A nursing philosophy is a statement of your fundamental, foundational, and universal assumptions, beliefs, and principles about the nature of nursing. Write a formal paper about your own personal philosophy of nursing and compare your definitions with a selected nursing theory. You will want to draw from previous academic and work experiences, morals, values, beliefs, as well as new information presented in this course. The paper should be 4-5 pages for the body of the paper plus a title page and a reference page (total 7 pages). Please follow the outline below.
Introduction: Set the stage for the content of your philosophy of nursing to make the paper appealing and intriguing.
Definition of Human Being: This is your definition of what a human being is and how the human being is composed. Compare your definition to one nursing theorist’s definition and give examples.
Definition of Environment: This is your definition of what is meant by environment, both internal/external, in terms of the human being. Compare your definition to one nursing theorist’s definition and give examples.
Definition of Health: This is your definition of what is meant by health in terms of the human being. Remember, this is not asking for the definition of healthy, but what is health, good health, poor health, and where does death or absence of health fit in the schema. Compare your definition to one nursing theorist’s definition and give examples.
Definition of Nursing: This is your definition of nursing. This should be a broad, but thorough definition, not specific only to your practice area. Think about comprehensive, solid, evidenced-based, patient-centered care. Compare your definition to one nursing theorist’s definition and give examples.
Develop your philosophy’s nursing metaparadigm by stating the relationship of each of the four concepts (human being, environment, health, and nursing) to each other and how one affects the other. Please feel free to add a section to this paper on caring (within the constraint of 5 pages of content), as it has recently been added to this metaparadigm. Caring is a common element in many philosophies.
Conclusion: Summarize the salient information from all the concepts above. Do not introduce new content in this section, summarize what you have already written.
You will need at least 3 scholarly sources referenced for this paper. A dictionary website, WHO, or database is not considered a scholarly reference. Please keep in mind that the main focus should be building and developing your own personal philosophy of nursing, not describing a philosophy, or discussing how to develop one. The bulk of the paper should be your own words and original thoughts. Your support pieces (reference use) should be less than 20% of the final paper, preferably less than 15%. Let your own philosophy shine!!
