Nursing to me has been an admirable profession for as far back as I remember. Nursing is a humble and patient centered profession that involves the individual, the family, and community. I see it as a duty to be an advocate for the patient as well as an educator, and communicator to the patient and their pertaining family members. Keeping this in mind I must remember that my patients are more than just an I.D they are human beings with a name, with feelings, and with a story behind them. Patient’s require my upmost dedication and a plan of care that will restore them as much as possible to their previous ill state while promoting patient involvement as much as possible to help them regain independence. Over the past few semesters my nursing philosophy has changed due to my gain of knowledge and my multiple experiences in clinicals’. I have come to realize that theorist like Dorothea Orem, Jean Watson, and of course Florence Nightingale have influenced me and I’ve combined their theories to what I believe will make me an excellent nurse someday.
My experiences in the clinical setting have taught me so much about who I am and what kind of nurse I want to be. As an advocate, I have a duty to protect my patients’ rights and I must act on behalf of the patient in times of need and stand up for them when they can’t. I must also involve them in their plan of care and this is the time where we become Educators, where we provide them with accurate information on care and reinforce learning and patient behavior. And if we are unsure we must seek the answers and never provide false information for this could cause further injury to the patient. The gratitude and appreciation expressed by patients and their respective family members for spending a short amount of time with them and helping with their care affirmed me that this is who I want to be and that thriving to be the best I can be will reward me with being able to give the upmost care wherever it is that I go.
My vision as a nurse is to continuously keep learning, obtaining new skills, and being mindful that every patient is unique. Every patient is an individual situation and we must not be biased but be open minded about different patient needs. I must carry my own philosophies with me and learn from them and apply them in every setting to be able to provide the best care possible. Watson defines human caring in nursing as an “act and a science in which caring is a human to human process demonstrated through therapeutic interpersonal interactions.” I personally believe this to be true from experience, I observed that when patients felt they were being listened too they thought they were receiving outstanding care and the opposite when the staff was busy and spent minimum time with them. Spending a few minutes or just checking in on the patient changes their perspective on the care that is being given.
Dorothy Orem defines the Self-care Deficit theory to be defined as nursing to be required when an adult or in the case of a dependent, the parent or guardian is incapable or limited to provide effective self-care. The beauty of the profession is helping those in need regardless of their race, color, language or spiritual beliefs and without judgment while also remembering that during times of giving care we must be mindful of our body language and what we express outwardly so we don’t express judgmental behavior unknowingly. I believe that this has helped me provide excellent care to patients and their families and the gentle handshakes and gratitude’s that are expressed in accents and in languages or dialects I don’t even understand make it all worthwhile.
A nurse must be able to work alone but also in a team, because together we can help provide better care to the patient and move them up in the wellness-illness continuum. I must remember that fellow nurses are with me on this and they too have different beliefs but I must remain respectful to listen and be open about their ideas because they can be of great resource. A nurse will never know everything there is to know and that’s the beauty of it all; there is always something to learn. Every nurse experiences something different and there will be different suggestions all the time but being open minded and willing to take suggestions or thoughts of fellow team members is what will facilitate and make care easier, and more productive.
During practice, we will come upon conflicts with treatment given by the team but we must uphold our instinct and opinion if research and clinical experience supports it. This is done whilst keeping the patients interest in mind at all times and maintaining a professional and respectful manner. When in the clinical setting and working with a group of people conflict may be inevitable but setting ego aside will allow suggestions by others to be heard and allow the contribution of others to aid in better care standing your ground on behalf of a patient’s interest does not mean arguing it means making yourself heard with valid reasons and in a calm manner.
Another inevitable situation is encountering people with different cultural background and with a totally different healthcare belief system. I will be placed in situations where moral, ethical, religious and practices will be complete opposites of my belief system but I must learn to accept and hear other cultures and their beliefs and incorporate them to practice as long as it doesn’t bring harm to the patient. Being a male in a predominantly female oriented practice I have been placed in situations where women might feel apprehensive to receive care by a male nurse but I have learned to show respect and incorporate the patient as much as possible in care and always walking them through what I will be doing regardless of their conscious state helps them feel more comfortable and cooperative and in the end, it’s no different to them and they respond in a gratified manner.
With the determination and effort that has gotten me to this point in my carrier I will strive to continue this journey and further my education because I believe to be an excellent nurse one must not only have good clinical skills but understanding of the nursing practice that years of school gives you. There has been many lessons that I’ve taken from being a student nurse among them the value of human life, the importance of safe practice and the amount of trust patients and their families give a stranger like us to take care of them. I look forward to being able to securely and efficiently practice nursing and safely provide care for my patients.
