Personal Nursing Philosophy

Isaac Deleon-Daniels

NURS 478 Nursing Leadership and Management in Health Systems

University of Arizona
 Introduction
Nursing, like most great practices, arose from the fires of war. A profession that began as

a way to provide care for wounded soldiers has now spread to providing care for all people

across all nations. Nursing has cemented itself as one of the most important vocations for the

betterment of mankind. As I begin my journey as a new graduate, I find myself looking inward at

what I believe and what values I hold that I can bring to the profession of nursing. Nursing has

consistently been seen as one of the most trusted professions, which shows the vulnerability that

patients share with their nurses. We interact with them for a short time and yet leave a lasting

mark on their lives. For me, this is what it means to be a nurse. Nursing to me is providing care

to those who may be experiencing the worst days of their lives. They come to us scared and

unsure, and it is our job to make them whole. To care for them when they are unable to care for

themselves. To advocate for them when they may not know how. To heal them in the best way

possible. Nursing can simply be defined as the innate human trait of compassion. When we act as

nurses, we care for our patients how we hope to be cared for ourselves. We strive to create a safe

and healing environment where they feel respected and in control of the care they receive. This is

my nursing mission. Ensuring the best possible stay and the best possible outcome for each

patient while accounting for their wishes. My aim is to be an effective arbiter of their will, in a

setting that may be foreign and difficult to navigate.

Defining nursing practice

Throughout my life, I have developed beliefs that have informed my nursing mission and

will influence my future nursing practice. These beliefs, combined with the values I hold and the

skills I possess, are the key components that I have relied upon in the past few months to truly

begin developing my nursing practice. Beliefs, to me, are something you develop based on

observations you make on the world around you. Unfortunately, humans are fallible creatures
and can easily misperceive the nuances they encounter in day-to-day life. For this reason, one of

my core beliefs is that my beliefs can be wrong. This has afforded me a greater ability for self-

reflection and has allowed me to easily modify my beliefs if I find an old one to be flawed.

Through this ability of self-correction, I have been able to develop beliefs that I feel are greatly

valuable to success within the nursing profession.

The first of these beliefs is that all people are valuable and should be cared for to our

utmost ability. In nursing, this belief has acted as a beacon of motivation for my pursuit of

knowledge. A well-informed nurse can provide a superior quality of care, and I strive to provide

my patients with the best care they can receive. Closely connected to this first belief, my second

belief is that the employees providing patient care should be properly cared for themselves.

Building a positive, optimistic, and supportive community is vital for the health of a unit. If the

people who take care of others are not in the best environment possible, then it is unlikely they

are able to provide the best care they can. At every place I work I aspire to build this supportive

environment, so my coworkers know that they are valued and that their effort is appreciated. My

third belief is one that, in truth, I have struggled to implement in the clinical setting. It is one that

unfortunately I have noticed is rarely discussed in the hospital setting. My third belief is that

lifestyle change should be the primary way to combat preventable disease. Often, we treat the

symptoms without addressing the cause. The patient leaves feeling better, but no lasting change

has been made to improve them in the long term. I have noticed that most patients are not even

informed of the changes they could make to improve their conditions themselves. That is

something I intend to address in my own nursing practice. I want to ensure that my patients are

as informed of their options as possible, so they are able to determine their best course of

treatment.
 While beliefs can shift over the course of time, values are a more stalwart piece of the

human psyche. Values are tied with the fundamental drive of a person. They help inform how a

person should act and guide them towards paths they believe to be good and true. My own values

have helped guide me towards the profession of nursing. These values, put simply, are

compassion, adaptability, and knowledgeability. All of these values have helped guide the

development of my nursing practice as it grows in the clinical setting. Compassion has allowed

me to care for patients, strangers I do not know, as if they were close friends. Adaptability has

enabled me to learn from every source I encounter and every mistake I have made.

Knowledgeability has helped me recognize minor changes that are often forgotten but made a

drastic difference for the patients I cared for.

From both my beliefs and values I have identified parts of myself that when emphasized

have grown into unique skills that I bring to nursing. In order to provide quality and

knowledgeable patient care, I had to be diligent in regards to maintaining a strong work ethic.

This skill has helped me immensely when tackling the challenges of nursing school and the

demands of the clinical setting. Another skill that has helped me in the clinical setting has been

my observational abilities. This combined with my knowledgeability has provided me with a

keen eye when looking at small portions of the greater picture of a patient's condition. A final

skill I bring to the nursing profession is my efficiency. When encountering new challenges, I

greatly enjoy finding the most effective route to complete them. In nursing this has helped me

when the demands of patient care are great, and timeliness is of the utmost importance.

One prime example that displays how I embody my beliefs, values, and skills was during

my ICU rotation last semester. On that particular day we had four fairly sick patients, who all

required significant levels of care. One patient was a man with COPD who came in for cardiac
issues but had become less and less responsive once he was brought to the unit. The shift before

us had been unable to properly assess him, as he was difficult to rouse but otherwise stable.

When my nurse and I went to assess the patient, I realized that his oxygen saturation was at

100%. Because of my belief that all patients should receive the highest quality care they can, I

developed the value that one must be knowledgeable of the care they are providing. This desire

for learning combined with my work ethic had seen me researching COPD on my own and one

thing I had learned was that these patients once stabilized should not be placed at 100% oxygen

saturation for a long time. I asked how long the patient had been placed at this level of oxygen

and when we checked we realized that he had been on it for significantly longer than he likely

needed to. Once we went back and lowered his oxygen his saturation slowly began to drop back

towards his normal range. By the time I was leaving, for the first time since arriving at the unit

the patient was answering questions and talking to staff with a clear understanding of what was

going on. This was the first major time I felt that my care in particular had made an impact on

someone's life. My beliefs, values, and unique skills all helped me with solving my first nursing

mystery.

Integrative Nursing Principles

On one of the first days of class a professor handed out a little plastic card with the six

integrative nursing principles. This card has been on my lanyard and has been with me for every

rotation I have completed for this course. I have spent hundreds of hours with these principles

close to my heart, within reach should I ever need a reminder. When in the clinical setting I am

constantly using the integrative nursing principles when providing care for patients. Since my

beliefs and values closely align with the tenants of integrative nursing, I find it very easy to

implement them in my patient care. I use three of the principles in ways that align with my
beliefs, values, and skills consistently throughout my nursing practice. The first of these is the

integrative nursing principle that nature has healing and restorative properties that contribute to

health and well-being. This aligns with my belief that lifestyle change should be the primary way

of combating preventable disease. Combining these two could allow me to also propose

nonpharmacological interventions to my patients as ways to help soothe their symptoms.

Another integrative nursing principle is that integrative nursing is informed by evidence and uses

the full range of therapeutic modalities to support the healing process. This principle aligns with

my value of knowledgeability and, like the previous one, promotes my belief that lifestyle

change is a part of the healing process. In the future, I will use this integrative principle by

making sure I am keeping up to date with the scientific evidence regarding the nursing care that I

provide. A final, but very important integrative nursing principle is that integrative nursing

focuses on the health and well-being of caregivers as well as those they serve. This perfectly

aligns with my belief in creating a supportive community in the workplace. Through my care of

fellow employees and the support I provide them I hope to fulfill this nursing principle wherever

I go.

Impact on the Profession

My primary drive for becoming a nurse has always been to help my community and those

around me. The knowledge I possess is something I love to share, and helping those in need is

the most important job I could see myself doing. In the future I intend to use the knowledge I've

gained from nursing school and the knowledge I will gain in my career to help others live the

most fulfilling lives they possibly can. I hope to be someone patients can rely on and go to when

they need help. As a nurse I intend to be a catalyst for my patients to develop the skills to

improve their quality of life. As I become more proficient in the nursing role, my efficiency will
improve, which will allow me more time with patients. As I become more knowledgeable, I hope

to act as a bridge between the medical world and a patient’s own understanding. It is important

for all patients regardless of race, religion, gender, or sexual preference to receive high quality

and appropriate care. My belief is that all patients deserve this level of care, my value of

compassion leads me to care for all others equally and my value of knowledgeability allows me

to understand that differing groups have issues that are more prevalent within them. My actions

have always been inclusive, and going into the nursing profession I know that I will not treat

anyone different regardless of who they are.

Conclusion

Nursing, sense it's advent, has always been about caring for others. This, in its essence, is

my mission as a nurse. In order to do this, I strive to provide a healing environment where all are

comfortable. I believe that every patient deserves as much care as we can provide and as much

effort as they desire. I strive to create a community wherever I work. A place where other health

care workers can feel supported and know they are providing the highest quality care they can. I

hope, in the future, to be a force for change in my patients’ lives and show them that they are

capable of improving themselves. Throughout my nursing practice I will remember the

integrative nursing principles and use them in conjunction with my own internal compass to

guide the care I provide to patients. The impact I hope to leave on the profession of nursing is

one of caring for all people regardless of who they are and how they arrive in my care. As I think

on my goal for the future of my nursing practice, I know that it is to leave as many people in as

good of a place as I can. Whether that be patients or coworkers, I hope my presence is one they

come into value. I greatly look forward to seeing my own career as I move forward, finally, into

the profession of nursing.