Nursing is not merely a profession that can be obtained as a result of long-lasting education and practices. It is a calling that makes young people consider their skills and potentials and choose health care and medicine as their future. In my opinion, to be a nurse is not just to follow certain rules and regulations that are set in a facility and complete their duties in regard to the Code or other official documents. My philosophy explains a nurse as a person who enhances comfort for patients and assurance for doctors. In addition to discussing nursing origins, functions, and theoretical bases, I will use four meta-paradigm concepts to strengthen my philosophy and explain the importance of my beliefs and values as a nursing student.
The development of paradigms is a crucial step in the philosophy of science. In nursing, there are four meta paradigms with the help of which a deep understanding of the profession can be gained: person, health, environment, and nursing (Deliktas et al., 2019). Using these concepts, I could organize my beliefs and principles in a logical way and introduce a strong position about nursing and my role as a nurse. Person/patient is an individual who is in need of health/nursing care and support. The potential of a person is to understand the nature of illness and use services to follow treatment plans, improve behaviors, and endorse recovery. Nursing is a process during which medical experts assess the patient’s needs and develop interventions to promote comfort and healing. The environment is not only a setting where a patient is observed and treated but the relationships that are developed with society, a family, and local employees. Finally, health is a condition under which a patient is able to function well as a family and community member. The aspects of my philosophy do not work alone and have to interact all the time.
Following these principles of nursing care, I may expand my knowledge about processes, functions, roles, and origins. According to Younas and Quennell (2019), nursing theories serve as helpful guides for people to clarify their values and beliefs about human health through practices and different care approaches. The origins of nursing can be traced back to the 19th century when the first theory was introduced by Florence Nightingale to explain the importance of a supportive environment in nursing care. With time, many other theories were developed to prove the urgency of nursing as a means to promote health, prevent diseases, and support patients during their illnesses. I believe that cognitive and theoretical bases have to be taken into consideration, but they should not predetermine all the activities, providing nurses with a chance to make their contributions, discoveries, and improvements to the chosen field. As well as patients have the right to receive care and ask for treatment as the direct consumers of nursing care, nurses are responsible for professional assistance and eligible for funding and administrative support.
My philosophy is not simple in terms of providing patients with comfort and support. It is also characterized by a number of ethical principles, educational requirements, and governmental regulations. To understand the essence of comfort for patients, nurses should have specific certification and share a personal understanding of the Code of Ethics for Nurses. The comfort of patients directly depends on the comfort of nurses, and if nurses are responsible for their patients, the government aims at supporting and establishing regulations and support for nurses. Therefore, the balance of comfort between the recipients and providers of care turns out to be the main idea of my nursing philosophy.
References
Deliktas, A., Korukcu, O., Aydin, R., & Kabukcuoglu, K. (2019). Nursing students’ perceptions of nursing meta paradigms: A phenomenological study. The Journal of Nursing Research, 27(5). Web.
Younas, A., & Quennell, S. (2019). The usefulness of nursing theory-guided practice: An integrative review. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 33(3), 540-555.