Theoretical Perspectives for Nursing
Theoretical Perspectives for Nursing
Concept Synthesis Paper on Personal Nursing Philosophy
Ancelle Jackson
South University
Advanced Theoretical Perspectives for Nursing
NSG5002 S09
Dr. Susan Stear
Running head: CONCEPT SYNTHESIS PAPER ON PERSONAL NURSING
CONCEPT SYNTHESIS PAPER ON PERSONAL NURSING
Concept Synthesis Paper on Personal Nursing Philosophy
The purpose of this paper is to identify, describe, and apply the concepts that underlie my personal nursing philosophy. I will give a brief overview of my nursing background, identify and describe the four metaparadigms of nursing, provide two other practice specific concepts that apply to my practice, and include a numbered list of five propositions that apply to those concepts.
Nursing Autobiography
When I was little, I dreamed of becoming a flight attendant, a lawyer, an architect, and a doctor. I never saw myself become a nurse someday. I must admit that my only motivation for pursuing a nursing degree in college was to get to the United States and make good money. But I didn’t think that I would someday love the profession I never even imagined doing. It is for this reason that I believe that nursing is a calling. Being a nurse has its bittersweet moments and surely takes a lot of compassion, patience, empathy, and strength. While it’s true that the long hour shifts can be physically exhausting, it’s witnessing the most devastating situations in life that make this profession very challenging. On the contrary, our ability to heal, save lives, and make a difference in our patients’ lives and their families, truly is very rewarding and incomparable to nothing. Being a nurse for almost five years has opened my eyes and changed my views about life and all other things. I first started working on a Telemetry/Neuro floor for about a year and a half before I decided to venture out and ended up working in an extremely busy ER in downtown Jacksonville, FL. I worked there for two years, and though it was a highly stressful environment, I enjoyed almost every minute of it. The ER has the kind of culture that is fast-paced, task-oriented, informative, and team driven. Having passed my certification in emergency nursing (CEN) recently, I can say that my knowledge base, assessment, and critical thinking skills, which I often use to guide me in my clinical decision making, have significantly improved since I became an ER nurse. It has molded me into a strong, hard-working, and competent nurse that I am today.
The Four Metaparadigms of Nursing
A metaparadigm is referred to as the global concepts and propositions that define a particular discipline and describes their distinction from other professions (Fawcett, 2000, p. 4). It consists of four stipulations: (1) a domain different from other disciplines, (2) all phenomena of interest to the discipline (3) a neutral perspective, and (4) a scope that’s international in nature
(Fawcett, 1996, p. 94). In nursing, there are four common interconnected basic concepts that include patient, nurse, health, and environment (Peterson, 2016). It is through these concepts that nurses can have a unified description of their job functions, limitations, purpose, and professional identity (Butts, 2015).
Patient
Patient refers to all individuals, families, communities, and other members of the society involved in nursing care (Fawcett, 2000, p. 5). It refers to all human beings as recipients and the primary focus of nursing care. In nursing practice, patients are viewed holistically as unique entities with biological, psychological, sociological, and spiritual needs (Masters, 2011). It is important that all these basic needs are met to achieve optimal health and well-being.
Nurse
