Works Cited - Stephanie's RN to BSN Academic Portfolio - …



Personal Philosophy of NursingStephanie C. CarpicoUniversity of North Carolina WilmingtonAccording to the American Nursing Association, “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” CITATION Ame12 \l 1033 (American Nurses Association, 2012). However, there is much more to nursing as a whole, and throughout this paper I will be discussing my own personal nursing philosophy. “A philosophy of nursing presents a particular professional nurse’s belief system or worldview of nursing–the nurse’s personal definition of nursing” CITATION Kea12 \p 17 \l 1033 (Kearney-Nunnery, 2012, p. 17). In order for me to discover my own personal definition of nursing, I will need to look closely at my own belief system and analysis existing literature on nursing professionalism. Lastly, I will explore my own professional identity and reflect on how my newly found personal philosophy of nursing will impact my career plans.One of the challenges in the nursing career, is how to appropriately incorporate our own values and beliefs into the professional practice. Everyone has values, beliefs and ideas that are different from others. According to the National League of Nursing, the core values of nursing are caring, diversity, integrity and excellence (2011). In order for one to establish their own philosophy of nursing, they must first be able to self-reflect on their belief system and acknowledge their values. I consider the primary focus of nursing to be a provision of a caring relationship that facilities health and healing. I care for all my patients with compassion, integrity and the respect that they deserve. When patients seek care I not only care for their physical needs, but I offer emotional support as well. I practice integrity and always remain truthful and honest with my patients. Every effort is made to be a reliable source of information for my patients. In order for my patients to trust me, I try and develop a rapport with each one of them. I attempt to value the worthiness and uniqueness of every individual, no matter their health problems or economic status. Through my support of evidence based practice, continuing education, and applying my critical thinking skills I aim to provide excellent care. I strive to be respected and successful in my career by incorporating my own core concepts of nursing such as advocacy, honesty, compassion, knowledge and respect. Professional nursing practice is a set of guidelines followed by professional nurses to promote high-quality nursing standards. According to Kearney-Nunnery (2012), the standards that contribute to practicing professional nursing are: ethics, education, evidence-based practice, quality of practice, communication, leadership, collaboration, professional practice evaluation, resource utilization and environmental health CITATION Kea12 \p 8-11 \n \y \t \l 1033 (pp. 8-11). All professional nurses should know and follow the code of ethics outlined by the American Nursing Association. The ethical nurse should practice with compassion, be a patient advocate, and hold responsibility for patients care and safety. I agree with the fact that, “Nurses need to make the time and commitment to ensure that high-quality care and standards are present and upheld; this involves critical analysis, communication, collaboration, and leadership” CITATION Kea12 \p 8 \l 1033 (Kearney-Nunnery, 2012, p. 8). All nurses must have a professional education whether it is an associate, bachelor or master degree to ensure safe and effective practice. Nurses now look at evidence-based practice and research to guide the way they practice. Evidence based research integrates research with clinical expertise to provide optimal care. Professional nurses should demonstrate effective communication skills with patients, as well with their colleagues. Collaboration is necessary when involving the patient and other healthcare team members in the patient plan of care to ensure safe and effective patient centered care. Nurses need to continue to utilize resources to make certain the care they provide is safe, effective and financially responsible. Nurses not only need to pay close attention to their patients, but they must also maintain a safe and healing environment. Through my research, I would define the professional nurse as a caregiver who demonstrates compassion and knowledge of nursing by preventing the spread of illness, relieving patient suffering, and treating the patient illness through evidence based practice; all while being a patient advocate and educator using effective communication, and maintaining competence through professional continuing education.Professional nurses develop their own nursing philosophies based on their own personal values, as well as their experiences. According to Kearney-Nunnery (2012), the metaparadigm of professional nursing incorporates four concepts: human beings, environment, health and nursing (p.4). Nurses should be dedicated to the wellness of human beings; whoever is receiving the care whether it is an individual, a family or a whole community. A patient’s environment is key to the ability to maintain health and wellness. Not only do nurses need to provide a safe environment for the patient to heal in, they need to promote the importance of a healing home environment as well. Someone living in a positive environment will most likely have better outcomes then someone living in a negative environment. Nurses should promote health, while taking the time to understand the patient’s concept of health. Health is a state of overall well-being, physically, spiritually and emotionally. Just because a patient has diabetes, does not make the patient unhealthy. That is why it is important to communicate with your patient so you can fully understand their perception of health and their goals. Nursing is dynamic process, both an art and a science. The focus of evidence-based practice gives a solid foundation to improve outcomes. Each patient is unique, and treatment and interventions should be patient-centered. The professional, experienced nurse should be able to use intuition and experience to enhance both qualities of care and patient outcomes. Using my own values and the metaparadigm of professional nursing, I have discovered my own personal philosophy of nursing. I believe nursing to be a career of compassion, caring, self-discipline, hard work, responsibility, intelligence, and honesty. Nursing is as a profession dedicated to the wellness of human beings, and the promotion of health in a safe and healing environment. Nursing is a dynamic process centered fully on the care of others in order to restore them to their optimal functionality.As I grow in my career I will learn to apply all of my new knowledge, values and beliefs to my profession as a registered nurse. Once I am able to incorporate all the core characteristics of nursing I have established, such as compassion, self-discipline, hard work, responsibility, advocacy, knowledge, and honesty, I will have the knowledge to be successful and well-respected in my career by my patients, their families, health care professionals and colleagues. As I advance within my career, I will hold myself accountable for my patient’s care and safely. I will make sure I am providing competent care by staying up to date on evidence based practice research and continuing education courses. I will work hard to treat each patient, as a unique individual and help to restore their optimal level of health. I see my own professional growth taking me in a new and exciting direction. Going back to school for my bachelor’s degree is meant to increase my knowledge of nursing. I will strive to maintain and adhere to my personal nursing philosophy throughout my career.The development of my personal nursing philosophy required integration of my own values and learned nursing concepts into my personal framework of nursing. Through writing this paper I have revealed the answer to a question I often get asked – why did you want to be a nurse? Until till now, my answer was “I just wanted to be a nurse.” I have discovered that nursing is a true vocation, not in the sense of an occupation, but in the sense of a calling. You may be wondering what I will say now when someone ask why I wanted to be a nurse. I will look them straight in the eye and tell them I didn’t choose nursing, nursing chose me. Nursing is a calling, in which you get to help people improve their lives, something I have always endeavored to do since I was a little girl. Nursing is the most rewarding and fulfilling career I could every dream of. I could not imagine doing anything else as a career. Through determining my own values and analyzing the guidelines that establish a professional nurse, I have come to recognize my own personal philosophy of nursing and how it impacts my career. As I grow in my nursing career, I expect that my nursing philosophy will grow as well. But, no matter how it changes it will always be structured on my core concepts of nursing: advocacy, honesty, compassion, knowledge and respect.Works Cited BIBLIOGRAPHY National League for Nursing. (2011). Retrieved from About the NLN: Nurses Association. (2012). Retrieved from Nursing World: , R. (2012). Advancing Your Career Concepts of Professional Nursing (5th ed.). Philadephia: F.A. Davis Company. ................
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