Running head: PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY OF NURSING 1

Personal Philosophy of Nursing

Keeley R. Dugan

NUR 4140 Synthesis for Nursing Practice

Christine Turner, PhD, RN

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

10/26/19

“I Pledge”
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Definition of Nursing

Throughout our lives, we are in search of what we desire to do for the rest of our lives.

We ask ourselves what our values and beliefs are to form a personal philosophy in order to truly

understand why we want to pursue a specific field, and gain our own understanding of the

definition of our career. I believe nursing is a heavenly cultivated art form that facilitates the

holistic refinement and practice of patience, kindness, goodness, and compassion, amongst

others. Through the delicate virtuosity of facilitating healing, nurses acknowledge the patient as a

whole; considering each individual’s background, physiological, spiritual, and mental being to

incorporate safe outcomes catered to the diversity of needs we are faced with each shift. The

nursing profession is a lifelong experience, with continuous learning and ever-growing

development of medical practice, all coalesced with the ability to provide healing, prevent

illness, restore health, and provide security – both an art, and a science.

When an individual is asked why they decided to become a nurse, there is no mention of

the twelve-plus hour shifts, the pay, or the times when you are mistreated by a patient or their

family. Instead, we are thinking of the moments when we ameliorated the suffering of a patient

who received a new diagnosis, comforting families after the loss of a loved one as if they were

our own, and listening to the endless life stories our patient share with us. Nurses are imbedded

with a desire to provide good help to those in need, to provide a public service, regardless of the

individual. We are not only nurses; we are advocates, a trustworthy ear to comfort those who are

suffering, a friend, a teacher, an innovator, as well as a caregiver.

Personal Philosophy

Developing a personal philosophy can guide us into a deeper understanding, thus making

your work ethic more meaningful and efficient. Nursing philosophies “are statements of beliefs
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about nursing and expressions of values in nursing that are used as bases for thinking and acting”

(Black, 2017, p. 171). These philosophies are formed by our own values and beliefs, and are

important to reflect on often to make sure that we are living by what we believe is important, and

modifying it if you seem to be straying away. These philosophies are the basis for our daily

behavior, especially in nursing; they directly affect our quality of care, rational, and manner in

which we go about providing good help (Black, 2017, p.173).

Throughout my journey through nursing school, many ingredients such as the long hours

in lecture, conflicting deadlines, studying through exhaustion after long clinical hours, together

form a recipe for a not so perfect nurse. At work or in clinical, I am expected to provide health,

healing, and consideration for the patient as a whole, no matter the situation. Despite this

exhaustion and chronic stress, I have continued to reflect on my own philosophy and why I am

here. This allows me to persevere, and know my struggling is worth hearing a patient and their

families give endless thanks after each shift. Personal philosophies differ from individual to

individual; there is no right and wrong answer for the perfect personal philosophy, but these

differences make each nurse unique and exceptional in their own way. I reflect back before each

shift thinking of the trying times I was faced with during nursing school: my significant other’s

new diagnosis of cancer, the death of a best friend, maintaining some semblance of self-care,

etc., knowing that I am able to use my experiences to practice compassionate care and patience

for the sick and dying.

My personal philosophy of nursing will continuously guide me through nursing school

and well after my education is over. It will make me become a better nurse than I ever expected,

and make me strive to succeed so I can continue to show my values and beliefs after becoming a
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licensed nurse. My philosophy will encourage me to strive to do even better than I have done, to

continuously learn and grow from my experiences.

Values and Beliefs

Values and beliefs act as a silhouette; it is what makes up the outline of our philosophy.

At the start of nursing school, we were asked to address what we thought were our values and

beliefs that helped form our philosophies. I was stuck; I had just graduated with a bachelor’s

degree in a subject I was not in love with, and went out on a limb to follow in my mom’s

footsteps to become a nurse. I had no sense of why I was here or why I was proceeding with one

of the toughest professions. With my mom in mind, I wrote idealizing how I saw her as a nurse,

and what drove her to become a nurse, and was pleased to discover that my values and beliefs I

discussed as a new student nurse have continued to hold true and on an even deeper level. I

continue to hold my values and beliefs on compassionate care, patience, and altruism.

We become nurses because we aim to serve selflessly to help those in need. Altruism is

defined as serving selflessly with a genuine concern for other individuals. I wholly believe that

nurses need to help without regard or question. We need to always have the patients’ best interest

in mind. Altruism can help a person grow, and it was through providing care during clinical to a

variety of patient populations with a multitude of needs, traveling to a third world country to an

underserved community who were forever grateful for every move our team made, that I found

my sense of altruism, patience, and the ability to compassionately care in this profession.

Through my own sufferings I have experienced, I refined my ability to not only offer care to

those I thought needed it, but to every individual I encounter.

Nurse-Patient Encounter
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The Bon Secours Professional Practice Model exemplifies several core values:

compassion, justice, integrity, growth, innovation, quality, respect, and stewardship. Our mission

is to provide good help to those in need by utilizing community focus, person centered care,

professional excellence, and ministry leadership. A specific example of a nurse-patient encounter

that demonstrates my application of the Bon Secours Professional Practice Model includes the

core values of quality, respect, and justice.

In nursing, justice is the ability to remain impartial and fair to every patient, even if their

stories go against your own personal values and beliefs. Working as a Patient Care Technician

(PCT) on a critical care unit, often we have patients who are present on the unit for several

weeks, even months. This particular patient was with us for five months, and became a friend

that every employee knew. They were incredibly sick, presented with a chronic tracheostomy,

and needed a new set of lungs, but a personal history of drug and alcohol use put the patient

lower on the list. We all became close with the patient, until the patient’s past surfaced: a

criminal who resided in a state prison for violent rape and abduction of younger women. In this

moment, I paused. I am not a perfect person, no one is. Does this person’s past change how we

have been treating them the past few months they have already been here? Yes, I was in

disbelief, but everyone has a past, and every person deserves a future. As nurses, we are there to

help facilitate healing and nonmaleficence. In this moment, I knew my values did not align with

his, but I continued to treat them as a whole patient, give them respect, and continued to provide

quality care the patient needed.

Role Change

In the class NUR 4140: Synthesis for Nursing Practice, we spent practicum hours

researching and proposing solutions for selected problems on specified units. My group was
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assigned with the daunting task of digging deeper into the realm of falls, and how targeted

toileting would aide in reducing the overall fall rate. As a change agent, we were expected to

propose solutions to assist nurse leaders and other members of the facility to adopt change, and

facilitate the ascent towards successful implementation and positive change. After touring the

unit and speaking with staff members, it was evident that they were not aware of the targeted

toileting process put in place by the hospital, or it was being used incorrectly. To help promote a

positive change, we researched several articles that led us to the conclusion that many hospitals

are using too general of a targeted toileting assessment, and that needs were not geared towards

the patient. Our group proposed a more patient-specific toileting assessment completed upon

admission to the hospital, along with a visual table in patients rooms to specify times nurses or

PCTs would be in to assist the patient to the bathroom. As a result of NUR 4140, we have the

ability to recognize when change is needed, how to navigate the process of change, and how to

be a positive change agent.

Benner’s Theory and Skill Acquisition

Nursing school is aimed at preparing you to the best of its abilities to be a confident,

capable new graduate registered nurse by combining lecture hours with clinical practice. Patricia

Benner developed a theory extending insight on the perspective that a solid educational

foundation in addition to clinical experience forms the juncture in the development of nursing

skill and advancement in nursing practice (Benner, 2001). There are five levels of competence a

nurse travels through during this progression: novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient,

and expert.

The novice stage of this ladder incorporates the skills of a beginner nurse who lacks

clinical experience, such as a first semester nursing school student. The novice nurse is limited to
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the information they learn concerning guidelines, rules, and regulations. Textbooks can be

thought of as a novice nurses’ guiding light, only recognizing objective features of skill. After

the completion of several semesters, the nurse has climbed to the advanced beginner stage, where

an individual has gained prior experience in clinical situations. They are able to bring novice

learned information and incorporate them into situations by identifying key aspects of skills and

situations with the ability to begin forming directorial principles. However, advanced beginners

are still lacking experience and have yet developed the ability prioritize and look at the big

picture (Benner, 2001).

A nurse then rises to the competent level after completion of graduation and integrates

two or three years of practice as a Registered Nurse (RN) and gains a awareness of slight

mastery and confidence, but is lacking speed and flexibility (Benner, 2001). The competent nurse

forms long-term goals parallel to their enhancement of skill and is able to grasp features of

situations that are essential to their progression or trivial when assessing enhancement of skills.

When the nurse moves to the proficient level, the sense of mastery and confidence is heightened

with speed and flexibility becoming apparent. This is due to a combination of outstanding

clinical practice with the ability to embody the whole of a situation. Gained experience in this

stage leads to an advancement in nursing judgment by basing choices off of situational norms

(Benner, 2001). Lastly, a nurse becomes an expert after extensive experience supporting their

decisions made with the native understanding of situations instead of principles and guidelines.

I believe that I am not at one set level of competence, but rather in between two: novice

and advance beginner. I humbly acknowledge that I am not completely an advance beginner, but

am well established enough to surpass the novice level. After working as a PCT on a coronary

critical care unit for two years, and as a second semester senior having bountiful clinical
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experience hours, I am confident saying I have the ability to perform acceptable nursing skills

without direct guidance. Through work and clinical, I have gained advancement past referring

back to general rules and protocols when asked to perform skills, and increased my capability of

recognizing familiar components of skills and situations. Although I feel that I am at an

acceptable performance with established experiences, I am still working towards a sense of

comfort in prioritizing and considering the bigger picture. Upon graduation, I believe that I will

be an advanced beginner.

Action Plan for Moving Forward

With the above plan of becoming an advanced beginner upon graduation, my competence

level will progress to that stage by beginning my career as a new graduate RN on a coronary

intensive care unit. I plan to incorporate continuing educational hours, putting myself in light of

any new learning opportunity, and becoming a leader and taking on more responsibilities. I will

be acquiring my Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) certification, and have hopes to tag

along on rapid response calls to enhance my capability of time sensitive situations requiring

immediate action. Alongside ACLS certification, I will be continuing to expand my competency

levels by attending educational sessions and workshops focused on cardiac specific procedures:

cardiac catheterization, Impella’s, balloon pumps, TAVRs, etc. After two to three years of

working on this unit, my experience and skill levels will be added to my foundation alongside

that of my coworkers Bunner’s level of competent, while also working towards gaining my

Clinical II recognition along the way.

While all of this is being put into a place, I need to step back and remember that I will not

be able to be the best nurse I can be if I do not take care of myself. Self-care is often deferred to

the bottom of individual’s priority list, as more important life events and tasks appear day by
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day. I was the student who decided to complete a bulk of my 225 required immersion hours as

soon as I could, and was slowly beginning to realize that my energy, ability to critical think, and

stay on tasks was hindered. With this in mind, I need to stop every day and ask myself, “What

have I done for myself today?” Even if it is as small as sitting down for fifteen minutes and deep

breathing, recognizing when I need a break to take care of myself will begin to be at the top of

my to-do list.
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References

Benner, P. (2001). From novice to expert: Excellence and power in clinical nursing practice

(commemorative ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Black, B. P. (2017). Professional nursing: Concepts and challenges (8 ed.). St. Louis, Missouri:

Elsevier.