I recently discovered that I want to become a nurse, and the change happened within the past few years. I always wanted to become a doctor, but I could never pinpoint why. I wanted to help patients, but many occupations have that duty. It never occurred to me why I wanted to help patients until I started working in the hospital as a PCT at UPMC Presbyterian. My main goal was to impact a patient’s life and cater to the patient’s whole self: physically, socially, and emotionally. I wanted to make the patients as comfortable as possible during their stay at the hospital and let them know that I genuinely cared. I would do things such as change the channel to their favorite network, ensure they are comfortable while in bed and adjust lighting/temperature to fit the patients’ needs. I would often stay over my shift and converse with patients, especially with no visitors. Catering to these needs is essential to establishing a healthy relationship with patients. Therefore, I decided I would be a better nurse than pursuing medicine as a doctor.
Even though there are many nursing theorists, I have explored three of them that are connected with my vision of nursing philosophy. They are Florence Nightingale, Katherine Kolcaba, and Jean Watson. The similarities in their beliefs are associated with the patient-centered approach to nursing. It supposes that the ill person should feel as comfortable in the hospital as possible, and the nurse’s responsibility is to ensure that all patient needs are satisfied.
Florence Nightingale believed in meeting the personal needs of patients in the hospital environment. She emphasized the importance of checking the patient’s state regularly and visited patients even at night to ensure their demands were met (McCann et al., 2021). In addition, Nightingale insisted on strictly following the hygiene rules in the nursing profession, which allowed her to significantly reduce the death rate among her patients (McCann et al., 2021). She was the person who showed that following sanitary requirements improves the results of healthcare services significantly. The actions of Florence Nightingale made nursing a respected profession requiring specialists’ skills and knowledge (McCann et al., 2021). These views expressed by Nightingale correspond to modern-day nursing requirements and emphasize the importance of combining sanitary standards with an attentive attitude to the patient.
Katherine Kolcaba focused on the impact of patient comfort in a patient’s recovery time. There are four levels of comfort and relief according to her perspective, including the environmental, sociocultural, psychospiritual, and physical (Pinto et al., 2017). This theory has been actively applied in nursing since the 1990s, proving its effectiveness (Pinto et al., 2017). The peculiar detail is that Kolcaba’s view of comfort has a scale that allows nurses to objectively evaluate the level of stress and inconvenience the patient experiences, which facilitates the nurse’s work. The critical detail is that there are three forms of comfort: transcendence, ease, and relief (Pinto et al., 2017). For instance, the notion of relief is connected with the state when the patient receives painkillers after the operation, making their condition more comfortable. The concept of contentment supposes the state when the patient does not feel anxious and is in a calm state. The idea of transcendence is connected with the ability of the patient to overcome the suffering they face and to cope with the inconveniences of their condition (Pinto et al., 2017). All three notions should be achieved in complexity, which proves that nursing requires a holistic and patient-centered approach.
Of these three, my nursing philosophy mostly aligns with Jean Watson’s theory of caring. I chose Jean Watson because she understands that caring is the core of nursing and believes caring promotes better health simultaneously with medical care (Pajnkihar et al., 2017). Dr. Watson specialized not only in nursing but also in psychiatric–mental health, which allowed her to develop professional insight into the importance of the emotional and spiritual well-being of the patient. In addition, her degree in counseling and educational psychology will enable her to develop a practically applicable system that allows nurses to use her knowledge in professional activities (Pajnkihar et al., 2017). She focused on caring for the patient while also practicing self-care. She believed bringing a caring aspect to nursing can promote the health of others and hopefully result in the satisfaction of specific human needs. The nursing theory’s three main elements are articulated by Watson: the caring moment between the patient and nurse, the description of ten creative factors, and a transpersonal relationship (Pajnkihar et al., 2017). In general, caring for the patient is the basis of the professional actualization of the nurse and the foundation of healing.
Therefore, Jean Watson aimed to build interpersonal relationships with patients by simultaneously caring for their physical and spiritual needs. She believed that nursing and caring are interconnected concepts, and it is impossible to ease patients’ pain without talking to them and helping them psychologically. The emotional connection between the patient and the nurse should be mutual, which allows the nurse to find the individual approach to the ill person and to help them alleviate their suffering. This vision is consistent with my nursing philosophy because I also think that nursing cannot exist without establishing a spiritual bond with the patient.
References
McCann, B. C., Kameeta, Z., Edgardh, N., de Faria, R. B., Göbel, T., Füllkrug-Weitzel, C., & Phiri, I. (2021). International handbook of ecumenical diakonia: Contextual theologies and practices of diakonia and Christian social services. Resources for study and intercultural learning. 1517 Media.
Pajnkihar, M., Štiglic, G., & Vrbnjak, D. (2017). The concept of Watson’s carative factors in nursing and their (dis)harmony with patient satisfaction. PeerJ, 5, e2940.
Pinto, S., Fumincelli, L., Mazzo, A., Caldeira, S., & Martins, J. C. (2017). Comfort, well-being and quality of life: Discussion of the differences and similarities among the concepts. Porto Biomedical Journal, 2(1), 6–12.