Nursing Philosophy We All Have a Philosophy Essay

Nursing Philosophy

We all have a philosophy -- whether related to our professional engagements or otherwise. Indeed, it is on the basis of our individual philosophies that we form the conduct of life. A nursing philosophy in the words of Reed (as cited in Masters 2014, p. 100) is essentially "a statement of foundational and universal assumptions, beliefs, and principles about the nature of truth and knowledge (epistemology) and about the nature of the entities -- nursing practice and human being healing process-represented in the metaparadigm (ontology)."

Although I may not yet be a nurse, I do have a personal philosophy that I intend to practice and apply on entering the nursing field. In addition to representing my belief about this noble profession, my personal philosophy also allocates meaning to my future roles as a nurse and responsibility to patients. In seeking to highlight my personal philosophy, I will be focusing on a number of concepts around which the said philosophy is built.

From the onset, it is important to note that to me, every individual is different from another.People differ on the basis of culture, lifestyle, gender, ethnicity, preferences, etc. In that regard, therefore, I believe that individuals ought to be allowed full participation in decisions that have an impact on their health and well-being. As unique beings, people also ought to be treated with utmost respect, compassion, and care. In my opinion, it is the responsibility of nurses to ensure that the health care environment is supportive of all those who interact with it -- from patients to their families. In this case, the right to self-determination, participation, and self-expression ought to be safeguarded.

When it comes to my belief about health, it would be prudent to briefly highlight the meaning of health as per the definition offered to the same by the World Health Organization. According to WHO (as cited in Brannon, Feist, and Updegraff, 2013, p.10), "health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of….....