Personal and Individual Philosophy of Nursing

Personal Philosophy of Nursing

Education plays a significant role in how nurses practice. This is perceptible in the individual philosophy of nursing for a student as they transition from an associate/diploma degree to a baccalaureate degree as registered nurses concerning the nursing paradigm. Nursing metaparadigms are categorized into health, person, environment, and nursing. The health meta paradigm encompasses the nursing aims and results, nursing practices, and the nursing career. The human metaparadigm alludes to people in a certain culture, family, and society. The health paradigm delineates the progressions of life and death. Lastly, the environment paradigm signifies all local, nationwide, and international social, cultural, and economic circumstances associated with human health (Deliktas et al., 2019).

Paradigms are essential for the development of the nursing profession. For this reason, students transitioning into the nursing profession in the future are anticipated to raise the consciousness of nursing and generate their nursing philosophy centered on these paradigms. Metaparadigms provides nurses with the overall parameters to examine the world and evade haphazard knowledge building (Hermida & Sánchez-Herrera, 2018). One of the fundamental concerns was that the meaning of the nursing metaparadigms might be more attainable to nurses involved in theoretical work, such as those at the diploma level, compared to the nurses linked to the day-to-day concerns of practice, such as registered nurses. This is a fundamental aspect to consider because the nursing practice environment is where nursing knowledge and understanding may be most entirely applied and developed (Littzen et al., 2020).

Providing students with the key principles of nursing and distinctive competencies to define nursing care necessitates more than solely educating them on the theory of nursing (Bender, 2018). Significantly, the metaparadigm of nursing is a fundamental notion that nurses are taught and learn at a baccalaureate nursing education level. The student philosophy at this level is that nursing is a profession that necessitates intellectual thinking, rather than simply perceiving it simply as a job that requires competencies and service delivery. Compared to nurses at the diploma level, BSNs are educated on the metaparadigm notion to augment their knowledge and level of thinking that goes past clinical bedside and delves into the realm of research and theoretical discerning (Nikfarid et al., 2018).

Students’ philosophy of nursing as they transition from associate/diploma degree to baccalaureate degree registered nurses also transforms as they make knowledgeable and accountable ethical decisions and aid in shaping the future of society and the nursing profession. An imperative aspect to consider is that baccalaureate education facilitates mounting independence in acquiring knowledge, communication, critical thinking, and analytical and leadership competencies (Hermida & Sánchez-Herrera, 2018). The nursing philosophy changes as the nurses can make entry into the professional nursing practice as an advanced beginner, take up accountabilities of an educated individual within the society, take part in the progression of the profession, participate in lifelong learning as well as seek advanced study (Hermida & Sánchez-Herrera, 2018).

The transition from a diploma nursing student to a degree student alters their perception of the nursing metaparadigms. From the perspective of the environmental factor, a nurse ceases being considered a professional to an individual that assists with care to a patient with empathy, love, and trust, in addition to learning experiences (Hermida & Sánchez-Herrera, 2018). Secondly, from the perspective of the person factor, the philosophy changes into perceiving a patient as a human being whose wholeness is meaningful and deserves respect, care, and assistance. From this point of view, the soul is considered the greater sense of self and is akin to the psychological notion of self-actualization (Hermida & Sánchez-Herrera, 2018).

Third, concerning the nursing metaparadigm of health, the transition in philosophy considers healing to encompass retrieving the sense of wholeness, which is deemed a fresh, differing, and better condition than the patient’s previous time. It encompasses shifting toward wholeness and physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Healing is well-defined as discovering a new sense of the disease and the current condition (Hermida & Sánchez-Herrera, 2018).

Before becoming RNs, students experience significant difficulty in identifying nursing metaparadigms and believe that humans have the potential to broaden their horizons with knowledge and social competencies. However, with the transition to baccalaureate RNs, individuals can link nursing paradigms with professional nursing practice. (Deliktas et al., 2019). A focus on these nursing metaparadigms implies a shift towards a humanistic approach. Nurses who value their patients enjoy their daily nursing practice and love patients before assisting them.

Furthermore, it is imperative to note that nursing care centers on universal humanistic ideologies. The personal philosophy should shift from considering nursing as a practice of solely treating patients and instead of considering the key values of nursing to comprise humanism, professional identity, and mercy (Deliktas et al., 2019). Concerning the nursing philosophy, nurses must apply the four different metaparadigms to their nursing process and practice when rendering care for patients to address such care as a whole. The main endeavor is to ensure that the patient attains the best conceivable care.