Nursing Personal Philosophy
Nursing Personal Philosophy
To Comment:
Philosophy, in regards to nursing practice, provides guiding principles and develops one’s thought process regarding various aspects of patient care. Bruce et al. (2014) suggests “philosophy helps nurses to think more critically and reflect on how their own values influence their practice and way of being.” Self-reporting a medication error can reflects on one’s value of integrity by doing the right thing even when no one is looking or witnesses the error.
According to Dr. Janice Denehy (2001) nurses should articulate their own personal philosophy. The value of having a personal philosophy clarifies the nurse’s values and allows the nurse to identify how these values fall in line with his/her practice. As nurses, we are encouraged to take a holistic approach to patient-centered care; therefore, when developing a personal philosophy it is important to not focus on one particular area or ideal.
- Polifroni (2018) encourages the nurse to ask themselves, “Am I the nurse that I want to be?” This question encourages nurses to continuously re-examine their philosophies since science, health care, and the populations we serve evolve. It also encourages the nurse to reflect on the events of a particular shift or patient interaction by learning from experiences.
References
Bruce, A., Rietz, L., & Lim, A. (2014). Understanding philosophy
in a nurse’s world: what, where, and why. Nursing and Health, 2(3), 65-71. Doi: 10.13189/nh.2014.020302
Denehy, J. (2001). Articulating your philosophy of nursing. The Journal of School Nursing, (17)1, 1-2.
Polifroni, E.C. (2018). Philosophy of science: an introduction and a grounding for
your practice. In (3rd Ed.) Butt, J. B. & Rich, K. L. Philosophies and theories for advanced nursing practice (p. 11). Burlington, MA:Jones & Bartlett
