PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY OF NURSING 1

Personal Philosophy of Nursing

Danielle Klement

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

Dr. Christine Turner, PhD, RN

Synthesis for Nursing Practice NUR 4140

March 28, 2019

“I Pledge…..”
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Definition of Nursing

I am now in my final semester of nursing school. I was asked to write a personal philosophy

paper in my first year of nursing school and now I am revisiting my first paper to see how my

philosophy has or hasn’t changed. In my mind, there are so many different ways and terms to

define nursing. I have learned throughout my journey as a student at Bon Secours Memorial

College of Nursing, that nursing is a holistic practice. I have especially learned what nursing is

during my immersion experience at St. Francis’ Emergency Room. I believe that nursing is a field

in the medical world that requires a certain type of person. I think in order to be a successful nurse

one needs to know how to be compassionate, caring, a good listener, empathetic, patient,

observant, a leader, an advocate, and much more. I would say the definition of nursing would be

servant leaders working together to provide holistic care to those in need.

Personal Philosophy

I would say that I haven’t changed my personal philosophy throughout my nursing school

journey, just expanded it. I believe my thoughts, values, and beliefs in regard to nursing have

grown drastically over the years. When I originally wrote my personal philosophy, it was I was

called into nursing by God. I still believe this to be true and I know this has helped me to grow

into the nurse I am about to be once I graduate in May. My personal philosophy is reflected in my

practice every day I am in the hospital setting. I use compassion, empathy, and my knowledge to

apply holistic care to every patient I come into contact with. I try my very best to always be there

for my patients when they need me, for whatever they need me for. I feel some days it is to make

them feel physically better and other days it is to be a listener to their life story. I use my philosophy

to build trusting relationships with all my patients and their families. I also use my philosophy

when communicating with other health team members. I will carry this philosophy with me
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throughout my nursing career and I am sure as I grow more as a nurse, I will continue to expand

on my philosophy.

Values and Beliefs

I have to say that my values and beliefs haven’t changed at all throughout the course of my

nursing school journey. In my first paper I talked about the values of altruism, empathy,

compassion, holistic care, love, intelligence, kindness, trust, faith, caring, and respect. I still value

each of those and I find them to be essential to the nursing field. I would say I have added some

values to my list as I have grown as a nurse. I value patient safety, my happiness, and my patient’s

happiness. In my first paper I talked about how nurses will always put their patients first and never

expect anything in return. This is something I actively do in my practice every day. I believe my

personal beliefs will always impact my life, personal and professional. I believe that you should

always stand up for what you believe in and in my nursing school journey I have learned this to be

very true in the nursing field. I have learned that you must understand your beliefs and feelings

before you can really help someone else. You need to know yourself in order to help those that are

in need. Neglecting or ignoring your personal beliefs or feelings would negatively affect your well-

being and then your ability to fill this leadership role. Also along those lines, when in the nursing

field you need to know how to respect someone else's beliefs and values. As for my personal

beliefs, these are the ones I mentioned in my first paper. I believe in God and Jesus Christ, I believe

that everyone deserves equality, I believe it is wrong to judge people, I believe in providing the

best nursing care to my patients, I believe in listening to my patients and holistic care, I believe

that one’s attitude affects one’s health, I believe in the power of laughter and a positive attitude,

and I believe we were put here on this earth to serve God. My beliefs have not changed since I
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wrote my first paper. I think my beliefs will always stay the same, but they might grow and expand

once I start my career as a nurse.

Nurse Patient Encounter

I have had so many patient encounters in my clinical rotations in which I demonstrated my

nursing practice to the Bon Secours Professional Practice Model. I do believe I use Jean Watson’s

ten carnitas processes throughout my nursing practice. I especially use practicing loving kindness,

instilling faith and hope, developing helping-trusting relationships, assisting with physical,

spiritual, and emotional needs, and allowing room for miracles to happen (Bon Secours Health

System, 2019.) I’ve had a majority of my encounters while doing my immersion in the Emergency

Department. One experience that comes to my mind was one night in the emergency room, I was

so busy. I heard a squad coming in through the ambulance entrance and I knew they were coming

into the room I was currently setting up. They brought the patient in and after my assessment I

immediately initiated seizure precautions. The patient and family were extremely upset and

worried so I did my best to complete all the orders for this patient in one go so they could have a

moment to themselves. I used silence and listening while they told me their story of what happened

and their theories of why it happened. The patient became very upset and tearful, so I stopped what

I was doing and grabbed some tissues. I then sat down beside the bed and listened. I was very

surprised to hear the patient’s life story and past experiences. I think I sat in the room for at least

30 minutes with this patient. Once the patient became calmer, I continued to do what I needed to

do. I used my calm, kind manner to keep the patient and the family calm and I answered any

questions I could to reassure them. After I was done with lab work, medications, etc., the patient

grabbed my hand and thanked me. The patient smiled and said I had been so kind to her. She said

she would never forget that, and I was going to make an amazing nurse. Moments like these make
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the hard days, worth it. That day was extremely hectic in the emergency room and I felt like I was

running around like a chicken with my head cut off but that one moment helped me to calm down,

as well as the patient. It showed me that just using kindness and a positive attitude can greatly

affect someone’s day and how they feel. Another thing I learned was that I have the ability to

completely change someone’s day, most people come to the hospital on one of the worst days

they’ve had and the nurse can drastically change that patients outcome by using compassion,

empathy, and kindness. I am grateful for days like those.

Role as a Change Agent

In my NUR 4140 practicum I have served as a change agent to the Bon Secours Health

System, in particular the Richmond Care-A-Van. My group has been working on a smoking

cessation intervention for the Care-A-Van to implement in the underserved population. This

project has shown me that anyone can try to make changes in the community. I see how important

this role is in order to make a difference. This practicum has shown me the steps needed to try to

make change to a policy, etc. My personal role as a change agent is to do my research and try to

make a positive change within the community. This change could help the community for the

better and might even have a larger impact within the Bon Secours system. Taking the initiative to

make change is a part of being a change agent. I will take this initiative into my nursing practice

to make change within my community. I think this course has helped me understand more about

what it takes to make change and how to get it all started.

Benner’s Theory

Patricia Benner’s theory and book are called From Novice to Expert. Her theory explains

how nurses gain their knowledge, skills, and understanding of patient care over time through

education and experience. There are five levels in her theory; novice, advanced beginner,
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competent, proficient, and expert. A novice is like a brand new nurse with no experience. An

advanced beginner is someone who has gained some previous experience and they show

acceptable performance. A competent nurse is someone who has a few years of experience on a

unit. A proficient nurse is someone who understands situations more holistically. The last stage is

an expert, which means no longer relying on guidelines or rules in order to connect situations and

act on them accurately (Benner, P. E., 1984.)

Skill Acquisition

The Dreyfus model of skill acquisition is made up of the same five stages from Benner’s

theory. I believe on the skills model, I am in the competence stage. I thought for a while that I

would fall under the advanced beginner, but I feel I have a little more experience. The Dreyfus

model explains how in the stage of competence, the nurse will feel overwhelmed with elements

and procedures. I can definitely relate to this, I do feel slightly overwhelmed when I am in

immersion. I find myself looking up policies and asking for tips when I am unsure of a certain

procedure. I feel like I have gained a lot of experience during my clinicals throughout my nursing

school career. Burnout is common in this stage because of the emotional stress that comes with

the job but staying busy and enjoy the work you do helps to prevent this from happening. My

performance in clinical situations has greatly improved since I started nursing school. I feel like I

can put pieces together and make sense of different situations. While working in the emergency

room, I have seen similar situations in the emergency room on a daily basis, so I feel pretty

confident in dealing with those situations. When a new situation comes through the doors, it can

be slightly overwhelming, but I try to breathe and use my existing knowledge to come up with a

plan. Overall, I feel competent in my skills but there are times when I stubble across a new situation
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that makes me feel more like a novice. I know only time and experience will continue to aide me

in my abilities and confidence.

Action Plan for Moving Forward using Benner as a guide

I believe coming up with a strategy for moving forward to the proficient stage of Dreyfus’

model would help me to be more successful. The proficient stage of Dreyfus’ model is when the

nurse can understand situations more holistically. The nurses know what to expect based on

previous knowledge and experiences. I feel like my preceptor for immersion is at this level. I think

a good way to help myself advance to this stage would be always ask questions if I am unsure. By

asking questions, I will learn more about a situation so I will be better prepared for the next time I

encounter something similar. I believe just gaining experience through working will drastically

help. It will help me to build more confidence in myself and my skills, which will make working

as a nurse a little less stressful. I will also make sure to care for myself. I know that in order to

properly care for someone else, you have to take care of yourself too. There are some things I do

now to provide self-care, so I don’t get burned out. I enjoy spending time outside with friends and

family when I am needing time for myself. I will continue to take care of myself throughout my

development as a nurse so I can better care for all of my patients. I also plan to expand my

knowledge through more schooling. I would like to get more experience in the field before

returning to school so I would feel more confident in my nursing abilities. I believe with this

experience I would advance to the next stage of Dreyfus’ model, the proficient stage. I love

learning new things and I think as a nurse you learn something new every day. For as long as I

have been in school, I have learned something new every time I am in clinical. I believe that you

need to learn new things to keep up with the changing world. My ideal plan would be to work in
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the hospital for a few years and then get my master’s degree. Throughout that plan I will remember

self-care is important and necessary to succeed.

References

Benner, P. E. (1984). From Novice to Expert. Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley Publishing
Company.

Bon Secours Health System. (2019). Nursing. Retrieved from

https://bonsecours.com/richmond/jobs-and-education/nursing