WRITING ABOUT Nursing Philosophy!

mitchsmom · Oct 14, 2005

I included my desire to become a CNM, to use evidence-based practice, etc.

You could talk about combining caring & technology, combining a certain interest or experience with nursing (for example, if you used to be a teacher you could say you want to combine the two (which may be a hit since there is such a need for nursing instructors!), if you love kids you could say you want to combine nursing & kids to work in pediatrics.... doesn't really matter if that's what you end up doing later).

What IS your philosophy? You goals? If you don't know, you can say your goal is to take full advantage of the experience of nursing school in order to become the best graduate nurse possible, with an excellent base for continued growth as an RN (LPN or whatever you are applying for).

If you want to get more creative, you could look up some of the nursing theorists and pick one that you like and explain why. (Florence Nightingale, Ernestine Wiedenbach, Virginia Henderson, Faye Glenn Abdellah, Patricia Benner, Dorothea Orem, Martha Rogers, Sister Callista Roy, Betty Neuman, Imogene King, Hildegard Peplau, Ida Jean Orlando, Joyce Travelbee, Madeleine Leininger are some names - the college's library may have a nursing theorist book (ours was Nursing Theorists & Their Work, ISBN 0323011934).

Another idea- if someone you know is a nurse & has inspired you, you could talk about that.

Good luck!

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Oct 16, 2005

So, it's Sunday morning and I'm going through the student forum and looking at the different posts and come along to yours. It's been on the forum for 3 days and only one person has posted a reply. That should be a red flag right there that a lot of students don't have a clue what this a philosophy of nursing is! First of all, you need to understand what a philosophy of anything is. It is a system of principals upon which you conduct life. For nursing, it is a system of principals upon which nursing practice is based. One of the most common is the stress theory--that nurses base what they do for patients on relieving or supporting their stress. Another theory would be that all living beings interact with the world around them and nursing acts as an advocate in helping the patient navigate through their environment. Yet another theory is that nursing assists people in maintaining an optimum level of functioning. This is what your instructor is looking for in a paper. I think the question you want your paper to answer is what is the overall purpose of nursing. That will be YOUR philosophy of nursing. Your career goals, then, would be tied in to how you would achieve that purpose as a practitioner.

ICRN2008, BSN, RN · Oct 16, 2005

When we wrote our nursing philosophy papers for Fundamentals class, they asked us to address our definition of human beings, human rights and the nurse's role, and our beliefs about people, the environment, health and nursing. These might be jumping off points.

IMO: While it's good to be aware of what the nursing theorists think, the school probably wants your PERSONAL philosophy of nursing. To that end, it would probably not be a good idea to quote one of the theorists and then say that you agree with her. Good luck!

mitchsmom · Oct 17, 2005

So, it's Sunday morning and I'm going through the student forum and looking at the different posts and come along to yours. It's been on the forum for 3 days and only one person has posted a reply. That should be a red flag right there that a lot of students don't have a clue what this a philosophy of nursing is! First of all, you need to understand what a philosophy of anything is. It is a system of principals upon which you conduct life. For nursing, it is a system of principals upon which nursing practice is based. One of the most common is the stress theory--that nurses base what they do for patients on relieving or supporting their stress. Another theory would be that all living beings interact with the world around them and nursing acts as an advocate in helping the patient navigate through their environment. Yet another theory is that nursing assists people in maintaining an optimum level of functioning. This is what your instructor is looking for in a paper. I think the question you want your paper to answer is what is the overall purpose of nursing. That will be YOUR philosophy of nursing. Your career goals, then, would be tied in to how you would achieve that purpose as a practitioner.

:yeahthat:

ßęllą · May 16, 2011

Thanks everyone for all your posts! This has been really helpful for me to focus on what I want to pursue as a soon to be RN!