Running head: PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY PAPER 1

Personal Philosophy Paper

Kate Hardrick

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

NUR 4140 Synthesis for Nursing Practice

Marcella Williams DNP, RN, CNE, CMSRN

April 3, 2021

“I pledge.”
PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY PAPER 2

Definition of Nursing

I define nursing as the physical, psychological, and spiritual care of people. I don’t

believe that is has to be refined to a certain type of care or a certain location where the care takes

place; you don’t have to be clocked in and wearing scrubs to fulfill the nursing role. In my

opinion, the most basic role of a nurse is helping others heal in whatever way they need it.

Nursing should be focused on the holistic care of people in order to fulfill this goal. I believe that

nursing is also synonymous with educating; we have the knowledge and skills to help people but

it’s vitally important that we are passing this knowledge on to patients in order to serve them

better. Finally, I understand nursing to be based heavily on evidence-based practice which makes

the field a constantly changing landscape. Nurses must remain flexible and open-minded in order

to meet these ever-changing demands and take care of patients in the safest way possible.

The Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing also focuses on the holistic care of people

in need. This program taught me that therapeutic listening can represent a powerful tool to taking

care of patients. Not only does it make them more likely to tell you the physical symptoms that

they’re experiencing but it also allows time for spiritual and emotional connections that are so

vital to a nurse-patient relationship. The importance that I place on evidence-based practice is

also due to the values that this program instilled in me. I truly believe that the nursing field has

and will continue to improve with further application of these practices.

Personal Philosophy

My personal philosophy places importance on honesty, teamwork, and respect. I look for

these qualities from those in my personal life as well as from my coworkers and patients. I

believe that a team can’t work well together and create a safe environment if there isn’t honesty

from everyone. Nurses are responsible for other people’s lives which makes owning up to
PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY PAPER 3

mistakes even more important. Mistakes are okay but hiding from them out of embarrassment or

fear could mean the difference between life and death. I grew up understanding the importance

of teamwork from sports and this skill translated easily to my nursing career. I have worked on

two different units as a patient care technician (PCT) and the difference in teamwork made one

place much more desirable than the other. Having a strong team improves the quality of patient

care and patient outcomes as a whole which should be the main goal of nurses. Respect for all

living things is something so ingrained in me and is one of the reasons why I’m so incredibly

empathetic. I believe that respecting a patient’s feelings, beliefs, and desires is one of the most

important jobs that a nurse has. I think the power that nurses have to advocate for their patients is

one reason why nursing is one of the most trusted professions in the world. I hope that I never

lose the respect and honor I feel when I have someone else’s life in my hands.

Values and Beliefs

Looking back on my initial personal philosophy paper I realized that even though I have

grown exponentially as a nurse, my beliefs and values have remained relatively stable. What has

changed is my experience level because now I can point to individual instances of good and bad

situations from my own life to reflect upon instead of reading about them in a textbook. I have

certainly become more confident and stronger in my beliefs and values due to the fact that they

haven’t changed over these trying two and a half years. Of course, it hasn’t all been easy. I wrote

about the value of empathy in my initial paper and although I still believe that it’s a powerful

tool I have needed to adjust my thinking in order to cope with difficult patient situations. Since I

am naturally so empathetic it is easy for me to feel what others feel and anticipate their needs but

it can also lead to truly devastating feelings. I have remained empathetic but I have learned how

to step away from upsetting situations when they become overwhelming for me. This has
PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY PAPER 4

allowed me to remain connected to my patients without becoming overly emotional or taking on

their burden of grief.

Nurse Patient Encounter

I work as a PCT, completed my immersion, and was hired on a critical care unit so I’m

used to dealing with very sick patients who have the potential to become worse. During my

immersion experience I was assigned to the same ventilated and sedated patient for a couple

weeks in a row. It was discovered that this patient had filed a do not resuscitate order prior to the

current admission which created an uncomfortable situation for us healthcare providers.

Personally, I felt like I was torturing this patient because I knew they wouldn’t have wanted all

of the invasive devices that we had placed to keep them alive. On the contrary, their power of

attorney made them a full code on this admission which meant that we had to continue the life-

sustaining measures on an older person who at least previously didn’t want them done.

We have run into this dilemma many times before where an incapacitated person is

initially a DNR but a family member changes them to a full code. I’ve had the chance as a PCT

to see how my nurses and intensivists handle this situation so I utilized their tactic as a student

nurse. First I was completely honest with the family members about the patient’s situation and

what it meant for quality of life if survival was possible. I never try to bully patients or family’s

into making a certain decision but I feel better when I know they have all the possible facts and

are able to make a well-informed decision. I also explained what a full code would entail if their

family member were to arrest or require a form a resuscitation. I made sure to inform the family

of the damage and dangers that resuscitation can inflict, especially on an older person’s body.

Finally, I concluded the conversation by letting them know that we would respect whatever

decision they came to. I believe that this encounter displays my personal philosophy because I
PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY PAPER 5

was able to use honesty to advocate for my patient while still displaying respect for them and

their family. In instances like these I remind myself that although I am the nurse and it’s my job

to advocate for the patient, I don’t know the patient like the family does. I am only privy to this

small part of their lives and there might be more factors at play that are driving the family’s

decisions.

Change Agent

The goal of my group’s EBP/QI project is to increase documentation rates of tobacco

cessation education on the Behavioral Health Unit at St. Mary’s Hospital. I’m really excited

about the idea that my group came up with because I feel like it has real potential to be expanded

to any unit and any topic. We decided the creation of a nurse champion would increase tobacco

cessation education rates, documentation rates, and possibly patient compliance. The nurse

champion would be educated on effective education strategies and proper documentation of the

education. In this way, they could act as a troubleshooter for other nurses experiencing problems

or even the primary educator on the unit if things get busy. I have seen nurse champions

implemented on my own unit and experienced the real change that can be made using this model.

Since nurse champions are focused on a specific topic they are able to maintain concentration

and create true change. It eventually becomes commonplace for other members of the team to

perform these tasks and perform them correctly as uniformity is introduced regarding a certain

issue.

Benner’s Theory

Patricia Benner proposed that there are five levels of nurses ranging from a novice to an

expert. She believes that expert nurses achieve their positions via proper education as well as

extensive clinical experiences. She emphasizes that both of these learning arenas are equally
PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY PAPER 6

important to becoming an expert because they lead to a deeper and more thorough understanding

of the nursing field (Benner, 2001). I believe that I am an advanced beginner at this point

because I am at the end of my formal schooling and have had over two and a half years of work

experience as a PCT in the hospital setting. The extensive classroom, clinical, and work

experience has allowed me to move past the need for continual direction and into the next stage

where I am able to take initiative. Most of the time, I am able to understand what next steps

should be taken with a patient and the reasoning behind these actions. I have also had enough

experience with basic tasks that many procedures feel comfortable to me and don’t require much

thought. Having seen many different types of patients allows me some knowledge of what to

expect even in a seemingly new situation.

Action Plan

The next step in the Benner model is the competent stage. I already work as a PCT on the

unit I did my immersion on and was hired on which will help me reach this stage more quickly.

More experience as a nurse on my unit will be the only way for me to reach the competent stage.

I am very aware of what I don’t know which can only come with more experience. I also need to

figure out my work flow as a nurse in order to feel more comfortable performing the daily tasks

that a nurse does. My organization, prioritization, and efficiency are skills that can only come

with more practice which is something I won’t get more of until I graduate and begin working.

Since my immersion is over there isn’t any more time for me to practice my hands-on nursing

procedures and work flow. The most important actions I can take until that point is to continue

working in the hospital setting and look for as many opportunities to practice basic skills that I

can. I will also continue quizzing myself on medications and common patient conditions in order

to retain the information that I’ve already received. These measures will help store core
PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY PAPER 7

information in my memory so they become second nature and let me focus on the new tasks at

hand.

Once I graduate nursing school and have more time to myself I intend to begin working

out again and practicing yoga on a daily basis. These actions center and energize me which will

help me feel better physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I love to draw and read but haven’t

had much time for that since nursing school started; I can’t wait to get back into both of those

hobbies on a more regular basis. My current long-term goals are to work at the bedside for the

foreseeable future while getting my CCRN. I still love bedside nursing and can’t imagine doing

anything else at the moment because there is still so much that I don’t know. Eventually, I would

like to go to back to school to become a CRNA but that is a difficult task that I have no concrete

plans for. For the moment, I’m really happy with where I am and excited about the future.
PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY PAPER 8

Reference

Benner, P. (2001). From novice to expert: Excellence and power in clinical nursing practice

(commemorative ed.). Prentice-Hall.