RUNNING

HEAD: Personal Philosophy Paper

Personal Philosophy Paper

Heather Hannon
NUR 4142- Synthesis of Nursing Practice
January 28, 2015
Professor: Susan Wilkins

RUNNING HEAD: Personal Philosophy Paper

Mother Theresa once said, It is not how much you do but how much love you put in the
doing. ("Mother Teresa quotes") This quote is what comes to mind when I think about my
personal definition of nursing. Nursing encompasses the autonomous and collaborative care of
individuals of all ages, their families and communities, sick or well. I believe the nature of
nursing is rooted in commitment to public service and the undeniable desire to help those in
need. Nursing is more than treating an illness; rather it is focused on delivering quality patient
care, which is individualized, to the needs of each patient individually.
There are many parts that go into the definition of nursing that in the end come together
to make the nurse as a whole. As the philosophy tenants, nursing, of Bon Secours Memorial
College of nursing philosophy statement (2014) states, Nurses are lifelong learners and
researchers, adding to and applying new evidence to the practice of nursing globally. (pg. 41) I
too think this is an important aspect of nursing because being apart of a forever-changing field
being a lifelong learner plays a key role in the definition of a nurse. Along with being lifelong
learners, nurses are people who adapt to the changing professional norms and continuously strive
to improve the quality of the practice through nursing education. A nurse is someone who
continuously seeks out new opportunities to learn and improve their practice and overall
outcomes for their clients. Nursing as involves the aspect of care, holistic care. This
encompasses many different characteristics. The Caring philosophy tenant of Bon Secours
Memorial College of Nursing (2014) said, Caring is expressed through application of nursing
knowledge in practice, critical thinking skills, interpersonal skills, assertiveness, curiosity,
courage and humor. (pg. 42) Health is another important aspect of nursing, making sure that
mind, body are all in harmony. A nurse is someone who is able to recognize that unbalance in
any of these aspects makes it harder to heal the others. Lastly, what defines a nurse isnt just

RUNNING HEAD: Personal Philosophy Paper

about inpatient responsibility needs, its about taking responsibility for the surrounding
community as a whole. Nurses are the face of change.
My personal philosophy is reflected in my nursing practice by incorporating the
knowledge of medicine and education while combining it with relational, compassionate caring
that respects the dignity of each patient. I believe nursing care should be holistic all while
honoring patient values and beliefs. An essential aspect of nursing is inter-professional
relationships. These relationships that are formed with other healthcare workers greatly improve
the client outcomes. All of my interprofessional relationships I strive to make positive, open and
honest all while keeping the patients wants and needs as the main focus of care because
collaborative efforts among health care professionals promote quality patient care.
There have been many nurse-patient encounters that demonstrate the application of my
personal philosophy of nursing. For example, there was a patient on immersion floor that I was
taking care of. She had a stroke and lost the use of her right side. She was extremely frightened
by the outcome of the stroke and what that meant for her the quality of the rest of her life. The
doctors and physical therapy were talking about sending her to Sheltering Arms to do the
rehabilitation she needed. After going in several times and calming her down, I assured her that
although she had deficits now there was a chance that she could regain function with some hard
work and physical therapy. She then began to tell me about all of the things that she was going
to need to be able to do to take care of herself. Since her husband had past a few years ago, it was
just her and there was not really any family who lived around her. She did not want to have to
give up her house, her animals and everything she and her husband had worked hard for. I soon
began to understand that these things were things she valued dearly. Although I wasnt sure

RUNNING HEAD: Personal Philosophy Paper

what the future had in store for her health and rehabilitation I wanted to make sure she had the
best possible chance to be able to go back to those things if at all possible. If it was important to
her then I made it important to me and advocated accordingly. I told her I would speak to my
preceptor and that we would talk to the care manager, physical therapy and doctors. I assured
her that we would all collaborate and work as hard as we could to make the transition to
rehabilitation as easy as possible and hopefully everything else would work out. All too often
we come across people who in one instant their life can be completely turned upside. I believe
with a little understanding and compassionate care makes all the difference when helping
someone transition into the unknown.
Since the beginning of nursing school and writing my first philosophy paper so much has
changed. The values that I had in the beginning of nursing school have not changed but they
have become more defined as Ive gotten more experience through clinicals and immersion. I
still value compassion, focused patient care and honesty. Those qualities I feel are important
when it comes to nursing and caring for patients. People deserve to have someone take care of
them who at all times considers their feelings, focuses on what is best for them and is honest
every step of the way. These qualities I have long believed create the best relationship with both
patients and their families. My beliefs are what have changed the most throughout nursing
school. In the beginning of nursing school I had this invincible attitude. Since I had always
wanted to do nursing, I thought it should have been something that just came easy to me. I
honestly could have not been more wrong. Nursing school has been the most humbling
experiences that has torn me down and built me back up more times than I can count. I have
realized how hard nursing really is and the impact nurses really have on their patients, the
patients families and everyone around them. They are the front line defense and I believe it is

RUNNING HEAD: Personal Philosophy Paper

one of the hardest, most rewarding jobs. My belief in teamwork have also changed. I have
realized that nursing isnt just about the nurse and patient. Its about working together as a team
and giving the patient, the patients family and loved ones the best experience possible in the
situation that they are in.
Patricia Benner (2001), in her book, From Novice to Expert describes the need for highly
experienced nurses. There is a push for high acuity shorter hospital stays and technology is more
advanced than ever making specialization a key portion in nursing. The Skill of Accusquition
Model is a tool used to differentiate between the experienced nurse and the novice. Benner
states, It takes into account increments in skilled performance based upon experience as well as
education. It also provides a basis for clinical knowledge development and career progression in
clinical nursing. (p.402)
There are five levels of profiency described in From Novice to Expert: novice, advanced
beginner, competent, proficient and expert. The difference in the levels is reflected in skilled
performance in two different aspects: movement from reliance on abstract principles to using
knowledge from the past and the other is change in the perception and understanding of demand.
Benner (2001) describes the novice as having no experience with the situations in which they
are expected to perform tasks. (p.403) Novices generally do not recognize knowledge from
experience but from different attributes that are taught to them, such as rules or policies. They
have trouble using discretionary judgment because they have no experience in the situation that
they are faced with. Advanced beginners are a little more advanced. They are people who have
had experience in situations and are able to point them out and recognize that they are
happening. Their knowledge is not based upon measurable attributes that they are taught but on

RUNNING HEAD: Personal Philosophy Paper

global attributes that come with experience. They understand that not everything is cut and dry.
Although they are a little more advanced through a little experience they still cannot distinguish
between what needs to be done now and what can be left out for later. They concentrate on
remembering the rules and the order things should be accomplished. The third level, competent,
is achieved after two to three years of experience in the job. This has given the competent nurse
time to see his or her actions as long-range goals and plans. For the competent nurse, a plan
establishes a perspective, and the plan is based on considerable conscious, abstract, analytic
contemplation of the problem. (Benner, 2001, p.404) A competent nurse is beginning to become
more efficient and organized. Experiences has given the competent nurse insight. They
understand what to expect during typical events and how to modify their plans according to them
but untypical events may be more of a challenge because they dont have enough experience to
recognize the big picture of the situation. The fourth level, proficient, is achieved with more
time and experience. Unlike the competent nurse, the proficient nurse looks at the situation as a
whole and not as many pieces. The have the ability to use holistic understanding which greatly
improves patient outcomes. They are best taught by using case studies which give them a chance
to grasp the situation in front of them. The last level is the expert level. An expert nurse, Benner
(2001) states, no longer relies on analytical principle to connect her\his enormous background
experience, has an intuitive grasp of the situation and zeros in on the accurate region of the
problem without wasteful consideration of a large range of unfruitful possible problems. (p.405)
Expert nurses understand situations on a deeper level and often just go by what feels right instead
of a complicated analysis of the situation.
The stage of acquisition that most accurately represents my current professional
development is advanced beginner. I believe that clinicals in nursing school have given me the

RUNNING HEAD: Personal Philosophy Paper

little bit of experience needed to recognize when a situation isnt right but I still draw to others to
bounce ideas off of. I lack the amount of experience required to be able to just do without
thinking. I am on the level where I want and need guidance from others to build my confidence
and experience. I tend to stick to the rules that were taught to me about how things should be
done and the order they should be done. I have not completely figured out when I am able to
skip a task and come back to it.
The three things that I will do to move ahead to the next stage of skill are: join a nursing
organization, become certified in the field I choose to work in and climb the clinical ladder.
Joining a nursing organization will give me opportunities to grow as a nurse and build a
communication system of other people in my profession. Becoming certified in the field I
choose to work in gives me continuing education. The education will be geared towards the type
of nursing that I am practicing therefore giving me more knowledge pertaining to that field of
nursing. Climbing the clinical ladder will give me ample opportunity to move ahead to the next
stage of skill because certain elements are required to do so. Experience plays a big role between
different parts of the ladder; it is required to move up. Also to accomplish goals on the clinical
ladder, extra education is also required. This will give me a chance to learn more in the field I
choose to study and gain experience along the way.

RUNNING HEAD: Personal Philosophy Paper

References:
Benner, P. (2001). From novice to expert: Excellence and power in clinical nursing
practice (commemorative ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Mother teresa quotes. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mother_teresa.html
Student catalog and handbook. (2014). Retrieved from
http://www.bsmcon.edu/sites/default/files/files/BON_Handbook_2014-final-web2.pdf