This document provides a summary of the author's nursing philosophy. It discusses that nursing aims to glorify God by caring for patients as images of God and working towards their health and community. The author believes in caring for patients' physical, emotional and spiritual needs through compassionate presence and hope. While patients have autonomy, health is ultimately determined by God. The author aims to learn from patients and be the best nurse possible while acknowledging their humanness.

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Philosophy of Nursing
Jessica Hall
California Baptist University

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Philosophy of Nursing
The field of nursing and what it means to be a nurse has been evolving over many
centuries. According to Miller and Shelly (2006, p. 52) in their book Called to Care, what we
believe about God molds our understanding of human personhood, which in turn, forms our
concept of health and the way we support one another toward optimum health and healing.
Miller and Shelly (2006) state, “as Christians, we begin with a theology of nursing more than a
philosophy or theory. If we truly believe what we say we believe about God, we cannot help but
act in obedience to him, which means communicating the good news of salvation, health and
healing through word and deed” (p.52). In addition, Miller and Shelly state God created the
world and humans beings to live in it within an environment of shalom, or health. Therefore,
“nursing, then, works toward shalom among individuals and the community” (p. 53).
According to the California Baptist University School of Nursing Student Handbook,
“The purpose of nursing is to demonstrate fruits of the Holy Spirit, to respect, support and
enhance each person’s quality of life” (p.7). In the Humanbecoming perspective, nursing is not
merely a task oriented profession. According to Pilkington and Jonas-Simpson (2009), “it is a
unique discipline whose knowledge base focuses on the [….] science of nursing, while the
execution of this knowledge in practice is the performing art of nursing.” Nurses are required to
gain extensive amounts of knowledge in order to earn licensure and practice safe and competent
care. Aside from the knowledge base, there is a certain finesse or art that goes into the delivery
of care. As a nurse you are also playing the role of counselor in many ways to your patients and
their families. Being present with your patient to have real, meaningful, and down to earth
conversations about their lives is a really important part of the healing process for them. Being

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with your patients in a very personal way and not treating them like a bed number or a disease I
believe is one of the greatest art forms of nursing and an essential part of the profession.
In the book Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis, Lewis states that “First, human beings, all
over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot
really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of
Nature; they break it. These two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves
and the universe we live in” (p.8). The bible speaks quite a bit to the nature of man or the
individual. Genesis chapter 1, verse 27 says “God created man in His own image, in the image
of God He created him; male and female He created them” (NASB). God made us like himself
to be his representatives. To be made in the image of God means that God created us for his own
glory. Which means that man’s purpose is “…to fulfill the reason that God created us: to glorify
him” (Grudem, 1994, p.441). When sin entered the world, our purpose for being created did not
change. “…since man has sinned, he is certainly not as fully like God as he was before. His
moral purity has been lost and his sinful character certainly does not reflect God’s holiness. His
intellect is corrupted by falsehood and misunderstanding; his speech no longer continually
glorifies God; his relationships are often governed by selfishness rather than love, and so forth.
Though man is still in the image of God, in every aspect of life some parts of that image have
been distorted or lost” (Grudem, 1994, p.444). The application of this perspective to my nursing
philosophy is really significant. I understand that I have been made in the image of Christ, and
that my sole purpose in life is to bring glory and honor to him. I also understand that as a result
of the fall of man and the entrance of sin into the world I will never be perfect and will be prone
to making mistakes and stumbling occasionally as I go through life. As a nurse I will always try
to be the best I can at caring for the patients I am given because I want to be the kind of nurse

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that would make God proud. There are going to be times, though, where I don’t know
everything and might even make mistakes or say and do the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Situations are not always going to go the way I plan or imagine, but God will still be there in the
midst of it helping me to make the best of it and will meet me where I am at in that moment.
Overall, I believe my philosophy of nursing to be very simple. All people are made in
the image of God. Unfortunately with the presence of sin in the world comes sickness, disease,
or injury that requires care from health care professionals. As a nurse it is my duty to bring glory
to Christ’s name as I care for my patients and treat them as the child of God that they are. God is
the author of life and only he can say what is best for us, not just with life and the decisions we
make but even with regards to our health and the care we choose to receive or deny. Nursing is
an art form, not just a science. We need to deliver our care with art and love, and while we are
teaching our patients the best way to care for themselves we need to be open and available to
learn from them and their lives. As I continue on this road toward nursing, I will be continually
praying that God helps me to remember that regardless of the circumstances these patients are a
child of the one true King just as much as I am and he can save and set free whomever he wishes
and just maybe I might get to be a part of that.
According to Potter and Perry (2013), “Nurses have an ethical responsibility to teach
their patients” (p. 329). Patients also have a right to information about the care they are
receiving, or potentially could be receiving and this information is required in order for the
patients to make informed decisions about their health care options. Potter and Perry (2013) also
suggest that “it is also important to understand patient’s preferences for what they wish to
learn…Carefully determine what patients need to know and find the time when they are ready to
learn” (p. 330). The more information the patients have and the more informed they are the

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more encouraged they will be to take responsibility for their health care. It is also very important
that the nurse listen and learn from the patient about what they think their needs and priorities for
care are and to make sure they stay involved at all stages of care. While listening and learning
from patients, nurses are also helping to instill a sense of hope in their patients. Hope is so
important and “is what gets people through their days and nights. It is a rainbow, an inspiration,
a oneness, a spark, a moving beyond the moment” (Parse, 1999, p. 2).
There are many definitions of health and what health means to a particular individual.
According to Pilkington and Jonas-Simpson (2009), these perspectives of humans and their
definition of what health means will influence the way nursing and other related disciplines will
be practiced. The Biomedical Perspective sees health as objective, the absence of disease or
optimum wellbeing, something that can be fixed as well as maintained and promoted (Pilkington,
2009; Jonas-Simpson, 2009). 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 18 through 20 says, “Flee
immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins
against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is
in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought
with a price: therefore glorify God with your body” (NASB). These verses mean that we do not
own our bodies, they are basically on loan from God and we are to take great care of the temples
he has given us to live in. Because of these verses, my view on health and the care of our bodies
may differ from most. I believe that it is sinful and wrong to not care for your body in a way that
is honorable and glorifying to God. This means that by every means reasonably possible you
should do everything you can to keep your body healthy. By definition healthy means the
absence of disease, so we are to do everything we can to be disease and ailment free. So, for
example, if you are a diabetic and you are not following the evidence based regimen of care

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recommended to you by your health care provider which eventually will lead to the destruction
of your body and eventually death you are living in sin and that is wrong. You would not be
honoring God with your body or be glorifying his name by the way you are living.
Along with that I believe that ultimately we are not the authors of our lives or our health
like some would think. God is the author of all life and chooses to do what he wills with each of
us even when it comes to our health. In John 5 the bible talks about one of the miracles Jesus
performed in Jerusalem by the sheep gate pool to a man who had been ill for 38 years, obviously
suffering from some kind of paralysis because he was not able to walk. “This place may be a
comfortable spot out of the heat or cold of the winter winds. It also may have been a good place
to beg since many would frequent the pool. And there is the popular myth about an angel, who
comes from time to time to trouble the waters so that the first one to get in would be healed. The
man was so focused on the waters and what he thought the waters of the pool could do for him
that he forgot the healing powers came from the Lord. Jesus asked him “Do you wish to get
well?” and instead of answering him with an enthusiastic “Yes!” the man did nothing but give
excuses for why no one would ever help him into the pool. The man is more worried about
actually getting into the pool than what the pool will do for him. He makes excuses for himself
and why he has had so much trouble being able to get in. He never asks Jesus to heal him, he
only gives an excuse as to why he has been waiting so long by the pool. Jesus made the decision
to heal him whether he really wanted to be healed or not.
Again in John chapter 11 Jesus performs another miracle by raising Lazarus from the
dead. Obviously Lazarus never asked to be brought back to life, so technically Jesus acted of his
own accord and against the will of Lazarus. The point of both of these stories is just to say that
we have no control over our lives and just when we think we do God laughs and shows us in

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some way yet again that we don’t. He is the author of our lives, he decides what healthy is, who
gets to be healthy and who doesn’t because he is sovereign. He has also commanded us to treat
our bodies as a temple of the Lord. As a nurse, I know that my patients have a choice when it
comes to their health care and that they may not always make a decision that I agree with or that
I believe is biblical. I can honor those decisions because they are not mine to make but at the
same time it is ok to not be in agreement with or condone them.
All of my life I have been told that I have good leadership skills. Honestly, I am not sure
that is the truth. I would hope so, but as I enter into the field of nursing I realize that I am brand
new with much to learn. While there are times where it is appropriate to be a leader I think I am
heading into a period of time where I am to be the follower. Not blindly following, but
following in order to learn and absorb how to be the best nurse I can be to eventually be a leader
to others. I believe nursing school has changed my life in so many ways. I have conquered so
many fears in the last three years and am really proud of myself. There was a time when I
thought I would never be able to get into a nursing program, let alone graduate with honors. I
have been grown and stretched in so many ways during my time as a student and I know there
are things I have learned that I will take with me the rest of my life.

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References
California Baptist University (2012). Nursing student handbook. Riverside, CA: Author.
Grudem, W. (1994). Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids:
Intervasiry Press and Zondervan.
Lewis, C.S. (1980). Mere Christianity. San Fransisco: HarperCollins.
Miller, Arlene B., & Shelly, Judith A. (2006). Called to Care: A Christian Worldview for
Nursing. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic.
Parse, R. (1999). Hope: An international humanbecoming perspective. Sudbury, Mass. ; Toronto:
Jones and Bartlett.
Pilkington, F.B., & Jonas-Simpson, C. (2009). The human becoming school of thought: A guide
for teaching-learning (2nd ed.). Toronto, Ontario, Canada: International Consortium of
Parse Scholars.
Potter, P.A., & Perry, A.G. (2009). Fundamentals of nursing (7th ed.). St. Louis, Mo: Elsevier
Mosby.