What IS Nursing anyway???????? Will someone tell me before I run screaming into the streets!!!!!!!!
This, my friend, is a very good question. When I started my graduate program one of our first assignments was to write a personal philosophy of nursing. That is, an honest analysis and critique of your personal fundamental beliefs of what nursing is as they are conceptualized and formulated by you. Also, what are the fundamental motivating factors behind your individual nursing practice.
I have to admit that it was a very difficult and soul searching process to write a personal nursing philosophy. However, I would encourage all nurses to do this as we are all unique and yet, we all hold some similar values about the profession.
It took me a while to get started because I had no idea what to write, but after the initial brain block, I ended up with 15 type written pages. It's therapeutic to write about your personal challenges and joys of your nursing practice as well as clarification of your personal standards, what motivates you, what exhausts you, and what is important to you on a personal level. This way when you're standing alone at the mouth of the dragons den you know exactly how far you will go to compromise or battle the dragon without allowing yourself to be swallowed whole.
I sometimes go back and read it and change things as my perceptions change with various experiences. I'm no Aristotle by any stretch of the imagination, but I think the question, "What is nursing?" has both an individual/personal definition and a collective definition.
Just my 2 pennies worth. Sorry that I got off the topic of the thread.
Linda
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