N3345 Transition to Professional Nursing: My Personal Philosophy

This essay presents a personal nursing philosophy, emphasizing caring, compassion, and the application of the nursing process. It reflects on the author's choice of nursing as a profession, driven by a commitment to improving patients' quality of life through holistic, patient-focused care. The philosophy aligns with the American Nurses Association's code of ethics, highlighting the importance of individualized care, patient rights, and safety. The evolving role of nurses, influenced by increased education and medical technologies, is discussed, noting a shift towards greater responsibility and partnership within healthcare. Core nursing values such as human dignity, integrity, and autonomy are highlighted as guiding principles in patient care, contributing to professionalism and meeting patient needs. The author envisions a future where nurses are integral partners in the medical field, emphasizing the continuous development of skills aligned with the ANA's requirements.

Running head: MY NURSING PHILOSOPHY 1
My Nursing Philosophy
Student’s Name
University

MY NURSING PHILOSOPHY 2
My Nursing Philosophy
A personal nursing philosophy defines the beliefs, principles or values that direct the
practice. My personal philosophy is based on the role of a nurse and the kind of activities that I
engage in when working with patients. This is my guiding principle that defines how I interact
with the people within the nursing environment. My personal philosophy is caring for the people,
compassion, and application of the nursing process to patient situations (Salmond & Echevarria,
2017). The nursing profession started as a helping profession where nurses gave bedside care to
patients. Today, the profession has evolved to the extent that nurses are part of the quality of life
benefits that patients receive. This essay explains my personal philosophy of nursing and why I
am a nurse.
My choice for the nursing profession is based on the belief in caring for the people to
improve the quality of life. This means that as a practitioner I have to focus on offering holistic
and patient-focused care to address the specific needs of the patient. The American Nurses
Association code of ethics states that the primary commitment of the nurse id to the patient
through promoting individualized care that protects their rights, health, and safety (VCU Health,
2018). The practitioner also needs to be compassionate and respect the dignity of the patient. The
presence of disease makes the body weak thus one is unable to take care of themselves. As a
practitioner, the nursing process should be applied by the practitioner to promote, advocate and
promote the rights, health, and safety of the patient. This forms the reason why I am a nurse
since I believe in changing the lives of individuals and making the life of the patients better.
The core role of nursing is to work directly with patients to assist them to manage the
conditions that they have. This means that the nurse is authorized to perform physical
examinations, interpret tests to provide nursing education and write prescriptions for the patient.

MY NURSING PHILOSOPHY 3
When performing these roles the practitioner is guided by a code of ethics and standards within
the profession (Gurney, Gillespie, Kolbuk, McMahon, & Monica, 2017). The outcome of this
process is improving the patient’s quality of life. According to the fourth provision of ANA, the
practitioner has the authority to make decisions and take actions focused on promoting optimal
care (VCU Health, 2018). However, the profession is evolving due to increased nursing
education, support systems that allow patients to fully practice and creating a culture system that
allows nurses to act as partners with other healthcare professions. In the future, the nursing
profession is evolving to the point where nurses will have a definitive role in the medical field
since their presence is now felt in all areas of the organization.
The evolution of the importance of patient care has changed the profession and
approaches to patient care. This means that the profession has been changing over time and has
been affected by the presence of medical technologies that have improved decision making and
quality of care that patients receive (Fahrenwald, Bassestt, Tschetter, Carson, White &
Winterboer, 2005). This means that the responsibilities of nurses are growing thus making them
reliable in the clinical environment. The role of nurses has shifted from what used to be the
traditional work of caring for patients at home to participate in organizational activities.
The nursing profession exists on core beliefs and values that shape the way the profession
operates. Values determine what is good and bad and shape the choices that professionals make
while beliefs are ways that people think and approach situations. The core nursing values are
caring human dignity, integrity, autonomy, and altruism (Zahedi, et al., 2013). These values
guide the way the practitioner operates and handles different patient situations (Johnson, 2015).
These values are global and relate to humankind as a whole. Nursing beliefs are established on
the approaches that practitioners use when handling patients. These beliefs focus on ensuring that

MY NURSING PHILOSOPHY 4
the nurse addresses core patient-centered strategies for restoring the condition of the patient.
These values and beliefs improve patient care since they create better conditions professionalism
and personal abilities for meeting organizational and patient needs.
Therefore, my personal philosophy of nursing is established on caring for people,
compassion, and application of the nursing process to meet the needs of the patient. As a
practitioner, my nursing philosophy revolves around caring for the patient and meeting the needs
of the nursing profession. The American Nursing Association has core values and codes that
practitioners follow in practice. As a nurse, I am supposed to exercise professionalism and ensure
that the patient’s health is a priority at all times. Thus the philosophies assist me in developing
the right abilities in the profession and at the same time make me develop the rights kills that are
aligned with the requirements of the American Nursing Association. As the profession keeps on
evolving, nursing education will be increased to the point where nurses will be full partners in
the hospital environment rather than caregivers who only come after other professions.

MY NURSING PHILOSOPHY 5
References
Fahrenwald, N. L., Bassett, S. D., Tschetter, L., Carson, P. P., White, L., & Winterboer, V.
(2005). Teaching Core Nursing Values. Journal of Proffesional Nursing, 21(1), 46-51.
Gurney, D., Gillespie, G. L., Kolbuk, E., McMahon, M., & M. E. (2017). Nursing Code of
Ethics: Provisions and Interpretative Statements for Emergency Nurses. Joiurnal of
Emergency Nursing, 43(6), 497–503.
Johnson, S. (2015, March). How has nursing changed and what does the future hold? . The
Guardian.
Salmond, S. W., & Echevarria, M. (2017). Healthcare Transformation and Changing Roles for
Nursing. Orthopedic Nursing, 36(1), 12-25.
VCUHealth. (2018). ANA Code of Ethics. Retrieved from VCU Health.
Zahedi, F. S., ., P. A., Maddah, S., Cheraghi, M., Mirzabeigi, G., Larijani, B., & Dastgerdi, M.
V. (2013). The code of ethics for nurses. Iranian journal of public health, 42(1).