A properly defined philosophy is vital in modern healthcare practice because it stimulates critical thinking and ethical decision-making. A philosophy, according to Scruton (2005), assures that individuals can always retain integrity and truth. As a result, nurses and other healthcare practitioners are frequently encouraged to accept a philosophy that will guide them in their daily activities. This essay will attempt to construct a nursing philosophy, with a particular emphasis on the definition of values, beliefs, and concepts related to people's health and the nursing environment. Furthermore, it will depict the interdependence of the aforementioned factors and illustrate how deviation from health/wellness affects the interaction between an individual, nursing, and the environment. Lastly, the paper will reveal the important concepts of nursing.
Definition and Description of Values, Beliefs, and Concepts
Master (2015) has defined values as ideals or principles that healthcare professionals utilize to gain the meaning and direction in their social, professional, and professional activities. Based on this definition, every nurse needs core values to support their vision, shape their professional culture, and reflect on what is best for a particular patient. Similarly, as a nursing student, it is imperative for me to possess values, which would provide guidance and assist in my professional decision-making.
Education as well as personal experience has ensured that I have three major core values in relation people health and the nursing environment. These values include integrity, competence, and being caring. As nurses, being caring is essential, because it allows you to show compassion to all your patients and provide the required services effectively. Additionally, showing integrity by respecting the dignity and privacy of patients is prior to being a successful nurse. A nurse should also be competent to ensure that all duties and services are completed or provided to the satisfaction of patient as well as the healthcare facility.
Beliefs among healthcare professionals are accepted standards or norms that are often considered true (Masters, 2015). However, a belief may be true or untrue because it is unproven. Different nurses hold different beliefs based on their background, education, and understanding of the nursing profession. Despite the difference, there are some shared beliefs held by nurses and other healthcare professions. These beliefs are often tied to standardized definitions of people, healthcare services, environment, and illness. My belief is that every patient deserves the best possible care irrespective of his/her background, social status, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or age.
In the modern era, healthcare disparities exist, especially in relation to the quality of services. People of different ages, gender, ethnicity, or social class often receive different quality of service. For instance, the rich tend to get a better quality of service compared to middle-class and poor people. However, it should not be the case, because every human deserves high-quality care. Hence, it is my belief that every nurse should provide a high-quality service. It is also my belief that all nurses should operate ethically. The concept of ethical decision-making is one of the most challenging issues in nursing. It is especially true in the modern society where the government has legalized a practice, such as euthanasia. Therefore, I believe that in order to ensure proper nursing practices ethical decision-making should be a key component of nursing.
Interrelation between Values, Beliefs, and Concepts
Values, beliefs, and health care concepts are intertwined in an easily understandable relationship, which ensures nurses can deliver their services without too much conflict. Values are the core aspects of nursing, which facilitate the rise of beliefs and the understanding of nursing concepts as well as people and the environment. Nurses’ values act as a basic building block, which determines the beliefs they would adopt as well as the healthcare concepts they would embrace. For instance, a nurse with integrity would not believe in dishonest practices. Based on this premise, my values of integrity, competence, and being caring interrelate with my beliefs in the sense that as a nurse I have to be caring to ensure that I can provide indiscriminate and high-quality services to all the patients. Additionally, providing quality services to all patients without discrimination would require that I am also competent in my duties and have a high level of integrity to ensure that all patients receive quality care.
The belief of ethical decision-making is also dependent on all the three core values. A nurse has to care about the patients and job in order to adhere to ethics. Ethics is also subjected to integrity and competence (Benjamin & Curtis, 2010). Nurses should possess integrity and competence to ensure that they can make ethical decisions. Values are also key components in determining other healthcare concepts such as nurses’ treatment and attitude towards a person and the nature of the healthcare environment. Integrity, competence, and being caring contribute to a positive and serene healthcare environment. Patients receive quality medical attention in an environment that is guided by the three values.
Effects of Deviation Health/Wellness
Values and beliefs provide guidelines, which ensure the proper health/wellness of individuals, nurses, and the nursing environment. Therefore, deviation from the values and beliefs has consequences on health/wellness, which, in turn, have implications on people, nursing, and the environment. In this case, deviation from integrity, competence, and good care is bound to affect the quality of healthcare services, because nurses would be placing the patients at medical risk. Integrity, good care, and competence may ensure that patients get the right services, such as the correct dosage of medicine, right prescription, and quality of service. Therefore, when nurses abandon integrity, patients may end up with a poor quality of service, thus influence their health/wellness. When patients do not receive an appropriate care, the nursing profession, as well as the environment gains a poor reputation. A poor reputation in nursing and health care environment often depletes the value of a facility. Dalmolin, Lunardi, Barlem, and da Silveira (2012) have asserted that deviation from values often leads to a moral distress within a healthcare organization. Consequently, it contributes to the poor working environment, since the probability of workplace conflict between staff members and other employees, as well as staff members and clients.
Important Concepts in Nursing
There are essential nursing concepts, which encompass health, illness, stress, and health promotion. Nurses collaborate with physicians and other medical staff within a huge variety of medical and community settings. They come up preventive, foremost, crucial and constant custody for sick and injured patients with health facts, restorative responsibility, treatment administration and emergency protection. Nursing care put emphases on guarding and providing patients and the community with physical and mental health.
Concepts are abstractions or mental images that may refer to a range of things in nursing. Hence, different concepts may have different meanings to people, because they are not self-evident. Concepts have different functions. For instance, they may be used to develop theories, used to enhance nursing practices, and in other cases, they are operationalised to ensure a good quality of services. In the development of this philosophy, the important concepts have been ethical decision-making and high-quality services (Benjamin & Curtis, 2010). However, other important concepts such as respect and collaboration are crucial in the nursing profession. Respect is an essential concept in nursing, because it allows colleagues to recognize the value of others and work harmoniously based on these values. Respect is also a precursor to collaboration. By collaborating nurses can share ideas, thoughts, and equipment to accomplish different tasks. Therefore, it is always important to recognize these concepts in the nursing profession.
Conclusion
To sum up, the nursing profession in the modern society requires the existence of a philosophy, which provides guidance and allows people to think critically and ethically. This essay has been aimed at developing a nursing philosophy by highlighting the important values, beliefs, and concepts. Evidently, the philosophy has developed the adoption of three major values such as integrity, caring, and competence. Moreover, the philosophy has been based on the belief that all the patients deserve high-quality services, and nurses should adhere to ethical decision-making. In addition, it has also been imperative that nurses encourage collaboration and respect. Adherence to these philosophical aspects has been bound to encourage a good working environment and health. However, deviation from the philosophy would contribute to poor services, conflicts, and an unhealthy working environment. Hence, it is crucial to follow the philosophy to ensure the wellness of people and the quality of performance from nurses.
References
Benjamin, M., & Curtis, J. (2010). Ethics in nursing: Cases, principles, and reasoning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dalmolin, G.D., Lunardi, V.L., Barlem, E.L., & da Silveira, R.S. (2012). Implications of moral distress on nurses and its similarities with Burnout. Texto Contexto-Efermagem, 21(1). Retrieved on January-March, 2012 from http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0104-07072012000100023
Masters, K. (2015). Role development in professional nursing practice. Burlington, MA: Jones & Barnett Learning.
Scruton, R. (2005). Philosophy: Principles and problems. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Addendum
Nursing Philosophy Model
The model below depicts the relationship between values beliefs and concepts of nursing. According to the model, values contribute to the existence of both beliefs and important concepts. In the model, the nurses’ beliefs are shaped by their values. Consequently, they should not contradict each other. Therefore, the integrity competence and caring are precursors to the belief that everybody deserves high-quality services and nurses should adhere to ethics. In addition, these values also contribute to important concepts such as respect and collaboration. Beliefs are also known to further the existence of key nursing concepts.
VALUES
- Integrity
- Caring
- Competence
Precursor to
BELIEFS
- Everybody deserves high-quality health care to all
- Nurses should adhere to ethics
Contributes to adherence in
IMPORTANT CONCEPTS
- Respect
- Collaboration
Contributes to adherence in
