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My Philosophy of NursingKimberly PriceOld Dominion University My Philosophy of Nursing The purpose of this paper is to rediscover and define my nursing philosophy and to examine how it may differ from my philosophy as a new student nurse. My nursing philosophy as stated in my Professional Outlook paper read “as a nurse I expect to view every patient as a human being, with basic human rights, diverse backgrounds, opinions, experiences and values” (Price, 2012, p. 2) and my outlook remains the same, and in fact it has strengthened after two years of patient care. This paper will further define my philosophy of nursing; what motivates me as a nurse; discuss my personal beliefs about relationships between myself as a nurse and the client, the community and other healthcare professionals; and discuss rules that guide my professional practice. My Definition of Nursing My definition of nursing states that nursing is a profession in which caring, thoughtful, kind, understanding people work toward creating healthy lives for everyone they encounter without regards to race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, or socioeconomic status. Nurses embrace the differences inherent in all people and see the similarities in human beings, recognizing that everyone, despite what their culture and values may be, wants and deserves to be treated with respect. My definition of nurses is reinforced through the American Nurses Associations (ANA) Code of Ethics (n.d.), whose Provision 1 states that “the nurse, in all professional relationships, practices with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity , worth and uniqueness of every individual, unrestricted by considerations of social or economic status, personal attributes, or the nature of health problems” (ANA, n.d.). When I began as a student nurse, my nursing philosophy and definition were very much the same as now: I firmly believe that human beings have basic human rights that include the right to “dignity, humanity and equality” (Jackson, Irwin, 2011, p.35). Now that I have had the opportunity to work in a clinical setting and even work abroad, this fundamental idea has been reinforced. If we can see the dignity and value of each of our patients, we will be able to provide them with the best care possible and improve satisfaction and patient outcomes. Nursing is about caring for each and every person and preserving and respecting their human rights. My PurposeIt took me many years to determine that nursing would be a good fit for me, but now that I am here, I cannot imagine a more fitting profession. Since I was a child, I have internalized other people’s struggles and empathized with other people’s pain. Nursing provides me with the perfect outlet for the instinct to help people that are in need. I have so much compassion for people that are less fortunate, whether that be in regards to their circumstances in life or their health status. When I entered into nursing, my aim was to work with people all over the nation and the world who have limited access to adequate healthcare. While that is still my ultimate goal, my focus has shifted and I now want to specifically work with women that are victims of violence, both domestic and sexual. I have always had a soft place in my heart for women and women’s health and when provided the opportunity through the honors program to volunteer I chose to become a crisis counselor for the YWCA Crisis hotline, motivated by my own personal experience and by that of my grandmother, a survivor of domestic violence. I quickly realized that working with victims was where I needed to be and where my passion was. I had never considered the possibility of becoming a forensic nurse, but now I aim to begin my journey to becoming a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE). Through my own research and through my training at the YWCA, I learned shocking statistics about violence against women and whenever possible, I have focused my studies to include this topic: researching teen dating violence, female genital mutilation, and nurse’s attitudes towards domestic violence screening. I aim to not only work directly with victims, but I would love to be involved in research and education on the topic. This is a shift in my focus that I did not expect when I entered nursing, but one that has brought me a lot of purpose and happiness. I have been able to educate my classmates through an oral presentation and I have expanded my knowledge on the topic allowing me to use the information I have acquired in the clinical setting. I wish to expand my nursing skills to not just victims in the United States, but those women and girls that are victims world-wide. Through activism and education I will work towards eliminating violence against women and improve the quality of life for women, both victims and non-victims. My AssumptionsNurses and the Client The goal of nursing is to provide competent care to all of our clients, regardless of their culture, but part of providing that care is being culturally competent. Each person that a nurse encounters has a unique set of values and we need to recognize and respect those values as nurses and understand how they affect our patient’s healthcare decisions. According to Madeline M. Leininger and her Cultural Care: Diversity and Universality Theory, “each individual and group belongs to a culture or subculture that has specific beliefs and values that influence nursing care” (Johnson & Weber, 2010) and therefore nurses must identify those beliefs, sometimes through initial stereotypes and then through assessment of individual patient values. During every encounter with a client, I must examine my own beliefs and how they may differ from the client, assessing my own bias and trying to critically examine how that may affect my attitude toward their care. This will allow me to treat the client with respect and also to use their cultural values to determine their health beliefs and tap into their motivation to help ensure adherence to care plans. Nurses and CommunityNurses are not only members of a community, but they can be role models and a resource for communities as well. I had not given much thought to a nurse’s role in community health specifically, but I realize now that my philosophy of nursing is based on community and the needs, wants and troubles of that community. According to Hildegard E. Peplau and her Interpersonal Relations theory, nurses create relationships over a period of time with patients and communities and those relationships create trust and opportunities for the nurse to incorporate education into interactions with that community (Johnson & Weber, 2010).If nurses are embraced by a community and become invested in that community, the relationship grows, the confidence of the community can be given to the nurse and the nurse can work toward discovering and meeting specific goals that the community may have. Each community is unique and has their own set of cultural values, often times it is a combination of different cultural values intertwined into that community and through interpersonal relationships, nurses can identify those values to better meet objectives. Nurses and Healthcare ProfessionalsCommunication is the key to any relationship and that is not exempt in the workplace, and is perhaps more essential in healthcare. Nurses communicate with patients, with other nurses, doctors, technicians, families, administrators and more. Communication between healthcare professionals needs to be concise, accurate and respectful to get information across and to receive information without errors. Effective communication is the key to a collaborative workplace and collaboration is essential for a highly functioning, safe, happy and healthy workplace. I have seen how poor communication can have negative effects on a workplace and often results in a lack of trust and respect. According to the Communications Theory (Johnson & Weber, 2010), we must continue to work on effective communication and provide direct communication to avoid misunderstandings and misinterpretations.My PrinciplesI believe in the adage “do unto others as they would like done unto them”. This is directly intertwined with recognizing and understanding culture and cultural differences. As nurses we will have to set aside what we believe the patient should want and consider what the patient would actually like, which is very individulaized. We are held to this standard with end-of-life decisions, but we should be incorporating this principle into every encounter with a patient, whether in a critical care setting or not. I have encountered women in the clinical setting that through conversation and assessment, it was obvious that they were being abused or were in an unhealthy relationship with the potential to become abusive. One such example was a woman that expressed she had a history of abusive relationships and her current boyfriend was becoming increasingly controlling and manipulative, isolating her from her support system and angry. I was able to assess how she felt about the situation, educate her about the power and control wheel and red flags for potential abuse, provided her with resources for the crisis hotline and local shelters and safety plan with her. Although the healthy thing would be for her to leave the relationship, it is not my choice as a nurse to make that decision for her. I can educate her and provide her with facts that highlight how her situation is on the verge of becoming explosive, but if she is not ready to leave, I need to respect that decision. Abused women need to regain their control and therefore this principle is very important: we must support them in what they decide do and provide them tools to be able to make a healthy decision, but they have to make that decision, not the nurse. I also hold the basic principle that every human being is entitled to be provided with care. Although we do not turn people away when they seek care, it is often difficult to set aside preconceptions about people that seek medical care without insurance or who delay care because of lack of funds or understanding of their condition. Every human being has the inalienable right to seek happiness and to be healthy. Nurses can assist patients in recognizing this and make them feel comfortable and worthwhile by listening and appreciating their personal situation, struggles, successes and failures. As a nurse, I want to embrace every patient’s differences, discover their similarities and treat them with the respect that is due to them just because they are human beings. This was illustrated especially on my global health trip to Antigua, Guatemala, a very poor country with very limited healthcare resources. As a group, we were able to participate in running a mobile clinic and completing basic assessments to some of the poorest communities, free of cost. Although we were not expecting this when we went, we quickly adjusted and met the needs of two separate communities, extending the time we were scheduled to be there so that we could accommodate the number of people that signed into the clinic. This was complicated by barriers in communication but we were able to overcome these barriers because we were motivated by our desire to provide care. The majority of patients in these communities had “simple” complaints such as diarrhea, lice, and back pain, but they had no access to care, something that is very foreign to me as an American. Every person should have access to basic care to improve their quality of life, and in this case, we were able to provide simple prescriptions and education that could have an impact on their health status. Conclusion My personal nursing philosophy can be put into simple words: respecting individual cultures and recognizing basic human rights through communication and caring. My philosophy has not been augmented from when I first began nursing school, but it has grown and blossomed from a basic concept to encompass every aspect of my nursing career and my life. I have developed an even fiercer desire to help people but have focused that urge into an area I am passionate about: victims of violence. Victims of violence come from all cultures, all socioeconomic statuses, all races, all religions, but they have one thing in common: they have the right to live without fear, to be loved, nurtured and cared for, to be listened to and to be safe. My philosophy has helped me to understand that each victim wants something different from their experience and sometimes nurses have to check their own biases about the decisions that victims make, such as abused women staying with their partners or a victims of sexual assault deciding not to press charges. I will take my philosophy with me into my nursing career and continue to expand it as I encounter patients. I hope that my philosophy will help me to treat every patient with respect, to treat them as they would like to be treated and to communicate and establish trust with them so that I can provide better care and help them through whatever they may be experiencing. References Code of Ethics for Nurses. (n.d.). Retrieved from , A., Irwin, W. (2011). Dignity, humanity and equality: Principle of Nursing Practice A. Nursing Standard, 25, 28 pages 35-37. doi: 21488447.RISJohnson, B. M., & Webber, P. B. (2010).?An introduction to theory and reasoning in nursing. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.Price, K. (2012). My professional outlook. (Unpublished Nursing 300 philosophy paper). Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA. “I pledge to support the Honor System of Old Dominion University. I will refrain from any form of academic dishonesty or deception, such as cheating or plagiarism. I am aware that as a member of the academic community, it is my responsibility to turn in all suspected violators of the Honor Code. I will report to a hearing if summoned.” Signature: __Kimberly Price_______________________ ................
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