Philosophy in Nursing

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PHILOSOPHY IN NURSING

Sarah A Gillespie

University of North Carolina at Pembroke

Abstract

This paper is a reflection and evaluation the author’s personal philosophy of nursing. This is accomplished using the framework of the nursing meta-paradigm that includes: person, environment, health, and nursing. There are many aspects of the meta-paradigm that impact healthcare both in positive and negative ways. In looking at the author’s philosophy of nursing, one can see that they enjoy helping people and making a difference in their lives. Even with a brief nursing career, most nurses will agree that nursing has been and will remain one of the most satisfying careers; “…as long as there are people that have the desire to change the world, one relationship at a time”. (Pellico, 2006, p.33) Many people enter nursing for personal reasons, such as having to learn how to take care of a loved one with a new diagnosis or having family in the nursing field. This paper will also show growth in the baccalaureate nursing program from the original philosophy paper.

Philosophy of Nursing

This paper will discuss and show how the four nursing meta-paradigm concepts of person, nursing, health, and environment are used in developing a personal philosophy of nursing. Person includes the recipient of care such as patients, their families, and communities as a whole. “Attention to physical care without attention to the person, to persons in isolation without attention to their social and environmental community, to dependence without independence, to freedom without responsibility, to objectivity without subjectivity, to complexity without unifying principle, to the physical without the transcendent are each inadequate accounts of what it means to be a person in a nursing encounter.” The

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