As you finish this course, your philosophy of nursing has probably changed. As a final review, polish your philosophy of nursing based on your newly acquired knowledge.
Also, write a summary reflection answering the following questions based on the readings and discussions throughout the course:
As an art and a science, how has your personal nursing philosophy unfolded?
Have there been ideas that have challenged your personal values or assumptions?
Personal Nursing Philosophy
Even though the laws and code of ethics define what nursing should entail, each person has
their conception of the profession. People develop their understanding of the profession through
readings, research, and experience. Like other people, my interactions with nurses, research,
education, and personal experiences have also enabled me to develop a philosophy that directs
me in my nursing education and practice. Nursing involves applying a mixture of science and
liberal arts knowledge to care for patients and prevent healthcare issues. My understanding of
nursing is that professionals consider environmental factors to help people improve their health.
Nursing involves metaparadigms. Nursing, to me, is a humanistic profession in which
members use their understanding of arts and science to help people improve their outcomes. My
definition is affected by Watson’s theory. According to the scholar, people get nursing when they
cannot meet their needs (Wei et al., 2019) therefore, professionals have the competence to
achieve the best outcomes possible. For instance, when one feels pain and does not know why,
they seek care, and nursing involves assessing them, communicating, and implementing
treatment plans. The metaparadigms of ‘person’ is used to define clients of care who usually have
rights that should be respected. Nurses primarily serve patients’ needs. For instance, they may
help them reduce pain. Persons’ rights include autonomy and privacy. The third metaparadigms
is ‘environment’. The concept concerns people’s surroundings. For instance, it concerns where
people work, their education, food, and any other factor that may affect their health outcomes.
Nurses can help people by manipulating their environments to ensure they can access what they
need to achieve optimal health. The ‘health’ paradigm is a continuum that starts from illness to
well-being (Deliktas et al., 2019). Healthcare providers help people move across the continuum
from the illness side to the wellness side.
Apart from the four metaparadigms, there are some changes I may make to improve
outcomes. Community is one concept that should be added to the metaparadigm. ‘Community’ is
a group of people with some characteristics in common (Abbasinia et al., 2020). The concept is
important in nursing because public health and preventive care target people who may not be
sick but be at risk for certain illnesses. This concept would fit as a metaparadigm because the
goal is similar; achieving the best possible nursing outcome for people in need. I do not see a
metaparadigm that should be removed as they are all equally crucial in nursing.. All four are
important and should be retained alongside the new metaparadigm of community. Removing a
concept will make it harder to understand nursing as a practice.
In conclusion, nursing is a humanistic area in which liberal arts relate to patients when
providing treatments based on science. The concept of community should be added to improve
the understanding of nursing. The field has ethics and regulations that determine what
professionals should do. The four metaparadigms describe four of the most important nursing
concepts that learners should understand and define to understand the field.
References
Abbasinia, M., Ahmadi, F., & Kazemnejad, A. (2020). Patient advocacy in nursing: A
concept analysis. Nursing ethics, 27(1), 141-151.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0969733019832950
Deliktas, A., Korukcu, O., Aydin, R., & Kabukcuoglu, K. (2019). Nursing students’
perceptions of nursing metaparadigms: A phenomenological study. The Journal of
Nursing Research, 27(5), e45. Doi: 10.1097/jnr.0000000000000311
Wei, H., Fazzone, P. A., Sitzman, K., & Hardin, S. R. (2019). The Current Intervention
Studies Based on Watson’s Theory of Human Caring: A Systematic Review.
International Journal for Human Caring, 23(1). DOI:10.20467/1091-5710.23.1.4