NURSING PHILOSOPHY

Kimberly Branson-Clarke, MBA, RN

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 I have always taken pride in volunteering for those in my community. Wither it is with

the youth or with seniors, I enjoy the camaraderie it builds. However, for years I longed for a

way to reach more people, to advocate for and teach them. Making the decision to leave a

lucrative career to become a nurse was not an easy decision for my family to make, it took

sacrifices from us all, but it is a decision we have not regretted.

I had no previous medical experience so before I officially started nursing school, I

became certified and worked at the local community hospital as a nursing assistant, floating

between the Medical/Surgical, Intensive Care and Emergency Departments. That experience

allowed me to gain confidence in managing patient care, gaining critical thinking skills, while

collaborating with the nursing team. The experience is one I wish all nursing students could

have. Looking back, I don’t know how I survived the long hours of school, studying, clinicals

and work but with the help of an amazing family and group of co-workers that never let me give

up I succeeded.

In each clinical experience I studied the nurses almost as much as I did my patients. I

asked many nurses why they chose the profession. I observed true compassion from so many

nurses, these experiences taught me what kind of nurse I wanted to be and what kind I didn’t. I

experienced nurses that were expert and those that were novice.

An expert nurse that I work with taught me early on that, novice nurses help keep the

expert nurses from becoming so hardened. She explained that it is easy to become task driven,

losing the ability to see the patient as a human being needing their advocacy. Repeat patients can

make nurses judgmental. The novice nurse can help bring an expert nurse back to the

compassionate, empathetic nurse they once were. These actions are the commitment we as

nurses have to keep one another accountable (Denehy, 2001).

We are all only human, judging in some fashion is normal. However, as a nurse you have to be

aware of your bias, confront it and find ways to provide quality patient care (Black, 2018).

Being a forty-year-old novice nurse allows me to use life experiences as a guide while

studying patients and the nurses as well. I feel I can empathize with patients better than I could

have at twenty. My journey to become a nurse took me twenty years but I now know that it’s

exactly how it was supposed to happen for me. I have been able to work with people of all

socioeconomic backgrounds and circumstances. I have been through my own distress and I know

that all those experiences will make me a better nurse. It is my goal to always challenge myself

to think outside the box, provide judgement free patient care and treat my patients as if they were

my very own family members.

I chose nursing because I want to be a leader, for my community, for my patients, for my

co-workers and for my family. When I put on my uniform and name badge, I feel pride in what I

do. Some days I leave work feeling like I have changed a life and some days I leave having mine

changed. It is my passion to use my knowledge to provide patients with education and resources

for treatment related to addiction. My mission as a Registered Nurse is to treat each of my

patients with integrity by providing them with safe quality care, with no judgement. I vow to

always advocate for my patients and their families with an open mind and an open heart.
 References:

Black, B. (2017). Professional Nursing: Concepts & Challenges (8th ed.). St. Louis, MI:
Elsevier Inc.

Denehy, J. (2001). Articulating Your Philosophy of Nursing. The Journal of School Nursing, 17
(1), 1. Retrieved from
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