Personal Philosophy 2
Personal Philosophy
Introduction
A personal nursing philosophy is important as it provides the framework for why a nurse
chooses their career and remains in it despite the ever-changing world of healthcare. My personal
philosophy framework consists of several aspects including compassion, spirituality, advocacy,
education, and leadership. My philosophy has changed over the years as I experience different
areas of nursing and different life events. The components of my framework have allowed me to
grow in my faith and nursing career over the past twenty years.
Nursing Profession Definition
I define nurses as honest professionals caring for those who are suffering from illness or
injury by offering compassion, empathy, and knowledge. Nurses are also teachers,
mothers/fathers, and sisters/brothers meaning we use our critical thinking skills and knowledge
to assess, monitor, and educate our patients. We are nurturing in the absence of a mother/father
figure. We consider our fellow nurse coworkers as sisters or brothers because we have a familial
bond like no other profession. The nursing profession can be defined as mission work because
we are in constant service to others placing their needs above our own. Nursing is a true calling
from God that allows us to bring joy to our patients in their most vulnerable times.
Personal Philosophy
My personal philosophy of nursing did not start like most, but I believe God allows us to
experience joy and heartache to guide our paths for His will. When I was 18 years old, I moved
out of my parent's home, rented an apartment, and entered my first semester of college as an
engineering student. While enrolled in my second semester I discovered I was expecting my first
child. I was scared knowing I was about to be a single mother, so I did not apply for the
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following fall semester. I chose to work full-time, anticipating returning to college within the
next two years. During the summer after my second semester, my oldest brother was diagnosed
with a rare lung condition at the age of 28. He had to be hospitalized and was placed on a
ventilator in the ICU after multiple surgeries. Unfortunately, after being on the ventilator for
several weeks, he passed away on August 17, 1998. Ten days later I gave birth to a beautiful
baby girl. In those ten short days, I experienced a multitude of emotions from severe grief to
joyous elation. It was in those moments of being in a hospital visiting my brother in ICU to being
in the labor and delivery unit as a patient myself that I fully experienced what compassion looked
like. The nurses in both units were so caring and empathetic to a young impressionable me.
Needless to say, I did not return to college for engineering, and I have not regretted it for one
second. I am so thankful to those nurses in the ICU and labor and delivery units for being
professional and taking care of my brother and me, but more importantly for building those
nurse-patient-family relationships. Because of those relationships, I chose to change my career
path to nursing, and I vowed to always build empathetic relationships with my patients. On the
hard days when I question my career choice, I remind myself that my patients are probably going
through difficult times and need a listening ear, a hand to hold, or a shoulder to cry on.
Main Components of Personal Framework
While there are several components to my personal nursing framework that drive my
personal practice, I have condensed them into five components: compassion, spirituality,
advocacy, education, and leadership.
Compassion
I believe compassion and empathy go hand-in-hand. As previously stated, compassion is
a foundation for the nursing profession and allows the nurse to truly relate to what the patient is
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experiencing. Nurses provide compassion to everyone they care for on any given shift, and that
often follows the nurse home as we continue thinking about a certain patient from that shift.
Maybe the patient was unstable when we gave hand-off report at shift change or maybe the
patient reminded you of your grandmother. It is easy for the nurse to offer compassion when we
can relate to our patients in and out of the healthcare world. Jesus teaches us to offer compassion
to those who are unlovable and less fortunate.
Spirituality
As stated earlier, I truly believe nursing is a calling from God. I know some join the
nursing field for other reasons, but without faith or some sort of spiritual worldview, it seems
impossible to provide patients with the best possible care that encompasses knowledge and
holistic care. My faith has only strengthened as I have progressed through my nursing career. It
is what drives me to listen to those nudges from God and it keeps me grounded and humble. I
believe faith has opened and will continue to open many doors for me in my nursing career.
Advocacy
This component of my nursing framework is an important aspect to me in that I can be a
voice for my patients and coworkers. There are countless times I have advocated for my patients
when I questioned treatment orders or when I listened to my gut and asked for additional testing
or medications to benefit their outcome. I have also advocated for my coworkers when we felt
our nursing licenses were at risk due to short staffing and unsafe nurse-patient ratios. Most
recently I have advocated for our infusion clinic to hire two additional full-time nurses and one
PRN nurse due to an increase in patient population.
Education
Nurses are continuously learning new material related to their field and can implement
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that knowledge by educating their patients and coworkers. One of my former nursing professors
(Greene, K.) from 2001 used to always say “The day you think you know everything is the day
you need to turn in your nursing license”. She is correct, and that has always stuck with me. I
want to be a life-long learner and educator for my patients and inexperienced nurses. Our
patients rely on our knowledge and we need to educate them on their disease process, side
effects, and symptoms to report. New nurses rely on our knowledge to educate them on
evidence-based practice and protocols.
Leadership
This component is one of the newer aspects of my nursing framework. Even though I
have been a preceptor and mentor throughout every aspect of my nursing career, I have never
considered myself a leader until recently. Nurse leaders join organizations, implement policy and
change, encourage professional development, and provide positive/collaborative environments
throughout their units. Most recently I have accepted the position of Nurse Manager for our
oncology infusion clinic and will begin this exciting transition in May.
Nurse/Patient Encounter
While I have experienced multiple nurse-patient encounters throughout my career, one
particular encounter comes to mind that demonstrates my personal philosophy and exemplifies
the main components of my nursing framework. The encounter occurred in July of 2022 at the
oncology infusion clinic where I am currently employed. I had a patient one afternoon who had
received many chemotherapy treatments previously without any adverse effects. On this
particular day, the patient had a severe hypersensitivity reaction to Carboplatin. She initially told
me her lips felt numb, so I stopped her infusion and had another nurse retrieve hypersensitivity
reaction medications. Within seconds, the patient became unconscious, started seizing, then went
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into cardiac arrest. Our infusion clinic is part of an independent private practice, so there is no
access to a crash cart. We do keep Epinephrine and an AED on site, but we have to call 911
emergency services to transport patients to the local ED. We began CPR, gave EPI, and initiated
the emergency response system. Thankfully, her pulse returned before EMS arrived and
transported her to the ED. She was monitored in the hospital for several days before being
discharged home. My personal philosophy of building those nurse-patient relationships proved to
be effective because this patient returned to our clinic a few weeks later personally thanking me
and other nurses for literally saving her life. She even brought us life-savers candies as a funny
way to thank us. I was able to use the compassion component of my framework to relate to how
scared the patient was to receive chemotherapy when she returned. We talked for several minutes
prior and I assured her she would not be receiving the same treatment. I utilized the spirituality
portion of my framework because I was able to pray with my patient and comfort her like Jesus
comforts us when we are afraid. I advocated for this patient to have additional pre-medications to
prevent reactions with the new treatment regimen, and I educated this patient on her new
chemotherapy regimen with possible side effects to monitor. Looking back, I utilized the
leadership portion of the framework by leading my coworkers during the emergency reaction. I
delegated tasks to other nurses such as calling 911, retrieving reaction medications, applying
oxygen, and notifying the oncologist. This patient has since passed away due to the cancer, but
she lived a life full of hope and was a joy to be around. I have comfort knowing she is in a better
place now.
Biblical Principle
There are several Bible verses I cling to in my nursing career. The first is from
Philippians 4: 6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything,Ebut in every situation, by prayer and
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petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.EAnd the peace of God,Ewhich
transcends all understanding,Ewill guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (NLT,
2015). This is a verse I read often when I feel anxious about taking care of certain patients or
when I am about to administer a new medication I am unfamiliar with. Another passage is from
Matthew 22: 37-39 “Jesus replied:E‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.EAnd the second is like
it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (NLT, 2015). This indicates we are to love all our patients
and care for them as Jesus would.
Conclusion
As previously stated, I believe God allows good and bad to happen in our lives so that we
stay on course for His plan and glory. While my brother’s death brought great sadness and grief
to my life, it also brought joy through a wonderful career in nursing. I like to think that in those
ten days between his death and the birth of my daughter, he got to meet her in heaven and hold
her. I think he told her how special she would be, and he must have encouraged her to be a nurse
too. She is also a nurse in the oncology/Hospice field. I believe everything happens for a reason,
and I’m so thankful I chose this career.
