Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Brittney Ellett
I Pledge
PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY OF NURSING 2
My lifelong dream has always been to be a nurse. Since being a little girl, I loved to dress
up and pretend to play doctor with all of my stuffed animals and baby dolls. It has been a long
journey to get to this point, and finally being close to my dream of being a nurse is super
exciting. Over the years, my ideas of what a nurse is have changed and I now understand that a
nurse is not just someone in a uniform, but is rather a person that can make a difference in
To me, nursing is providing caring, compassionate and competent care to those in need. I
feel that nursing is a way of giving back to this world and helping others. One of the biggest
things nursing means to me is advocating for my patients best interests and helping them return
to a state of healing and wellbeing. Being at the forefront of nursing in the Emergency
Department, I believe that it is imperative to be an educator and take time to talk with my
nurse and place compassionate care at the center of my practice. I have a passion for caring for
those in need, no matter how big or small the need. I also believe in giving respect to all. I
profession.
tenants that are valuable to being a nurse. The ones that resonate with me include nursing, caring,
health and service. As a nurse, it is important to understand that this profession is ever-changing
and that we have to be creative to still meet our patients needs. Providing holistic care for each
patient is crucial to meet their needs and individualize their care. Implementation of evidence-
based practice and continuing education is also important for nursing, as it allows us to provide
the best outcomes for our patients and continue growing in the professional field. Caring is an
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important tenant to have for self and others because you cannot care for other people if you do
not first care for yourself. Providing care to others values the holistic approach and facilitates
healing for the patients by showing them that you do care about them. Health is important to
ensure that all individuals have the same access and are able to be cared for and that patients are
shown dignity and respect during their experiences no matter what the situation is. Service
requires applying the values that Bon Secours upholds and providing good help to those in need.
The values that resonate the most with me include compassion, quality, stewardship and growth.
Being someone in service is also important in advocating for patients and ensuring they are cared
in the Emergency Department, I see patients and family members often experiencing some of the
worst times in their lives. I always try to have a positive attitude, a very caring and calming
demeanor and explain to each of my patients what I am doing and what is going on during their
stay. It is so important to be transparent with patients and use good communication skills with
patients, family members and the interdisciplinary team to ensure the patient receive well-
rounded holistic care. I often find myself helping many people per shift and advocating for my
patients needs whether it is with doctors, the charge nurse, case management or other team
members. When caring for patients, I am often able to provide valuable education and resources
based upon specific needs and deliver caring, health and service through my nursing presence.
was with a hard patient who ultimately did not want to be there. He was in his forties and was
brought in to be checked out after being found on the floor for three days. When we took over his
care at 7:00 p.m., he had been there for almost 15 hours. At this point he just wanted to go home;
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however, this was more a case management issue and they are not there at night. We ended up
taking care of him until three in the morning and then another nurse took over. I provided great
and compassionate nursing care to this gentleman despite him acting rude to me all night. I gave
him food and bathed him to meet his basic needs. I was able to advocate for him and he actually
ended up being admitted and worked up for sepsis. I did a reassessment since he had been there
for 20 plus hours at that point and he showed sepsis signs by having a temperature of 102.4 and
being tachycardic. He was an interesting patient and I hope he realized I was trying to provide
him the best nursing care I could in spite of his anger and frustration for being brought to the
Emergency Room.
A belief is something formed over a period of time, and for me, I began forming my
beliefs when I was a young child. There are many different forms of beliefs, which can range
from small to very large concepts. I believe in Jesus Christ and have been raised in the church
my entire life. I also believe in the power of prayer and miracles and have already had the
privilege to experience this first hand. I strongly believe that marriage is between one man and
one woman and that abortion is wrong. I know that this can and will create conflicts during my
patient care when beliefs differ from mine. To be able to help my patients as much as I can and
give them the best care they deserve, I will not let those differences impact the care I provide and
withhold my differing opinions. Teamwork and collaboration are essential not only to the
patients, but with the other nurses and doctors I work with on a daily basis. I believe you have to
be both a leader and a follower. In some situations, I take charge and am confident managing;
other times, situations require advice and help from other staff to enable me to better serve. I
believe in having a passion for what you want to do, which for me is nursing. To take care of
others and to not tire of your career and view it as just a job, there has to be a passion and
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dedication to the profession. Passion is an important component for anyone who works in the
medical field. Personally, these beliefs for me have not changed over time and I still strongly
Many values come to mind as I think about my personal values. The main values to me
are compassionate care, trustworthiness, responsibility, family and honesty. All of these play a
critical role both in the medical field as a nurse as well as in my personal life. Compassionate
care is important because patients can be in vulnerable states and want someone to care about
their whole body and treat them well. I have always been a very trustworthy, responsible and
honest individual, and I think this will help me as a nurse because these are essential and very
important qualities to have. I value my family and have learned as I have gotten older that it is so
important to have a strong family relationship. I am very fortunate and blessed with my family. I
think valuing my family will help me to care more about the members of the patients family
since I fully understand the importance of the family unit. I will try to help them understand their
situation to the best of my ability and care for them however possible. These values are very
consistent with what I believe and all of these values hold high standards of meaning in my life.
All of these values are important to have, and I do not believe any of my personal values have
Patricia Benners Skill Acquisition in Nursing Model is a great way to advance through
nursing. This theory allows a person grow through five different levels of proficiency. These
include: novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert. This model helps to
describe the performance expected and identifies teaching/learning needs within each level
(Benner, 2001).
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Stage one novice, states there is no previous experience of the situation in which you are
expected to carryout, therefore there is much learning needed before you are able to complete the
given task. At this state, you must be taught and exhibit limited and fixed behaviors where you
Stage two advanced beginners are able to demonstrate acceptable performance and have
experienced enough real situations to note certain aspects of this situation and understand how to
act. This stage requires prior experience in actual situations to understand how to apply learning.
In the clinical setting, advanced beginners still need support and help to set priorities and make
Stage three competent occurs when the nurse has been in the job with same or similar
situations for two to three years. Competence develops when the nurse begins to see their actions
in terms of long-range goals and plans. The competent nurse lacks the speed and flexibility of
the proficient nurse, but does have a feeling of mastery and the ability to cope. (Benner, 2001,
p. 27).
Stage four proficient allows the performer recognize situations as a whole, rather than
aspects and to perceive the meaning in long-term goals. The proficient nurse learns from
experience typical events to expect in given situations and how plans can be modified in
response to the outcome of various events. In this stage, a nurse can realize when the normal
picture does not match up and can recognize early warning signs (Benner, 2001).
Finally, stage five constitutes being an expert. This nurse no longer relies on analytic
principles and now has a large background with experience and can grasp each situation. At the
expert stage, the nurse is able to hone in on the e region of the problem and have a deep
understanding of the total picture. Nursing performance at this stage becomes fluid and flexible
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and highly proficient (Benner, 2001, p. 34). However, not everyone will be able to meet this
stage because not all nurses can become experts. By implementing the Skill Acquisition in
Nursing Model, experience and skill mastery will be transformed bringing about change and
At this time in my nursing career, I feel that I most meet the Skill Acquisition Stage of
competent. Through all of my clinical experience and work experience over the years, I believe
that I have been able to develop a good sense of competence and feel comfortable in almost
every situation that is thrown my way. I know that over the next couple of years I will continue
to grow and move on to the proficient stage of nursing. Being competent is important to me to
have a feeling of mastery and the ability to cope with and manage the many contingencies of
clinical nursing (Benner, 2001, p.27). The conscious, deliberate planning that is characteristic
of this skill level helps achieve efficiency and organization (Benner, 2001, p. 27). I am very
organized and thorough in my nursing practice, which allows me to catch things other people
may not. I feel experienced enough that I will be a competent nurse once I graduate and start as
education and learn through hands on classes, be involved in unit specific groups, and complete
HealthStream modules and contact hours. By participating in this education, I will be able to
further my nursing skills and knowledge to become a proficient nurse. As I continue my nursing
career, I will become a better and quicker critical thinker, allowing me to achieve this stage by
putting the whole picture of the patients situation together. Lastly, to reach this stage, I will
reflect on what I do in my job and how I can grow from different situations and outcomes. This
will allow me to grow as a nurse and learn different ways to handle various situations.
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will strive to offer the same care to every patient I encounter, no matter what the circumstances.
It will also remind me on the not-so-easy days why I am doing this and what nursing means to
me. As I near my ultimate goal of becoming a nurse, it is my hope that each one of my patients
will be impacted through the care they receive. I will strive to apply each and every principle I
learn to make my patients stays pleasant for them and rewarding for me. I believe my personal
philosophy, along with my beliefs and values, provides me with a strong core to build upon as I
grow as a nurse. I cannot wait to become a nurse and look forward to my journey and the
References
Benner, P. (2001). From novice to expert: Excellence and power in clinical nursing practice