My personal philosophy of nursing has become a critical element in my growth and development as a professional nurse. One of the most influential nursing theorists throughout my nursing career is Jean Watson. Jean Watson’s Philosophy and Science of Caring addresses how nurses express care to their patients. Her nursing theory of Transpersonal Caring was developed to help foster the caring compassionate side of nurses. The act of caring and showing compassion is central to nursing practice. Thus, my philosophy applies multiple values that I have attained while growing up as a professional nurse. Nursing represents a great deal in my life, it involves taking care of individual holistically through their spiritual, physical and emotional aspect. I use the knowledge that I attained throughout my education and paired it with my personal values such as compassion and caring, respectful and honest. My main goal is to provide safe, and competent professional nursing care. Thus, in order to do that, I believe in hard work, determination, authenticity and the continued quest of elevating one’s mind.
I have always regarded nursing as a moral practice, in that its purpose is the restoration of other individuals. The nurses and the patient encounter each other for the first time and are placed in an uncomfortable dynamic of vulnerability and power. I find this notion both profound and humbling. Thus, it is important to be authentic and caring in order to foster the wellbeing and dignity of the individual patient. One of my main principles is to view patients as partners in their own care. As a nurse, I seek to engage in meaningful encounters and establish authentic connections.
In any profession, the individual makes a commitment to learn, acquire knowledge and be able to serve and practice in that field. Nursing is not very different in that aspect to other professions. As a nurse, the commitment to learn and acquire knowledge is a commitment you make for life. The nursing field is always improving. Therefore, there are constant changes happening; changes that make it difficult for a nurse to perform adequately over time, without a quest for knowledge. With this in mind, I emphasize the notion of nursing as a practice: a collectively performed activity of which the shared intention is to enact something of benefit. To me, the term practice denotes the need for knowledge, competence, and skill proficiency, and good care is the goal of nursing practice.
At the end of the day, I believe that good nursing requires a pragmatic approach, with unity in what matters most (patient care), but diversity through which paradigm is achieved. Such an approach recognizes the complexity of human health and disease experiences and suggests the need to work in a variety of forms and paradigms of knowledge, making the best-informed decision on which consensus exists.
