Philosophy

 

Personal Nursing Philosophy

              My personal nursing philosophy has three key domains: 1- education, 2- clinical skills and 3- critical thinking to reach expertise. For each of my three domains I will employ Benner’s stages of clinical competence.  Patricia Benner’s work on stages of clinical competence showed that in skill acquisition and development a nurse passes through five levels of proficiency: novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert. (Benner, 1984). When I graduate with a Bachelors Science of Nursing BSN undergraduate degree and find my first registered nurse job I will be starting at the novice stage. By diligently progressing in my proposed three key domains and gaining clinical experience, I will be on track on my pursuit of one day obtaining expertise.

Components of Three Domains

  1. Education
  1. Formal college education from undergraduate to a terminal doctorate degree.
  2. Board recognized certifications in the chosen field.
  3. Reading evidences based research.
  4. Participating in conferences and being a members of professional nursing organization.
  1. Clinical skills
  1. Ability to perform skills with accuracy and precision.
  2. Deliberate practice of skills in Sim Lab, not just thinking I will learn it on the job.
  3. Reading approved literature and being very familiar with hospital policy and procedure manual.
  1. Critical Thinking
  1. Ability to intergrade patient condition and wishes with nursing care plan and intervention.
  2. Ability to critically think, and suggest therapies the patient will benefit from if not already initiated.
  3. Ability to critically think, and foresee medical errors before they occur.

To become an excellent nurse and progress to expertise one must love the field of nursing and be vested in what one does. Benner has studied student nurses at each stage of skill acquisition. Benner discovered that “unless the trainee stays emotionally involved and accepts the joy of a job well done, as well as the remorse of mistakes, he or she will not develop further and will eventually burn out trying to keep track of all the features and aspects, rules and maxims that modern medicine requires.” (Dreyfus, 2004

 

References

Benner, P. E. (1984). From novice to expert: excellence and power in clinical nursing practice. Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., Nursing Division.

Dreyfus, S. E. (2004). The Five-Stage Model of Adult Skill Acquisition. Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society,24(3), 177-181. doi:10.1177/0270467604264992

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