My Nursing Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of knowledge (Meleis, 2012). There are many reasons to why individuals become nurses. A nurse’s philosophy is the reason she continues to be a nurse. It is the backbone, the blue print, and the guidelines to that specific nurse who believes this is what she should be doing for her patients.
Being nervous on my first day of class as any Graduate student would, I read ahead on the readings and in-class assignments. The first assignment read, “What is your personal philosophy?” Sitting at my desk rereading the question and staring at a blank piece of paper nothing came to mind. Just coming out of the novice nurses stage, I found myself hung up on this specific question. Throughout my years in school and as a floor nurse
I have never been asked what my personal philosophy would be.
Thinking of what I do for my patients on a daily basis and the reasons why I do those things I started to understand what my personal philosophy was. Everything and the care I give revolves around my patients. Following Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, I not only fulfill my patient’s needs but also their wants. My patient is my main concern, and going above and beyond the call of duty is a must. Since the first day of class I have taken a liking to the Grand Theorist Faye Abdullah and her patient centered approach.
I have been reading a couple of her published books and I feel my philosophy fits in best with her theory. Even though Abdullah created and published her theory in the 1960’s, most of the information is still being used in the healthcare field today. Influenced by Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, Faye Abdullah’s theory was considered to be part of the first school of thought being one of the needs theorists (Meleis, 2012). Abdullah believed that a nurse’s care should be centered on the patient (Abdellah, 1960). Similar to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Abdullah created a list of problems that needed to be addressed and resolved to provide the best care to the patient.
In the 1960’s nursing was thought to be procedure and diagnostic centered, meaning that nurses should provide care based on the disease not the patient as an individual person (Abdellah, 1960). Examples of care with this approach would be the nurse only looking at objective signs and symptoms or waking the patient up in the middle of the night for a bath because it was more convenient for the staff at that time. During this time nurses were thought to not be as educated, they were given orders and went through the steps to carry them out. Nurses would take patients vitals but did not put the information together to create a
diagnosis.
Faye Abdullah did not agree with this approach and thought nurses should be more patient centered (Abdellah, 1960). In her book Patient-Centered Approaches to Nursing, Abdullah describes different studies she constructed which later resulted to the 21 Nursing Problems. Abdullah thought that nurses could help patients recover quicker if the nurse used critical thinking and interfered when necessary (Abdellah, 1960). These 21 Nursing Problems helped the nurse care for the perceived primary problems along with other problems that were brought in with the patient.
Examples of the 21 Nursing Problems includes maintaining good hygiene, promoting optimal activity and exercise, and to facilitate the maintenance of a supply of oxygen to all body cells (Abdellah, 1960). Many nurses at Mercy Hospital use these nursing problems to provide care to their patients. These nursing problems are documented in the patient’s care plans and pathways.
As stated at the beginning, my philosophy was to do everything and anything possible for my patient. Faye Abdullah’s theory of 21 Nursing Problems is a guideline that nurses today follow on a daily basis to provide care to the patients. Considering other problems not including the primary diagnosis, nurses are able to provide the best care possible to everyone in need.