Running head: NURSING PHILOSOPHY
Personal Nursing Philosophy
Annie Haas
The University of New Hampshire
NURS 500
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Abstract
Being a nurse is something to be very proud of. Helping people that are in
need is something that is very rewarding. In the following pages I talk about what
nursing means in my own words and what other people view nursing as. As only a
sophomore in my nursing career, I still have a lot to learn but my basis of what I
have now is strong beginning. I talk about what includes having nurse-patient
interactions. I outline a few morals and ethics that I follow as a young nursing
student so far in my career. With time, I will build on my ideas so far but plan to
have more morals and ethics to go by as a nurse.
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Background
Ever since I was a little girl, being in the medical field has always been my
dream. Standing on that stage during 5th grade graduation and being prompted with
the question, ‘What are you going to be when you grow up?’ I can still remember
saying that I was going to be in the medical field and I am proud to say that I am
almost there. I never knew what I wanted to do in the medical field but when the
time came to decide, nursing was the only choice that I wanted to do.
Nobody in my family has been in the nursing field, so I never grew up around
nurses and even still I find it one of the most intriguing and rewarding careers. I
have always been one to help people and care for them so becoming a nurse was an
obvious choice for me.
As a child and growing up, I had always thought that nurses just perform
insignificant tasks that the doctor does not have time for. As I have grown up, this
thought has changed and has allowed me to see all the work and effort that nurses
put in. Going through these first two years of nursing school has aided my thoughts
on this because I now see first hand, what nursing is all about. Nursing is way more
than just doing worthless procedures with your patient. Everything that a nurse
does has meaning and is for the benefit of the patient’s outcome.
What does it mean to be a nurse?
Nursing is not only a career it is a lifestyle. A nurse cares for many people
during his or her shift, and each one of those patients will be affected positively due
to their nurse. Nurses are people who will greet their patients in the mornings, have
conversations with them and make them feel better about themselves on top of
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maintaining a safe and clean environment while performing care and administering
medications to their patients. There are many underlying things that nurses do that
people will not understand and that is what the hard thing about being a nurse is.
Nurses will put in effort, tears and sweat into their patients but the outside world
sometimes has no understanding of what these nurses put in.
Nurse client interactions
Developing a relationship with your patients is a great thing but can also be
very challenging. Being a nurse you are always going to want to be there for your
patient in tough times but you always have to remain professional. Being
professional with patients, I believe, comes with time. As you move on into your
nursing career you get better at developing relationships with patients and it will
not be as hard to get as attached emotionally. But with most things, this is
something else that no one can teach; it has to be learned through experience. It is
okay to be there for your patient and helping them through the hard times but you
need to make sure that the person you are caring for knows that you are still there
caregiver.
Patients
Somebody who is under a nurse’s watch and care is considered their patient.
A patient expects their nurse to give them the best care they can give to them and
get them back to optimal health. It is important to maintain professionalism with
patients, but be a person they can go to if they need help or guidance while receiving
care. I believe that patients need to understand the concept that this is our job and
we are trying to help them get back to full health. It is important for a patient, if he
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or she are able to, to help the nurse in any way possible to help get back to their
optimal health. A nurse’s desire for his or her patients is to get better and out of the
hospital as soon as they are able to.
Health/Environment
Nursing allows for patients of theirs to get back to their optimal health. But
health can be defined in many different ways. According to WHO, “Health is a state
of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of
disease or infirmity.” (1948). Health can refer to a person’s physical along with
emotional health. If a person is a little bit compromised in one of these categories
then they are not at full and optimal health. Both the nurse and the patient need to
do everything that is possible for the patient to get back to optimal health and
having a trusting relationship between nurse and patient will help this process.
The environment is what determines how fast a patient will be able to get
back to their desired health. There are different types of environments including:
stressful, therapeutic, comforting, angry, safe, etc. and depending on which type of
environment the patient is in will determine how well they will achieve their
desired outcomes.
Morals/Ethics
One moral that I plan to live by can be related to the term beneficence.
According to Callister, “Beneficence is the obligation to do good”(Callister, 2011). A
nurse is always trying to help their patient is a positive way and if that is something
that I can live by then I believe that I will be a great nurse. Patients expect from you
to perform you highest level of skill when working with them so they can get back to
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health as safely as possible. A moral that I live by in everyday life and that I will put
into nursing is the act of courage. As talked about by Lachman, “Moral courage is the
individual’s capacity to overcome fear and stand up for his or her core values and
ethical obligations” (Lachman, 2007). Lastly I plan to have empathy for my patients.
In my eyes I believe that if you do not have empathy for your patient and what they
are going through then there is no way that you will be able to perform the best care
to get them back to optimal health as you possibly can.
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References
Callister, L. (2011). An overview of ethics in maternal-child nursing. Lippincott
Williams & Wilkins, 36(3), 154-159. doi: 10.1097/NMC.0b013e3182102175
Lachman , V. (2007). Moral courage in action: case studies. MEDSURG Nursing, 16(4),
275-277.