PHDN-601

FUNDAMENTALS OF PHILOSOPHY IN NURSING

Submitted by:

JOSEPH B. ABANG RN MN MAN

Submitted to:

NICOLO ANDREI AÑONUEVO, RN, MAN, PhD

October 29, 2022

 FINAL COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Define and explain your own Philosophy in Nursing.

The noble profession of nursing involves improving the health of an individual,

family, group, or community. Since I was a young child, my two main values have been

compassion and empathy for others who are in need. When I started nursing in my first

year, after taking a course on the fundamentals of nursing, I developed my own

philosophy. In my opinion, the most important aspect of nursing is compassion for the

patient, the patient's family, and the health care provider in order to maintain a therapeutic

relationship and a high standard of care. Nursing philosophy is based on giving patients

and communities the best possible care. These principles serve as the foundation for

becoming a successful nurse. My passion to help people in need has consumed me for

as long as I can remember, and I believe this is what ultimately inspired me to choose

nursing as my profession. My personal nursing attitude is one that is centered on

compassion and service, and I am most fulfilled when I am helping, educating, and caring

for people.

I chose to become a nurse because it is in my nature to take care of other people.

As a nurse, I provide emotional and physical support to my patients in order to provide

favorable results and experiences. It is a line of work that develops services to meet the

requirements of others. The numerous employment opportunities that the nursing field

offers were the second motivation for pursuing a nursing degree. I have the opportunity

to research additional career paths as a nurse. I can continue to work as a bedside nurse

by giving my patients the treatment they need directly, or I can pursue specialized training
in certain medical fields or certifications. Additionally, I can pursue advanced practice

roles if I keep pursuing greater levels of study. Because every healthcare professional

has a unique set of beliefs, values, and concepts for providing care for patients, nursing

as a profession does not adhere to a single paradigm or theory in every circumstance. In

my opinion, a holistic approach to care is an essential part of providing for a person

because I believe a patient should be treated as a whole. In other words, treatment should

go beyond simply treating a patient's physical illness and also include promoting their

mental, spiritual, and emotional well-being. In addition to involving all medical and

paramedical departments in the patient's care, holistic care also involves the engagement

of counselors, social workers, dieticians, and nurses.

In my opinion, the major goal of holistic care is to assist the patient in regaining

their strength so they can carry out activities of daily living. Additionally, my nursing

philosophy enables me to develop therapeutic nurse-client relationships throughout care

without showing bias based on patient abilities or differences in culture. As a result,

patients are better able to maintain their trust in health care professionals, develop their

self-esteem, and improve themselves on their own. This paradigm also covers improving

the health of the caregiver because they are essential to providing the patient with high-

quality care. My personal philosophy guides me in updating my body of knowledge so

that I may provide better care to people without bias and so that I can join the healthcare

team in an effective way by upholding nursing standards.

Relate your philosophy in all roles of nursing namely bedside care, educator,

researcher, and leader. Give specific examples.

This experience serves as an illustration of the relationship between my nursing

philosophy and practice as bedside care nurse. A 38-year-old female, who had

undergone an abdominal hysterectomy four days prior and was complaining of severe

pain, was admitted to the ward during my clinical practice as bedside nurse. After

consulting with the doctor, an intramuscular analgesic was administered, but after half an

hour, she began to feel worse. Because the source of the discomfort was not physical

even though it was brought on by stress, it helped me remember how the mind and body

interact. I then educated her about how the body changes and how long the recovery

process takes. She and I were able to maintain an interpersonal connection, and as a

result, the intensity of her pain and anxiety both decreased. I applied a holistic approach

there because therapeutic communication is now regarded as a treatment option in

holistic care and treating the client as a whole is much more crucial because a person's

perception of their health and illness can affect how far along, they are in their recovery

from any disorder or illness as well as whether or not their self-respect and dignity are

preserved. When a person's self-respect and dignity are upheld and they are not only

willing to take care of themselves but also wish to enhance their health status, their health

can advance in all directions. Additionally, in order to provide the best possible care for a

patient, a nurse must be in good bodily and mental condition.

Further, as a nurse educator, I find the relevance of compassion and holistic care

as my philosophy when I am crafting my plans about health promotion activities for my

patients when having the Related Learning Experience (RLE) duties with my students in
the hospital. Just like for example when I was assigned in the General Ward handling

Level IV Student Nurses and there were varied cases of patients admitted in the unit, I

made sure that my students will be able to deliver their Teaching Learning Guide as health

promotion activities during their ward classes more specific to the needs of the patients

they are handling. I also made sure that when these students are rendering their health

teachings to their respective patients, a validation should be done by me in order to

determine if learning indeed has occurred. A more concrete example I could share with

this role is when a student of mine is delivering his health teaching to a young mother

who has just given birth. My students focused on delivering the benefits of exclusive

breastfeeding in the first year of life of the life. When I knew that this was the focus of my

student, I validated if the post-partum mother learned something from my student by

asking her to have a demonstration on the proper technique of breastfeeding her infant

and the mother did it correctly. Instead of being a health care system that is treatment-

oriented, we need to focus on population wellness. If nurses are effective in teaching

health promotion, then we are performing our duties to the best of our abilities.

Furthermore, as a nurse researcher, I find compassion and holistic nursing care

relevant to my practice. Since I was in high school, I fell in love with research already and

because of this love in doing research, I find it very interesting to further my knowledge

by making sure that I shall keep myself updated with evidence-based practice. For

example, during case presentations of my students as minimum requirement of their

enrolled subject, I usually required them to present to me statistics that are current and

have relevance to the topic that they are presenting. As a Clinical Instructor also, I find it

crucial that we conduct studies on health issues like the ones that our patients are
reporting. The most common causes of death in this nation are illnesses or ailments

brought on by lifestyle decisions. The outcome of this research will be of help in order for

us nurses to deliver the best and quality care that our patients deserve to receive from

us. Research is very significant to the lives of our patients because it will guide us to the

current methods or strategies to provide care with utmost level of standard.

Finally, as nurse leader, compassion and holistic care as a philosophy guided me

to create change into the lives of the people in my community. This leadership skill that I

have were able to influence the young minds in my community by making activities such

as summer youth camps with the goal of transforming the mindset of the youth into

something they can of purpose in the community and making them a productive citizen.

The summer camp that I crafted for several years already was able to mold student

leaders in their schools both in the secondary and tertiary level in which I am very much

proud of. Aside from doing this activity to the youth, my philosophy directed to be an active

nurse leader in the Philippine Nurses’ Association where I headed the NOMELEC Unit in

our chapter. It made me realize that there are still a lot of things in store for me to

experience that will further widen my perspective as an industry prepared nurse leader.

In summary, some argue that as nursing enters the twenty-first century, practicing

nurses must become more actively involved in using and expanding nursing knowledge

in order for the discipline to survive and advance. Creating a personal nursing philosophy

that concentrates on nursing-specific topics might be a good place to start because it

allows for contemplation on the connections between one's own philosophical ideas and

current problems in the industry.