My activities associated with my role as a nurse are grounded on the specific personal philosophy of nursing. This philosophy is based on such fundament as my vision of the nursing paradigms and particular views regarding the concrete elements of the nursing practice. From this perspective, my purpose in this paper is to articulate the personal philosophy of nursing with the focus on discussing the paradigms and their elements. I also provide my views regarding the principles of accountability and responsibility, discuss the issues of assignment and delegation of tasks, clarify the issue of moral obligation, and analyze the aspects of the health care environment.
The main nursing paradigms are Health, Nursing, Client, and Environment. I distinguish such critical elements of the health paradigm as the health needs, healthcare, and delivery of the care. Interacting with a patient, the main task for me is to recognize his or her health needs to address them appropriately. The health care needs of patients are as diverse as patients themselves. As a result, I need to focus on the state of the patient’s physical and emotional health. When I can recognize the health needs, I feel confident to determine the care that is necessary for this person. This health care needs to be of high quality and appropriate for the concrete case. However, my primary task is to address the health needs of the patient as quickly as possible; therefore, the main focus is on the time necessary for the care delivery. I work to perform tasks most efficiently, believing that this approach will enable me to help many persons.
The Nursing paradigm provides the core for my philosophy, and I pay attention to such elements as the nursing diagnosis, the nursing treatment plan, and the nursing evidence-based practice. I am responsible for assessing the patients’ states and providing specific nursing diagnoses. The next step is the development of the treatment plan. Still, the development of an effective treatment plan or the provision of nursing services is almost impossible without using the principles of evidence-based practice. I am sure that nurses are required to act referring to the existing evidence in the field. As a result, nurses are expected to improve their knowledge and develop skills continuously.
When I speak about the personal philosophy of nursing, I usually mean the focus on the Client paradigm that has such connected elements as the recipient, uniqueness, and individualized care. As a nurse, I perceive a patient as a recipient of the provided care that has his or her own needs, values, and expectations. Therefore, I focus on respecting the uniqueness of this patient while understanding that each person needs to be treated individually. In addition, I choose to provide individualized care while addressing the concrete problems of a certain person. In this case, the quality of the care is high, as well as the level of patient satisfaction.
The Environment is also an important paradigm because it includes such elements as circumstances, the family factor, and the social factor. I distinguish these elements because they help me understand the causes of the patient’s health problems. Thus, communicating with a patient, I pay attention to the circumstances under which he or she experiences problems with health. I also understand the importance of asking about the family and the health history of relatives to see the full background. Finally, in developing the nursing treatment plan, I concentrate on the society factor or the patient’s social activities because they influence steps made by the patient toward wellness.
The focus on accountability and responsibility is an important part of my nursing philosophy. I remember about my professional responsibility when I need to provide judgments, produce decisions in individual cases, and justify my actions. Therefore, focusing on these principles in the nursing practice, I determine such elements as the responsibility for my knowledge and skills, responsibility for the quality of services, the responsibility for the effective interaction with the staff and patients, and the adherence to nursing standards. A nurse is a professional whose decisions or actions should lead to positive health outcomes in patients. Therefore, I am responsible for the constant improvement of my professional level. Moreover, I am responsible for making reasonable and effective decisions to provide high-quality care in all cases. At this stage, I need to cooperate with the staff and effectively communicate with the patients to achieve higher results. In addition, speaking of accountability, I mean that all my activities should be correlated with the adopted nursing standards.
The assignment and delegation of nursing tasks are also an area in which I should have developed skills. As a result, I focus on such elements as management, authority, empowerment, and cooperation. When the task is assigned, I should demonstrate the developed skills in management to organize my work and achieve the expected outcomes. Another challenge is the delegation of tasks when I need to prove my authority because I remain to be reasonable for the results, but the other person is empowered to perform the actual task. I believe that my goal at this stage is to improve the communication with the staff and encourage nurses to perform the task effectively for concrete purposes. From this perspective, the successful interaction between the nurses is an important factor to guarantee that the results of the delegation will be positive.
The other challenging area is the nurse’s ethical obligations and the associated moral contributions. As a nurse, I should avoid doing any possible harm to a patient. It is the first core element for me. The other element is the focus on beneficence that is closely associated with the first one. I should do all possible to contribute to the patient’s wellness. The other important element is the respect for preserving the patient’s data confidential. The moral contribution of this action is significant because I have no ethical right to make private information public. Finally, I have to respect the values of the patient because they often form the grounds of the person’s worldview, and only in this case, it is possible to expect an effective interaction.
I also have a personal responsibility to the specific healthcare environment that influences the quality of the care provided. Working effectively within this environment, I distinguish several elements that are important to me, and that makes my practice-focused. These elements are patient-centered care, professional cooperation, the focus on the patients’ needs, and the appropriate intervention. I believe that the care should be patient-centered because of the necessity to respect the individual and his or her needs. Therefore, I am always focused on the patients’ needs and their expectations that can be said openly or be associated with the concrete case. However, there are many situations that my efforts are not enough to provide high-quality care. In such cases, I choose to cooperate with my co-workers to find the most efficient solution to the concrete health care situation. In addition, the nursing practice is dependent on the notion of intervention, and I should always be ready to propose high-quality interventions for patients. In this case, I can be discussed as a nurse with a high level of professional responsibility.
My nursing philosophy is based on the ethical and professional principles according to which I need to act as a responsible health care specialist, provide high-quality care, understand the environments and the patient’s interaction with them, respect the patients’ values and interests, and address the particular needs. From this perspective, I need to focus on the nursing paradigms and apply the principles of accountability and responsibility to my daily practice. Furthermore, I should use each opportunity to increase my professional level and improve my knowledge and skills. Finally, I should also demonstrate my skills in the sphere of management when I work with other nurses or intend to delegate the tasks. While focusing on all these aspects, I can guarantee that I do all my best to help the patients and contribute to their wellness. Thus, my path in the sphere of nursing can be discussed as full of challenges and standards, but the focus on these aspects is necessary to achieve high results.