Nursing Philosophy

Author: Evans, Subject: Nursing, Type: Essay, Number of pages: 4

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Why I chose nursing as a profession

Individuals have to make decisions about their lives. The decisions made could be either personal or with the help of friends, mentors and family members. One of the best decisions I have ever made in my life is choosing nursing as my career. My passion for nursing began mainly when growing up in Uganda, Africa where I volunteered in a medical clinic for a year and half. It is during this period that I learned of my attributes of caring for the sick and demonstrating emotional intelligence to both the patient and family. What amazed me most is seeing the patient who came in very sick, recover after just three days of therapy. It was really satisfying to see that I could be part of a team that would save people’s lives.

Nursing is about interacting with the patient (Erdent & Altuntas, 2017). I considered nursing as a real connection with humanity since the profession entails giving hope and happiness to the patient and their families, and consoling those in need. As a result, I connected the choice of practicing nursing, to one be in a position of fulfilling my desire. I also hold certain features such as kindness, sympathetic, and caring. These personal characteristics are necessary for any individual wishing to practice nursing as their careers. The other reason for the choice of nursing as my current career is its current and future demand. The rapid changes and developments in the world would make some of the current jobs redundant. In the case of nursing, there will be no replacement. Nurses fill in the position of promoting wee-informed diagnoses, ensure continuity of care following discharge and using connected care to support better outcomes the future nursing practice will focus more on care, with this demanding the presence of nurses.

 

Even though the choice of nursing as a profession was a personal decision, one of the periods in my life contributed to the choice of this career. My interest to be a nurse also grew when my mom was diagnosed with severe malaria and was admitted in the ICU for a while. I saw the nurses ensuring meticulous care by maintaining mom in a semi-prone position to avoid aspiration of fluid. Besides, the nurses caring for mom were monitoring her temperature, pulse, level of consciousness, blood pressure and respiration every four hours. The nurses were also reporting any changes in behavior of my mom to the doctor in charge of her treatment. My mom later recovered and it was at this point that I knew I would like to spend the rest of my life taking care of patients and putting smiles on the families.

Nursing as per my understanding

International Council of Nurses (2019) describes nursing, “As an integral part of the health care system, encompasses the promotion of health, prevention of illness, and care of physically ill, mentally ill, and disabled people of all ages, in all health care and other community settings.” The council of nurses in the above statement pointed out on the important functions, which a nurse can perform when providing care to the patient. I believe that nursing is more than the above roles definition by the International Council of Nurses. The care should not focus only on their physical wellbeing but also touch on their social, emotional as well as spiritual status. Nursing is therefore a profession that ensures that patients benefit from holistic, patient-centered care. Nurses should be ready to listen to patient concerns and involve them in the decision-making process. More importantly, nurses are always in the forefront to initiate communication with the patient to commence and continue with treatment. Although nursing entails several activities, I rate nursing as a practice of preventing illnesses and building relations. The latter is crucial, since it helps comfort patients when they are in lowest point of their illness.

Advice to a Person intending to choose Nursing as a Career

Selecting my future career was difficult since I had to weigh in options. I anticipate students face the same problem when deciding to choose a profession such as nursing. The first recommendation I would provide to a person wishing to select nursing, as their future career, is to analyze if they have the quality and willingness to provide care to others (Bradham, Dalme & Thompson, 2016). It is common to hear the phrase “nursing is a calling.” Nursing involve difficult situations, worsened by the state of the patient and or the family. A nurse is supposed to switch their roles from being medical providers to a comforter and a friend of the patient and the family members. The requirement demands that a student wishing to be a nurse should have additional qualities such as exhibiting friendly behavior and strong personal traits. Besides, I would advise a student willing to pursue nursing as their course that there is an array of duties. What prevents the majority of students from choosing nursing as a career is the fear of handling all care duties. Nursing involves diverse duties, with each of these duties requiring a healthcare personnel (Himmelfarb, Commodore-Mensah & Hill, 2016). More importantly, nursing offers a wide range of opportunities making it the most preferable course for anyone who is planning to join the medical field.

References

Bradham, C. U., Dalme, F. C., & Thompson, P. J. (2016). Personality traits valued by practicing nurses and measured in nursing students. Journal of Nursing Education, 29(5), 225-232.

Erdenk, N., & Altuntaş, S. (2017). Do personality traits of nurses have an effect on conflict management strategies?. Journal of nursing management, 25(5), 366-374.

Himmelfarb, C. R. D., Commodore-Mensah, Y., & Hill, M. N. (2016). Expanding the role of nurses to improve hypertension care and control globally. Annals of Global health, 82(2), 243-253.

International Council of Nurses (2019). Nursing Definitions. Retrieved from https://www.icn.ch/nursing-policy/nursing-definitions