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Personal Nursing Philosophy

Kayla R Cooper

College of Nursing, University of Arizona

NURS 478: Nursing Leadership and Management Health Systems

Rajni Parmar

April 19, 2024

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Part 1

A personal nursing philosophy can be difficult to produce, especially for a student with

limited clinical experience and patient interaction. However, although there may be a lack of

experience, this philosophy is one I hope to abide by and follow throughout my journey in

nursing. My personal nursing philosophy does not just stem from experiences in nursing or even

healthcare but largely from interpersonal interactions and familiarities. My passion for the

nursing profession began with my two-year-old nephew being admitted to the hospital for

pneumonia. He had a history of asthma and became very sick when he had pneumonia at such a

young age. Due to this, he had a long and complicated hospital journey with many different

nurses and healthcare personnel. At the time, my brother and sister-in-law had to work and most

days I stayed at the hospital with my nephew so that he wouldn’t be alone while his parents

worked. It was during this time that I developed a trusting relationship with the nurses who were

caring for my nephew. These nurses demonstrated honesty, reliability, compassion, inclusivity,

humility, and adaptability constantly when caring for my nephew. They portrayed these traits,

that I came to value in nurses, every day when they walked into the room to provide care. It

made for a very memorable experience and continually inspired me to enter the nursing

profession. Additionally, while this monumental experience guided my values in the realm of

nursing it is important to note how I plan to contribute myself to nursing and my patients.

Growing up, I was raised to be an extremely hard worker. I was guided by my family but

ultimately encouraged to be quite independent. I started working when I was 17 and while I

haven’t always been in healthcare I have learned to develop a consumer-centered approach. From

my work experience, I have learned that I am proactive, detail-orientated, organized, dependable,

consistent, personable, and outgoing. These are traits that I have seen in myself and heard in
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reflection of my work ethic. These are the attributes and values I will gladly bring into my

nursing career and patient-centered approach. Finally, as I enter the clinical side of nursing there

is a strong sense of ethics and morality in the field of nursing. There are often difficult decisions

to be made and ethical principles are used to guide nurses and healthcare professionals in the

appropriate direction. While there is a multitude of ethical principles that are significant to me, I

feel as though nonmaleficence and beneficence are the most significant in the clinical setting and

my nursing care. Hospital policy often helps guide autonomy and justice and may even be more

black and white on some days. However, the fine line between beneficence and nonmaleficence

seems to be more apparent between the nurse and the patient. For example, is it truly beneficial

to miss an assessment on a patient because they haven’t slept well? Should I administer

medication to a patient that may have more risks than benefits? There are difficult situations that

I have begun to encounter in my minimal clinical experiences and the principles of

nonmaleficence and beneficence will be able to help guide me appropriately. All in all, there are

a plethora of personal attributes, values, and ethical principles that will inform my nursing

practice and these are, what I consider to be, the most significant.

Part 2

The integrative principles of nursing are crucial to new nurse development and are widely

incorporated into nursing practice. Many nurses possess fundamental values and personal

attributes within the integrative principles. The first nursing principle I resonate with is that

human beings have an innate capacity for healing and well-being. This principle directly

correlates with my value of compassion and my attributes of honesty, personable, and outgoing.

Healing is a beautiful restorative process but it does take time. It is crucial to understand that

patients often do heal but it requires patience, resilience, and compassion from the care team to
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allow them to do so. Encouraging the healing process and performing all of the tasks that will

benefit the patient also ties into the ethical principle of beneficence. Beneficence is a principle

that I highly regard and believe is used frequently in the nursing practice and allows us as nurses

to do the best for our patients. In real life, it is evident that we are witnesses to the healing

process every day we are in the hospital. Throughout my preceptorship, I employed a variety of

integrative techniques to promote a healing environment such as aromatherapy, light control, and

allowing uninterrupted sleep (when able to). These techniques all support the patient and the

healing process which aligns with the integration of my nursing philosophy and integrative

nursing.

The second integrative nursing principle that aligns with my nursing practice is that

integrative nursing is person-centered and relationship-based. This principle connects to the

personal attributes of being dependable, personable, consistent, and organized. In terms of

values, it is extremely important to be compassionate, inclusive, and have humility when

prioritizing patient-centered care. To provide the best care for my patients it is crucial that you

don’t disregard them or the things they share with you. Keeping an open mind and being detail-

orientated, observant, and dependable for the patients allows this principle to be carried out

naturally. When you put the patient at the forefront of care it becomes easier to complete strong

assessments, advocate for clinical intervention, and improve their quality of life. From my

personal experience thus far, as soon as nursing is treated like mundane work it can be difficult to

prioritize the patients and their care. In a clinical setting, patients strive to feel valued. Putting

patients at the center of care may look like patient advocation but it could also be allowing them

to be heard. Giving patients control of their choices as much as possible is one of the best ways

to exhibit patient-centered care because that’s how you can genuinely plan care for your patients
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and establish a strong rapport with them. Therefore, continuing to be inclusive, have humility,

and treat people like humans, allows me to be committed and follow this integrative nursing

principle.

The third nursing principle that follows my nursing philosophy is that integrative nursing

focuses on the health and well-being of caregivers as well as those they serve. Nursing is a tough

field to be in and to be able to provide the best care for patients, nurses have to take care of

themselves. This principle connects to my values of honesty, trust, and adaptability. Being able to

step away from the bedside when needed is an important quality to have as a nurse. It prevents

burnout and poor patient care choices. Since the height of the pandemic, there has been a huge

shift in the importance of mental health in nursing. Some of the best ways nurses can cope with

the experiences they have are through mindfulness techniques. Many nurses use techniques such

as journaling, meditating, breathing exercises, or yoga. These methods allow individuals the time

to be mindful of their emotions and thoughts and it is something that is truly recommended in

this field. Furthermore, by exhibiting honesty, trust, adaptability, respect, and resiliency I can

apply this integrative principle to my nursing philosophy and my career. These values guide me

to be able to make appropriate decisions about the care I provide to my patients as well as

support the team I work with to recognize these symptoms and trending patterns of behavior.

Part 3

In my future role as a nurse, I hope to make a positive impact on my community by

providing the best possible care to my patients. Providing optimal care to patients is something

that is learning with experience, training, and a commitment to the profession. I hope to do this

by following my nursing philosophy and by continually acting as a personable, hardworking,

outgoing, and resilient servant leader to my patients. I also hope to continue implementing and
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aligning my values of honesty, inclusivity, respect, compassion, and humility into my everyday

practice and myself. Nursing is often well-defined by the American Nursing Association which

laid the framework for appropriate ethical principles within the field of nursing. The three

American Nursing Association (ANA) principles I identify with are provisions two, four, and

eight. First, provision two states, “The nurse’s primary commitment is to the patient, whether an

individual, family, group, community, or population” (ANA, n.d.). This provision most aligns

with my personal attributes of inclusivity and respect. Patients are often surrounded by their

communities. This could include family, friends, neighbors, or loved ones. Regardless, it is the

responsibility of the nurse to include all in the patient’s care, if allowed, and be respectful of this

community as a whole to appropriately care for and support the patient. Next, provision four

states, “The nurse has authority, accountability, and responsibility for nursing practice; makes

decisions; and takes action consistent with the obligation to promote health and provide optimal

care (ANA, n.d.). This provision specifically correlates with my personal attributes of

dependability and consistency and the values of honesty and reliability. Getting to truly know

and understand the patient is the entire responsibility of the nurse. This is done by being there

and listening openly to the patient. Being present and consistent within their care allows the

nurse to make appropriate and responsible decisions in their care and can contribute to an

optimal healing environment. Finally, provision eight states, “The nurse collaborates with other

health professionals and the public to protect human rights, promote health diplomacy, and

reduce health disparities” (ANA, n.d.). This provision aligns with my attributes of being

personable, observant, proactive, and organized and my values of humility and adaptability.

Interprofessional collaboration is one of the most critical portions of healthcare. It is the

healthcare team that ultimately supports and heals the patient together. Acting with a team
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reduces the risk of adverse outcomes as goals of care can be discussed with a multitude of

perspectives and backgrounds. A cohesive team model truly leads to better patient outcomes and

allows for the promotion of health diplomacy and the reduction of disparities. These pieces of the

ANA code of ethics will manifest in my practice likely in my plethora of patient interactions as

well as the collaboration I will have with my coworkers. While I respect and will follow all parts

of the ANA Code of Ethics, these specific ones most align with my values, personal attributes,

and ethical principles.

Part 4

To me, nursing will be more than a profession. Nursing allows me the opportunity to take

care of individuals on, what could be, the worst day of their lives. Nursing will continue to

provide fulfillment as I take care of patients and help them to the best of my ability. Nursing has

to be more than a profession to continue providing the highest standard of care to my patients.

While there will be unenjoyable tasks and unpleasant emotions from patients, it will always be

important to focus on the positives and the lessons learned. Even in a situation with potential

poor outcomes or high stress, patients and their families will always give you something to learn

(even though it may not seem like it at the time). Additionally, some of the best patients with

miraculous outcomes will be the reason you stay in the field. Nursing is and always will be a

learning curve with resilience, compassion, and patience. In my short experience with nursing, I

have been able to witness some of the most emotionally jarring situations. I had my first patient

pass away while in nursing school. This experience was painful as I watched a newborn baby

pass away in the comfort of her crib with no family but the team of nurses who watched her heart

rate slowly decrease. Situations similar to these are not uncommon in nursing. This is a field
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where emotions often run high and that is what continually contributes to the passion and

motivation behind why nurses do what they do.

In nursing, my mission is to provide compassionate, involved, consistent, detailed, and

comprehensive care to all of my patients in a timely approach and appropriate setting and to

support my patients and colleagues to the best of my ability. I hope to complete this by using my

knowledge, experience, and assessment skills to truly continually care for these patients. I hope

to keep promises to my patients to never give up on them and myself.

Conclusion

Throughout my life experience so far I have shown to be observant, consistent,

personable, hard-working, outgoing, resilient, dependable, proactive, detail-orientated,

organized, and respectful. I have also discovered that some of my most significant values include

reliability, inclusivity, humility, respect, compassion, and adaptability. These personal attributes

and values are all crucial characteristics I will take into my profession and personal practice as a

nurse. Over time, my goal is to exceed the needs of my patients. I strive to make even the

smallest impacts on their lives for the better. By the same token, I hope to uphold the integrity

and trust this profession carries and be the best nurse I strive to be every single day through

whatever challenges I may face.

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References

American Nurses Association (n.d.). Ethics and human rights. American Nurses Association.

https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/nursing-

excellence/ethics/#:~:text=The%20Code%20is%20particularly%20valuable,nurse%20tha

t%20extend%20beyond%20individual