Philosophy Paper

Megan Priddy

Synthesis

March 21, 2017

On my honor, I have neither given nor received aid on this assignment or test, and I

pledge that I am in compliance with the BSMCON Honor System.

Megan Priddy
 When I think of what nursing means to me, I think of a person who has decided to

dedicate their lives serving the needs of others. This can include putting someone elses

needs above your own and wanting to provide a caring environment for someone

regardless of the situation.

My definition of nursing goes along with Bon Secours Memorial College of

Nursings philosophy statement because it encompasses the caring, health, and service

tenets. As far as caring goes, as nurses we strive to provide our patients with a caring

environment to help induce healing and to help our patients to know that we are there for

them and we are dedicating our time to helping them to recover. Also we make sure to

use the knowledge and skills that we have learned not only in school, but in our clinical

experiences to provide our patients with quality care to induce healing. Caring also

encompasses providing care across the lifespan of a patient, whether they are a newborn

in the nursery or they are a geriatric patient who is in intensive care, we strive to make

sure to provide the same quality of care regardless of the age of the patient.

With that being said, caring goes right along with the tenet of health. As nurses

we have to make sure that our patients are not only physically healthy, but that they are

also healthy as far as their mind and spirit as well. When it comes to health, we as nurses

do not discriminate in providing care and making sure that the overall health of our

patients is taken care of, regardless of the patients circumstances. I know that whenever

I interact with a patient, and I have seen all nurses and doctors do this as well, I make

sure to treat that patient with the utmost respect and dignity. I like to think that if it were

one of my family members in the hospital that I would want them to be treated with
dignity and respect, so I always make sure to provide my patients the way that I would

want my family or myself to be treated.

The tenets of caring and health go hand-in-hand with the tenet of service. As

nurses we are there to serve our patients and their families so that we can provide them

with a caring environment where they can heal and can learn valuable tools to help them

stay healthy, as well as have access to resources to help them stay healthy in the future.

Another major aspect of service that we as nurses provide for our patients is that of being

a patient advocate. I have seen many nurses in my clinical immersion experience have a

feeling that something with their patient is not quite right, so they follow that gut feeling

and advocate for their patient to rule-out what could be wrong with the patient. Finally,

service to me means that we provide care to all patients that come through our door

regardless of their background and situation. I feel that all nurses, and healthcare

providers, should do this for their patients because you never know if just by providing

someone with the opportunity to heal and get better can change the course of their entire

life.

My personal philosophy is reflected in my nursing practice because I always

strive to make sure that I provide my patients, and their families, with a caring

environment. I think that it is so important that patients feel that they are being well

taken care of so that they do not feel abandoned as they go through the healing process. I

also like to make sure that my patients feel that they are my number one priority while

they are in my care. I make sure that the way in which I treat my patients is the same

way that I would want to be treated if I were to be in the patients situation.

 An example of nurse-patient encounter that demonstrates my personal philosophy

of nursing was when I had a patient in the intensive care unit at St. Marys Hospital this

semester during immersion. My preceptor truly showed patient advocacy for this patient,

who was in a locked-in state, he was on a ventilator and his family was unsure of what to

do regarding his care. My preceptor made sure to fully educate the family and answer

any of their questions they had regarding the patient and his care. To me, sitting back and

observing these encounters with the patient as well as his family, truly showed me that if

you are passionate about your job and the patients that you take care of then you are

providing them with the best possible care that you can. My preceptor demonstrated my

personal philosophy of nursing because she took initiative to care for this patient and treat

him with the respect that he deserved even though he was not able to speak or

acknowledge her back.

My personal values and beliefs have not changed throughout nursing school, but I

do think that I have become much more aware of my values and beliefs. Each patient and

experience that I have had throughout nursing school has in someway impacted how I see

my values and beliefs. For example having a patient who is stuck in the hospital and

having machines help to keep them alive, really makes me reflect and think about how I

would feel if I were to be in that situation. I think that each experience helps to build

who you are as a person and helps to mold how you value life and your beliefs. So to me,

I have grown and look at life in a different way than I did three years ago when I began

my nursing school journey, but I still have my values and beliefs engrained in me, with

more appreciation for them.

 Benners Theory states that there are five stages in which people go through on

the course learning a new skill. These stages are novice, advanced beginner, competent,

proficient, and expert. A person in the novice stage is someone who is just starting out

learning a new skill and little understanding of how to actually do the skill. An advanced

beginner is someone who has learned the skill and can perform the skill, but they are still

learning and practicing these skills. The next stage, which is the competent stage, is

when a person has been doing the same skills for a while and they are using real-life

experience to help guide them. Once a person reaches the proficient stage they are better

able to look at the whole picture rather than just what is in front of them. People in the

proficient stage pull on their experiences in different situations as a guide. Finally people

can enter the expert stage once they can then look at a situation and are able to complete

the necessary tasks right off the top of their head. People in the expert stage also pull on

their vast experiences to help to guide what they are to do next in any given situation

(Benner, 2001).

Based on Benners Theory, I feel that I am in the advanced beginner stage. The

more hands on clinical experience I have the more confident I feel in my abilities as a

nurse and I think that as I move forward in my career I will eventually reach the expert

stage. To me, I think that I have personally come a long way from the novice stage when

I first started out in nursing school. I used to be terrified to even touch a patient, and now

when I go into the clinical setting, it feels like second nature to go in and introduce

myself and begin my assessment. Again, I feel like the more experience I gain, the more

confident I will become in my abilities and will be able to move through the other stages.
 The first thing that I will do to help me to move to the next stage of skill

acquisition will be to seek out more opportunities for learning. I think that the more

practice I get with my nursing skills and giving medications then the more confident I

will become and the more experience I get will also help me to move to the next stage.

The second thing that I will do to help me to move to the next stage will be to seek out a

nursing mentor. By having someone I can look up to, I will feel more comfortable and

will be able to ask questions that I feel might be a little silly so that I can gain that

confidence and be able to better enhance my nursing skills. The third thing that I will do

to help me move to the next stage will be to pull from my experiences over the course of

nursing school to help me to think of how far I have come in my nursing abilities. I think

that by being able to look back and see how far I have come will help to keep me

motivated to continue with my education and learning so that I can provide my patients

with the best care I can, while also learning to be an expert in my nursing career.
 Reference

Benner, P. (2001). From novice to expert excellence and power in clinical nursing

practice. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.