Running head: PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY OF NURSING 1

Personal Philosophy of Nursing

Kaitlyn M. Spence

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

NUR 4142 - Synthesis for Nursing Practice

February 28, 2018

Pledge: “I have neither given nor received aid on this assignment.”

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Personal Philosophy of Nursing

The definition of nursing is very complex, because nursing involves so many parts of a

person. A nurse has to have certain qualities that all mesh together perfectly. The American

Nurses Association describes nursing as “…both an art and a science; a heart and a mind. At its

heart, lies a fundamental respect for human dignity and an intuition for a patient’s needs. This is

supported by the mind, in the form of rigorous core learning. Due to the vast range of

specialisms and complex skills in the nursing profession, each nurse will have specific strengths,

passions and expertise.” (CITATION) Each nurse’s philosophy is slightly different because it is

shaped by each individuals experiences. Another reason that nursing is difficult to define is

because the medical field and the nursing profession is constantly changing an evolving with

new research. I began my nursing career as someone who knew nothing about the medical field

whatsoever, therefore my philosophy of nursing has developed and changed significantly over

the past three years. Being a student of Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing (BSMCON)

has molded my philosophy of nursing with their mission and values, starting with the beginning

of the program.

The philosophy statement of BSMCON includes five tenets: nursing, nursing education,

caring, health, and service. These tenets align with my personal definition of nursing because

they include everything that embodies the heart of nursing, and the dynamic nature of it as well.

One essential part of nursing that I value highly is caring. Caring is a foundational aspect of

nursing because as nurses our patients’ lives are in our hands. Being a caring nurse ensures is a

vital part of good patient outcomes and healing. On a daily basis it is a nurses’ job to care for

others. Sick people rely on us to care for and heal them with a holistic approach, that includes the
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mind body and spirit. Each interaction with each patient is important to facilitate building a

rapport with the patients, which leads to healing.

Another aspect of nursing that is vital is nursing education. Nurses should be committed

to lifelong learning. I believe that continuing education is one of the most important parts of

nursing because the medical field is constantly changing. Nursing school is important because it

gives us a foundation of wisdom, however this is only the beginning of our education. I believe

that nurses learn the most once they actually being their job and are working in the hospital or

other health care setting. This is where we will learn true patient care and skills. I am also very

thankful that I was able to be a part of a bachelor’s degree program because I was able to learn

about foundational nursing concepts such as leadership, communication and collaboration, and

professionalism.

As I come to the end of my nursing education and reflect on the past few years, I am able

to truly value the time an effort that I have put in, as well as my professors. I am very grateful to

have had an amazing education that has shaped my nursing practice. One aspect of my nursing

definition and philosophy that is specific to Bon Secours is service. My program has put a lot of

emphasis on vulnerable populations and serving those in need. This has shaped my nursing

philosophy because I now have a passion to work with those less fortunate than me. Working in

the Emergency Department this semester I have been able to meet many different types of

patients and situations. This has allowed me to truly value the service part of nursing. I have

been able to provide care for vulnerable populations and aid in community health. As nurses our

job is to serve others in the aspect of healing, and this is a big part of my nursing philosophy.
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My personal philosophy of nursing is reflected in my nursing practice with every patient I

care for, and I hope that never changes. Working in the Emergency Department this semester

really allowed me to reflect on the tenets of my philosophy. Patients in the Emergency

Department are usually very scared, upset, or angry about their condition. As a nurse, my goal is

to immediately provide them with a caring presence and help comfort them. I do this by

immediately introducing myself, providing therapeutic touch as we interact, and listening to their

expressed needs. Whenever I am assigned a new patient, I also perform a triage assessment that

looks at the patient holistically. This allows me to not only determine what the patient’s chief

complaint is that brought them to the hospital, but also helps me identify any information about

their background, family, living environment, cultural or religious preferences, physical or

cognitive impairments that may need extra care, and any other significant information. The

Emergency Department is a very busy environment, and it is easy to let yourself become task

oriented as you speed in and out of patients’ rooms. As a nurse, I try to make sure I take time to

talk with my patients about what is happening, address any concerns they have, and let them

know that I am there to help them in any way. Additionally, I strive to learn something from

every patient that I care for, so that I can better care for my future patients to come. I recently

had a patient that came into the Emergency Department on a very busy day. The patient was in

atrial fibrillation, and was informed that a cardioversion would be done to try and fix it. After

the doctor left the room, I could immediately tell that the patient and his wife were distraught

over this news. The wife started crying, and the patient stated that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to

go through with the procedure. I stopped what I was doing to sit next to the patient’s wife and
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tried to calm her down. I educated her about what was going on with her husband’s heart, why it

wasn’t pumping effectively, and how a cardioversion would potentially fix it. I explained that

this wouldn’t be like the chaotic medical shows you see on TV, and that this was a very

controlled, safe environment. I also explained that her husband would be sedated and wouldn’t

feel any pain, and that I would come find her as soon as we were done. She immediately calmed

down and thanked me, and the patient decided to have the procedure. Once the patient’s wife

was out of the room, he thanked me for comforting her, and told me there was no way he could

have gone through with the procedure with his wife that upset. By creating a healing

environment for the patient and his wife, we were able to restore the balance between his mind

and body, and ultimately improve his overall well-being.

Although I still have the same core values and beliefs as I did at the beginning of my

nursing education, my outlook and appreciation for them have grown significantly. In the

beginning of my nursing career, I identified caring, compassion, and respect as values that were

very important to me. These values have become even more important to me as I approach my

new career as a nurse. I now realize that these values are not only important to apply to your

patients, but also to your coworkers, your family, and yourself.

In her book, From Novice to Expert: Excellence and Power in Clinical Nursing Practice,

Patricia Benner describes the different stages of the learning process that nurses go through using

the Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition (Benner, 2001). She describes nursing as a continuous

leaning process in which nurses gain knowledge (knowing that) as well as skills (knowing how)

through many different experiences. Benner uses the Dreyfus Model to explain that as nurses

develop certain skills during situational experiences, they progress through five levels of

proficiency: novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert (2001, p. 13). Each
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level builds upon the previous one, and reflects changes in many aspects of the nurse’s

performance.

The first level of acquisition is novice. Novice nurses have no experience, and are very

task oriented based on principles learned in the classroom. They are very inflexible, and are not

yet able to distinguish significant pieces of information from the entire picture. Since they have

no previous experience, novice nurses learn best when their patient’s condition is explained to

them using objective and measureable data (Benner, 2001, p. 21). The second level of

acquisition is advanced beginner. The advanced beginner nurse is able to recognize reoccurring

aspects that are significant, and use them to formulate their own principles and guidelines. These

nurses have minor experience, and still need assistance with things such as setting priorities

(Benner, 2001, p. 24). The third level of acquisition, known as competent, occurs after a nurse

has two to three years of experience in a specific work area. Competent nurses are more aware

of their long-term objectives, and can effectively plan and prioritize care for multiple patients.

Although the competent nurse is organized, they still lack speed and flexibility (Benner, 2001, p.

27). The fourth level of acquisition is proficient, and is found in nurses with three to five years

of experience in the same area. The proficient nurse has a more holistic understanding of

situations, and uses past experiences to recognize and respond to specific events. During this

stage, nurses transform from someone simply managing care by performing tasks, to someone

analyzing and responding in order to provide safe, quality care (Benner, 2001, p. 31). The fifth

and last level of acquisition is expert, and is characterized by a nurse that “is no longer aware of

features and rules, and his/her performance becomes fluid and flexible and highly proficient”

(Dreyfus & Dreyfus, 1977; as cited by Benner, 2001, pg. 34). Nurses at this level have an

intuitive understanding of clinical situations, and anticipate potential complications based on

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what is occurring with their specific patient rather than what occurs with other patients in

general. Expert nurses have the ability to “organize, plan, and coordinate multiple patient needs

and requests and to reshuffle their priorities in the midst of constant patient changes” (Benner,

2001, p. 149). Not all nurses will reach the expert level of acquisition, however, it is something

that all nurses should strive for.

When I first began working in the Emergency Department for my Immersion, my lack of

experience and task oriented behavior made it obvious that I was still in the novice stage of skill

acquisition. With every new patient, I would listen as my preceptor asked questions and

performed her assessments. I had the ability to do things such as EKGs, IVs, and blood draws,

but I wasn’t confident enough to actually do them until my preceptor told me to. My focus was

geared towards completing every task that my preceptor asked me to do, and never analyzed the

reason behind each of those tasks. Now that I am almost done with my Immersion, I feel that the

advanced beginner level of acquisition most accurately represents my professional development.

Working in the Emergency Department has not only allowed me to experience a wide range of

diagnoses, but it has also given me a better understanding of the many typical or atypical

symptoms associated with these diagnoses. Using the concepts I learned in school in addition to

the situations I have now experienced in Immersion, I am able to quickly assess situations and

determine what needs to be done without my preceptor’s instruction. My goal is not only to

progress to the level of a competent nurse, but to progress towards the level of an expert nurse.

During my new hire orientation, I will take advantage of having a preceptor and ask as many

questions as possible. Once my orientation is over, I will remain eager and always ask questions,

even if it means exploring the answers myself. I will opportunities for growth whenever

possible. I will be active in professional organizations, and maintain as many professional

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licenses and certifications as possible. Most importantly, I will keep my job in the Emergency

Department in order to continue building upon previously knowledge and experiences.

Since the beginning of my nursing education, my values and philosophy have grown

tremendously. Initially, I thought I would learn how to interpret symptoms, identify pathological

problems, and treat different diseases and their physical symptoms. While I did learn about

those things during my education, I also learned how to holistically care for people, and

ultimately how to heal. Defining nursing is relatively simple, however, truly embodying nursing

is challenging. Nursing is so much more than taking blood pressures, administering medications,

and charting patient assessments. As Virginia Henderson stated, “the nurse is temporarily the

consciousness of the unconscious; the love of life for the suicidal; the leg for the amputee; the

eyes of the newly blind; a means of locomotion for the newborn; knowledge and confidence for

the young mother; a voice for those too weak or withdrawn to speak” (Henderson, 1966, p. 16).

References

American Nurses Association. (2010). Nursing: Scope and standards of practice (2nd ed.).

Silver Spring, MD: American Nurses Association.

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

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

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing (2016). 2017-2018 college catalog. Retrieved from

http://bsmcon.edu/sites/default/files/files/BON_Catalog_2016_Web(1).pdf

Henderson V. (1966). The nature of nursing: A definition and its implications for practice,

research, and education: reflections after 25 years. Macmillan, NY: National League for

Nursing Press.
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Watson, J. (1995). Nursing’s caring-healing paradigm as exemplar for alternative medicine.

Alternative Therapies, 1(30), 64-69.