Alexis Williams

Personal Philosophy and Reflection on Nursing Paper

NUR 4140 HA Synthesis for Nursing Practice

Dr. Williams

April 1st, 2023

“I Pledge…”
Definition of Nursing

Nursing is the act of selflessness and putting the needs of your patients as priority to

ensure healthy outcomes. As a nurse the goal is always to care for your patient the best that you

can using the knowledge you have acquired through clinical experience and education. Nursing

to me means being a caring individual that provides safe and efficient care to people who are

unable to care for themselves. As a nurse the most valuable skill to possess as a nurse is empathy.

Operating with empathy provides a safe and comforting environment for the patient which is

linked to healthier patient outcomes. As a nurse you also serve as an advocate for the patient and

ensure that all decisions that are made regarding this health is in their best interest.

The ministry values providing excellent service while operating in compassion and high quality.

Personal Philosophy

My personal philosophy as a new to practice nurse will be to always advocate for my

patients as stated before and to always operate with empathy and compassion. I believe in

providing the best quality service possible to my patients and ensuring that all their needs are met

as well as trying my best to address their wants as well. I always do my best to treat my patients

the way I would want to be treated as well as how I would want my family member or loved one

to be treated. As a new to practice nurse or even in my other roles within healthcare, I absolutely

hate to see a healthcare professional taking out their frustrations on patients and treating them

roughly due to personal issues. At the end of the day, you chose this career, and you are fully

aware of the responsibilities that come with it and it is our duties to ensure that the patients’

needs are fulfilled and that we do all we can while they are in our care to ensure healthy

outcomes.

Values and Beliefs

 Although majority of nursing is focused on patient care there are some other

interdisciplinary responsibilities that are equally important. Effective communication as a nurse

is essential as well as knowing how to communicate in a professional manner. Nurses are the

liaisons in important relationships within healthcare and being able to effectively communication

with professional are required. While advocating for patients, being able to be firm when

necessary but continuing to be respectful is also a skill that some people may not possess.

Although patients have autonomy, sometimes you have to say no to certain things and speak up

against things that may cause harm to a patient or yourself.

My values since NUR2100 haven’t changed much but I have acquired more compassion

in caring for different populations. At the beginning of nursing school, I had never actually

worked with children or babies. Prior to recently I had done most of my clinicals or practicum

simulations with older adults so that was all I was used to. It was not until recently that I was

able to work with children and babies and It definitely confirmed what I wanted to do. I enjoy

working with children, but my passion is working with babies and pregnant women. I love

childbirth and it brings tears of joy each time as if it is my first time experiencing it. I used to

think that since I did not have kids of my own that the encounters that I would have with children

and babies would be awkward and uncomfortable, but it has been the opposite. It has also helped

my relationships with my friends who have recently had children in a way that I know welcome

interactions with their children, and I am able to build better relationships with them.

Nurse Patient Encounter

A personal encounter that I can recall was with a soon to be mother having twins.

The women eas actively in labor and I was working with one of the nurses that was responsible

for catching the babies and get them cleaned and tagged. Some other duties included getting their
Apgar scores, fingerprints, and ensuring that the new parents got their pictures and armbands. In

this encounter, the second baby was breech. Baby A was fine and came out shortly after labor

started and appear healthy with no visible cyanosis, but baby B was breech, appear pale, and did

not come out crying like baby A. The room went silent. All of the nurses started crowding around

to get the necessary equipment to get the baby stable and the mother and father panicked which

was expected. At this moment I was extremely nervous and scared for them because it honestly

did not look good, but the team pulled through and shortly Baby B started crying and gained

back their color. For me the value that really impressed me the most was teamwork. Teamwork is

one of the reasons why I really wanted to work on the L&D unit at St. Francis. Every time I

attended clinicals on this unit, they illustrated amazing teamwork.

I believe this is extremely important because different nurses bring different experiences

to each encounter, some started in the ED, some started in more specialized units like the PICU

or NICU and some in other units, but this diversity of skills could be the ultimate deciding factor

between life and death when it comes to something so dangerous like childbirth. A lot of units

and other places in healthcare often lack teamwork and it can really cost a person their life as

well as limit the level of care that can be provided to a patient. I believe as a nurse; you should be

able to pair your skills with other nurses to ensure the safety of your patients and be able to work

together with your staff to coordinate care. Coordination of care is so. Valuable to our patients

and I believe a lot of nurses overlook attributes like accountability and personability. These

attributes are extremely necessary. Being able to perform your duties is nice but being able to

have a level of empathy and compassion for not only your patients but your staff is also vital to

ensure that everyone gets what they need. As a new nurse, I hope that the unit I will be starting

on offers teamwork and ultimately a healthy learning environment.

Change Agent

For the quality project my group focused on Is and Os documentation accuracy at St,

Francis. We developed an idea to use a huddle helper which is a sheet for documentation that

included the Is and Os so that it is something that gets regularly recorded and communicated.

This sheet also includes the units that each intake and outtake item should be documented in to

ensure accuracies as well as provided help to those who may struggle a little who do not have

PCT or a healthcare background. We interviewed numerous nurses and some PCTs on the unit to

see what they felt were some barriers to documenting the Is and Os. Most of them stated it was

due to time restraint, patient load, and some role confusion. Of course we can’t change shift

times nor the patient loads but we can help with role confusion and provided a guideline of what

needs to be documented and by who. Overall, the interviews and our articles showed that the

main factor is lack of education. The huddle helper provides a log to document as well as helpful

tools to ensure that it is getting documented correctly and timely.

As far as my ability to understand and perform as a change agent, as a team we

collaborated to find a solution to a problem based on reported barriers by staff. We used the

feedback provided by the staff on what would help produce better outcomes and compared this

with the existing barrier and proposed a solution that checked the boxes. The definition of a

change agent is to be a person that thrives to make a change based on a presenting issue to make

a difference. I have always been the type of individual to step up and try to implement new

things to change certain outcomes. I love being innovative and I think that is a quality of a

change agent.

Benner’s Theory
 Patricia Benner’s theory Q focuses on following new nurses throughout their stages of

nursing. The theory illustrates the differences in reference to skills, knowledge, clinical

competence, and overall patient care competence from a novice stage through to expert. Her

theory has five stages: novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert. I personally

resonate with the advanced beginner stage due to my various skills in healthcare and as a PCT. I

possess certain acquired skills and certifications due to this previous experience and it has been

showed as beneficial in my new nursing role thus far. I have been a dialysis Tech for four years, a

PCT at bon secours for roughly 2/3 years, a pharmacy technician for about 6 years and I was also

a Unit secretary at Bon Secours for 6 months on night shift. Ofocurse as I step into a new role as

a nurse, I will still need some assistance from the more experienced nurses, but I am fully

capable of performing the necessary task. I will be able to apply interventions but may struggle

to critically think as I should when I become a new nurse.

Action Plan

As a new to practice nurse, I believe that I will bring all my experience and my

knowledge from nursing school and be consider an advanced beginner. Although this will be a

new role for me I have experience in other healthcare roles that will benefit my journey and help

facilitate some growth. I hope to catch on quickly and to feel confident in the skills I have

acquired over time to become one day super proficient in it. I also hope that my preceptor for

orientation when I start my new role is as helpful and supportive as the one I have now for

immersion. Immersion alone has taught me so much and given me insight on what It will be like

after nursing school.

Some selfcare that I want to implement as a new nurse includes things like Pilates,

working out at least 4 times a week, therapy, church weekly, spa and massage dates. I plan to
always ask questions when I am unsure of something regardless of how small. I also plan to

acquire as many skills as possible and certificates as a new nurse when training opportunities

become available. I did accept a job in the ACE program, so I plan to make the most in that

program and with the orientation in the three units and whichever I choose at then with the

overall hope to transfer to Labor and Delivery at some point of my nursing career. I also plan to

go back to school after a few months to get my masters or NP degree. As previously stated, I

have a passion for childbirth and hope to advance in the labor and delivery field whether that be

as an NP or Nurse Midwife.