PHILOSOPHY

OF NURSING

A Philosophy of Nursing
Amanda Gartrell
James Madison University

PHILOSOPHY OF NURSING

My idea of what nursing is has evolved so greatly over the past couple of months,
its hard for me to even think about what it was before. The experiences I have had the
opportunity to have in this short amount of time has been nothing short of an honor, and I
wouldnt trade this challenge for the world. Its hard to give nursing a definition, as it is a
profession that simply encompasses too much to put into a few words. The ANA states
that nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities,
prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and
treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families,
communities, and populations. Through exploration of and meditation on this definition,
I have been able to think about what my own definition of nursing is, and how it
compares to this one. Id say that this definition is pretty accurate, considering many of
the different aspects of the profession are addressed. Even so, I still strongly believe that
nursing is something that expands far beyond these words.
Through exploration of the Metaparadigm of nursing, and through my
experiences so far this semester, I am realizing how important people are to me. When I
say people, I dont just mean human beings, I mean every single unique individual, and
the bits and pieces that make up who they are. I believe that nursing comes down to
something very simple: caring as best as you can for another person. The concept of the
person includes so many different aspects. I am extremely sensitive to the fact that every
person is unique and needs something different from the people taking care of them. In
her article, The Importance of Holistic Assessment A Nursing Student Perspective,
Wallace (2013) States that, A holistic approach is further recommended as nurses have a
leadership role in ensuring person-centred patient care, rather than medical-problem

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centred care (p. 25). We are not treating problems we are treating people. I believe that
everyone deserves someone caring for them that actually takes the time to consider who
exactly they are, where they came from, what they are feeling, and what they really need.
The first level in the model of the JMU Undergraduate Nursing Curricular Model
is the microsystem, which consists of the individual. In the model this level is described
as Internal Environments of Care: Physiological, Genetic, Developmental,
Psychological, and Spirituality of human life. I really appreciate how this model brings
several different aspects of an individual into its definition. The models help to lie out
what we are to pay attention to, but they still cannot show us what exactly we will be
experiencing in the field. We learn that we need to assess, diagnose, plan, implement, and
evaluate. Each part of this layout is spelled out for us in all kinds of sources, but I have
realized that though this is what we do, nursing is not a step-by-step process that is
repeated every time we take care of a person. It all blends together into something that
actually comes naturally when taking care of someone. Its a natural, caring response
spelled out into a formula to help train our minds.
With this natural ability to care for others, nursing comes with the responsibility
of being educated about what is actually going on physiologically in the people we are
taking care of. With this knowledge, we can solve underlying problems. There is a
growth in the idea of best practice, which in essence consists of implementing
evidence-based care. This practice is extremely beneficial in healthcare because it
encourages caretakers to dig deeper into issues, and to implement care that has been
proven to benefit others. For example, over the years research has proven the effect of
spirituality on an individual and ones ability to cope with illness and death. With this

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knowledge, today nurses trained to nurture this aspect of patients, which can greatly
benefit an individual or their family in a crisis situation. This aspect of an individual is
one that I am greatly interested in, and I am eager to learn how to provide support in this
part of holistic care.
One of the best benefits of the nursing career is that there are so many different
fields we have the option of working in. There are so many possibilities; I find it hard to
choose which would be best for me. I know myself well enough to know that I cannot
work with the same patient for a long period of time, at least not yet. I become attached to
people easily and know I would have a hard time letting a patient go. For this reason, I
see myself working in a fast-paced field such as the ER. Another field I have been
thinking about is working with new mothers and their babies. If there are no
complications, these patients are not in the hospital setting for very long, especially with
the decline in the length of stay for new mothers over the past generation. For the short
period of time that they are in the hospital, however, I know that nurses can have a huge
impact on their patients. It is a time of learning and recovery, and preparation for what
steps are next. I would greatly enjoy teaching new mothers what they need to know
before going home, and it would be an honor to stand by a woman as she takes the first
steps in her journey of motherhood.
Stepping back and looking at how much I have changed since beginning my
journey of learning to be a nurse tells me that everything could change again, and I may
end up working in a field I never imagined working in. Either way, Im not worried
because I know for sure now that this is exactly what I was made to do, and I am learning

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to be open for anything. For now, I will continue to strive daily to learn how to be the
best nurse I can possibly be.

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References
Athwal, L. Marchuk, B, Laforet-Fliesser, Y., Castanza, J., Davis, L., LaSalle, M. (2014).
Adaptation of a Best Practice Guideline to Strengthen Client-Centered Care in
Public Health. Public Health Nursing, 31(2), 134-43. DOI: 10.1111/phn.12059
Cunen, N.B., McNeill, J., & Murray, K. (2014). A systematic review of midwife-led
interventions to address post partum post-traumatic stress. Midwifery, 30(2), 17084. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2013.09.003
Nandan, M., Scott, P.A. (2014). Interprofessional Practive and Education: Holistic
Approaches to Complex Health Care Challenges. Journal of Allied Health, 43(3),
150-6. Retrieved from http://www.asahp.org/publications/journal-of-allied-health/
Renfrew, M.J., McFadden, A., Bastos, M.H et al. (2014).
Midwifery and quality care: findings from a new evidence-informed framework
for maternal and newborn care. Lancet, 384, 1129-1145. Retrieved from
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60789-3
Wallace, Sonya (2013). The Importance of Holistic Assessment A Nursing Student
Perspective. Nutringa, 12, 24-30. Retrieved from
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=05eef1ff-64ed-450b99c4-ccdf731e6f5e%40sessionmgr4005&vid=17&hid=4213

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