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A Personal Philosophy of Nursing Of A Future New Grad

Amy M Jackowell

School of Nursing, Old Dominion University

NURS 481: Role Transition

Dr. Lynn Wiles

January 25, 2023

A Personal Philosophy of Nursing Of A Future New Grad

Nursing philosophy guides Nursing practice, and every nurse has a personal philosophy

that guides their work. My nursing philosophy is ever-evolving based on my shifting worldview

and growing experience. During my foundational nursing concepts class from the beginning of

my nursing school career, I described the purpose of nursing as applying medical knowledge to

the lives of patients outside of just their stay in the hospital, believing that a nurse's ability to

understand the patient as a complex individual and the ability to build rapport are the strongest

tools a nurse can use to create lasting change. Today, as a soon-to-be new grad nurse, my

philosophy has progressed by integrating the knowledge from nursing theorists Lydia Hill and

Martha Rogers, nursing definitions as described by various professional nursing organizations,

and clinical experience of applying my nursing principles to the care of patients.

Definition of Nursing

The International Council of Nursing (ICN, 2023) states that "nursing encompasses

autonomous and collaborative care of individuals of all ages, families, groups, and communities,

sick or well and in all settings…" and includes promotion of health, prevention of illness, and

care of the client and involves patient advocacy, research, patient education, participation in

policy development and the promotion of a safe environment. Defining what a nurse is can be

difficult because the scope of nursing is so broad and much of what goes into nursing is cerebral.

The American Nurses Association (ANA, 2017) acknowledges the vast differences in function,

education, and expertise of nurses due to the varied areas of health care a nurse may specialize in

and instead defines a nurse by their use of the five-step nursing process: assessment, diagnosis,

outcomes/planning, implementation, and evaluation. My definition of nursing has been shaped

by learning what nursing is not. For example, nursing practice is distinct from medical practice;
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the first focuses on healing, and the second focuses on curing. A physician's diagnosis identifies

the illness and cures it, whereas the nurse's diagnosis identifies the problems caused by that

illness and remedies them. The problems that cause and are caused by these illnesses can be

physical, emotional, behavioral, environmental, and societal; therefore, their solutions may be

too complicated to be remedied during a single hospital visit. My definition of a nurse is a global

thinker who utilizes the nursing process to better the human experience of those under their care.

Purpose of Nursing

My desire to enter nursing was born out of the desire to live through as much of the

human experience as possible, optimistically assuming that it was joyous. However, early in my

experience as a caretaker, I learned that this assumption was wrong and that at least half of the

things we as people can experience are profoundly miserable and that some people experience

more misery than joy in their lives as a result of the circumstances and bodies into which they

were born. There is an unacceptable unfairness in that reality. My participation in nursing is my

way of trying to tip the scales toward joy in whatever minor way I can because I know that even

minor actions can create major impacts in the lives of individuals. The purpose of nursing is to

better the lives of those under your care. As previously explained, it is not the nurse's role to cure

an illness, and its resolution within the body is not under the control of nursing, but the

management and remedy of how that illness manifests in and affects the individuals' ability to

live their life is. All people should be able to live as they see fit, with as much joy as possible and

as little suffering as necessary. The purpose of nursing is to bring that idea into reality.

Assumptions
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According to Gonzalo (2023a), Lydia Hall's Care, Cure, and Core Theory explain the

function of nurses in health care promotion with the client and other medical professionals. The

individual receiving care is the core and the source of motivation and energy behind the healing

process. Although the motivation can not be sourced externally, the nurse may act as a sounding

board for the client, helping them identify their inner motivations and gain the self-awareness

needed to recover.

The cure aspect of the model is shared with other medical professionals, and the nurse

will work more closely with other healthcare specialties focusing on treating a client's physical

illness. For example, under the direction of a physician, the nurse will carry out tasks designed to

treat the source of the patient's illness while simultaneously delivering nursing care. Nursing care

includes physical care, comfort measures, and patient teaching and falls solely within the scope

of nursing. This theory assumes that care, cure, and core function together and that as they

interact, emphasis on these spheres may shift according to the patient's needs.

Hall's theory focuses on the individual and does not directly address the nurses' role

within the community; however, if combined with Martha Roger's Science of Unitary Human

Beings Theory, the individual can be viewed as inseparable from their environment (Gonzalo,

2023b). From this lens, knowing the impact of humans on their environment and vice versa, the

art of nursing can be applied to the community as well, making involvement in the development

of health care policy and advocacy for all people a key aspect of the role of nursing.

Guiding Principles of Professional Practice

One moral principle guiding my nursing practice is the responsibility to maintain the

dignity of those I care for. This principle can be found in the ANA's Code of Ethics for Nurses
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(2015) under Provision 1: " the nurse practices with compassion and respect for the inherent

dignity, worth, and unique attributes of every person." (page 18.) I prioritize this principle

because the individual is important to nursing practice, and a person's dignity must be preserved

so that what makes the individual can be maintained. In my experience, when someone's sense of

worth is stripped away, important aspects of the client are hidden from the nurse, who is then

unable to act as a sounding board and assist the patient in uncovering their inner motivations,

which complicates the healing process. I practiced this principle during my rehab clinical with a

young patient recovering from lupus, who was on Lasix and suffering from mobility disturbances

which caused her to wet herself on the way to the bathroom. Being accustomed to her

independence, in her current state, she felt very defeated. With my patient's dignity in mind, I

took every opportunity to maintain her self-image, whether that be listening to her express how

these new body changes made her feel to ensuring that she had clean clothes, whether that meant

handwashing soiled clothes in the sink or prowling the lost and found for clothing that not only

fit her correctly but also matched her gender expression as a queer person. I found that this

patient reacted positively to this treatment by putting more effort into movement outside physical

therapy and under my supervision.

Another moral and ethical principle that I feel strongly about applying to nursing practice

can also be found in the ANA's Book of Nursing Ethics (2015) as Provision 3 " the nurse

promotes, advocates for, and protects the rights, health, and safety of the patient" (p.26). I

practiced this while working with a recently paraplegic patient participating in transfers from the

wheelchair to the bed with a physical therapist. The interactions I had observed between the

patient and the physical therapist, the technique, and how it was taught raised concern about

potential patient injury, which I brought to the nurse in charge of me. This led to a discussion
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with the patient where they expressed discomfort with this physical therapist and preferred not to

work with them going forward. This instance falls under provision three because nurses are

obligated to advocate for patients and their patient's safety and report practice that appears

unsafe. This was an uncomfortable situation at the time, and I felt unsure whether or how to

address it. However, I learned that erring on the side of caution is always better than missing a

potential risk to patient safety. Continuing in my nursing career, I intend to act on this principle

when necessary, raising concerns appropriately to maintain an environment of safety for those

under my care.

Conclusion

Nursing is the use of global thinking and the nursing process to heal not only individual

patients but groups, systems, and societies to improve humankind's lived experience. My

assumptions that nurses interact with patients not only through physical care but also as a

sounding board for their inner motivations and that nursing though distinct from the other

specialties works alongside them within the healthcare system can best be understood through

Lydia Hall's care, cure, and core theory. Moreover, Martha Roger's Science of Unitary Human

Beings Theory shows that nursing applies beyond individual patients. My nursing philosophy

has caused me to prioritize and practice respect for patient dignity and commitment to

maintaining a safe environment for the patient within the healthcare system. Compared to my

earlier ideas of nursing, this current philosophy accounts for the many roles a nurse can play

because it focuses on a way of thinking and the goal of improving the human experience for all.

Going forward in my nursing career, I plan to expand this philosophy and refine it further as I am

exposed to more within the field and as it changes.

References

American Nurses Association. (2015, January). Code of Ethics for Nurses: With Interpretive

Statements. January 25, 2023, https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/nursing-

excellence/ethics/code-of-ethics-for-nurses/

American Nurses Association. (2017, October 14). What is nursing & what do nurses do?: Ana

Enterprise. January 25, 2023,

https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/workforce/what-is-nursing

Gonzalo, A. (2023a, January 12). Lydia Hall: Care, cure, core nursing theory. Nurseslabs.

Retrieved January 25, 2023, from https://nurseslabs.com/lydia-e-halls-care-cure-core-

theory/

Gonzalo, A. (2023b, January 12). Martha Rogers: Science of unitary human beings. Nurseslabs.

January 25, 2023, https://nurseslabs.com/martha-e-rogers-theory-unitary-human-beings/

International Council of Nursing. (n.d.). Nursing definitions. ICN. January 25, 2023,

https://www.icn.ch/nursing-policy/nursing-definitions