My Personal Nursing Philosophy 1

Running head: MY PERSONAL NURSING PHILOSOPHY

My Personal Nursing Philosophy

Crystal Owens

Bon Secours College of Nursing

Synthesis for Nursing Practice

Christine Turner, PhD, RN

March 19, 2018

I pledge
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My Personal Nursing Philosophy

When I first started this program at Bon Secours College of Nursing I was asked to write

a personal nursing philosophy paper. Now as I approach graduation at the end of this semester I

have been asked to write another philosophy paper to outline my personal definition of what it

means to be a nurse and how my values and beliefs have changed since beginning nursing

school. This has been an incredible journey which expanded my knowledge base and aided in my

personal growth. I’ve learned not only learned about medications and how the human body

works but I have learned a lot about myself and how I can impact the health and lives of others.

My view of what it means to be a nurse and what the role actually entails has changed a bit since

I first applied to this program. I have found out that a nurse is not just a nurse but a mentor, role

model, teacher, and at times you may even feel like a therapist and a maid all rolled into one.

My personal definition of nursing encompasses aiding people though the course of their

lives, helping them live the best life possible during times of illness, and helping them maintain

the health they have. I believe nursing is best delivered in a holistic manner considering the

whole person and not just the illness afflicting them. What attracted me to the Bon Secours

nursing program were the values it places on patient care. Values such as compassion, quality,

and integrity I feel are necessary to be a good nurse. Without compassion a patient may feel

more like a burden and may not be as responsive to receiving patient education or asking for help

when they need it. Having integrity is essential in healthcare. There are many policies and

guidelines you must abide by to practice as nurse. There will be times when your professional

and moral values will be tested and as nurses we are trusted to uphold these values in all

circumstances. Quality encompasses all the Bon Secours values and I feel is one the most
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important values. Providing compassionate and innovative care is good, but it must be of good

quality to have the best patient outcomes.

Throughout my time as a nursing student at Bon Secours I have upheld my own moral

and professional values when caring for patients and communicating with other interprofessional

team members. I have followed hospital policies and protected patients’ identities. I have

respected each person’s autotomy, opinions, and religious practices. For example, when caring

for a child with a genetic condition and learning that because of religious reasons they would not

use birth control and they would continue to have children even though they carry this defective

gene. I personally would not want to take the chance of passing on this gene but it’s their choice

and I must respect their decisions and religious beliefs. As I cared for this child I treated the

parents with respect even though my heart felt it was breaking to see what they were going

through and knowing there was a good change they were going pass on this gene to another

child.

I had to put aside my own personal feeling and beliefs on several occasions trying to

remember and I am not perfect, and it is not my place to judge anyone for how they decide to

live their lives. I recall one woman in an ICU I was assigned to who was admitted for an

overdose. She was my age and a mother to several children. I felt upset that someone could do

that themselves and not consider their children. I had to take a moment and center myself and

remember that I went into this profession to help anyone that needs help regardless of how they

ended up in the hospital. I am not God and I chose this profession to help and lead others.

Since writing my original personal philosophy paper at the beginning nursing school a lot

has changed in my life. These changes have affected my perception as well as the direction I

want to take in my career. I went into this thinking I wanted to be an emergency room or trauma
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nurse. Now, 3 years later, I want to work in the world of oncology and maybe eventually

hospice. I went into this thinking about saving lives and now I think more about end of life care

and caring for those who are fighting cancer. After my mother’s cancer diagnosis two years ago,

I found myself spending time in the outpatient infusion center and with many other medical

professionals learning about cancer and I learned first hand how it affects the patient and family.

I spent time at hospice house and really fell in love with this area of nursing. I see how important

it is to be there for those who are fighting for their lives and helping those with terminal disease

pass away in a dignified manner with as little pain as possible. Even though my direction in this

career changed, my values have not. I will still be the best advocate that I can be while providing

non-judgmental care.

Patricia Benner described a model or theory of how nurses come to acquire skills and

knowledge. Her theory describes five levels of nursing experience that come over time with

education and clinical experiences. It begins with the novice level where nurses learn basic tasks

and general rules. I remember first starting out in nursing school learning the basics of what

unlicensed personal could do and doing my clinical experience on the orthopedic unit at St.

Mary’s. My first semester of clinicals was task orientated. We assisted patients and nursing staff

with basic needs such as linen changes, baths, and vital signs. In this novice stage we were

learning the basics of human needs and how to address them. Reading her book, I can easily see

myself in this novice role when I first started nursing school. There are times where I feel like I

am still a novice especially when immersion first started. I still had that task orientated mindset

at times but with the help of my preceptor I am pulling together the bigger picture and thinking

more critically.
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The advanced beginner is the second level of her theory. During this stage the new nurse

has all the basic knowledge and has become competent enough to provide basic care of a patient.

Although they are more competent they still may lack the ability to properly identify important

priorities and miss early warning signs that a patient may be in trouble. As a nurse progresses

into the competent stage they become better at analyzing situations but still lack flexibility and

the speed that the more advanced nurse will have. The proficient nurse will have the experience

to be able to assess the situation as a whole instead of in pieces or parts and respond accordingly.

The expert nurse doesn’t have to rely on the rules but use their experience and knowledge to

assess and solve problems.

Nurses all go through all these steps of skill acquisition and each step builds on the

previous steps. You cannot become an expert simply by studying but through experience over

time. It’s the experience that really teaches you by engaging you. As I encounter different

patients and their unique situations I am learning how to assess the situation, how to interact with

them, and look for possible solutions to the problem at hand. Knowledge of how medications

and the body systems work may be the foundation but it’s the learned skills and experiences that

really bring everything together. The theory of skill acquisition that Patricia Benner describes

thoroughly explains not only the steps to becoming an experienced nurse but outlines strategies

that foster the growth of the new nurse and implications for continued education and career

development.

After considering the stages of Patricia Benner’s theory of skill acquisition I feel that I

am in the advanced beginner stage. I am a lot slower than other nurses about doing assessments

and doing documentation. I still have my own documentation checklist that I do on each patient

to make sure I am not missing anything. I still find myself unsure of medication interactions and
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compatibilities often spending quite a bit of time using Micromedex and verifying with my

preceptor. I am still learning hospital policies. Each patient situation is different and there are

many situations I have not been in before. The med surge unit I am on see’s such a variety of

things that I had not previously encountered during my time as a student here at Bon Secours, so

I often question if I am making the appropriate evaluation and decision when assessing

situations. I am so thankful for the guidance of my preceptor and I marvel at the knowledge and

experience that she has and hope to reach that level of experience one day. Eventually I will

become more proficient but right now it’s intimidating the number of things I know I still need to

learn before I can properly care for patients on my own. As I get more experience I hope that

confidence in my abilities continues to grow.

To move onto the next stage of skill acquisition I will continue to seek out new learning

opportunities as they arise and develop mentoring relationships with experienced nurses that I

work with. I see my coworkers as assets in learning the tricks of trade and value their knowledge

and experience. I will continue to develop my critical thinking skills and be flexible when

circumstances change. I will reflect frequently on new situations that I encounter think about

things I could’ve done differently and seek out the advice from more experienced nurses on how

they handled similar situations. When working in healthcare I realize every situation can change

fast and require a different approach. I will stay current on new developing technology and

research. I believe in being up to date on the best practices and will seek out subscriptions to

nursing journals and other sources of information that I can use to keep up with my continuing

education credits. Most people see graduation as the end of the road to becoming a nurse but,

graduation is just the beginning because nursing is a lifelong commitment to learning.