Personal Philosophy of Nursing

Answer

Personal Philosophy of Nursing

My personal definition of nursing is having in place a healthcare system that is accessible and available to all cost-free. Who should foot the bill? The answer is that the government should pay for all healthcare costs through tax payers including companies, citizens, and sell of national natural resources. This statement comes at a time when people have more expectations from companies and the government (Singh, Majumdar, & Saini, 2017). I believe that the government has a social responsibility to care for all people who are within its borders; citizens, undocumented immigrants, and/or refugees since each individual in a given country plays an important role in building national economies. Putting a price tag to care and services or healthcare insurance creates barriers to care. This statement positions me as a nurse who prefers providing the best care for all who are in need of medical attention in a non-discriminatory manner regardless of socio-economic status, race, gender, ethnicity, nationality, or citizenship.

            Major assumptions are made in the above statement. The first one is that the government, through tax systems, has the ability of providing care for all people within its borders. The second assumption is that citizens and other taxpaying parties can agree or are in a position to support a cost-free healthcare system in the long term. The third assumption is that all people within the borders of a given country have certain benefit to the economy of a given country. The fourth assumptions is that a cost-free health care system for patients will results in better health outcomes for the general populations as opposed to the cost-effective system  supported by Liu et al. (2016).  The last assumption is that a free-cost health system will not result in streaming of unmanageable number of patients to healthcare facilities on a daily basis.

            My personal philosophy of nursing practice is informed by theoretical foundations of nursing. Important nursing theoretical foundations to my personal philosophy of nursing practice include Nightingale’s environmental theory, Orem’s self-care theory, and Henderson’s nursing need theory (Zarzycka et al., 2013). Nightingale’s environmental theory informs my practice in the sense that as a nurse, I have a duty to restore patient’s health to the usual health status. High cost of receiving care should not act as a barrier in fulfillment of this nursing duty. In addition, Orem’s self-care Theory informs my personal philosophy of nursing practice since it inform that individuals, especially the socioeconomically disadvantaged persons, may fail to achieve the best continuous self-care practices if huge costs are involved; thus, health care and services need to be free for all. Lastly, but not the least, Henderson’s Nursing Need Theory informs my philosophy of nursing practice that the needs of patients should be met by nurses and I do identify costs of care as one of the greatest need.

            My new experiences and knowledge help shape my philosophy of nursing practice. RN-BSN coursework has influenced creation of nursing my philosophy since I have realized that sickness or disease is far more than a health problem but as well as psychological, social, and an economic issue. As such, having sick people in communities who cannot access care due to cost barriers can have significant impact on the sick persons, families, and the community at large and aspects such as missed days of work. In that case, healthcare should be free for all. Self-reflection plays an important role in professional and personal transformation since it can help me identify problems affecting delivery of care such as cost barriers and develop innovative and revolutionary ideas on how to best address such issues.

Activities such as the change project in Capstone Component 1 help me to develop as an agent of change as well as a lifelong learner. As a lifelong learner, I will keep the pace with the latest knowledge and evidence-based practices in nurses and to effect or advocate for change when the do so presents itself. Lifelong learning process enables me to stay relevant to changes in care needs as well as changes in the healthcare industry such as technological changes. As an agent of change, I can convince necessary stakeholders that there is a certain problem in nursing practice, engage them in development of solutions, and/or advocate for change. At the moment, huge costs as a barrier to health care and services must be addressed by letting the government take full responsibility for caring for its people. 

A key challenge that I have faced in practice is being forced to deny primary health care and services to an undocumented immigrant who presented with pneumonia. The patient was supposed to pay for health care services but was not in position to do so. I think that such cases whereby patients are denied care may create major healthcare problems for instance spread of infectious disease to the general population. I could have served the patient and achieved proper treatment for his condition to restore his health to the usual status if cost barriers were non-existent.

In conclusion, patients should be provided with high-quality and safe health care and services at a cost-free basis. The government can take full responsibility of the healthcare industry and fund it through taxes, collaboration with organizations, and management and sell of natural resources. My nursing philosophy and experiences at SNHU may have a strong influence in my future plans as a nurse advocate who will attempt to eliminate cost-barriers in accessing health care and services. In addition, my further education plans is to gain a deeper and broad understanding of health economics to develop a good plan on how a free-for-all healthcare system can be run. This can have a great impact in my future nursing practice since nurses will be providing care and services for all without any discrimination or barriers, especially high cost of accessing care.