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Personal Nursing Philosophy

Introduction
Following my own hospital admission, it took me one night to decide what degree wanted to

pursue as I returned to college. I decided to pursue a nursing degree so I can care for patients during

the most difficult times of their lives. Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines philosophy as “the most

basic beliefs, concepts, and attitudes of an individual or group”. I will use my values and beliefs on

personal wellness, lifelong learning, nursing theory, quality and safety education for nurses (QSEN),

conflict management, and leadership to develop my personal nursing philosophy.

Personal Wellness

Five components included in your personal wellness are physical, spiritual, social, emotional,

and intellectual. It is important that when working to reach your maximum level of personal wellness

you take into consideration all five components. Overall, I believe I am in a good state in my

personal wellness. I do feel there are areas I can address for improvement. Some ways I plan on

working to improve my overall wellness are by reducing the amount of sugar I intake, being more

consistent in engaging in physical activity, attending meals with friends, continuing education, and

journaling.

These five components are interconnected and key for the overall wellness of a person.

Achieving a high level of wellness in one component does not balance out for a low level in a

different component. For example, you can be in great physical shape but if your emotional wellness

is not met it may be hard to focus or complete your list of tasks for a day. As a nurse I have a goal to

assist my patients to reach their highest level of personal wellness. I believe to achieve this goal I

need to ensure I care for myself first.

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Lifelong Learning

In my opinion lifelong learning means ongoing learning that an individual chooses to engage

in. Working in the health care field provides opportunities to continuously learn and improve your

knowledge. Continuing education is very important to me to grow as a nurse. I am currently enrolled

in a Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. The Bachelor of Science in Nursing program includes

general education and nursing specific courses. Expanding my knowledge will increase my

confidence in my critical thinking and decision-making skills while caring for patients. It is important

to stay up to date on evidence-based practices because they are continuously improving and

changing. Evidence-based practices are used by nurses to provide safe care to patients and improve

patient outcomes. I have benefited from general education courses by making me more culturally

aware and valuing the uniqueness of each patient I care for. These courses have made me better

prepared for interacting and communicating with patients and multidisciplinary teams. I believe it is

important to also engage in continuing education learning modules that the facility I work for

provides to me. I plan to attend nurse conferences and continue my education to earn a Masters in

Nursing.

Nursing Theory

I look to Virginia Henderson and her 14 Components of Basic Nursing Care theory as a

guideline for my nursing practice. This theory can be used in a wide variety of health care settings

and caring for patients of all ages and genders. Agudelo-Cifuentues et al. (2022) state, “According to

this theory, individuals are comprehensive beings with biological, psychological, sociocultural, and

spiritual components that require complete satisfaction of fourteen basic needs to attain their highest

potential” (Agudelo-Cifuentues et al. 2022, p. 7, Introduction section, para 6). Henderson’s theory
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emphasizes the importance of meeting basic needs and taking a holistic approach to promote health

and well-being.

Henderson’s 14 components have also been known as the 14 needs. I used this list of needs as

a resource when providing care to my patients in the hospital. Henderson’s theory lines up with many

of my values and beliefs. As a nurse I value human dignity and autonomy. I believe that health care

should be individualized, patient centered, and the nurse needs to be compassionate and trustworthy.

I think it is extremely important to take a holistic approach to patient care. The nurse should make

sure a patient is meeting basic physiological needs while at the same time ensuring that their

psychological and spiritual needs are met too. The nurse encourages and promotes the patient to

being as independent as possible but does assist in helping to achieve the patient’s ideal level of

health and functioning.

Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN)

Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) is very important for new and future nurses to

become competent in. The goal for Quality and Safety Education is to “prepare nurses to have the

knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to improve the quality and safety of the healthcare systems

they work in” (QSEN, n.d.). Quality and Safety Education for Nurses is made up of six competencies.

The competencies include patient-centered care, evidence-based practice (EBP), teamwork and

collaboration, safety, quality improvement, and informatics.

I believe patient-centered care is one of the most important components when providing care

to a patient. Patient-centered care focuses on the patient as an individual and includes developing a

care plan that is specific for that patient. Patient centered care should take in consideration of the

patients’ goals, and spiritual and cultural beliefs. I believe evidence-based practices and safety go
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side by side together. It is important for the nurse to stay up to date on providing evidence-based care

to a patient. The nurse needs to make certain that they are obtaining this evidence from their facilities

policy managers and guideline or accredited academic clinical expertise. It is equally important that

the nurse provides this care in the safest way possible by minimizing harm for both the patient and

the healthcare team.

Teamwork and collaboration functions effectively within nursing and inter-professional

teams, fostering open communication, mutual respect, and shared decision-making to achieve quality

patient care (QSEN, n.d.). Teamwork and collaboration should take place across different specialists

to provide a well-balanced care team for the patient. Informatics includes the technology and

information used to manage patient care and guide decision making for treatment of the patient. The

last Quality and Safety Education for Nurses competency is quality improvement. Quality

improvement includes using data to monitor, evaluate, and improve care provided by a facility. An

example of quality improvement would be to monitor the number of patient falls in a facility and

evaluating if an intervention made an improvement and reduced the number of patient falls.

Conflict Management

Conflicts are usually unavoidable in an individual’s life. Conflict can take place in a wide

variety of settings including the workplace. Conflicts can arise due to different personalities. This is

due in large part that people having different thoughts and views which often are developed from their

own experience and environments. Different personality types can also impact conflict management and

conflict strategies in the workplace. Different personality types can also cause hostile work

environments.
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Following completion of the 16 personalities test I received an "executive" personality type. The

website reported that executives are excellent organizers, surpassed at managing things- or people. I was

a little surprised by this because I feel that executive personalities tend to have more dominant

personalities which I do not feel is me. I do feel that I am a pretty organized person and manage

situations well. I enjoy problem solving but I am not sure how I would handle managing people. I dislike

conflict and I feel like conflict tends to occur more often when you are managing people. I am more

observant and focus on what is occurring in the here and now.

I tend to be more of a thinker when it comes to problem solving. I do consider people's feelings

when coming up with solutions, but I usually go with the answer that makes the most sense logically. I

do like to make lists of tasks and schedules to help me stay organized and to keep track of what needs to

be done. My personality results also included that I am more assertive than turbulent. According to the

16 personality types assertive individuals are self-assured, even-tempered, and resistant to stress. I do

feel I do a pretty good job of keeping calm in stressful situations and focusing on what I can do to fix the

situation. I do not overly stress and worry about what could happen and I believe in myself to achieve

my goals.

There are different strategies that can be used to address conflicts. Five strategies of conflict

resolution in the workplace are avoidance, accommodation, competing, collaboration, and compromise

(Cote, C., 2023). In avoiding conflict, you do not address the conflict or ignore the conflict all together.

A person who is uncomfortable in addressing conflict may call in sick to avoid it completely. If using

the accommodation strategy, you may go along with an idea that a coworker has even if you do not

believe it to be the best and most productive solution for the workplace. Competing often results in you

focusing on a goal or reward and not focusing on your relationship with other individuals. My preferred

strategy for conflict resolution in the workplace is collaboration. Collaboration takes place when
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everyone is working together to address and come up with a solution together to resolve the conflict in

the workplace. When using the compromise strategy in resolving conflict each side of the conflict will

be partially satisfied.

Leadership
Nurses can engage in both formal and informal roles as nurse leaders. Informal nurse leaders

do not have an authority title but are highly respected by their coworkers. Informal leaders

“contribute to an organizational culture, achieving goals, and understanding and interpreting group

dynamics” (Lawson, D. et al, 2020). They often are experienced nurses who demonstrate qualities

and skills that others admire and follow. Formal nurse leader roles examples include charge nurse,

unit nurse manager, chief nursing office. I believe I respond best under a democratic leadership style.

According to Masters, K. (2023), democratic leaders keep communication open and demonstrate

respect for employees (p. 344). I feel when working under democratic leadership that I am valued and

appreciated which further motivates me to perform at my highest level.

As a recent nurse graduate, I will formally be working my way towards becoming a charge

nurse for the unit I work on. I will also demonstrate informal leadership qualities by engaging in safe

and evidence-based practice with each patient I care for. I will also do my best to be a team player

and motivator for my unit. I believe that with time and experience I will be interested in advancing

my role towards nurse leadership and management.

Conclusion

My personal nursing philosophy focuses on individualized patient centered care that helps to

achieve the patient’s goals and highest level of wellness. I will ensure to pursue a balance of

physical, social, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual wellness for myself to help care for my patients.
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I will continue to expand my knowledge and stay up to date on the latest evidence-based practices

with my lifelong learning. I will use Virginia Henderson’s and her 14 Components of Basic Nursing

Care theory as a guideline and resource for providing a holistic approach of care for all of my

patients. To improve and increase positive patient outcomes I will refer to the six competencies of

Quality and Safety Education for nurses. I will do my best to put the patient first, communicate, and

collaborate with my coworkers when conflicts arise. I will work hard to be both a formal and

informal leader on my unit and demonstrate consistent admirable qualities to motivate my team

members. I look forward to a long career in nursing and providing holistic patient centered care to all

my patients.
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References
16personalities. (n.d.) Retrieved April 4, 2024, from https://www.16personalities.com/
Agudelo-Cifuentes, M. C., Berbesi-Fernandez, D. Y., & Salazar-Maya, A. M. (2022, July).
Preparation of a Scale for Assessing Nursing Care Needs in Dependent People. Aquichan,
22(3), 1-22. https://web-p-ebscohost-com.libproxy.dtcc.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?
vid=25&sid=b4a6edae-cf03-4300-b903-ea5db765e9b0%40redis

Cote, C. (2023, September). 5 Strategies for Conflict Resolution in the Workplace. Retrieved from
https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/strategies-for-conflict-resolution-in-the-workplace

Lawson, D., Flashman, J. W. (2020, July). Informal Leadership in Healthcare. Clin Colon Rectal
Surg 33(4), 225-227. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7329379/

Masters, K. (2023). Role development in professional nursing practice (6th ed.). Jones and Bartlett.

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Philosophy. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved April 20, 2024,

from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/philosophy#citations

QSEN. (n.d.) QSEN Institute Competencies. Retrieved April 20, 2024, from
https://www.qsen.org/competencies-pre-licensure-ksas