Worldview and Nursing Personal Statement Discussion
Introduction
Nursing practitioners play a critical role in the provision of healthcare in a safe, secure and confidential manner. While they continue to dispense their duties, nurses have to contend with their worldviews on religion, culture, and even spiritual elements that influence their perception and opinion of the practice. Worldview is a set of assumptions, beliefs, and practices that shapes how one perceives the dynamics in any context. Worldview provides nursing practitioners with an ontological foundation on which they base their beliefs. This essay describes my worldview, my nursing philosophy, and the nursing theory that I use to help me in providing health solutions to my patients.
My Personal Worldview and Nursing Philosophy
My worldview is largely a factor of my beliefs, cultural practices, religion, assumptions, and spiritual elements. As a nurse, I am aware that these elements can impact the care that I deliver to patients. My religious beliefs and cultural background may impact how I view other people who do not subscribe to the same beliefs. My culture, beliefs, traditions, and religion define how I relate with patients and how these elements distinctly or collectively shape my experience. In the same way, patients have their own sets of beliefs and values based on their cultures that they use to give meaning to their experiences as patients (Thorne, 2020). My worldview encourages me to have a deep understanding of the mindset and mentality of the patients that I treat.
Concerning my nursing philosophy, I have created a statement that clearly outlines the values, beliefs, motivation, and ethics that I observe in dispensing my duties. The statement helps me to focus on the choices that I make and reminds me of the need to observe high ethical standards when attending to patients as espoused by Green (2018). The statement makes me continually ask important questions such as what nursing means to me, the reason for pursuing the nursing profession, my personal beliefs that impact nursing, the skills that are most critical to me in my profession, and what impact my profession has on my community and society. These questions helps me operate in a manner that goes beyond simply adhering to the rules and the laws that govern the nursing practice.
My nursing philosophy is to provide holistic care to my patients and the community. In my view, nursing is about a person and understanding their needs at all levels physically, psychologically, and emotionally (Hoeck, & Delmar, 2017). I endeavor to use my skills and technology to provide nursing solutions using evidence-based methods. I use my clinical skills, knowledge, and judgment to empower patients and communities to actively participate in actions and activities designed to improve their health. As a nurse, it is my responsibility and utmost wish to see people transforming their lives by actively participating in matters that bring good health to them. Most importantly, I ensure that patients get the best quality care when in my hands.
My Nursing Theory
While many theories are beneficial to nurses, every nurse identifies with specific models that work best for them considering their objectives and nursing philosophies. For me, I choose the theory of integral nursing as my nursing theory. I choose this theory because it offers the best results for patients while at the same time appeals to my nursing philosophies. The theory of integral nursing theory has many critical advantages to me as a nurse and my patients. For patients, this nursing theory emphasizes quality care, empowerment, creating awareness, cooperation with patients, and meeting the needs of patients (Ortiz, 2018). On my side, the integral nursing theory works well with my nursing philosophy as far as providing a high quality of healing is concerned.
Besides, the integral nursing theory emphasizes the concept of ‘patterns of knowing’ which to me is the basis of offering the best available quality care to patients. Most importantly, TIN-Integral Nursing Theory has a comprehensive worldview that enhances the meaning and understanding of knowledge, knowing, doing, and being. This theory helps me to turn my worldviews into positive synergies that are valuable to my patients/customers.
How my worldview helped me to resolve a Case
Four months ago I encountered a patient of Hispanic origin who refused to be treated citing his religious background. The patient was very angry at his relatives for presenting him to the hospital for treatment. When I talked to him, he said that he belongs to a religious group that outlaws getting treated in a hospital. He said that getting treated at a hospital violates his belief and faith in God as the only healer. The patient was wailing and adamant that he cannot accept being treated at any hospital. He asked his relatives to take him back home so that he can get an alternative form of treatment. I approached the patient and managed to calm him down by explaining to him that like him, I believe in God as the healer. The patient accepted treatment on the condition that he must be allowed to worship/pray before commencing his medication. This example shows how I used my nursing worldview in solving a case successfully.
How my worldview and the nursing theory will assist me in further developing my future practice
My nursing worldview helps me to understand my purpose and role in healthcare and as a healthcare professional. For the future, the nursing philosophies and worldview will help me to acquire further knowledge through education, practice, and research (Cook, & Peden, 2020). These elements set out a clear foundation of nursing practice by describing what nurses should do to enhance their service delivery. Additionally, the nursing theory helps me to understand how to deal with people from different backgrounds. Worldview provides nursing practitioners with an ontological foundation that shapes their beliefs and practices, including defining their relationship with others. Most importantly, the nursing theory helps me to effectively evaluate patients and create proper treatment plans based on their physical, emotional, and psychological situations.
Conclusion
Every nurse is guided by a nursing philosophy that shapes their service delivery to patients. Cultural beliefs, traditions, religion, and spirituality are examples of worldview elements that impact nursing practice. It is the responsibility of all nurses to ensure that their worldview does not negatively impact their practice. Critically, my nursing worldview helps me to understand my purpose and role in healthcare. For the future, the nursing philosophies and worldview will help me to acquire further knowledge through education, practice, and research.
By leveraging the different facets of nursing theories, I believe that practicing nurses can develop positive approaches based on their worldviews. One way through which nurses can overcome any worldview biases is by creating a personal statement that reminds them of their objectives of becoming nurses and what they would want to achieve. The combination of nursing philosophies and nursing theories can have a long-lasting positive impact on nurses in terms of the delivery of quality services.
References
- Cook, L. B., & Peden, A. (2017). Finding a focus for nursing: The caring concept. Advances in Nursing Science, 40(1), 12-23. https://doi.org/10.1097/ans.0000000000000137
- Green, C. (2018). A philosophical model of the nature of nursing. Nursing research, 67(2), 93-98. https://doi.org/10.1097/nnr.0000000000000247
- Hoeck, B., & Delmar, C. (2017). Theoretical development in the context of nursing-The hidden epistemology of nursing theory. Nursing Philosophy, 19(1), e12196. https://doi.org/10.1111/nup.12196
- Ortiz, M. (2018). Patient-Centered Care: Nursing Knowledge and Policy. Nursing Science Quarterly, 31(3), 291-295. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894318418774906
- Thorne, S. (2020). Rethinking Carper’s personal knowing for 21st century nursing. Nursing Philosophy, 21(4). https://doi.org/10.1111/nup.12307