I became a nurse like so many before and after me because I have a strong will to care for others. It gives me great pleasure to help those in need and has also served a personal purpose as well. Before I became a nurse, I was lost in a very dark place in my life. Nursing gave me something to live for when I felt I had nothing left. Serving others gave my life more meaning and a sense of purpose for something that was far above me. Now it’s not just me anymore and nursing in no uncertain terms saved my life.
My philosophy of nursing is to provide care for all those who need it regardless of race, religion, gender or personal beliefs. My philosophy on nursing is that nurses must care for individuals in need regardless of whether or not we agree with their lifestyles or what they choose to do with their body. My belief is that nurses are to uphold and preserve personal autonomy. We, as nurses, must advocate for our patient’s wishes when their voices cannot be heard and we must always advocate for our patient’s utmost safety because very often we are the only people there to do it.
As nurses, we took on a role that is ever changing. Our profession is one that never stops learning. We must always stay abreast of new evidence based practices and continue our education as long as we are in practice. We have not chosen a career path that ends at graduation but one that is just beginning at graduation. We must push forward and uphold degrees that meet the various other disciplines within the healthcare system. We must continue to educate ourselves because we have something unique that the others do no have in that we are constantly at the bedside and most likely know our patients the best.
My goal as a nurse is to continue my education as far as it can take me. I never want to feel like I have learned all there is to learn. I want to help lead our profession to the doctoral degrees that we should be upholding. I want to fight for safe staffing and for better conditions for the future of our profession. I will continue to learn and I hope that I may pass on my experiences to the future generations just as my seniors have done for me. Instead of eating our young, we nurses must foster an environment of leadership and guidance by examples of kindness to ourselves and to all other nurses.
