PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY OF NURSING
BELIEFS
The idea of pursuing nursing occurred to me during the summer of my third year at McMaster University. After my cooperative education experience in the operating room at Timmins & District Hospital in highschool, I decided I wanted to be a family physician. That summer I was preparing to take the MCAT when I was just looking up nursing as kind of a back up plan in case I did not do well on the MCAT. After thoroughly researching nursing and being surprised at how many opportunities there were once you graduated, I decided to not write the MCAT and apply to nursing instead.
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VALUES
Humour
I truly believe that humour is the best medicine when I am feeling down. Having a good laugh, even if just for a second is one of the ways I use to cope when I am stressed. I value laughter since I believe it is one of the reasons my family and I are so close. Trying to make each other laugh either when playing games or when one of us is down is a value that has been instilled upon me since childhood. As a nurse I hope to bring about my value of laughter by taking the time to make someone smile by either telling them a funny joke I heard or asking them to share a funny story with me. In practice I believe that I will take time out of my schedule to try to get the patients and myself to have a good chuckle at least once during my shift.
I believe that nursing is a multifaceted
profession that intertwines compassion with strength. I believe qualities of an excellent nurse include the ability to be non judgemental, open to new ideas and to overall be
caring and thoughtful especially when short on time. I feel that it is
important for nurses to maintain an up to date level of knowledge and continuously be learning new
techniques, ideas and health plans on a yearly basis and attend new learning
opportunities whenever possible. An excellent nurse realizes that they are
there to make the clients feel welcomed and safe in their new environment.
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BELIEFS
The idea of pursuing nursing occurred to me during the summer of my third year at McMaster University. After my cooperative education experience in the operating room at Timmins & District Hospital in highschool, I decided I wanted to be a family physician. That summer I was preparing to take the MCAT when I was just looking up nursing as kind of a back up plan in case I did not do well on the MCAT. After thoroughly researching nursing and being surprised at how many opportunities there were once you graduated, I decided to not write the MCAT and apply to nursing instead.
Looking back, I am very glad that I chose to
enrol in nursing instead of applying for medical school. As a child and
throughout adolescence I always enjoyed and was the friend that listened and
helped my friends sort through their problems. I feel that that is one
of the main qualities about myself that drew me into nursing. As well I was the
child that was head and hands first into any learning opportunity about the
body that I could get my hands on. I
think I will enjoy the fast paced situations that come with life or death cases
since it gives you many opportunities to learn new information. As a nurse I
know I want to work in a field that offers different situations everyday and
that challenges what I know and teaches me what else I need to learn. I am very
excited to start putting some of the concepts I have learnt both from my Life
Science Degree as well as my first semester of nursing into practice.
I believe that nursing is a well respected
profession and that nurses are the ones that shape the clients visit the most. I
believe that nursing provides a large variety of career and educational
opportunities and that even after thirty years of experience, I can expect that I will still be learning. As a nurse, I would like to become an Emergency or
Surgical nurse in a large research hospital and after I gain experience eventually
work in a small rural hospital. Depending on how I feel about enrolling in
more years of school, my ultimate goal is to be a Nurse Practitioner. Coming
from a long line of nurses (great grandmother, grandmother and mother) I feel
that nursing is in my blood and that I was always meant to follow in their
footsteps.
I believe that as a nurse, I am able to offer
strength as well as compassion in stressful situations. I believe that I am a
good listener and that I help people in any way that I can on a daily basis. I
feel that I am caring and understanding and below are the values that I hold
important in my everyday life and are the most important qualities I have to
offer as a nurse.
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VALUES
Humour
I truly believe that humour is the best medicine when I am feeling down. Having a good laugh, even if just for a second is one of the ways I use to cope when I am stressed. I value laughter since I believe it is one of the reasons my family and I are so close. Trying to make each other laugh either when playing games or when one of us is down is a value that has been instilled upon me since childhood. As a nurse I hope to bring about my value of laughter by taking the time to make someone smile by either telling them a funny joke I heard or asking them to share a funny story with me. In practice I believe that I will take time out of my schedule to try to get the patients and myself to have a good chuckle at least once during my shift.
Thoughtfulness
I think being thoughtful is one of the values that differentiates between good nursing and excellent nursing. Being thoughtful makes the person you are helping feel better as well as yourself. I believe that in today’s society it is all too common to only do something because you have to and not because you want to. It is important to me to go out of my way and do something or make a little gesture of thoughtfulness when I know someone is feeling down or upset or when they just need a little bit of help. As a nurse, just like making people smile, I will take the time to ask if I can do anything to make the patient’s stay more comfortable or if there is anything they need help with. This promotes thoughtfulness towards the patient, which is important in making my day as well as their day better.
I think being thoughtful is one of the values that differentiates between good nursing and excellent nursing. Being thoughtful makes the person you are helping feel better as well as yourself. I believe that in today’s society it is all too common to only do something because you have to and not because you want to. It is important to me to go out of my way and do something or make a little gesture of thoughtfulness when I know someone is feeling down or upset or when they just need a little bit of help. As a nurse, just like making people smile, I will take the time to ask if I can do anything to make the patient’s stay more comfortable or if there is anything they need help with. This promotes thoughtfulness towards the patient, which is important in making my day as well as their day better.
Respect
I feel that having respect for people is one of the values that most people should have instilled upon them since birth. I believe that not respecting people is one of the most shameful attributes of humans and brings out the worst in people. I was brought up to respect everybody mainly because you do not have any idea what anybody is going through and you are no more important than anybody else. As a nurse I will treat everybody equally regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity… and I will stand up for them if I see that they are being disrespected in any way. It is important to me to respect people with different cultures, beliefs and values and not to treat them differently when I do not believe the same things. In practice I will be influenced by keeping with my mantra of respecting others as how I would like to be respected.
I feel that having respect for people is one of the values that most people should have instilled upon them since birth. I believe that not respecting people is one of the most shameful attributes of humans and brings out the worst in people. I was brought up to respect everybody mainly because you do not have any idea what anybody is going through and you are no more important than anybody else. As a nurse I will treat everybody equally regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity… and I will stand up for them if I see that they are being disrespected in any way. It is important to me to respect people with different cultures, beliefs and values and not to treat them differently when I do not believe the same things. In practice I will be influenced by keeping with my mantra of respecting others as how I would like to be respected.
Positivity
I believe that being positive as well as staying positive is one of the values that makes life enjoyable and worthwhile. I try not to dwell on the negatives in life since it does nothing for you and makes you and the people around you feel down. Being positive has allowed me to enjoy what my life has had to offer as well as getting me through times of stress and sadness. As a nurse I will not bring negativity from things that I am experiencing into the workplace because that will only make me feel down which ultimately worsens the care I give to patients. I will also not enforce negativity in terms of gossip or ridicule to patients or coworkers. When I am working I will try my best to keep a smile on my face and always look on the bright side of what I am doing.
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Looking Forward
As a third year nursing student I feel that the values and beliefs I deemed important when I first began nursing have not changed. I have used these values in all aspects of my nursing care and feel they are important in establishing a therapeutic relationship with the patient and the subsequent positive patient care this establishes. Using these values in clinical practice has increased the quality of my nursing practice and creates an environment that encourages the patient to express their feelings and concerns, which is extremely important in maintaining positive care. I believe these values will probably not change within the next year and feel that they establish who I am as a nurse and why they are important to follow, both in nursing and in life.
I believe that being positive as well as staying positive is one of the values that makes life enjoyable and worthwhile. I try not to dwell on the negatives in life since it does nothing for you and makes you and the people around you feel down. Being positive has allowed me to enjoy what my life has had to offer as well as getting me through times of stress and sadness. As a nurse I will not bring negativity from things that I am experiencing into the workplace because that will only make me feel down which ultimately worsens the care I give to patients. I will also not enforce negativity in terms of gossip or ridicule to patients or coworkers. When I am working I will try my best to keep a smile on my face and always look on the bright side of what I am doing.
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Looking Forward
As a third year nursing student I feel that the values and beliefs I deemed important when I first began nursing have not changed. I have used these values in all aspects of my nursing care and feel they are important in establishing a therapeutic relationship with the patient and the subsequent positive patient care this establishes. Using these values in clinical practice has increased the quality of my nursing practice and creates an environment that encourages the patient to express their feelings and concerns, which is extremely important in maintaining positive care. I believe these values will probably not change within the next year and feel that they establish who I am as a nurse and why they are important to follow, both in nursing and in life.