Philosophy of Nursing: Reflections on the Holistic Approach and Professional Ethics

Running Head: Philosophy Of Nursing
Philosophy of Nursing

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Philosophy of nursing
Table of contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Nursing profession...........................................................................................................................3
Philosophy of nursing......................................................................................................................3
Nursing as my career.......................................................................................................................3
Theories on nursing.........................................................................................................................4
Nursing is a holistic approach..........................................................................................................5
First day of my profession...............................................................................................................6
Exploring the profession..................................................................................................................6
My duties.........................................................................................................................................6
My perspective.................................................................................................................................7
Nursing interconnects art and science.............................................................................................7
Pavalko’s occupation model............................................................................................................8
Nurse-patient interaction in delivering quality care........................................................................8
Professional development................................................................................................................9
My ethical values in nursing............................................................................................................9
Clinical supervision.......................................................................................................................10
Managing workforce......................................................................................................................11
Key Insights of nursing philosophy...............................................................................................11
Challenges of nursing profession...................................................................................................12
Future scopes of nursing practice..................................................................................................13
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
Reference list.................................................................................................................................14

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Philosophy of nursing
Introduction
E portfolios are necessary tool for evaluation of one’s performance. It consists of number of
items such as, texts, images, audio clips, reflection journals, and certifications and so on. E-
portfolios are used both for learning as well as professional development. Reflection journals in
E-portfolio are significant since it develops abilities for the long term process by identifying
goals and strength. This reflection paper throws light on the philosophy of nursing as
experienced by me during transition phase from a student nurse to a grown professional. This
reflection paper links reflective values to nursing knowledge in order to fulfill all the duties as a
responsible nursing profession.
Nursing profession
The profession of nursing involves studying human health and the process of illness. Nursing
professionals help the patients or community to facilitate, support and assist communities or
individuals to recover by modifying their lifestyle practices by minimizing ameliorate disease
effects (Lewis, Collier, & Heitkemper, 2017). A nurse starts her career as an enrolled nurse and
learns various disciplines and ethics of nursing practice during this course of action. While
encountering patient’s nurses follow unifying ethos for instance, nurses integrate the objective
data with their subjective learning through their professional judgmental ability (Jones, Hamilton
& Murry, 2015). Nurses address physical, biological and behavioral need of the patients
individually through clinical approach. The nurses deliver best care practice on individuals
regardless who and from where they belong.
Philosophy of nursing
Nursing as my career
I always wanted to become a nurse since childhood. The values and morality of the profession
enchants me. Not only nursing as a profession, I believe it has a great contribution towards
society and community. My goal was to undertake the practice of health and healing concerns.
During graduation course, we were taught different theories and paradigms related to the

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Philosophy of nursing
practice. I gained some borrowed knowledge from disciplines such as pathophysiology,
physiology, pharmacy and anatomy.
Initially as a student I little understood about the importance of learning so many topics at the
same time. The applications of the disciplines became much evidence as I stepped into the
practice as a professional. As a nursing student I also gained fundamental knowledge of the
empirical, ethical, aesthetic and sociopolitical area.
I had undertaken project work where I participated in nursing camps organized for the injured
soldiers and underprivileged people. The experience taught me with pragmatism of the
profession and how to deal different scenarios in a clinical emergency (Winsett et al. 2016). I
learned that the nursing practice is driven by the empirical knowledge. The ethical knowledge
taught me regarding the clinical practice objectives and moral obligations. I learned to implement
the apply the nursing ethos and morality while encountering patients, colleagues and
communities.
Theories on nursing
The nursing theories are developed on the basic framework of four concepts. The concepts
include
 Patient
 Health
 Nursing goals
 Environment
The nursing theorists have defined the components individually in all the theories.
Post positivist theory
I have looked into the profession through empirical lens. I followed positivism approach to
underpin the epistemological framework. The paradigm of positivism relates the practice to
scientific application, precise instrumentation and empirical testing protocols (Tobiano et al.
2016). I find good to embrace the post positivist rule that states that complete knowing of the