This document outlines the author's personal nursing philosophy. It discusses Jean Watson's Theory of Caring as embodying the author's beliefs about nursing care. The theory focuses on caring for the whole person through ten carative factors/processes. The author defines health as physical, spiritual, and emotional unity and illness as disunity in one or more of those dimensions. As a nurse, the role is to provide holistic, culturally competent care while respecting each patient's beliefs and needs. The profession requires providing high-quality, evidence-based care through lifelong learning, teamwork, advocacy, and mentorship.

1. Running head: NURSING PHILOSOPHY !1
My Nursing Philosophy
Adrienne Tedesco
Castleton University

2. NURSING PHILOSOPHY !2
Abstract
This paper will explore my personal philosophy as a nurse as well as my personal beliefs about
what it means to practice as a nurse. Briefly, we will touch on the nursing theory that I best
identify with as well as how I define health and illness. I will then describe what I believe it
means to be a member of the profession of nursing.

3. NURSING PHILOSOPHY !3
Nursing Philosophy
Every nurse, whether consciously or unconsciously, practices by a set of values,
principles, and guidelines. They have an idea of the reason they went into the profession of
nursing and the type of care they envisioned providing. While this vision of care may be ever
changing based on their education, skill, environment, and experiences, their core values
typically do not waver. In this paper, we will explore the values, principles, and guidelines that I
hope to use as a means to navigate my practice as a member of the nursing profession.
Philosophy
Black 2016 defines a nursing philosophy as, “statements of beliefs about nursing and
expressions of values in nursing that are used as bases for thinking and acting” (p. 1710. One’s
nursing philosophy is guided by their environment, their values, and the type of nursing care they
hope to provide. One’s personal nursing philosophy will be a guide to how they provide care and
as one grows and changes over time may find that their philosophy adapts with their
development over time. My personal vision as a nurse is to care for each patient as if they were
my family member; to treat them with the same respect, autonomy, and attention to detail as if
they were as known to me as my own mother, and to always offer a safe place when someone is
in need of one. I believe providing care in this way incorporates respect not only for the ill, but
also for those who harbor a relationship with the ill. This philosophy of care honors those who
may have burned the bridges of many others and are no longer offered the love and respect of
family or friend.
Theory

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According to Merriam-Webster, Inc. 2019, a theory is, “a belief, policy, or procedure
proposed or followed as the basis of action.” A theory for nursing is just that, a proposed way of
behaving in nursing based on beliefs or policies. Often one chooses their nursing theory based
on their own nursing philosophy whether they have taken the time to write down their
philosophy or are unconsciously aware of their own philosophy.
I have chosen the nursing theory of Jean Watson’s, The Philosophy and Science of
Caring. Watson’s theory was based on ten carative factors and later evolved into the carative
process. Table 1 describes each carative factor juxtaposed with its carative process.
Table 1
Carative Factors
Original 10 Carative
Factors, juxtaposed against
the emerging Caritas
Process/Carative Factors
Caratis Process
Humanistic- Altruistic
values.
Practicing Loving-kindness & Equanimity for self and
other.
Instilling enabling Faith/
Hope.
Being authentically present to/enabling/sustaining/
honoring deep belief system and subjective world of
self/other.
Cultivation of Sensitivity to
oneself and others.
Cultivating of one’s own spiritual practices; deepening
self-awareness, going beyond “ego self”.
Development of helping-
trusting, human caring
relationship.
Developing and sustaining a helping-trusting,
authentically caring relationship.
Promotion and acceptance of
expression of positive and
negative feelings.
Being present to, and supportive of, the expression of
negative feelings as a connection with deeper spirit of
self and the one-being-cared-for.

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(Watson, 2007, table Table 1)
Watson’s theory and her ten Caratis Process embody what I believe nursing care should
encompass, provide, and also directs how the nurse should engage in self-care. So often
caregivers forget to fill their own cup. One can not continue to provide their best care when they
are neglecting to care for themselves. Watson’s theory never forgets to involve the nurse’s role
spiritually and emotionally as a means to heal.
Watson’s theory covers all bases of care from the most basic of physiological needs to the
hierarchical needs of spirituality, embodying all that it means to provide care. Her theory leaves
out no small detail down to the beauty of the environment on how it can affect the well being of
a patient. Her theory helps one to realize that even when task driven care is not prescribed that
Systematic use of scientific
(creative) problem solving
caring process.
Creatively using presence of self and all ways of
knowing/multiple ways of Being/doing as part of the
caring process; engaging artistry of caring-healing
practices.
Promotion of transpersonal
teaching-learning.
Engaging genuine teaching-learning experiences that
attend to whole person, their meaning; attempting to
stay within other’s frame of reference.
Provision for a supportive,
protective, and/or corrective
mental, social, spiritual
environment.
Creating healing environment at all levels (physical,
non-physical, subtle environment of energy and
consciousness whereby wholeness, beauty, comfort,
dignity and peace are potentiated.
Assistance with gratification
of human needs.
Assisting with basic needs, with an intentional, caring
consciousness of touching and working with embodied
spirit of individual, honoring unity of Being; allowing
for spiritual emergence.
Allowance for existential-
phenomenological spiritual
dimensions.
Opening and attending to spiritual-mysterious,
unknown exstisential dimensions of life-death;
attending to soul care for self and one- being-cared-for.

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the nurse can still make a difference in outcomes through attention to detail, being aware of non-
verbal cues, and through offering their energy to create peace. Nurses attend to patients and
families at the height of their best and worst times. When the basic needs of the patient have
been met the nurse can shift their focus to the mental and spiritual care.
Health and Illness
Health and illness live on a continuous spectrum and move fluidly from one to the next.
Health and illness are a state of being that is experienced differently by each individual and is
influenced by their history, environment, beliefs, culture, and state of mind. What one individual
may express as a state of health may be a state of illness for another, and vice versa. Health and
illness not only refer to a physical state of being but also to a mental and spiritual state of being.
My definition of health is a state of being in which the individual is physically, spiritually, and
emotionally stable and is experiencing unity within all three of these dimensions. My definition
of illness is a state of disunity among the physical, spiritual, or emotional well being, or all of
these dimensions.
The nurse’s role and responsibility in health are holistic, not only taking into account the
patients in a state of illness, but also the promotion of health in those who are in a state of health.
The nurse takes into account that health and wellness move along a spectrum and respects each
patient’s cultural and spiritual beliefs in providing culturally competent care. The nurse must
look to the patient for direction in order to provide autonomy, respect, and look to find an
understanding of what the patient believes is a state of health. The nurse must look internally
for what they believe to be a state of health and then be able to embrace what their patient
believes is a state of health for themselves. While the nurse understands that some tasks in

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nursing follow a prescribed method of care they must be adaptable to each individual patient’s
needs. It is the nurse's role to not only provide care to the patient but also to members of the
patients respective family and even possibly community. The nurse understands that the health
of the whole community affects the health of the individual. In this, the nurse understands that as
a member of the community his/her role as a nurse is never ending and he/she plays an integral
part of the community, thereby affecting health not only while at the bedside but also as a
member of the community.
Member of a Profession
The role of the nurse as a member of a professional team is to provide high-quality care
backed by evidence. In a study conducted by Haugan, Moksnes, &Løhre 2016, they found,
“good nurse-patient interaction is a health-promoting resource boosting intrapersonal self-
transcendence and meaning. Therefore, pedagogical approaches for advancing caregivers’
presence and confidence in health promotion interaction should be upgraded and matured.” The
nurse's role must, therefore, be respected and valued as a promoter of patient quality of life.
As a member of the nursing profession, it is my role to provide the highest quality of care
with the education I have been provided and the resources that I have available to me at any
given time during my practice. To always be looking to improve my education and not become
stagnant in an ever-evolving healthcare field. To seek out opportunities to learn, network, and
lobby for my patients and my profession. To work collaboratively with others within the
interdisciplinary team. To constantly be improving communication methods for the sake of high-
quality patient care, as well as relationship building among other healthcare professionals.
To follow the law, but also advocate for the rights of my patients in a rapidly evolving ethical

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setting. To use education as a resource to gain knowledge of new education, tools, and resources
available. To use problems not a means of complaint, but a source of research and means to
collaborate with other health professionals. As my knowledge and skill, progress to offer myself
wholly as a means of support and guidance to newer or lesser skilled nurses in a safe and
respectful way. To empathetically and creatively promote nursing as a profession while
remaining humble to less than desirable tasks. To delegate in a way that is fair, reasonable, and
offers the best quality care for the most amount of people. To remember that the nurse not only
represents the profession while at work but also as a member of the community and to act as
such.
Conclusion
I understand that as I grown in my profession through the use of education, practice of
skill, and reflection of experiences my nursing philosophy will adapt to accommodate my new
perception. I hope that the principal of caring will set a blueprint for how I provide care and how
I might educate myself, practice on others, and offer myself as a professional and future
educator/preceptor.

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References
Black, B. (2016). Professional Nursing: Concepts & Challenges (8th ed.). St. Lois, MO:
Elselvier.
Haugan, G., Moksnes, U. K., & Løhre, A. (2016). Intrapersonal self-transcendence, meaning-in-
life and nurse-patient interaction: powerful assets for quality of life in cognitively intact
nursing-home patients. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 30(4), 790–801. https://
doi.org/10.1111/scs.12307
Merriam-Webster, Inc. (2019). Theory. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/
dictionary/theory
Watson, J. (2007). Watsons theory of human caring and subjective living experiences: carative
factors/caritas processes as a disciplinary guide to the professional nursing practice. Texto
& Contexto - Enfermagem, 16(1), 129-135. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/
S0104-07072007000100016.