NUR 81 WK 1 ASSIGN

Philosophy of Nursing

Walden University

Theoretical and Scientific Foundations for Nursing Practice

NUR 8110

Philosophy of Nursing

Nursing is an art and science. Nursing care is delivered with science and philosophy. Science is the knowledge and philosophy is the reasoning to estimate and understand the scientific facts and concepts related to nursing practice (McEwen & Wills, 2014). Philosophy is a set of beliefs and values that guide one's practice. Personal beliefs help nurses to interact with patients. Philosophy in nursing answers questions and explains concepts with logic and reasoning. There are various theories that are utilized in nursing to validate the existing concepts. This aids in researching for a unified approach to deliver high-quality holistic care for the patients. Caring patients with science and philosophy identifies nursing as a profession and an academic discipline (McEwen & Wills, 2014). This paper explains philosophical influences of my beliefs with this week’s learning, the influence of philosophy in my practice, the relationship of knowledge and philosophy, and how positivism and post-positivism affects influences nursing science and nursing philosophy.

My Nursing Philosophy

Nurses make significant impacts on people’s lives which influence prevention and promotion of health. Personal philosophy is built with substantial core values. My philosophy in nursing is to treat patients with compassion, honesty, respect, knowledge, no discrimination and without any errors. These beliefs help me to develop an effective nurse-patient relationship and take care of them in a holistic manner. Knowledge and my experience as a nurse for many years help me to maintain this integrity in rendering care for the needy. Safe and quality health care has a direct relationship with knowledge and clinical expertise that the nurse owns.

Influence of this Week’s Readings with my Philosophy

This week’s learning about nursing philosophy had positively influenced my views with its wide range of evidence. As per Hsu (2001), nursing philosophies change over the years with new inventions in health care (Chou & Lee, 2007). Philosophy is the reflection of individual’s ideas, attitude towards the profession, beliefs, and values (Chou & Lee, 2007). By reading the article “Nightingale’s realist philosophy of science”, I understood how nursing philosophy has evolved to modern day as Florence Nightingale initiated her research and it was adopted by many nursing leaders and theorists (Porter, 2001).

I gained an insight about the role of science and philosophy in nursing. Patient care is based on the nurse’s philosophy and her knowledge. Health promotion can be obtained from utilizing the evidence-based practices that are grown by conducting researches in nursing (Grove, Burns, & Gray, 2013). Philosophy guides the nursing science to explore the evidence for existing queries and to improve the care delivery (Isaacs, Ploeg, & Tompkins, 2009).

Nursing Philosophical Foundations and my Practice

Nursing philosophy has a unique contribution to nursing and standardizing nursing practices. The goal of nursing care is focused on the outcomes. Nursing is a profession where the knowledge is transformed into practice in improving the public health (McCurry, Revell, & Roy, 2010). The basic concept in nursing is caring. Caring involves the patient and his family, patient’s physical health, mental health, spiritual health, and patient education. It involves changing the patient’s attitude towards self-responsibility in promoting his own health.

Philosophy of caring greatly influences my practice. Watson’s theory of caring defines generating the caring-healing relationship, utilizing scientific knowledge in problem-solving, creating an optimal environment for learning, and patient education in promoting his health (Sitzman, 2007). Patient care must be provided with compassion and dignity. It should be delivered with honesty and maintaining patient privacy. When this occurs, effective nurse-patient relationship originates. In an effective nurse-patient relationship, patient education occurs without any stalling factors.

Educating and empowering patients with current knowledge helps in changing their opinion on their own health (Nyatanga & Dann, 2002). Healing occurs not only in the hospital environment, it must occur in the community too. This is possible when the patient takes self-responsibility in caring himself. I focus my care on developing a care plan and educating the patient. I utilize the electronic medical records as clinical decision support tool, patient education tool, and deliver quality health care.

Philosophy and Knowledge Development

Knowledge and philosophy are inseparable. Philosophy of science in nursing will develop the evidence-based knowledge about the existing “nursing concepts, theories, laws, and aims as they relate to nursing practice” (McEven & Wills, 2014, p.12). Scientific and theoretical knowledge is critical in health care to deliver optimal care to patients. McCurry, Revell, and Roy (2010) explain that, “knowledge is built upon theories, and theories, together with their philosophical bases and disciplinary goals, are the guiding frameworks for practice” (p. 42). Philosophy guides the process of research and continuous research in nursing practice leads to knowledge development to improve the healthcare outcomes.

Evidence of Knowledge Development and my Practice

Nurses adopt innovations in nursing practice with the solid evidence that is generated with evidence-based practices (EBPs). Knowledge development in nursing help nurses to move towards academic success and improved clinical practice environment. The quality of nursing care reflects the knowledge of nurses (Mantzoukas & Jasper, 2008). Career development is also a part of knowledge development in my practice. I pursued my master’s degree in nursing and I am pursuing my doctoral degree to advance my knowledge in nursing and evolve as a strong nursing leader in reforming the healthcare in the organization. As a clinical informatics specialist, I participate in upgrading the electronic medical records (EMR) based on EBPs and they are integrated into EMRs to be used as clinical decision support tools. Evidence-based practices are implemented in all practice areas of nursing. They are utilized in preventing infections, promoting health, and preventing complications. Data mining and data management in my area of practice helps in quality improvement and decrease the health care cost of my organization. Continuity of patient care is improved by using interoperable EMR (Thorpe, Gray, & Cartwright-Smith, 2016).

Influence of Positivism and Post-Positivism towards Nursing Science

Between 1880s-1950’s positivism was utilized in research to validate the evidence. Positivism “maintained that science is value free, independent of the scientist, and obtained using objective methods” (McEven & Wills, 2014). Science was the only method utilized to obtain truth and to comprehend the world and it can be predicted and controlled ((Trochim, 2006). In the 1960s, positivism was criticized as it relied only on the science as a significant method since it was missing substantial information (McEven & Wills, 2014). So, the researchers started using post-positivism. This is based on different individual views based on their various perceptions of the world. It identified that the way of thinking by the scientists and our way of thinking are the same. Post positivism recognizes that there is a possibility for error in theories and they are always revisable (Trochim, 2006).

After learning about positivism and post-positivism, I understand that nursing practice and nursing research is more focused on post-positivism. Nursing research includes a philosophy and theories that will lead to assumptions which can be further researched. The nursing profession has larger number of theories, as the ideas and opinions changes in the profession every day. This leads to changing methodologies and theories that are used in research.

As a professional nurse, I must keep myself updated with the new knowledge and trends in my profession to deliver high-quality patient care. Adoption of these changes and empowering myself is based on the upcoming evidence based research findings.

Conclusion

The nursing profession is greatly influenced by philosophies. Various nursing philosophies are used in different situations. Nursing science and philosophy focus on improving the nurse’s knowledge to improve the patient outcomes (McEven & Wills, 2014). There is always a knowledge development in nursing due to nursing research. These research findings will streamline safe patient guidelines. As a profession and an academic discipline, nursing has always made changes in the practice towards better patient outcomes.

References

Chou, M., & Lee, L. (2007). Initial formation of nursing philosophies following fundamental clinical practice: the experience of male nursing students. Journal Of Nursing Research (Taiwan Nurses Association), 15(2), 127 - 137. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=75489f3b-5fe5-41a8-a2f5-9ed643834b28%40sessionmgr102&vid=3&hid=102

Grove, S. K., Burns, N., & Gray, J. R. (2013). The practice of nursing research: Appraisal, synthesis, and generation of evidence (7 ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Saunders.

Isaacs, S., Ploeg, J., & Tompkins, C. (2009). How can Rorty help nursing science in the development of a philosophical ’foundation’? Nursing Philosophy: An International Journal For Healthcare Professionals, 10(2), 81-90. http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1111/j.1466-769X.2008.00364.x

Mantzoukas, S., & Jasper, M. (2008). Types of nursing knowledge used to guide care of hospitalized patients. Journal Of Advanced Nursing, 62(3), 318-326. http://dx.doi.org/ doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2007.04587.x

McCurry, M., Revell, S., & Roy, S. (2010). Knowledge for the good of the individual and society: linking philosophy, disciplinary goals, theory, and practice. Nursing Philosophy, 11(1), 42-52. http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1111/j.1466-769X.2009.00423.x

McEwen, M., & Wills, E. M. (2014). Theoritical Basis for Nursing (4 ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.

Nyatanga, L., & Dann, K. (2002). Empowerment in nursing: the role of philosophical and psychological factors. Nursing Philosophy, 3(3), 234-239. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=deee02d2-a192-4a11-85b3-af6d98c27222%40sessionmgr4008&vid=20&hid=4112

Porter, S. (2001). Nightingale’s realist philosophy of science. Nursing Philosophy, 2(1), 14-25. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=75489f3b-5fe5-41a8-a2f5-9ed643834b28%40sessionmgr102&vid=6&hid=102

Sitzman, K. (2007). Teaching-learning professional caring based on Jean Watsons Theory of Human Caring. International Journal For Human Caring, 11(4), 8-16. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=103fbf15-3c4c-49e4-b746-0c87d4073594%40sessionmgr4010&vid=7&hid=4112

Thorpe, J. H., Gray, E. A., & Cartwright-Smith, L. (2016). Show Us the Data: The Critical Role Health Information Plays in Health System Transformation. Journal Of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 44(4), 592-597. http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1177/1073110516684800

Trochim, W. (2006). Positivism & Post-Positivism. Retrieved from http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/positvsm.php