A nurse’s beliefs, values, and assumptions make up the type of nurse the individual chooses to be. The purpose of having a personal philosophy as a nurse is to have a goal to work towards and experience personal growth. If a nurse’s goal was to find a career to make money, their growth would end at their first job and would not evolve as a nurse. When nurses make goals to cater to their beliefs, values, and what they stand for, it brings purpose to their careers and lives. At some point in our career, most nurses have stopped to ask themselves why they became nurses or why they want to pursue a career as a nurse. The answer usually involves their values, beliefs, and assumptions, which drive and motivate them to pursue a career to begin with. A firm grasp of a personal philosophy helps the nurse discover theorists, theories, and models to gain the knowledge to perfect and evolve their nursing practice and skills.

Values

            I grew up in a Christian household that maintained Christian values of treating others the way you want to be treated, along with ethics and principles that follow Jesus' teachings. I grew up learning stories of how Jesus advocated for those needing help and love. The same stories showed Jesus treating everyone as equals despite their age, gender/sex, economic status, or where they come from. I grew up with nuns who showed compassion, kindness, respect, and dignity that mimic my values as a nurse. These values impacted my ethics and moral compass, resulting in Jesus being my first nurse role model and mentor to lead by example.

           If a nurse can be defined in one word, the word would be Compassionate. A compassionate nurse is an individual who shows empathy and sympathy towards another individual. An example of a compassionate nurse is a nurse who is caring for a patient who is in pain, and the patient is being rude or yelling at the nurse. A compassionate nurse would be able to see the patient's pain rather than take the patient's comment personally and treat them spiritually, pharmaceutically, or non-pharmaceutically with dignity in mind. Compassion can be seen with silence in actively listening, verbally, with affirmation, or with actions such as getting a warm blanket to keep the patient comfortable.

          Another characteristic of nurses is being a leader. Being a leader involves motivating and directing a group to success. Leadership consists of guiding others to focus on a purpose, such as leading a patient into ambulating more in the hospital or educating the patient on how to live a healthier lifestyle once discharged (Contreras, 2020).

          Another essential characteristic of a nurse is critical thinking skills. Nurses need to be able to think about the big picture of their care rather than having tunnel vision and focusing on one aspect. Nurses have the critical thinking skills to see potential issues before they become complications and step in to educate when education is needed.

Beliefs

          The values that I believe in aid in expanding my willingness to learn and become a better nurse and human. Knowledge is essential in nursing, and following theorists with similar values and beliefs can help create safer practices for my patients. One theorist who shares values and beliefs similar to mine is Jean Watson. Jean Watson developed the human caring theory, which emphasized that creating a caring healing environment result in better patient quality care (Wei & Watson, 2019). Watson created the ten Caritas, which encompassed embrace, inspire, trust, nurture, forgive, deepen, balance, cocreate, minister, and open infinity, which I believe are all key characteristics that make up a caring, loving nurse needed for healing (Wei & Watson, 2019).

          Another theorist whose theories align with my belief is Florence Nightingale. Nightengale believed that fresh air, pure water, efficient drainage, cleanliness (sanitation), and sunlight all help to promote the good health and well-being necessary for healing. Nightingale’s environmental theory still represents the foundation of modern nursing that exhibits evidence-based practices to reduce infection control (Gilbert, 2022).

Assumptions

            A common assumption in nursing is that a nurse will know all the answers after a certain time. However, part of nursing means growing; to grow, a nurse needs to constantly be learning. A nurse will never have all the answers, nor will any human. There is no such thing as a perfect nurse, and to err is human.

          Another assumption is that a caring, loving nurse doesn’t have implicit biases. However, a wise nurse understands that everyone has implicit biases that can unconsciously exist. Understanding biases and embracing our vulnerabilities as nurses can help focus on ways of deconstructing implicit biases, which will result in better patient-centered care (Narayan, 2019).

Conclusion

          An individual’s values, beliefs, and assumptions shape the nurse’s personal philosophy, which helps the nurse evolve and grow. Every nurse has a different perspective and reason for becoming a nurse. My personal goals as a nurse pushed me to seek more knowledge in providing evidence-based practice and the motivation to learn more about theories and theorists to strengthen my skills and philosophy of nursing. I study theorists whose view align with my values and beliefs to help me lead by example.

Reference

Contreras, F., Baykal, E., & Abid, G. (2020). E-leadership and  teleworking in times of COVID-19 and beyond: What          we know and where do we go. Frontiers in psychology, 11, 590271.

Gilbert, H. A. (2020). Florence Nightingale's Environmental Theory and its influence on contemporary infection control. Collegian, 27(6), 626-633.

Narayan, M. C. (2019). CE: addressing implicit bias in nursing: a review. AJN The American Journal of Nursing, 119(7), 36-43.

Wei, H., & Watson, J. (2019). Healthcare interprofessional team members’ perspectives on human caring: A directed content analysis study. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 6(1), 17–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2018.12.001