Introduction
Nursing and healthcare remain spheres that involve constant communication with people who may demonstrate different behavior due to problems that they face. Considering this fact, it is necessary to note that the ability to clearly understand the goals of such work and ethical principles that can help a person to become a good healthcare specialist is extremely important. To put it in other words, it is impossible to achieve professional integrity if one does not understand which values are the most significant for him or her. In the present paper, I define and explain my thoughts and beliefs related to the profession and four important concepts of the nursing metaparadigms, such as the attitude to clients, the environment, health, and nursing.
Factors Influencing the Development of Personal Philosophy
Indeed, shaping personal philosophy is a task that may sometimes be connected with a range of problems. Speaking about the factors that may have an impact on the assumptions of a future specialist, it is necessary to mention previous experience related to healthcare and the reason why a person has chosen nursing (Scott, Matthews, & Kirwan, 2014). More than that, I suppose that origin of a person may also have a significant impact on her or his professional philosophy as representatives of dissimilar cultures can be extremely different with regard to their values.
The Concepts of the Nursing Metaparadigms
There are four important elements of the nursing metaparadigm, and the attitude of a professional to these concepts can define his or her personal nursing philosophy. The first concept is related to the vision of the client. Personally, I support a few important ideas that are connected to the most appropriate attitude of a healthcare specialist towards a client. To begin with, I strongly believe that the use of a patient-centered approach is extremely important for every healthcare provider because it is the primary goal of every nurse to apply all the methods that are available in order to ameliorate the physical and mental condition of a patient.
In fact, I suppose that attitude to patients defines the professional integrity of a nurse. Nevertheless, it can also be stated that those nurses who definitely care about the condition of their patients should put an increased focus on patient education.
To me, it is obvious that the importance of proper self-care should not be underestimated; there is no doubt that those patients who are aware of possible risks related to their present health conditions and the ways to mitigate them can decrease the probability of readmission and improve the quality of their lives by their efforts. Therefore, my personal philosophy aligns with the theory proposed by Orem that highlights the importance of self-care and provides nursing specialists with recommendations on how to teach patients successfully (O’Shaughnessy, 2014).
The second element of the nursing metaparadigms that is crucial for personal nursing philosophy is the environment. As for me, it is obligatory for a healthcare specialist to take into account the influence that his or her work may have on the environment. What is more, the way that patients see this problem is also extremely important. Due to that, providing patients with the relevant information allowing them to take care of themselves and keep track of their physical condition, it can be necessary to touch upon the links between the environment and healthcare practices in order to ensure that they understand possible consequences of their actions.
The next concept that also defines the personal philosophy of a nurse is health. As for me, I see health as one of the primary values related to healthcare. Taking into account the assumptions connected with patients that I support, I believe that there are no circumstances that can be considered as a convincing reason to put patients’ lives and health at risk.
As for the assumptions related to nursing, I can say that my point of view aligns with the main points of the theory developed by Phil Barker – the so-called Tidal Model (Alligood, 2014). According to this theory, while providing patients with care, it is necessary to focus on the opportunities for recovery rather than on weaknesses and problems. More than that, the author of the theory supposes that it is extremely important for a specialist to pay attention to beliefs, previous experience, and personal goals of a patient. As for my philosophy of nursing, I agree that a positive attitude and respect towards patients’ beliefs can make treatment more effective. Furthermore, in my future practice, I will try to follow these rules as well.
Conclusion
In the end, there is no doubt that personal philosophy remains important as it serves as a touchstone allowing nursing specialists to help patients and act in accordance with their beliefs and values. As for my personal philosophy, it is strictly interconnected with the theories by Orem and Barker. In general, I believe that nursing is about providing patients with both emotional support and care; apart from that, teaching patients to take care of themselves can also be significant.
References
Alligood, M. R. (2014). Nursing theorists and their work. Greenville, NC: Elsevier Health Sciences.
O’Shaughnessy, M. (2014). Application of Dorothea Orem’s theory of self-care to the elderly patient on peritoneal dialysis. Nephrology Nursing Journal, 41(5), 495.
Scott, P. A., Matthews, A., & Kirwan, M. (2014). What is nursing in the 21st century and what does the 21st century health system require of nursing? Nursing Philosophy, 15(1), 23-34.