Overview of My Personal Philosophy of Nursing

In this paper I will describe my personal philosophy of nursing. A philosophy of nursing is a statement, sometimes written, that declares a nurse’s beliefs, values and ethics regarding their care and treatment of patients while they are in the nursing profession. Reasoning empowers nurses to think more fundamentally and consider how their own qualities influence their training and method. A superior comprehension of the significance of theory in nursing isn't just important yet imperative to our order and expert practice. My personal philosophy of nursing is rooted to commitment in providing compassionate, ethical and quality patient care in a holistic environment. The International council of nurses defines nursing as “it encompasses autonomous and collaborative care of individuals of all ages, families, groups and communities, sick or well and in all settings. Nursing includes the promotion of health, prevention of illness, and the care of ill, disabled and dying people”.

Becoming a nurse and working in this profession is the only thing, I ever imagined myself doing in my life. Nursing is a profession that I am passionate about because of its holistic approach and empathetic way of caring for the patients. When I started working as a nurse, these qualities were something that I tried to implement in my professional life. By using these skills with the patients, I realized that it enables me to strengthen the therapeutic relationship with my patients and allows me to know them in a better way to meet their needs. Moreover, while practicing the profession, I realized that team collaboration is also equally important in order to provide quality care to the patients. “Collaboration in health care has been shown to improve patient outcomes such as reducing preventable adverse drug reactions, decreasing morbidity and mortality rates and optimizing medication dosages”. Therefore, nurses must possess the quality of teamwork and reaching the desired outcomes through cooperation.

“A metaparadigm is a set of theories or ideas that provide structure for how a discipline should function”. The purpose of having a metaparadigm in nursing is to develop a framework that defines specific body of knowledge and to establish nursing as a stand-alone discipline. In 1978 Fawcett initially built up four metaparadigm ideas in connection to nursing that included person, environment, health and nursing.

The metaparadigm of person focuses on the patient who is recipient of care. This may incorporate things, for example, person’s spirituality, culture, family and friends, or even their financial status. Nurses should treat their patients through holistic approach in their care. In my personal experience, I have always seen the patient as a whole and not merely focusing on their disease. By using this approach, I was enabled to provide quality care to my patients and treat them in a holistic manner.

The metaparadigm environment incorporates both inner and outer components related to the patient. This may incorporate the communication patients have with guests along with the environment. Nightingale said that the role of the nurse is to put the patient in the best condition for nature to act upon him. As a nurse, I always focused on the surroundings of the patient during my care. I would try to provide a calm and comfortable environment to the patient in order to promote healing. To provide a quality of care, eliminating the hazards such as noise, proper ventilation, adequate diet and promoting cleanliness around the patient can help in the process of healing.

The metaparadigm of health refers to the quality and wellness of the patient. It also includes the access that the patient has to health care. I always keep in mind the rights that the patient has towards receiving optimum health care. A nurse should always work towards providing a quality health care and reaching the continuum of wellness for the patients.

The fourth metaparadigm is the nursing component. This refers to the nurse and how he or she will apply their knowledge and skills when caring for patients. It also refers to the attributes of the nurse who is providing the care. Nursing practice is facilitating, supporting and assisting individuals, families, communities and/or societies to enhance, maintain and recover health, and to reduce and ameliorate the effects of illness. Nurses should possess the skills of being compassionate, empathetic, sincere, trustworthy and positive towards patients along with a holistic approach while caring.

It is essential for nurses to apply these four metaparadigms to the nursing process when caring for patients in order to address patient care as a whole. An example for identifying the relation between the metaparadigms of nursing and practice from my personal experience which enabled me to focus on patient as a whole and not on the disease process. I was assigned a patient with Alzheimer’s during my shift at a long-term care facility. She belonged to Muslim culture and was new at the facility as she got admitted only a few days before. I went into her room to start the routine morning care and meanwhile get to know her a little bit. So, as I went inside and started talking to her, I realized that she seemed quite uncomfortable and was giving very short answers to my questions. I knew something was wrong with her that morning. I told her to tell me something about her culture and things she liked. Eventually, I came to know that according to their culture, it is inappropriate to make direct eye contact during first interaction with a person. Moreover, she also told me that she was missing her family and didn’t like the place where she was. She seemed a bit low and depressed. Therefore, I talked to her in order to make her feel good and understood how she felt. I also respected her culture and gave equal importance to her needs irrespective of any kind of bias. After spending some time with her, eventually she felt comfortable talking to me and I was able to provide her quality care according to her needs.

I was able to implement the metaparadigms of nursing throughout my interactions with the patient. I illustrated the definition of person by recognizing the patient’s cultural differences as well as accepting and valuing them without judgment. I was also able to demonstrate the definition of health by using the holistic approach during care. Rather than only focusing on Alzheimer’s, I realized that she also needed some emotional support. Moreover, I was able to implement the metaparadigm of nursing by providing care according to the patient’s needs. I was also able to exemplify the definition of environment through the care plan. By providing proper ventilation in her room and promoting cleanliness in the surroundings enabled me to alleviate the process of wellness for the patient. By utilizing the metaparadigms of nursing, I was able to provide exceptional nursing care for my patient.

References

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