Develop your own nursing philosophy

As the demand for knowledge, technical savvy, compassion, and leadership increases in the field of nursing, it is important to determine what is fundamentally important to you in delivering the best nursing care. By reflecting on your values, morals, and what brought you to the profession originally, you should be able to articulate your own personal philosophy. Develop your own nursing philosophy. Consider the following questions. From your viewpoint: • What is nursing? • What is the nature of human caring? • What is the nature of nursing practice? • What is the social purpose of nursing? Explain how the philosophy you developed relates to your current or interested practice area. Format your philosophy in a way that you feel adequately conveys your ideas. You may find that writing a brief philosophy of nursing helps clarify your beliefs and values. This exercise can be done using the headings of person, environment, health, and nursing or other concepts that come to mind when you consider nursing and why you chose the nursing profession. The thought process of writing a philosophy compels you to recognize beliefs and values you hold true. Once your beliefs are clarified, surveying the definitions of person, environment, health, and nursing in the nursing theoretical works leads you to particular theoretical works to consider. Reviewing the assumptions of the philosophy, model, or theory in comparison with statements in your philosophy helps you identify an association between a theoretical work and your values and beliefs. This process may be undertaken by considering whether the concepts in the theoretical work you have selected focus on ideas similar to the values expressed in your philosophy about the patient, environment, health, and nursing. Certain framework ideas may resonate with your ideas. Chapter 4 may be helpful in this process as Pam Grace discusses values in nursing works. Guidelines for Selecting a Framework for Nursing Practice 1. Consider values and beliefs personally held about nursing. 2. Develop a philosophy statement about persons, environment, health, and nursing. 3. Survey meaning of person, environment, health, and nursing in nursing frameworks. 4. Identify two or three frameworks that resonate best with your values and definitions. 5. Review the assumptions of the frameworks you have selected. 6. Apply the frameworks in your nursing practice (try them in actual practice situations). 7. Compare the frameworks with attention to client focus, nursing action, and client outcome. 8. Review nursing literature written by persons who use the frameworks in their practice. 9. Select a framework and begin to develop its use in your nursing practice.