PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION (MSN) REQUIREMENT/RESEARCH WORK:

1. WHAT IS YOUR PHILOSOPHY IN LIFE? WHY HAVE A PHILOSOPHY? Do we really need a philosophy in life? Maybe yes or maybe not. But as for me, it is a necessity to have such. 1. It serves as a guide. It's like walking in a dark tunnel but you have a candle on hand. Your philosophy is the candle. In times of darkness and ambiguity, your philosophy will guide you towards the path that you want to take. 2. It will make you a better person. Compare it to piece of gold. A miner found treasures of gold but at first you wont really appreciate the value of gold until it turns into jewelry. It's like having a philosophy in life, your philosophy will transform you into someone that is better than the old you. It will make you a lot better and wiser person. 3. It will serve as a constant reminder of who you really are. Your philosophy is like your whole being. It molds you into whom you are now and who will you become in the future. Your philosophy in life will form the pieces of your being until it will give you the bigger picture of yourself. In my own personal view, having these philosophies will guide me, help me to get better and will make me whole. 1. Whatever the mind can conceive and believe the mind can achieve. --Napoleon Hill I heard this when I was still in high school. But at first it seems pointless to me but when I dissected the real meaning, it became my favorite philosophy in life. In the truest essence of the saying, it means, be optimistic. I often say this when there are exams. I believe that I will pass an exam and most often, I passed my exams however being optimistic has to be coupled with hard work. To attain success in life, you have to add optimism and faith then multiply it with hard work then you are now ready to attain lifelong success. 2. We are going to suffer, we will have difficult times, and we will experience many disappointments-but all of this is transitory, it leaves no mark. And one day, we will look back with pride and faith at the journey we have taken. --By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept by Paulo Coelho I read this book when I was in college. I was moved by the lines in the book mainly because I myself experience to suffer. Being a nursing student was tough. It's like you re trap in a war and you have no way out. The only thing that will make you survive is to keep fighting. In the department, I was a student and in my own mind, I am soldier fighting for survival. And MA. CERES P. SISON

every soldier has a story of lost. I struggled a lot in my nursing years. I have to take tough exams and even retake it just to move to the next level. I thought I will lose the war but then I realized that I just lose one battle, it doesnt mean I lose the war. The line from the book made me realized that yes, there will be loses, disappointments but in the end this is just temporary. It will stop and eventually you will win. Now that I survived the war and received my title, I looked back. I put on a smile on my face and tell to myself, I have done a great job. We have different philosophies in life. We may agree or disagree to it but in the end, it is just ourselves who will choose. Just last year, a famous person died. Before he died, he gave a speech in front of graduating college students. I read the whole transcript of his speech and I was deeply moved by it. The paragraph below made my being in deep awe. And it became part of my long list of philosophies in life. "Your time is limited, so dont waste it living someone elses life. Dont be trapped by dogm a which is living with the results of other peoples thinking. Dont let the noise of others opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." --Steve Jobs

2. WHAT IS YOUR PHILOSOPHY IN LIFE AS A HEALTH CARE PROVIDER? Being a health care provider is not just about caring for the sick. It is a complex job; you have to look at a person as whole. Assess not just the physical aspect but you have to look deeper. Assess his mental, emotional and spiritual state. I remember my first day of duty in the hospital ward of St. Paul Hospital, me and my group mates were assigned on the pediatric ward of the hospital. As a neophyte in the area, I was nervous to handle a patient for the first time. I was shaking and sweating. I was assigned with a toddler patient. As I do my nursing care, he complained of stomach ache. I went to find my clinical instructor but he was downstairs with a patient in the x-ray room. That time, I dont know what to do; I was staring at my notebook doing nothing while my patient is suffering. Then, I asked one of my classmates for help, to my dismay, she just gave me a bookmark; she smiled at me and walked away. I looked at the bookmark and it read: Start by doing what is necessary then do what is possible and you are doing the impossible.St. Francis of Assisi I suddenly felt the adrenaline. I went to my patient. I did everything that was necessary to his case. Then, I begun to do what was possible. I assessed him thoroughly; have to go downstairs to let my clinical instructor be informed with the situation. Then after that, my clinical instructor talked to me, at first I thought he would scold me instead he thanked me because my patient was suffering from appendicitis. He thanked me because if the appendicitis was diagnosed late, it could have ruptured and it could jeopardize the patient health. MA. CERES P. SISON

After that incident, I thanked my classmate for the bookmark. It gave me self-confidence to do better in the chosen career. It inspired me to everything just to make my patients comfortable in their hospital stay. I carried the statement of St. Francis till the last day of my duty as student nurse. It reminded me of what are my duties and responsibilities to my patient. It serves as my philosophy as a health care provider and believe it made me a better nurse and it will make the best nurse caring for the people. I may not have done many impossible but I know just as long as I do the necessary and possible, in time, Ill be able to do the impossible.

I. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS BASED FROM YOUR EXPERIENCES AS A HEALTH CARE PROVIDER:

A. Metaphysics What experiences as health care provider will better enable you to meet the challenges of your profession? Metaphysics is the study of the nature of things. Health care providers are also researchers. We also seek the nature of the symptoms present to be able to know the interventions that will be implemented. Example, a patient came to the hospital complaining of high temperature. As metaphysics is concern, we, nurses will try to assess the patient to find the nature or root of the problem. We try to seek answers to be able to intervene properly. High temperature can signify infection, impending fever, or it can be a plain mechanism of the body. The study of the nature of things will help in early diagnosis of diseases that will be able to prevent further progression of diseases and for a good prognosis.

B. Epistemology What is the validity of Nursing Diagnosis in terms of Data Analysis and Problem Identification? Epistemology is the study of truth and knowledge. Nursing Diagnosis is a very crucial step because this will help in the recovery of the patient. It should be done meticulously. In order to achieve accurate diagnosis, data analysis and problem identification should be precise and base on the truth. We study the patients sign and symptom in order to arrive at a correct diagnosis.

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C. Logic What process should a researcher use to determine the value of health practices to program participants? Logic is about systematic and orderly reasoning. It involves rational thinking. As a health care provider, experimentation or use of scientific method will help determine the value of health practices to program participants. Using experimentation before implementing one health practices will ensure the accuracy and effectiveness of such practices. Thus, the risk of error will be prevented. One concrete example is the use of sterile equipments in cutting the umbilical cord of a newborn infant. Some hilots are using plain scissors to cut the umbilical cords of newborns however studies shows, that use of unsterile scissors will risk the baby for infection. Thus, through experimentation, the use of sterile scissors will lessen the risk of infection. Health practices are present because researches have proven it to be effective and accurate. Researchers used various methodologies and one of them is experimentation which proved to be one of the best ways to verify the effectiveness of one practice.

D. Axiology What is the value of health education programs to the individual? Health Education is about rendering services to the society. We go to the community to share our knowledge and skills. We often go to schools or communities to have health education, and usually we discuss about the most prevalent situation or those situation that can be handle within their own houses. We discuss about dengue prevention and management during the month of June to December, we also share about basic first aid down to waste management. Health education aims to make every individual self-reliant. It aims to make the community not just to rely on their Baranggay Health Workers instead they can rely on themselves. We make use of health education as a tool to rea ch to those people who cant afford to go to the City to seek medical attention. Health education is focus on health prevention. Through health education, health care providers channel important information that can prevent illness.

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E. Ethics How can you be an aid in developing ethics among your fellow health care providers and your patients? They say in terms of caring to a patient, there should be no room for mistakes. As nurses we live our whole life trying not to make mistakes for the safety our patient and also for ourselves. We want to give the best care we could give to our patient. But we, nurses are also humans. We commit mistakes. These mistakes are vital in developing ethics among health care provider. When we make mistakes regardless of its weight, we write it in an incident report. These reports will now be evaluated thus these mistakes will now develop a strong ethical awareness in the health care profession. I am not saying that we should make mistakes just to aid our fellow health care providers rather; there should be strict adherence in term of the hospital rules on incident reports. This will help in determining current problems and will help prevent reoccurrence of such. F. Aesthetics Is there a beauty in health? Is there a beauty in sickness? Indeed, beauty is both present in health and in sickness. There is a beauty in health not just in the outside but also in the inside. According to World Health Organization, health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease. Thus, being healthy will not just free you from diseases but it will also beautify your well-being. Being healthy entails a lot of advantages on a person in fact there is long list of advantages of those person who are healthy. First, a promise of long and disease free life. A future is brighter when you are healthy. You can go to places without any worry that you might get stroke. The ultimate beauty in health is to be able to live your life to the fullest. If there is a beauty in health, I believe that there is also a beauty in sickness. At first, you think twice in saying so but in the deeper sense, there is such beauty in sickness. Being sick will enlighten you that being sick have no good at all. It will help you realize that once is enough. It will make you more aware of your health. The beauty in sickness is that it will give you time to contemplate on the things that you can miss out while you are in a hospital bed. It will also give you time to reflect on how will you improve your health.

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II. What are the influences of the following philosophies (schools of thought) in our health education/health practices today? A. Idealism Idealism is the belief that reality is mentally constructed or otherwise immaterial. Idealism influences us nurses to widen our knowledge towards nursing. It influences us that acquiring knowledge will not stop after our BSN degree; we should continue to seek knowledge and updates on nursing education. We can achieve it by attending seminars that can give us updates in our chosen career, programs that can enhance our skills and to enroll in graduate school. We dont stop studying; we learn that nursing is continuous process for acquiring knowledge. B. Realism In order for an idea to be true, scientific method should prove it making an idea to be true. Realism influences the health care providers to seek evidences to prove existing nursing theories. It influences us not just to follow theorist because they said so rather it push us to inquire about the theory and find out its effectiveness in nursing practice. Nurses are very much inclined with the theory of the great Florence Nightingale which is the Environmental theory. It states that manipulating the environment of a patient will lead to his/her recovery. Realism influences us not just to follow Nightingales theory just because she is founder of modern nursing; it influences us to prove Nightingales theory through scientific method. Realism taught us to be critical for the betterment of our patients.

C. Pragmatism It asserts that the truth of beliefs does not consist in their correspondence with reality, but in their usefulness and worth. Ideas and knowledge will only be true if it has value to the society. As a health care provider, we are tasked to give care and practice what nursing taught us. We give value to the knowledge and skills that we acquire in our nursing education. We apply to jobs which will give us the opportunity to practice nursing. Pragmatism influences us to apply the knowledge that we have to be able to help the sick and as well as those who are healthy.

D. Naturalism Naturalism believes in natural cause, it buries the idea of ghosts, deities and any supernatural. Naturalism influences the health providers to dwell in the natural cause of a disease and not to connect it with ghosts, deities and the so-called, mangkukulam. We look on the scientific cause to find the solution. MA. CERES P. SISON

If a patient was admitted in the emergency room and complains of stomach ache, as naturalism teaches us, we assess the patient. We asked the foods that he ingested for the past hours, we try to assess if its cause by the water he drank, or if he/she has history of ulcer. We look on the natural cause or reason of the complaint. We can also suggest x-rays, fecalysis, endoscopy and ultrasound to aid us in discovering the real cause of the stomach ache. We disregard the old beliefs in mangkukulam, spirits, dwende and any other supernatural being. We focus our search for reason in a scientific way. E. Existentialism Existentialism taught us that existence precedes essence. Humans consciously create their own values and determine a meaning to their life. It influences us nurses to be independent and to get hold of our life. We continually search who are we, where will we go and why are here. In the field of nursing, there are a lot of choices of what field well pursue. We can choose our specialties, an operating nurse, intensive care unit nurse, dialysis nurse, oncology nurse and more. Existentialism wants us to find are place in the nursing world. It influences us to search who we really are. We can choose the career we want to pursue and it will be our own decision. Personally, I would like to be an oncology nurse which specializes in cancer care. I want to care for those cancer patients. I think being an oncology nurse can give me the answers of who really I am. I want to extend my caring hands to those cancer patients.

III. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING AND JUSTIFY:

A. Why do nurses need a Code of Ethics? Do you think it is necessary? Code of Ethics among nurses is necessary. Imagine a house without foundation; you can never call it a house. Nursing is a profession therefore it has to have a Code of Ethics which will be its foundation. Nursing is one of the most respected professions; it requires extensive education and training in order to produce the best nurses whom people can trust on their health and life. ? Becoming a nurse is not just about earning a degree, passing the board exams and obtaining a license. What comes after all of these is important, when nurses start to work. Nurses are one of the most trusted people by the patients just like their doctors. They give their utmost trust that we, nurses will in return give our utmost care to them. That is why nurses are clientcentered. Since nurses are entrusted to arrive in such decisions, they are held responsible for every action. These actions can really influence the care given and the recovery process of the patients. Nurses are responsible for the improvement of the patients' conditions and not to harm them. MA. CERES P. SISON

That is why a Code of Ethics is necessary to protect the patient as well as protect the nurses. In the Philippines, Board Resolution No. 220 serves as the code of ethics of Filipino Nurses. It guides nurses on how to deal with patients, co-workers, society and the environment. It gives a standard protocol one nurse must follow. It indicates the dos and donts in practicing nursing. A comprehensive Code of Ethics can serve a strong foundation that will ensure optimal delivery of care.

B. Is there a relationship between doing good to others and maintaining ones health? Does doing good make you healthy? Health care providers understood doing good as the principle of beneficence. We do good for the benefit of our patients. The priority of every nursing care plan that we do is the patient. I believe that we do good not just because we took an oath, we do good because we know that the patient deserve since they entrusted their life to us. Doing good for others makes us, nurse, feels good inside. It lifts our morale that a simple conversation or just a mere presence can make a patients fear disappear. It gives us the confidence to continue caring. The eagerness to do good will let us think that we must stay healthy to be able to do good to others.

IV. Which among the commonly heard sayings are you interested in? How does it affect your life as a health care provider? How does it affect the lives of you fellow health care providers and your patients? HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY The first time we enter school, we look around our classroom, then at one corner of that room, a saying is posted. It is one of oldest saying that existed. At first it looks simple and easy to say out loud but in real life, honesty is the best policy is difficult to follow. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, HONESTY is the adherence to the facts, fairness and straightforwardness of conduct. In short, it means telling the truth. As a grade school student, I look at this saying as simple as not telling a lie. All I understand is the superficial meaning of the sentence. I never looked at it as something important to live up to. As I grow old, I begin to realize that, honesty is the best policy, is not just a saying, not just a mere sentence with 5 words and 22 letters. It is one of the saying thats so easy to utter yet so hard to do. And as health care provider, this saying is not just about telling the truth, it is something more than telling the truth and avoiding lies. As nurses, we are very familiar with the principle of veracity which means being truthful towards our patients. However, there are certain situations that truth cannot be told. MA. CERES P. SISON

 the inquiring person has no right to it the duty to withhold it is greater than the duty to reveal it there is a reason sufficiently grave calling for the withholding of the truth In addition, as a health care provider, we sometimes have the difficulty dealing with the family in terms of the condition of their family member who is sick. Families tend to ask nurses of the patients condition and sometimes we are undecided if we will or will not disclose any information. The immediate responsible members of the family may also have the right to information regarding their patient if and only if, the patient agrees to it, the disease may affect the family such as communicable diseases. These conditions may lead to dilemma since we will tell lies but as a health care providers, we are bound to protect our patient thus concealment of truth will be for the greater good of the patient.

V. What is your greatest achievement? Is this achievement guided by your philosophy in life? My greatest achievement in life is the addition of the two letters in my name. RN is just to letters but when you dissect its meaning you can see hard work, faith, suffering, triumph and happiness. Back then, I was a little girl wishing to do something different. I was just a little girl trying to make my parents happy and proud. Then, I entered the realm of nursing. I never thought that I will struggle but I guess I underestimated the career that I want to pursue. It was tough. I struggled a lot not just on my studies but on how to juggle requirements and my responsibilities to my family. But I tattooed on my mind that I will someday be a registered nurse. As we are housed in the school dorm in preparation for the Nurse Licensure Exam, my mind was preoccupied with things that were bothering me. I was scared in taking the exams as well as knowing the results. I was afraid that I might not pass and will make my parents disappointed. But with all the support from my family, friends and instructors, I succeeded. As Napoleon Hill said, whatever the mind can conceive and believe the mind can achieve, I believed that I will pass and had to make sure that I study, the result overwhelmed me. Being a registered nurse is just my first step. I know I can do more. My road to achieving my greatest achievement in life is not yet over. I still want to make a difference just like when I was a little girl. I still want my greatest achievement to be for my parents. I want to reach my full potential and after that I can say that I have reached the peak of my greatest achievement.

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VI.Among the many philosophers, who do you admire most? How does he/she affect your life? He was as a Chinese teacher, politician, editor and one of the greatest philosophers in the history of China. His name is Confucius (551479 BC). His philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. A wise and learned man, Confucius taught children at an early age before getting a job at the ministry of justice. He spent most of his life traveling across China with some disciples, teaching about the art of government. He wrote a series of works about what is now known as Confucianism but it's in the piece called The Analects that his teachings are the most palpable. He believed that a ruler's first objective should be to ensure the welfare of his people. As I learned the life of Confucius way back when I was still in high school, he taught me a lot of things that until now I apply. 1. Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. He taught me to fight hard and never let go of my dreams. Confucius inspired me to stand up in every fall. Each time that I fail my exam, I try to focus not on the way I fell but I try to center my attention on how will I regain my confidence, that in each fall, what matters is how are you going to stand up and not minding your failures. 2. Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure. This statement by Confucius taught me the value of preparation and hardwork. A success is dont just happen overnight that when you wake up you are now a successful person. Success needs hardwork and preparation. I did not become a registered nurse in an instant. Success is not just like an instant noodle that after you put a hot water in it, count five minutes, there you go an instant food. It happens step by step. Success is hardwork. Success is preparation. Confucius taught me that in every challenge that I embark, I need to prepare myself vigorously. In the clamor to acquire a license, I struggle a lot, studied hard and fought hard. The school prepared each and every one of us. We never entered the testing room empty handed. We brought in with us the knowledge, the faith, the confidence and the fire to pass the exam. And true to his word, we succeeded. We were prepared hence we came out victorious. 3. It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. I want to be successful. Everybody wants to be. After the oath taking, each of my classmates is now in process of planning their lives. One of my friends is now working, earning money as a call center agent another one is employed in PhilHealth. My classmates in high school are now in the bank, hospital or school doing their respective works. But as for me, I still dont know where to go and what to do. I do have plans but its execution is still in haze. I feel MA. CERES P. SISON

jealous sometimes but what Confucius taught me is to take things slow and one day you will find your destination. Having my masteral degree is one of the steps in my plan. I want to take it slow and not to rush living my life. As Confucius says, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I may not have a job now but it doesnt mean that I will stop from reaching my ultimate goal. I will get there. It may take time but I wont stop a single step until I reach the summit of my dreams.

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