PHILOSOPHY OF NURSING PAPER

NURS 401 Career Pathway Assessment

Purpose of the Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to enable the student to discover his or her personal philosophy
of nursing, as it exists at the beginning of the academic journey toward the BSN.
Approach to the Assignment
As a nurse I want to be aware of the values and beliefs that I use in my everyday practice. It is
important to know what they are and how I have developed them. My approach to this
assignment was to evaluate my nursing philosophy and how I apply it in my everyday practice
with my patients. This assignment helped me to acknowledge what my actual nursing philosophy
is to me and where is it taking me as I continue to grow and evolve throughout my nursing
career.
Reason for Inclusion
This assignment is important to showcase the type of philosophy of nursing that I use in my
nursing practice. It allows for others as well as myself to see how I see my career and what I feel
is important when providing care to patients. By providing my nursing philosophy I am able to
see the areas in my practice that may change with growth, and how my philosophy influences the
way that I practice as a nurse. As I continue to grow in my career, I am able to reflect back to my
philosophy and note any changes that may have occurred.
Critical Thinking
Uses nursing and other appropriate theories and models to guide professional practice.
Accountability is one of the rules in nursing that help to guide my practice. As stated in my
paper, you have to hold your-self as well as other co-workers accountable for their actions
(Kutin, 2013, para. 3). This is one of the top values that guide my practice and help to make sure
patients are taken care of appropriately.
Nursing Practice
Implements traditional nursing care practices as appropriate to provide holistic health
care to diverse populations across the lifespan.

Professionalism is a key component in nursing. No matter what patient you are caring
for, may it be someone who is young, old, rich, poor it does not matter. You hold yourself to a
professional standard and you treat every patient with dignity and respect. As the nurse your
performance is what can help or hinder the patient to becoming well. This is implemented by
providing privacy during clinic appointments, talking to the patient with respect and allowing
them to provide health information and assuring them that it is confidential and that we will not
share their information with anyone without their permission. The patients are provided with
safe, compassionate, and non-judgmental care. In every visit, it is necessary to ensure the
patients that we are here to provide the care needed for them to become well and also that by
disclosing all past medical history, medications, drug, and alcohol intake is important to provide
the correct care and that we are not judgmental towards the patient once it is disclosed.
Communication
Expresses oneself and communicates effectively with diverse groups and disciplines using a
variety of media in a variety of contexts.
My nursing philosophy is important in regards to communication. In evaluating my
philosophy I was able to identify the importance for good communication not only between
the nurse and patient bur also with only healthcare professionals, especially doctors. The
communication must be open between healthcare professionals to ensure that the patients are
cared for and receive the appropriate treatments. In my paper I referenced a time when a
wrong medication was given to a patient and with open communication the patient was cared
for appropriately without harm.
Teaching
Provides teaching to patients and or/ professionals about health care procedures and
technologies in preparation for and following nursing or medical interventions.
In my paper I use the example of miscommunication between a doctor and me when he
called to admit a patient and he answered to the incorrect name. This caused major confusion for
the admitting doctor and the admission orders that needed to be placed for the patient. This in
turn was cause for teaching in communication and what the proper protocol is for admitting a
patient to the hospital. The doctors are to give their name and verify that their name is what is
being documented on the admission paperwork. If the name is called incorrectly, they as the
admitting physician are the correct the mistake and verify their identity before ending the call.
This alone was set in place to provide patients with safe and effective care.
Research

Shares research findings with colleagues.

Research finding presented on Florence Nightingale, who quoted I will not allow low
self-esteem, self limiting beliefs, or the negativity of others to prevent me from achieving my
authentic goals and from becoming the person I am meant to be. Research provided
throughout the paper and documented per APA standards. My research finding are presented
to my colleagues by allowing them to read my finding in my paper, as well as holding them
accountable for their actions as stated in my paper as part of my nursing philosophy.
Leadership

Articulates the values of the profession and the role of the nurse as a member of the
interdisciplinary health care team.

The role of the nurse is stated as; Our purpose or role as nurses are to insure that the
patients are getting the care that they need as well as the education about their care that they
may not know or understand. Values are discussed as being personal to each individual
nurse. They vary depending on the person, based off of their background, culture, and
religion. In my clinical practice leadership is in important part of making sure the day runs
smoothly with patients. I have taken on the leadership role in the Heart Promise program by
collaborating with the staff to make sure that the patients are scheduled for their
appointments correctly, teaching the program to new members to assure smooth work flow,
covering other programs when they are short staffed, as well as teaching the staff and patients
about the program and the expectations.
Professionalism

Demonstrates accountability for ones own professional practice.

Accountability is shown in this paper, as discussed that when a mistake was made
admitting a patient under the wrong doctors name. Accountability was taken on my part
when I acknowledged that I did document the wrong name of the doctor when I called the
doctor by the wrong name and the doctor did not correct me. I was accountable for my
actions and for correcting the error immediately.
Culture

Integrates knowledge of cultural diversity in performing nursing interventions.

Nursing is worldwide and in every culture. Being culturally aware is important in nursing.
You must have an open mind and be able to see and understand different cultures when treating

patients. Not everyone is going to have the same values and beliefs as you, being able to see that
there are differences in other culture will allow for effective and appropriate care.