My Nursing Philosophy
Every nurse has a philosophy that guides her approach to care. Even if the nurse is not consciously aware of her personal philosophy, there is always some underlying construct in the nurses mind that helps her cope with split-second decisions or profound ethical quandaries. The philosophy is even necessary when making technical, everyday decisions. It is best for the nurse to be aware of her underlying assumptions, rather than unconscious of them, to ensure they are positive and serve patient needs.
Nursing Metaparadigm
According to Deliktas (et al. 2019), the classical nursing metaparadigm encompasses the person, environment, health, and nursing. For me, the person encompasses the patient, the patients caregivers, and also the patients community and the persons close to the patient. The environment encompasses all the influences on the patient. This can include access to healthcare itself, as well as the built environment (such as physical incentives to walk and exercise, as well as proximity to fast-food restaurants) (Sun et al. 2019). The environment can enable the patient to be healthy or unhealthy, sometimes in unavoidable ways (such as a child who grows up in a dusty, asthma-provoking household), or sometimes in ways where it is easier to make unhealthy versus healthy choices or vice versa. Although sometimes people insist everyone has a choice regarding health-related decisions, for people with the ability to afford healthy food and vigorous physical pursuits, it is far easier to be healthy.
Health is the individuals personal definition of sickness and wellness, and how it intersects with evidence-based medicines definition of health. A patient may need to be encouraged to take...
But the nurse must be sensitive to the patients cultural beliefs regarding health, such as when planning a better diet, or engaging in a
discussion of end-of-life care.
I define the process of nursing as health facilitation. The nurse steps in with technical assistance and knowledge when the patient cannot provide such self-care. This may be as simple as advice, or as complex as a major...
…feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of care they must manage at healthcare institutions. Institutions are attempting to provide too much standardized care at a high volume to too many patients, which often results in burned out providers and
medical errors. Of course, given the current healthcare situation, this is sometimes unavoidable. But the social purpose of the nurse is ultimately always the provider which strives to see the world and
human health from the patients perspective (Norman et al., 2016).
Conclusion
The nurse must strive to offer a holistic and non-institutionalized view of the patient. The nurse must care for the sick patient and also send the patient home with the tools to manage self-care, whether it is directions to the family to care for a patient with mobility issues or simply clarifying how to administer a complex prescription. However, healthcare institutions are increasingly trying to incorporate caring and compassion into care delivery systems, acknowledging their importance in contributing to the improvement of the health outcomes of patients. Nurses will always have a critical role in humanizing healthcare,…
