MY PHILOSOPHY OF NURSING 1
My Philosophy of Nursing
Rita Gail Summerlin
Liberty University
MY PHILOSOPHY OF NURSING 2
My Philosophy of Nursing
A learned vocation that has a superior status is considered a profession (McEwen &
Wills, 2019). When an occupation provides services that are beneficial for society, the
occupation is considered a profession (McEwen & Wills, 2019). Thus, nursing is a profession
because society benefits from the healthcare nurses provide. The profession of nursing focuses
on the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities. Nursing has a defined
knowledge base, code of ethics, a credentialing system to ensure competence, societal services,
autonomy, formal training in higher education, and socialization; all of which are characteristics
of a profession (McEwen & Wills, 2019).
Nursing Philosophy
My nursing philosophy is that all patients should be cared for regardless of their
background or who they are. Several times throughout my nursing career, directors and managers
have come to the staff to let them know that Mr. X in room 123 is a VIP (very important person)
i.e., maybe the mayor. Those leaders would tell the staff to make sure we did everything possible
to ensure they had a positive hospital experience. I have always strived to ensure that every
patient I take care of has a positive experience. I believe this is wrong of my leaders to do this
because they surely do not tell me that I need to make sure the drug addict in the next room has a
positive experience. I always incorporate the six core values in my nursing care and training.
Those six core values are care, compassion, competence, communication, courage, and
commitment.
Caring has been identified as the essence of nursing (McEwen & Wills, 2019). As a
medical-surgical nurse, I always try to establish a good rapport with my patients and their
families. I believe if a good rapport can be established, patients and their families will know that
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I truly care about them. I talk with them, answer questions as honestly as possible, and when
needed, give them a hug or a friendly touch. I feel the patients need to know that I not only care
about their physical health; I also care about their emotional and psychological needs.
Patients are scared when they are admitted to the hospital, especially when their diagnosis
is new to them. They have no idea what to expect in the coming days. Sometimes they depend on
the nurse to listen to their fears. Being able to recognize a patient’s fears and taking action to
alleviate those fears as much as possible, is a good definition of compassion. You never know
what someone may be going through. At times, it is hard to show compassion for certain
patients. For example, I have had patients before who are repeatedly admitted to the hospital for
the same diagnosis because they will not adhere to the healthcare regimen at home after
discharge. Therefore, they keep getting admitted often. I get to know these patients well and do
my best to educate them on their medications and the disease process. Sometimes these patients
refuse to follow the healthcare regimen while in the hospital.
Nursing knowledge and skills are continually being updated to ensure the latest practices
are being implemented. My employer has an annual skills fair so that nurses can be checked to
ensure they know how to do these skills. We also have annual tests to take on the computer
within a certain time frame. Any time something new in nursing comes along, we are required to
attend a class to be educated on the subject/skill. I attend the skills fair, take all the necessary
tests, and attend all classes that are required, and some that are not required. My license is
renewed every 2 years in the even years.
Nurses need to have effective communication skills. Being a good listener is the key to
communication. We have a language line at my place of work that allows us to connect with a
translator via video in just about every language known. The language line allows the patient to
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understand what we want them to know or do; and allows the patient to verbalize needs to the
nurse. Nurses should also look for non-verbal language, listen without interrupting the patient,
maintain eye contact, and speak clearly when communicating with the patient. I have always
been a good communicator. I do maintain eye contact, listen well, and speak clearly as well as
look for non-verbal language during conversation.
Courage involves taking a stand for what you believe is right. Moral courage is being
able to stand up for your beliefs and values even when you could lose friends or your job.
Courage allows me to stand up to physicians about what my patients need. Many years ago, I had
a patient who had a hysterectomy and began swelling in her lower abdomen the next day. She
was also a nurse and knew she needed to ambulate after surgery to assist in getting rid of any gas
that may build up. She had walked in the hall the afternoon of the surgery and had walked in the
hall the next morning. I called the physician to inform him of the lower abdominal swelling
about lunch time. He told me to tell the patient the gas would resolve if she kept on walking.
After a few hours, she said the pain and swelling was worse. Upon assessment, I could see her
complaint was legitimate. She had been walking as much as possible. I called the physician again
that afternoon and informed him of the patient’s complaints and my findings. He asked me why I
kept calling him about this. I told him that he was the surgeon who performed the surgery, and
that he needed to know what was going on. I also told him that I would continue to call about the
patient’s complaints until he did something. He finally gave me an order to consult the patient’s
primary care physician (PCP). The PCP ordered a stat abdominal radiograph after I explained to
her what was going on. The result was an ileus! The surgeon could have saved the patient from
being in so much pain if he would have just ordered the abdominal radiograph himself.
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Most nurses have a high level of commitment to the care of their patients. I am one of
those nurses. My patient load is 5-7 patients daily. I take care of my patients’ needs, medications,
assessments, and reassessments all day long. The administration wants us to chart while we are
in the room. I do not do that because I feel that I am ignoring the patient while I am trying to
concentrate on my charting (clicking away on the keyboard). I do respond to my patients if they
ask me something while I am in the room no matter what I am doing. When I have 7 patients,
there is not enough time to chart in the room, pass meds, and take care of my patients’ needs in a
timely manner. Our 42-bed floor has 3 Accu-dose machines where our medications are stored.
We have to gather medications for one patient at a time and take the medications to that patient,
and sometimes the patients are at the far end of the hall. That is a lot of walking, and time wasted
in my opinion. We used to take medication carts down the hall to the rooms and pass the
medications. I believe in doing everything for my patients before I chart. If I do get a chance to
chart, and one of my patients needs something, I stop charting and go get whatever they need.
Most of the time, I chart after my shift is over because I have already turned my patients over to
the on-coming nurse.
Conclusion
I have been nursing for 26 years and I can truly say that I have always used caring,
compassion, competence, communication, courage, and commitment with my patients. These six
core values drive my nursing role. Every day I learn something new about nursing and I know
that new challenges await me before I take my assignment. Nursing is a very demanding
profession in which the nurse is expected to assume many roles, from housekeeping to light
maintenance at times. I hope to be able to teach my nursing students that the care nurses provide
is very essential. I want to instill the importance of the six core values of nursing in my nursing
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students’ minds. I believe all nurses need to be able to use these values to be a good nurse. I want
my nursing students to understand they can become educators, collaborators, nurse managers, or
nurse directors. However, if they are like me, they will want to stay a bedside nurse for as long as
they physically and mentally can handle the job. “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for
in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9, ESV).
