Nursing Philosophy

Personal Philosophy

There are plenty opinions of different nursing philosophy’s out in the world today.  However, my personal opinion of the philosophy of nursing is to treat all patients with the outmost respect and practice of patient – centered care.  According to, NEJM Catalyst, patient-center care is “an individual’s specific health needs and desired health outcomes are the driving force behind all health care decisions and quality measurements. Patients are partners with their health care providers, and providers treat patients not only from a clinical perspective, but also from an emotional, mental, spiritual, social, and financial perspective” (2017).  When working in the health care field, patient – centered care is one of the most important things to know about and perform in my opinion. You must use patient-centered care in every aspect when treating your patients.  As a nurse, your role is to make sure that your patient is being treated to the best ability that they can be, meaning not only physically, but mentally, emotionally, and solving all social issues to get to the bottom of their illness.  When doing so of all those things, you aren’t only looking out for the patient, by making sure they can make all their own decisions, and making them as comfortable as you can while trying to find the underlying cause of their illness.  Your biggest role is to be their patient advocate if they don’t have a say or an advocate of their own.

Nursing

 Nursing is the act of carrying out the education and skills to treat and care for the patients. The daily actions that nurses do in the hospital, doctors office, or any other clinical setting such as teaching the patients how to manage and cope with their illnesses and communicating with them goes along with my philosophy in nursing. Communication with patients is very important in order, to establish patient- centered care.

Health

The perception of health includes how the patient perceives their physical and mental well- being level.  This is a very personal approach because every patient’s perspective can be different than other patients and their learning abilities of their illnesses may have to be explained on very different levels of education. In order, for patient – centered care to be implemented, the nurse needs to be assess the patient’s perspective and learning level when dealing with the illness and the way for it to be explained. At the end of the day, the patient’s own feeling is what matters.

Person

 The approach of person is dealing with the patient that is being treated and any family member of friend that is also being affected by this process. Every person comes from a different culture, race, ethnicity, and backgrounds so it’s important to take all of those into consideration when treating your patients.  As a nurse, you need to evaluate a person’s economic, spiritual, and cultural influences and history when providing care. For a nurse to treat the patient with respect, kindness, and effectiveness, they need to be informed of the patient’s background.   

Environment

Lastly, the perception of environment includes the patient’s status and circumstances that could possibly affect their illness and the treatment that goes along with it. This would include where they are located, geographically, and their economic status. The patient’s economic stability and their location of where they’re from could alter how much or how little they would receive their care. This also goes along with their interactions with their family and friends while in the clinical setting ad in their home environment. When in the hospital, you know when the patient is comfortable, in pain or need of something, or know that there isn’t anything that could potentially harm or cause stress to the patient.  This is a very important topic because as health care providers, it’s good to know if your patient will be well taken care of when they go back to their home. 

Comparison and Contrast of Philosophies of Nursing

There are many theories as to what the career of nursing perceives to be. To me, nursing is making sure the patient is always put first and making sure they are receiving the best possible care and treatments. Like I stated earlier, patient – centered care is a very important aspect when caring for patient’s. I will always make sure my patients are being treated with respect, kindness, honesty, and being able to communicate and connect with them on a personal level, making them feel more comfortable.  According to, the Nursing Theory, Katherine Kolcaba developed the comfort theory in the 1990’s.  This theory stated that comfort was needed as soon as possible when taking care of a patient in the health care industry.  Kolcaba stated that comfort existed in three forms: relief, ease, and transcendence.  Relief describes a patient being comforted for pain by medications, the cat of easing is when a patient has a relief of anxiety, and transcendence is when a patient overcomes challenges (Nursing Theory).   Kolcaba’s theory is very similar but also different to my views of theory.  Comfort is important for the patient when it comes to patient –centered care, because it allows the nurse to take care of the illness, instead of taking acre of the patient’s discomfort.  Although, our theories are different in the fact that she mainly focuses on comfort, where patient- centered care focuses on the patient all together.  Comparatively, Jean Watson discovered the Caring Theory.  According to, Nursing Theory, this nursing model states that nursing is “concerned with promoting health, preventing illness, caring for the sick, and restoring health. It focuses on health promotion, as well as the treatment of diseases” (Nursing Theory).  She is also promoting the holistic approach to nursing, meaning, treating the patient as a whole.  Watson’s theory is comparable to patient- centered care but has very few differences. The similarities include you wanting to not only wanting to treat their illnesses, but also curing their spirits, mind, and emotions. The only deference between Watson’s and my theory is that Watson concludes that there must be a scientific element in nursing. When thinking of my own theory, I didn’t think of that, I just was worried about providing proper patient- centered care.

5- Year Professional Goals

   Throughout my life I have had a lot of goals. Many not so realistic and a handle full realistic. One of my goals I’ve had since I was a little girl was to become a nurse on day and here I am today, in nursing school achieving my dreams one day at a time, little by little. Even though there are some days I feel like giving up, I must push hard past those thoughts and remember my dream as a little girl. I have come this far, it’s only fair to myself that I keep on pushing through it.  Goals to me are a very important thing to have because they help push you in the right direction towards something you want to achieve.  While being in nursing school, my main goal is to become the best nurse I can be. However, I have very many small goals to achieve as well like being great at IV’s, bettering my math skills, and becoming comfortable with the patient so I can better mu communication skills. My next goal after graduation would be to work at a local hospital the Emergency Room or work with pediatrics. Another goal of mine would be to become a travel nurse later in life so I could explore the world and see all the beautiful things life must offer. As of right now, I don’t plan on going back to school after I graduate, but you never know where life will take you.

Conclusion

 The philosophy of patient- centered care in nursing is a very important aspect to the comfort and treatment of the patient for their illness.  Every nurse needs to include the form of patient- centered care into their practice when treating the patient. The four nursing concepts that surround nursing philosophies include; nursing, health, person, and environment. Nursing is the skills that helps treat patients. The concept of health is how the patient perceives their illness and health. The concept of person is the background of the patient and how it affected them being treated. And finally, the concept of environment is dealing with the location, setting while in the hospital and while at home and how it could influence the ways they’re treated.  The theory of patient – centered care has its similarities and differences to Kolcaba’s theory of comfort and Watson’s theory of the treatment and my theory of philosophy.

References

• Kolcaba’s Theory of Comfort. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nursing-theory.org/theories-and-models/kolcaba-theory-of-comfort.php
• Jean Watson Nursing Theory. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nursing-theory.org/theories–models/watson-philosophy-and-science-of-caring.php

• What is patient-centered care? (2018, September 25). Retrieved from https://catalyst.nejm.org/what-is-patient-centered-care/