What it is and what it is not, New York, NY: Dover.
(Original work published 1860).