Nursing Reflection Paper

Running head: NURSING REFLECTION PAPER
NURSING REFLECTION PAPER
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:
Total words of 10 pages excluding cover page and headings = 2546 words

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Introduction
Reflection assists nurses in the identification of personal strengths, weakness and future
improvements (Schmidt & Brown, 2016). Additionally, to guide their professional as well as
personal ethics and functional interventions in the workplace, nurses must also demonstrate a
sound understanding of basic nursing concepts such as nursing definitions and the nursing
paradigm (Donohue-Porter et al., 2017). In the following paper, along with highlighting the
paradigm prevalent in my personal definitions of nursing concepts, I have also demonstrated an
understanding of the nursing paradigm in Hildegard Peplau’s theory of interpersonal relations.
The following paper is a reflection of nursing paradigm concepts identified by me, and compare
its similarities and differences with respect to Hildegard Peplau, in terms of a totality and
simultaneity perspective.
Personal Definition of Concepts
Person
In my personal definition, the person can be defined as biological organism belonging to
the category of mammals, and that of vertebrates, that is, an organism with four limbs. I
conceptualise the person as a composite of both physiological as well as psychological
components, that is, comprising of the complex interplay of emotional responses as well as that
of biological systems such as tissues and organs (Wilson et al., 2016). I have developed this
definition of a person, with assistance from my clinical experiences. Indeed the clinical setting
where I work witnesses the admission of a number of patients with both physiological as well as
psychological issues. In this case, physiological problems include patients being admitted for

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diseases like diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular ailments, pain and fractures. Patients who are
admitted with psychological issues include those with mental health problems such as anxiety,
depression and neurodegenerative disorders like dementia. Often, patients admitted due to
chronic diseases also suffer from anxiety or stress since they feel agitated about their health
conditions - a common clinical example in my workplace highlighting both psychological as
well as physiological components in a person.
Environment
According to my personal definition, the environment can be defined as the surroundings
where we reside in and a constitution of life forms such as animals, trees, insects, air as well as
other persons, such as my family, friends and neighbours with whom I have been living and
growing (Flott & Linden, 2016). Considering my clinical settings and the workplace where I am
engaged, the environment varies from the above definition since it constitutes mainly the hospital
surroundings comprising of nurses like me, clinicians, and organizational resources such as
equipment, medications as well as nursing behaviours skills, all of which combine to deliver
quality care to the patient. Indeed, taking insights from my daily clinical experiences, a patient
achieves optimum health outcomes when he or she is not only surrounded by innovative
equipment and medications but also by the empathy, compassion and therapeutic relationships
by nurses and clinicians. Hence, this definition of the environment defines that the health of
person is largely dependent on his or her socioeconomic surroundings as well as emotional and
behavioural components of individuals belonging to the environment of the person.
Health
According to my personal definition and taking insights from the research by Alghamdi
(2016), the person, health is a composite of both physical as well as physiological components. I

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have arrived at this definition by taking examples of my clinical experiences at my workplace,
where patients are admitted not just for physiological conditions like pain, discomfort, acute or
chronic diseases but also due to psychological conditions such as mental health issues. My
personal definition of health is based upon the research by McCormack and McCance (2016),
demonstrates on the necessity of congruence, balance and harmony between the physiological
and psychological components of a person. This means that for a person to optimum health, his
biological systems or organs must be functioning in balance with each other, the absence of
which, can result in pain and discomfort. Along with physiology, a person also needs to be in
sound mental health since a loss of positivity or increased feelings of anxiety, distress or stress
can aggravate pain or discomfort and alleviate physiological problems (Wilson et al., 2016). My
clinical examples which highlight experiences with patients have compelled me to arrive at this
definition and will be discussed in the proceeding sections.
Nurse
I believe that nursing is a profession associated with healthcare. Hence, according to my
personal definition, the nurse is a healthcare professional who assists other healthcare
professionals like doctors in administering pharmacological interventions on the patient.
Additional, nurses are healthcare professionals who also demonstrate non-pharmacological
interventions in ensuring hastened recovery and mental wellbeing in the patient (World Health
Organisations, 2019). As per my clinical experiences, my profession as a nurse as well as my
colleagues who are nurses, comprises of not just administering medications or assessment
procedures on the patient, but also comprises of demonstrating skills of empathy, compassion,
kindness, patient centeredness and empathetic listening to ensure that the patient’s disease
symptoms are alleviated and that he or she feels secure, comfortable respected, dignified and