Compassion and Caring: My Philosophy of Nursing Practice In nursing, it is important to have a personal philosophy of the profession. It dictates how a person deals with the day-to-day tasks and obstacles that nurses will face. Patient populations are ever-changing, with some much sicker than others, and various lengths of stay expected. The nurse will encounter different cultures and beliefs in their practice, some contrary to their own. Their philosophy of nursing will be evident with how they handle the various aspects of the job. One thing that all patients have in common is that they are in a vulnerable situation. They are in the hospital, many confined to their room or bed. Some have family with them. Others must face their …show more content…

They are there to serve the patient, not the system that they work in. When a nurse begins to climb the nursing hierarchy, it becomes much easier for them to lose sight of the reason that function, which is to care for and work towards the benefit the health of patients. Jean Watson’s theory concerned caring for the patient as a whole. She focused not just on their physical needs, but their mental and spiritual needs as well. Watson “proposed that nursing be concerned with spiritual matters and the inner knowledge of nurse and patient as they participate together in the …caring process (Black 2009, p. 384). I believe that people influenced by here are more likely to be more in tune with their patients’ physical and psychosocial needs. By being more aware of their psychosocial needs, the nurse is better able to care for the physical needs of the patient. A patient that feels they can talk to the nurse is more likely to discuss their medical problems that the physician might be unaware of. When the nurse pays attention to all needs, I believe that the patient receives better care, which is what all nurses should be striving to do.
Beliefs and Values I believe that patients should be a nurse’s number one priority. Without the patient, the nursing profession would not exist. I believe that the patient puts a lot of trust in the medical profession, and we should respect that