Nursing Philosophy Essay

Abstract Philosophy is a system of beliefs, it is often looked at as an effort to define nursing situations that is observed to exist or happen and serves as the basis for later theoretical formulations. Florence Nightingale the first nurse theorist, philosophy states that nursing is establishing and environment that allows persons to recover from illness. Nursing has four metaparadigms the client, the environment, health and nursing. Metaparadigms are theoretical works in nursing focused on articulating relationships among the four major concepts: nursing, environment, client, and health. My Nursing Philosophy My philosophy on nursing is not something that I think about everyday. Recently, being introduced to the many theorist and metaparadigms, it is something that I cannot help but think about. According to Chou and Lee (2007) â€Å"philosophy reflects belief and present ideas. It is the embodiment of faith which represents someone, him/herself, his or her values and essence. It is often reflected in ways of thinking and behaving† (p.127). Philosophies are statements of enduring values and beliefs held by a discipline. Metaparadigm comes from greek words: meta which means with, paradigm which means pattern. Metaparadigms have a few distinct characteristics; they are very general, most abstract level of knowledge and are global concepts of a profession. It is very pertinent that one understands the philosophies and metaparadigms, in able to understand the basic concepts and beliefs of nursing theorist. I grew up knowing that my career would be in the health field. I decided to become a nurse about two years ago, I’ve been through a lot to get to this point. Before recently I wanted to become a doctor for all the wrong reasons. For example one idea that really pushed my dream to become a doctor was the pay. I figured making that much money I would not have a worry in the world I thought that money could fix anything. I now know with time, money is not what makes you happy, it is doing what you love that makes you happy. Nursing is my home away from home. I have never felt so comfortable doing something. Yes, I am still learning, but it is the best learning experience I have experienced by far. There are many reasons why I will become a nurse, I will become a nurse because everyday as a nurse is anything but routine, you never know what the day could bring. My job is to brighten the next persons day, while maintaining their overall state of well-being and promoting healthy lifestyles just to name a few. Here’s some insight on my nursing philosophy. I believe that the individual never stands alone, but is embodied with multiple strengths. An individual should always be open to new idea, or anything that could improve their present condition. An individual is also entitled to knowledge, representation, beliefs, and freedom. Pamela Weintraub (2012) states that â€Å"individuality specifically means, among other things, soothing your own bad feelings without the help of another, pursuing your own goals, and standing on your own two feet† (p.82). Theorist Hildegard Peplau believed that an individual or person is a developing organism that lives in an unstable environment. The environment consist of everything that the surrounds the individual, I believe that the environment has conditions that can only be adapted to, there are many different conditions and communities changes the evolve everyday, in the environment. Florence Nightingale believed that â€Å"Through ensuing generations, environmental conditions have improved and science has provided effective treatment pathways† (Crane & Selanders,2012, p.23). This is very much still evident today. Without an environment the individual cannot exist because the environment, enhances our lives for better or for worse through existence. The environment contains something that all living things require to be categorized as living and that is the exchange of what I like to call the primary gases carbon dioxide and oxygen. I believe that health has stagnation, depth and understanding â€Å"traditionally health was defined in terms of the presence or the absences of disease. Florence Nightingale defined health as a state of being well and using every power the individual possesses to the fullest extent†(Berman & Synder,2012, p.299). The nursing metaparadigm for health states â€Å"health is the degree of wellness or illness that client is experiencing, continuum of wellness to terminal illness† (Berman & Synder,2012, p.299). Personally when I think of health I think of illness and wellness. In the society of the twenty-first century there’s either healthy or unhealthy. Wellness is what many refer to as a healthy being, on the other hand many consider illness as unhealthy. I do believe with the help of the environment that the body can be nurtured back to health. Illness relates to health in that, illness is the sometimes present flip side of what many consider to be healthy. Many believe that age is companied by illness but, illness is never a normal state of existence. Illness is sometimes an unfortunate component of health. According to Berman & Synder (2012) nursing metaparadigm states that â€Å"nursing is the attributes, characteristics, and actions of the nurse providing care on behalf of, or in conjunction with the client† (p.41). Nursing exist to care for, to teach, to love and to understand that everyone must be looked at in a holistic view. I believe that everyone has a higher power that they look too for strength. For me that higher power is Jesus Christ and I will look for my strength to come from him while here living up to the standards of being a well-rounded nurse and throughout all the days of my life. However Vicki D. Lachman (2012) states that â€Å"when a person chooses to become a nurse he or she has made a moral commitment to care for all patients. Such a decision to care is not taken lightly, as it reflects this statement in the Code of Ethics for Nursing: the nurse respects the worth, dignity and rights of all human beings irrespective of the nature of the health problem† (p.113). Nursing is not for everyone, there are special qualities that nurses possess that allow only a handful to become great nurses. I agree with Lachman all these things should be seen in the average nurse. I also believe that the nursing practice is individualized, just as patient care should be individualized. Each nurse should have at least one characteristic that sets them apart from any other health professionals. Therefore, I feel that it is pertinent to express that nursing is a very important factor in the health profession. Berman & Synder (2012) believe the work of American nurse theorists reflects a wide range of ideas about people, the world, health and nursing† (p.41). Many nursing theorists have created concepts or metaparadigms for what i believe is to help guide future nurses in the right direction. My Nursing Philosophy is similar to that of well-known theorist I mentioned earlier, on the basis of using individual, environment, health, and nursing as a guideline to achieve the ultimate goals of nursing. As nurses it is most important that we know that each individual is unique to his or her own needs and desires. References Berman, A., & Snyder, S. (2011). Kozier & Erb’s fundamentals of nursing, concepts, process, and practice. (9 ed., p.41-299). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Chou, M., & Lee, L. (2007). Initial Formation of Nursing Philosophies Following Fundamental Clinical Practice: The Experience of Male Nursing Students. Journal Of Nursing Research (Taiwan Nurses Association), 15(2), 127-136. Lachman, V. D. (2012). Applying the Ethics of Care to Your Nursing Practice. MEDSURG Nursing, 21(2), 112-116 Selanders, L. C., & Crane, P. C. (2012). The Voice of Florence Nightingale on Advocacy. Online Journal Of Issues In Nursing, 17(1), 1. doi:10.3912/OJIN.Vol17No01Man01 Weintraub, P. (2012). HOW TO GROW UP. Psychology Today, 45(3), 78-85.