American Nurses Association defines nursing as the “protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, facilitation of healing, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, groups, communities, and populations” (American Nurses Association, 2017). The 2013 Gallup Poll identified nursing as the most trustworthy profession, with 82% of Americans ranking nurses at ‘high’ or ‘very high’ in ethical and honesty standards (Campaign for Action, 2013).
I chose nursing as my profession because I have an opportunity to honestly and diligently deliver holistic, patient-centered care combining scientific knowledge and evidence-based practical skills with caregiving characteristics. My professional nursing philosophy and core values and beliefs are: evidence-based knowledge, organization/ time management, empathy, compassion, caring, advocacy, integrity, and respect for patient rights, privacy, and dignity.
For these, reasons I chose a career in nursing to impart confident, competent, knowledgeable, skillful, and compassionate care to all my patients. This assignment will discuss and elaborate on these core values, beliefs, and principles that guide my personal and professional philosophy in life and evaluate their alignment with my long-term career goals. Nurses constantly deal with life and death situations at work, requiring use of strong critical thinking/reasoning, evidence-based practices/skills, rightful decision-making, and medical knowledge on a daily basis.
We function in a multidimensional and multifocal environment requiring coordination of various clinical and social services; patient advocacy; implementation of safe practices/skills; adaptation to new technology and information; and are innovative change agents to meet the ever evolving demands of patient care. Therefore, as nurses we are trained knowledge workers, synthesizing a broad array of innovative information and knowledge from various disciplines to meet optimal patient focused care.
Therefore, my vision for myself as a nurse is to be committed to continuous learning either through obtaining higher degrees and qualifications, or via peer interactions, self-study modules and literature, or learning new technical skills to better serve my patients and their families. My personal core values and beliefs as an individual are kindness, empathy, compassion, caring, discipline, equality, integrity, and perseverance.
I believe in walking the talk and in the biblical principle ‘do to others as you would have them do to you’. I come from a family that believes to receive respect and kindness, one should demonstrate the same values for all ages, young or old, sick or poor. To me integrity represents honesty, responsibility, reliability, dependability, consistency, justice, sincerity, and commitment. Perseverance represents determination to succeed despite shortcomings. Self-discipline is mandatory to meet daily challenges at home or at work.
Empathy, compassion, kindness, and care are the integral qualities that connect me to the people I love, honor, respect, and serve. These qualities also define nursing as a profession, encourages concern and consideration for the whole person, and serves to facilitate health and healing. Last but not the least are the ethical issues and basic human rights values of respect for patient rights, privacy, confidentiality, and dignity. As nurses we should always advocate for our patients, for their emotional, physiological, and mental safety and well-being.
To accomplish this, we must effectively collaborate and team work with an interprofessional team of professionals with diverse knowledge and expertise across the health care spectrum to provide competent managed care deserving of all humans. The values and beliefs explained above define my daily existence, personal and professional decision-making, and interaction with family, friends, relatives, peers and co-workers. I believe the core and focus of nursing is patient-centered care. Patient rights, decisions, and consents takes priority over all nursing interventions, medical treatments, or procedure.
Nurses primarily strive to respect patient confidentiality and privacy except when mandated to report by state and federal law. As patient advocates, nurses are expected to educate patients and families on the disease process and management, treatments, and healthy behaviors with the goal to obtain optimal outcomes. We also must ‘walk the talk’ and model positive healthy behavior and attitude with the hope to positively influence our patients and their families. On a personal front, I am a firm believer of preventive care, health and wellness.
I do not smoke, abuse alcohol or drugs and indulge in disrespectful social activities that will taint my reputation. Therefore, I believe my personal and professional philosophies on life and living are congruent with the professional standards and expectations of nursing. In my opinion, as a nurse, I should always uphold professional and personal ethical standards, take accountability for my actions, and be compassionate towards the sick, disabled, recovering, and socio-economically underprivileged vulnerable population. Nurses should understand to ‘err is human’ and no individual is perfect.
During these moments, we should self-reflect, analyze our thought-process, and learn from the error committed to improve and move on with courage and confidence. When we are struggling with personal conflicts between ourselves and our patients or co-workers, we should confide in a mentor to guide us through and provide solution, so our nursing care and judgment is not compromised. I must remember that my fellow nurses are a great resource, therefore I must demonstrate mutual respect and appreciation for their hard work, reliability, knowledge, and skills.
Together we must collaborate and serve our patients with the goal to promote self-management and care, and maximize their health potential and well-being towards the road to recovery. As nurses we should stand together, promote nursing as an ethical and honorable profession in the community and among other professions. We should aspire to be beacons of light in the community we serve, be involved in professional nursing organizations, and politics to enforce new reforms and laws for the wellbeing of our people.
I believe I am still in nursing today because I can make a living contributing positively towards health and wellness, health maintenance, and healing daily. In the process, I am learning new skills and knowledge; meeting new people; encountering new opportunities and experiences. Nursing is a very flexible and diverse profession with varied specialties and opportunities. Based on my professional and personal growth, I can hopefully choose different career paths at various stages of my life to attain professional fulfillment.
My most important contribution to nursing right now is to maintain a positive outlook on life and living; meet every challenge presented to me with strength, enthusiasm, and integrity; and promote hope, comfort, compassion, and healthy living among patients, their families, and the community. The contribution I hope to make to nursing in the future is to be a strong and great leader, manager, and mentor to my co-workers, peers, and new students/professionals entering health care.
Experience comes with age, training, education, application, and time. I hope to always share my experiences, knowledge, skills, personal philosophy, professional values and beliefs to all individuals of diversified race, culture, ethnicity, and age. In the process, I hope to make a difference in people’s lives, build new friendships, maintain long lasting relationships, and bring peace, harmony, and happiness in the lives of people I cross paths.
