NURSING PHILOSOPY

  My nursing philosophy is tailored after Jean Watson theory of human caring.  Jean Watson like myself believes there is more to medicine than pills and shots.  We must treat people on a holistic level as well as the physical one.  In today’s word the American population is more diverse than it has ever been.  With this diversity come different cultural beliefs about medicine.  Many different cultures have a different view on treatment of disease as well as the disease itself.

Why is this important?  In one word compliance.  It does not matter how good your treatment is or its success rate is, if people do not comply with the regimen it’s useless.  This is where Dr. Watson’s theory comes into play.  One of the tenants of Watson’s theory is displaying unconditional acceptance.  By not judging the patient, because their approach to medicine differs from western medicine is crucially important.  By finding ways to safely incorporate their beliefs into their care more compliance with a prescribed regimen can be achieved.

The next and most important part of my philosophy is the patient as a team member.  Over the course of my nursing education I have learned the value of motivation interviewing.  This concept whole idea is involving the patient as a member of the healthcare team in their own care.  Treating the patient as an equal gives them back some of the power lost to sickness.  This can have the effect of making the patient more engaged in their care and compliant with prescribed treatments.  Without the cooperation of the patients, we the nurse are powerless, for it is the patient that heals themselves through the decisions they make about healthcare.  As the nurse we can help encourage them to the best possible outcome.