Philosophy of Nursing Practice

A philosophy of nursing practice provides an outline of the nurse’s beliefs, ethics,
motivation, and values (McEwin & Wills, 2014). It covers the perspective of the nurse with
regards to issues, such as their education, patient care, and general practice. A philosophy of
nursing practice helps nurses to identify appropriate nursing theories to guide their choices in
their daily practice in addition to helping them accommodate some of the emerging issues in
the field. The paper examines my philosophy of nursing practice, how it integrates with
emerging issues in healthcare and how it is supported with various middle range nursing
theories and interdisciplinary theories.

Philosophy statement

My philosophy of nursing practice is providing care to my patients and their relatives
that is empathetic, holistic, and culturally sensitive. This philosophy is drawn from my core
values that I have developed through my experience and expertise. My core values that have
informed my philosophy are compassion, kindness, lifelong, empathy, and life-long learning.
I have developed these values through my experience in ICU and progressive care units
where I frequently care for patients whose families are extremely worried about their
outcomes. In such situations, compassion, kindness, and empathy have enabled me to provide
the patient and their families hope for positive health outcomes and comfort when they lose
their loved ones. Additionally, my work in the orthopedic and neuro unit has informed my
value of lifelong learning. Thanks to research and development, evidence-based practice
guidelines as well as new technologies are regularly developed and introduced to promote
health outcomes of patients. In such an environment, I have had to constantly learn new care
methods and technologies in order to effectively care for the patients.

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In developing my personal nursing philosophy, I characterized the nursing discipline
or profession using the four meta-paradigm concepts. The four concepts are person, health,
environment, and nursing (McEwin & Wills, 2014). My personal nursing philosophy
addresses each of these concepts. With regards to person, I believe in providing holistic care
to my patients. I do not isolate a patient’s illness or immediate medical concern from their
whole self because I believe that there is a strong interrelationship between a patient’s health
status and other facets of their lives. To this end, I make sure that my care addresses their
whole self, including their spiritual and emotional needs.

Additionally, just the same way I do not isolate immediate health problems of patients
from other aspects of their lives, I also believe that a patient cannot be isolated from their
environment as there is a strong interrelationship between the two as well. The physical and
human environment in which a patient lives contributes significantly to their health
outcomes.

The third meta-paradigm concept on which I base my philosophy is health. For me, I
do not just focus on restoring a patient’s health; I focus on their quality of life. I try as much
as possible to ensure that patients live long and meaningful lives once they have left the care
facilities.

Lastly, my philosophy also addresses the meta-paradigm concept of nursing. At the
heart of my approach to nursing is the understanding that each patient has unique needs.
Thus, any plan of action to address the health needs of a patient must be based on careful
assessment of these unique needs. Secondly, I believe that nursing is an evolving profession
whose practice keeps on changing as new information emerges from research and new
technologies become available for use in nursing practice. Therefore, I am a strong believer
in lifelong education to improve my ability to effectively care for my patients.

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Explain how your philosophy can accommodate your expanded awareness of practice
issues as a DNP.

My philosophy is flexible enough to accommodate some of the emerging issues in
healthcare and nursing in particular. These issues include diversity, global health, and
interdisciplinary collaboration. As stated, I strive to provide care that is empathetic and
culturally sensitive. Nurses are increasingly having to work diverse and global patient
populations (McDermott-Levy, Leffers & Mayaka, 2018). In order to effectively care for
such patients, it is important to be empathetic, respectful, and knowledgeable of diverse
cultures. A key component of my philosophy is that I do not isolate a patient’s healthcare
conditions from their whole self, including the spiritual and emotional needs. Additionally,
when developing a plan for a patient I take into consideration that unique needs, including
conditions of their environment. This approach that is anchored in my philosophy of nursing
helps and will continue to help me in navigating some of the key emerging issues in nursing
and health care in general.
Explain how your philosophy reflects or supports advocacy of social change as a DNP.

One of the pillars of my nursing philosophy is acknowledgement of the role that the
environment plays in an individual’s health outcomes. Socio-economic factors, government
policies on issues, such as tobacco use, and working conditions have a great effect on the
health outcomes of individuals. Given my philosophy’s acknowledgment of the immense role
that the environment plays in determining the health outcomes of patients, my deep desire to
restore patients to health and improve their quality of life can only be achieved through
strong advocacy for social change with regard to some of the major determinants of health.
To this end, I am strong supporter of making quality healthcare services accessible to all
through addressing the high costs of care.

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Identify at least two middle range nursing theories and explain how they support your
philosophy of nursing practice. Be specific and provide examples.

Middle range nursing theories provide nurses with a concrete framework to handle
complex situations they encounter in their daily practice. They lie between situation-specific
theories and grand nursing theories. Compared to grand nursing theories, they have fewer
concrete propositions. However, unlike grand nursing theories, their propositions can be
empirically tested (McEwin & Wills, 2014). Two middle range theories that support my
philosophy of nursing practice are Swanson Theory of Caring and collective action model.

Swanson Theory of Caring deals with recovery of patients after the loss of their baby
through miscarriages (Agusta, Kusnanto & Novian, 2019). It aligns with my philosophy of
nursing practice because the theory requires nurses to extend their focus beyond the physical
condition of the patient to other facets of their lives that are affected by such a loss. In the
case of mothers losing their babies through miscarriages, the mother and the father as well as
their families suffer immense emotional pain. There are also a host of other socio-cultural
issues to navigate depending on the cultural background of the patient. As a nurse I believe in
caring not just for the patient but also for their families because they are often also affected
by the patient’s health condition and outcomes. Additionally, I take a holistic approach to
care as I am usually keen to address the patient’s emotional and spiritual well-being as well
the physical well-being of the patient. By advocating for a holistic approach to care for
mothers who have experienced miscarriages, the Swanson Theory of Caring is wholly
aligned with my philosophy of nursing practice.

Collective action model is another middle range nursing theory that is aligned with
my philosophy of nursing practice. Collective action model is a health promotion theory that
recognizes the interrelationship between the environment and individual health outcomes

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(Stephen & Gallagher, 2020). According to the theory, individual health is usually dependent
on factors that are beyond the control of the individual. Due to this fact, it is important to
improve societal structures that have a major effect on health of individuals as a first step of
improving health outcomes of individuals. This theory is aligned with my philosophy of
nursing practice which advocates for addressing various social and economic determinants of
health as a means of improving health outcomes of individuals.

Explain how one or more interdisciplinary theories inform your philosophy of nursing
practice. Be specific and provide examples.

The two interdisciplinary theories that inform my philosophy of nursing are Parse’s
Human Becoming theory and critical social theory. Parse’s Human Becoming Theory
provides an important guide for practicing nurses (Tapp & Lavoie, 2017). According to this
theory, the focus of nursing practice should be to improve the quality of life of patients (Tapp
& Lavoie, 2017). The achieved quality of life is from the perspective of the patient rather
than the nurse. This theory informs my philosophy of nursing practice because I too believe
that the primary goal of a nurse is not just to have the patient healed but also to help them
achieve the highest quality of life possible.

The other interdisciplinary theory that influences my philosophy of nursing practice is
critical social theory. In general, the theory studies differences between people based on
established statuses, such as socio-economic status. In healthcare, the theory is used to study
how differences, such as genetics and socio-economic status affect health outcomes of
different people (Collins, 2019). This theory is aligned with my philosophy of taking into
consideration individual level factors when preparing healthcare plans for patients and being
age, gender, and culturally sensitive in my care. My sensitivity to differences among patients

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is informed by my strong belief that such differences have a major impact on their health
outcomes.

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References

Agusta, D. E., Kusnanto, K., & Novian, M. A. (2019). Evaluation of Patient Satisfaction and
Nurse Caring Behaviour: Based on Swanson’s Theory. Indian Journal of Public
Health Research & Development, 10(8), 2698-2702.

Collins, P. H. (2019). Intersectionality as critical social theory. Duke University Press.

McDermott-Levy, R., Leffers, J., & Mayaka, J. (2018). Ethical principles and guidelines of
global health nursing practice. Nursing outlook, 66(5), 473-481.

McEwin, M., & Wills, E.M. (2014). Theoretical basis for nursing. (4th ed.). Philadelphia,
PA: Wolters Kluwer Health.

Stephen, C., & Gallagher, C. (2020). Health Promotion as a Foundation for Reciprocal Care
and Collective Action. In Animals, Health, and Society (pp. 53-68). CRC Press.

Tapp, D., & Lavoie, M. (2017). The Humanbecoming theory as a reinterpretation of the
symbolic interactionism: a critique of its specific nature and scientific
underpinnings. Nursing Philosophy, 18(2), e12123.