Running head: PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY PAPER 1

Personal Philosophy Paper

Jaime L. Beane

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing

Dr. M. Williams

Nur 4140

March 28, 2020

“I pledge”
 PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY PAPER 2

Personal Philosophy Paper

It had been a very long day for this nurse. She had been going on 12+ hours and was

heading to her last patient’s home. It was nearing dark and the location of her last patient was

not in a very good area. She had already driven 120+ miles and all she could think of was

getting home to her family. She was not looking forward to seeing this particular patient because

she was tired and depleted from an endless day of complicated wounds, IV’s, labs, ongoing

phone calls, and a long day on the road. This upcoming patient was receiving home care for

diabetes teaching. However, this patient also had many psychological comorbidities such as

depression, bipolar, suicidal ideation, anxiety, and polypharmacy. This nurse typically did not

investigate too much into a patient’s history prior to seeing the patient for the first time to avoid

forming personal biases. She liked to hear her patient’s story first. But after a very long and

tiring day, seeing a patient with a long psychological history was the last thing she wanted to do.

She wasn’t sure what was forthcoming upon arrival to this patient’s home. Nonetheless, she

went, with none too little expectation and only a heart to serve and make a difference.

The visit with her patient ended up validating a personal calling and yearning to bring

hope and healing to those in need, no matter what the need. This patient needed hope more than

diabetic teaching. She was not a diagnosis. She was a person who was suffering. And she

needed someone to listen to her story without bias, without judgement, without premonition, and

without having a need to “fix her.” Towards the end of the visit, this nurse embraced her and

reminded her that she mattered, and that God had a calling in her life. She needed to know after

suffering a lifetime of abuse, that her life mattered. Tears were shed, and they parted ways.

Never again did that nurse see that patient again. But she knew in her heart that this was the

reason she was called to nursing.

What is Nursing?

A nurse is a vessel of hope. Nurses are meant to bring hope and healing to others who

are suffering. Every interaction is an opportunity to encourage, educate, provide for, listen to,

and somehow edify. It is a lifetime calling of service to others.

I am blessed to have had this opportunity to embrace this journey of nursing. It began for

me as a young girl with an innate desire to be a nurse. As a young girl, I would operate on my

dolls, and do all sorts of procedures to “help” them get better. By fifth grade, I wrote a vowel to

myself that I would grow up and join the medical field. As a young teenager, I wanted to do

medical missions. And then as a young adult woman, I cared for my grandmother for several

years before she passed away, even more so validating that yearning and personal calling. As a

young mom to three small children at the time, I decided it was time to pursue this passion. And

so, I did. In 2010 I graduated with a practical nursing certificate and now 10 years later, I will be

graduating with a BSN. This journey began in my heart as a young child and will continue until

I take my final last breath.

My philosophy of nursing will go with me to the grave. When I die, I want to be

remembered for my lifetime of dedication to serving others in the medical field. I want people to

say, “she really cared,” or “She was dedicated, honest, faithful, and she really made you feel

important.” I want to be a role model for my children, to grow up knowing that their mother

made an impact in the lives of others. For me, this is the meaning of nursing.

My Philosophy in Practice

An example of my philosophy in practice involves advocacy. Do I show up to work each

day to do a job, or do I show up to make a difference? This is a question I continually ask

myself, especially on days when I don’t feel like I have much to give. Advocating in practice
 PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY PAPER 4

involves asking a lot of questions, following the 5 patient rights to administering medications,

following safe practices, and challenging myself to know more and grow more. Consistent re-

evaluation is quintessential to my philosophy of nursing. The biggest danger of straying from

this philosophy and taking time to reevaluate myself when obstacles arise is becoming too

complacent to rise above challenges. Compassion fatigue is complacency. Compassion fatigue

puts the nurse and the patient in a dangerous and compromising position. Advocacy no longer

matters, only the nurse’s self-interests. Frequent self-evaluation helps the nurse to be a better

advocator for herself and for her patient.

Interprofessional and Nurse-Patient Relationships

The nurse has other relationships to consider. A nurse is never in isolation and is part of

a larger community of healthcare workers requiring the nurse to be able to function as a team

member. Having the ability collaborate and communicate clearly are essential to quality and

safe patient care. The past 10 years of being an LPN have taught me valuable lessons in

teamwork, leadership, and professionalism. Having a team attitude has been essential. In my

current position, I have had to fulfill duties outside of my “job description.” I fill in for the lab,

the front desk, and have taken on temporary managerial responsibilities such as compliance

reporting and managing patient complaints. I’ve trained new employees and remained flexible

enough to do what is necessary for the needs of the clinic. Having an attitude of willingness to

learn and being a good team player has carried me throughout my lifetime and nursing career.

Interprofessional relationships are critical to patient safety and advocacy. The joint

commission reports that faulty or inadequate communication during hand-off is a major factor in

patient adverse events (The Joint Commission, 2017). “A study released in 2016 estimated that

communication failures in U.S. hospitals and medical practices were responsible at least in part
 PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY PAPER 5

for 30 percent of all malpractice claims, resulting in 1,744 deaths and $1.7 billion in malpractice

costs over five years” (The Joint Commission, 2017). In order to advocate for your patient, you

have to be able to communicate.

The nurse-patient relationship differs per person based on physical and emotional needs

of the patient, individualized patient goals, and the environment in which you are caring for the

patient. Home-care is very different from emergency care. You may have a home-care patient

for years, giving you the opportunity to get to know family members, fur babies, and a side to

the patient you would never otherwise understand. The Emergency nurse is with the patient for a

brief time. The relationship consists of getting the patient stable and moving on to the next.

Hospice nursing allows you to be in a position to provide comfort to family members and

helping them through their grief. And prison nursing is an entirely different from community

nursing. Understanding these different patient-nurse relationships has helped guide my decision

in what area of nursing I’ve wanted to be in. I personally enjoy the one-to-one interactions. I

enjoy spending time with my patients, educating and empowering them. Labor and Delivery

Nursing allows the nurse to spend a significant of time with the patient, educating them through

the delivery process. It is an intimate time for the patient and the nurse. Witnessing new life is

powerful. It is a moment the patient will never forget. The nurse is instrumental in making this

difficult time as special as it can be.

Has my values changed over time?

I consider myself compassionate and sincere about my calling. My values have not

changed. However, my knowledge base and critical thinking skills have grown. Situations that I

handled as a new graduate LPN 10 years ago, I would handle very differently now. The same is

true for me when I started this journey towards my BSN. I believe that the basic question of,
 PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY PAPER 6

“Am I here to do a job or am I here to make a difference?” has been my guide from day one. I

clearly want to make a difference. My identity is wrapped up in this innate yearning to

positively impact others.

Nurse-Patient Encounter

I had a painful experience this semester when I did not follow through on checking on a

patient when I said I would. The patient was very upset and thought I had forgotten her. I got

caught up with a new admission and mixed up my times. Looking back, I realize that this was a

simple mistake. But I felt absolutely awful, and I realized I failed in this area. It was such a

fresh reminder to me on how important it is to follow through with what you say you are going

to do. But not only that, the patient clearly did not feel cared about and that is what hurt the

most. It was the very opposite of everything I believe about nursing. The last thing I wanted to

do was make her feel uncared about. And because of that, I felt like I had failed her, and I failed

myself. My heart was broken. Nonetheless, the situation happened, and I needed to learn from it

and reevaluate myself in this situation.

I made a novice mistake. Because I was on a new unit acquiring new skills, my brain

was very task focused. Novice nurses are very task oriented, and I was clearly novice. I was so

caught up in my tasks, I completely lost track of time and my patient felt neglected. A more

competent nurse would have anticipated the needs of her other patients prior to the arrival of the

new admission knowing she would get caught up in the new admission’s room for some time.

This is a huge difference between a novice nurse and a competent or proficient nurse.

Competent and proficient nurses think several steps ahead and view situations from a broader

perspective. They are able to critically think through situations and anticipate varying worse
 PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY PAPER 7

case scenarios and be ready to act accordingly. A novice nurse can only think of the task at

hand. They haven’t quite graduated to the anticipatory phase.

I realize moving from novice to competent would not occur during my preceptorship. No

matter how much I would have liked that to have happened, there simply wasn’t enough time to

do so. Becoming competent takes years of practice and learning from mistakes. Making that

mistake was a critical learning point for me. My communication technique changed because of

it. Instead of saying, “I will be back to check on you within the next hour,” I would say, “I will

be back to check on you within the next hour or two, if you are sleeping I won’t disturb you,

however if you need anything before I return, please press your call bell.” Or I would say, “I

have a new admission coming in that may tie me up for a little while, but please know I will be

back to check on you afterwards, but if you need anything in the meantime please use your call

bell and someone will be available to assist you.”

My Next Professional Move

I will be joining a residency program on a labor and delivery unit this upcoming late

summer after graduation. The residency program is great for transitioning a novice nurse into a

more competent nurse as she progresses through the residency. The initial onboarding period

consists of six weeks of specialized classroom training. Then six weeks after that, there is

another six weeks of shadowing a preceptor. Gradually the new graduate nurse is able to begin

caring for patients on her own. The residency program lasts for two years and consists of

leadership training, certifications, capstone projects, and critical thinking development. The goal

is to achieve a more competent level of nursing by the time you are out on your own. And even

then, you have your preceptor to lean on.

Transitioning from a novice nurse to a proficient nurse takes many years. Self

-evaluation and personal growth are elemental in becoming proficient. I have been an LPN for

ten years and I do consider myself competent in the areas that I have worked. However, I am

very novice in the field I am entering, and I look forward to joining a residency program that will

allow me to acquire new critical thinking skills in the area of labor and delivery nursing. While I

do feel proficient in task oriented skills, I am novice in critical thinking in labor and delivery

scenarios. For example, Foley insertion is as simple as baking a cake for me. I have done it

hundreds of times. Even reading a basic strip is not new to me. However, I cannot tell you that I

would know what to do if abnormalities showed up on a strip without seeking the assistance of

other more experienced nurses.

As I continue to grow in this profession, one day, I would like to help new nurses in their

growth process too. My plan is to become as proficient as possible in labor and delivery nursing

and eventually transition to neonatal nursing. I would like to continue to learn as new practices

are developed and implemented through evidence based practice. I plan on obtaining

certifications, joining committees, serving others in my community, participating in research,

and growing as a professional nurse. My long term goal is to become a nurse practitioner.

My Plan for Self-Care

The last three years of working towards my BSN have been a challenge. Shuffling a

family, work, and school presented itself with many obstacles. I found myself many times

stretched so thin, I’ve neglected my own health and personal needs. We are just a few weeks

from graduation, and I weigh about 50lbs more than I did when school started. I am sleep

deprived, emotionally drained, my marriage is on the rocks, and my children feeling needy.

Everything mentioned above is not worth it, if I have not taken care of myself and those closest
 PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY PAPER 9

to my heart throughout this process. I am thankful I have a period of respite before starting my

new career. During this time, I plan on investing in myself, my marriage, and my family. We

need some time to recover from the constant stress of me not being available. I have plans to get

back into an exercise routine, plant gardens, take the kids on “mini vacations” to the zoo, the

orchards, on nature walks, and so forth. We are going to catch up on dental appointments,

annual physicals, and necessary appointments that have been put off because I was in school. I

plan on decorating our new home and hanging pictures. And my husband and I going to date

regularly to nurture our marriage.

Recap of My Philosophy of Nursing

Am I here to do a job, or am I here to make a difference? This philosophy is the basis of

all of my interactions with others. Each interaction is an opportunity to make a difference in

someone else’s life. Within this philosophy involve advocacy, self-awareness, collaboration and

communication, safe patient care, professional development, and personal growth. These are

essential building blocks to professional nursing and a lifetime commitment of service to others.

This is nursing. The end.

References

The Joint Commission (2017). Inadequate hand-off communication. Sentinel Alert Event (58).

Retrieved from https://e-handoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Joint-Commision-

Handoff-Communication-Alert.pdf