MY PHILOSOPHY

Personal Nursing Philosophy

Many years ago while I was taking care of my ill grandfather who was suffering from progressive dementia, I witnessed his ability to think, reason, remember and other mental functions are gradually taken away from him, and that was the moment I decided to become a nurse so I can take care of others who like my grandfather, particularly in geriatric population. I deeply felt that nurses are not only the caregivers, but the teacher, advocates, and critical thinkers, which I defined as personal nursing philosophy.

As a critical thinker, I believe critical thinking and analytical reasoning are essential skills for nurses to provide safe and effective care to the patients in the community. Patients’ needs were analyzed and prioritized appropriately and addressed in a timely manner. Nurses play many vital roles in the care of their patients, including that of advocate—someone who acts on behalf of another. To perform this functions adequately, the nurse must be involved in all aspects of the patent’s care and collaboration with the interdisciplinary team is needed to provide patients with best expertise, best solutions and best possible patient outcomes. Communication skills are also needed to work with patients, team members and other providers to prevent errors, ensure patient safety, and achieve desired goals and outcomes.

Ethical values offer a framework for assessment, and nursing values influences nurses’ goals, strategies and actions. The most pertinent ethical values to nursing I think are commitment and empathy. Empathy is the ability to put ourselves in another person’s position and see that position from their point of view. It is important for the nurses to acknowledgement that a person has the right to feel the way they do and try to understand and respect the way they feel. As a caregiver, there is an everyday challenge of providing a service where a nurse’s actions directly affect a patient’s life, therefore I believed nurses need to be committed to nursing profession and try to overcome these challenges for the sake of their patients. Nurses are responsible for lifelong learning and accountability for their practice and participation in interdisciplinary activities. Nurses should exhibit a willingness to learn from their co-workers and always striving to provide the best possible guidance and care for the patients.

The theory that I use is the Watson’s theory of Human Caring. The theory focuses on authentically caring about the whole patient. Watson’s theory of Human Caring aims to ensure a balance and harmony between health and illness experiences of a person. According to Watson, caring is the central to nursing practice, by using this theory, the nurse can help the patients to achieve a higher degree of harmony within mind, body and soul.