1. Running Head: NURSING PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY 1
Nursing Personal Philosophy
Michael R. Dunbar
Adaptation to Role of Professional Nurse
Lone Star College – CyFair
19 October 2015

2. NURSING PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY 2
Nursing Personal Philosophy
The Texas Board of Nursing lists several criteria for which a licensed nurse shall
follow to practice within the state. According to the Texas Board of Nursing, (2015)
“professional nursing involves: the observation, assessment, intervention, evaluation,
rehabilitation, care and counsel, or health teaching of a person who is ill, injured, infirm, or
experiencing a change in normal health process; the maintenance of health or prevention of
illness, the administration of a medication or treatment as ordered by a physician,
podiatrist, or dentist; the supervision or teaching of nursing, the administration,
supervision, and evaluation of nursing practices, policies, and procedures… The RN takes
responsibility and accepts accountability for practicing within the legal scope of practice
and is prepared to work in all health care settings, and may engage in independent nursing
practice without supervision by another health care provider.” In order to adopt these
nursing criteria as a baseline for performing a licensed nurse in the state of Texas, one must
understand their own individual foundation for nursing. My personal philosophy of
nursing is based on military experience in the United States Marine Corps. Through
enlisting in the Marine Corps during wartime, facing various trials and tribulations and
staring into the numerous faces of adversity, I learned valuable intangible traits that give
me the solid backbone to build my nursing career. Through the military, one must master
their craft, always hold true to personal integrity, constantly take the initiative to push
forward, accept the leadership role and take charge of the situation, and accomplish the
mission; fighting to defend those who cannot fight for themselves. While the uniform has
changed, the battlefields are in the operating rooms, emergency departments, and various

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units within a hospital, the foe is now illness, disease, and injury, the mission parameters
remain the same; fighting for those who cannot care for themselves.
A particular nursing theorist whose theory aligns with my own nursing philosophy
is Hildegard Peplau, specifically her concept of the interpersonal relationship between the
nurse and the patient. According to Gastmans (1998) “what is innovative about this
definition is Peplau’s introduction of the paradigm of interpersonal relations, according to
which both the patient and the nurse contribute to and participate in promoting the
relational process which unfolds between them. The nurse and the patient are conceived
as human persons, each with their own fields of experience and perception, constituted by
thoughts, feelings, desires, assumptions, expectations and activities. The interaction
between the thoughts, feelings and activities of the patient and those of the nurse lies at the
very centre of the nursing process” (pg. 1315-1316). I agree with this theory because it is
essential for the nurse to provide quality healthcare and implement adequate interventions
on behalf of the patient and his or her health, but all of this is based on the trust and the
relationship that is built between the nurse and the patient in the very limited time at the
hospital. Naturally, certain boundaries are in place to limit each member’s role, and the
goals are focused on the patient and his or her healthcare needs, but without that working
relationship, the fundamentals of nursing and providing care are empty, lacking
compassion, and become mechanical, cold and calculated, negating the need for humanistic
touch and presence which is a fundamental of medical care. I consider Peplau’s theory one
of my core pillars of how I address nursing and my patients. Having been a patient, I
understand their needs and expectations therefore, I understand the requirement of having

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a good working relationship and ensure my patient is a part of my healthcare team and
include them on the decisions that directly affect their health.
Another theorist that stands out and corresponds with my own style of nursing is
Virginia Henderson whose nursing need theory is defined as a unique focus on nursing
practice in which the importance is encircled around the idea of increasing the patient’s
independence to hasten their progress in the hospital and that basic human needs and how
nurses can assist in meeting said needs. Abrams described, quoting Henderson herself,
that “the unique function of the nurse is to assist the individual, sick or well, in the
performance of those activities contributing to health or its recovery (or to a peaceful
death) that the person would perform unaided given the necessary strength, will or
knowledge, and to do this in such a way as to help the individual gain independence as
rapidly as possible” (pg. 382). As a nurse, it is our duty, our responsibility to render aid to
our patients, and since each patient is unique in their personality but also their diagnosis;
the function we as nurses have with each patient is equally unique and sets the stage to be
a rotating evolution as we interact and assist our patients and applying medical
interventions to allow them to resume their pre-hospitalized lifestyle and move forward
with their lives. Combined with Peplau’s theory, Henderson’s theory of nursing need
culminates in developing a particular relationship with each patient and their medical
diagnosis, using critical thinking and applying compassionate and adequate nursing
interventions to return the patient to their own, personal homeostasis.
While using the knowledge base acquired through nursing school and clinical
rotations at various area hospitals, plus guided by nursing theorists such as Peplau and
Henderson, as well as others, and primarily built upon my service-based foundation

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developed through my time in the United States Marine Corps, I have a unique platform in
which to practice nursing in modern day America and provide my future patients superior
healthcare. As a student nurse, I have had several opportunities to begin fine tuning my
own personal philosophy that the patient is my mission, and their medical diagnosis is the
current battlefield in which I have the skills and staff to overcome and render appropriate
aid, winning the battle for the patient. One of these examples applies not to one singular
patient, but to all of them; in that I treat each patient as if it were myself lying in the
hospital bed. I develop a particular working relationship with each patient based on
compassion and understanding that their circumstance is often outside their control and
they have turned to us at the hospital to fight their battle for them. Combining skills,
confidence, professionalism as well as a touch of humanism, I have achieved success in
providing care and building a trusting relationship with each patient and improved their
quality of care. Another example again applies to the bulk of my patients and my personal
assurance that I will achieve my mission parameters and go above and beyond the call of
duty to fulfill the needs of the patient, in other words, patient advocacy and putting their
needs and the needs of their family first under the premise that the patient’s care and
safety are priority. This example once again explains the military foundation as a personal
nursing philosophy of serving those who cannot fight for themselves. Lastly, building on
the confidence developed while in wartime and applying it to the current battlefield of
cancer, sepsis, injury, COPD, HTN, and other various diagnoses, although I am still a student
nurse with limited experience and knowledge-base, I continually use my confidence and
thus my own personal nursing philosophy, to serve my patients in achieving their goals and

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meeting their needs and in the process elevate said confidence, build on the skills, and
further my own nursing abilities.
One-year post graduation goals are to begin my career in a local area hospital as an
RN, ideally in a specialty such as ER, OR, or ICU as I feel I would be a valuable addition to a
fast paced, critical care based unit within a hospital. At the same time, I plan to begin my
BSN from University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston with hopes of completion
within 12 months. While working I plan to absorb a variety of experiences as well as dip
into the knowledge base of the nursing staff I would soon call co-workers as I build the
foundation of my nursing career. Within five years, I plan on having the critical care
experience necessary to pursue a doctorate in nursing, perhaps with the intent of obtaining
my CRNA. I feel this would be a challenging and rewarding field in which my skills would
be enhanced and utilized in a manner that would best serve the interest of my patients. I
feel as a nurse, it is a call to duty in which I continue to serve the greater good, and in a way,
is an organic flow of my military experience and the defense of those who require aid.

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References:
Abrams, S. E. (2007). Nursing the Community, a Look Back at the 1984 Dialogue Between
Virginia A. Henderson and Sherry L. Shamansky. Public Health Nursing, 24(4), 382-
386. doi:10.1111/j.1525-1446.2007.00647.x
Gastmans, C. (1998). Interpersonal relations in nursing: a philosophical-ethical analysis of
the work of Hildegard E. Peplau. Journal Of Advanced Nursing, 28(6), 1312-1319.
Texas Board of Nursing. (2015). Registered nurse scope of practice (Data file). Retrieved
from https://www.bon.texas.gov/practice_scope_of_practice_rn.asp