NUR 4510 Transition to Professional Nursing
NUR 4510 Transition to Professional Nursing
Professional Nursing Reflection
Nursing is a practice that has been described as a science an art. It has many definitions and many philosophies that guide its practice. Nursing lacks a singular, definitive theory or philosophy. Individual develop their own philosophies and theories based on their values, beliefs and professional identities. As registered nurses that are seeking to advance our education and become professional nurses, defined as a registered nurse with a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Nursing (BSN), we need to be able to describe our current professional identities. We need to use the critical thinking skills that are so essential to the practice of nursing to analyze how we apply current theories and philosophies to our own nursing practice. How do our personal theories and philosophies compare to the current thoughts out there today and how can we develop a plan to continue to grow professionally as nurse leaders? We are simply applying certain steps in the nursing process to our way of thinking about our practice and future growth – assess, plan, and implement. I. Professional Identity – Knowledge, Theory and Philosophy I am currently a direct care provider in an emergency department at a Level I trauma center academic hospital. As an emergency room registered nurse (ER RN) I know that I am in a unique role as a provider of care. The American Nursing Association has recognized emergency nursing as a specialty practice (“Emergency Nursing a Specialty,” 2011). With standing orders and protocols based on patient presentation and chief complaint that can be nurse initiated prior to the MD’s exam, an ER RN functions at a higher level of autonomy than most RN’s. In this role, knowledge, skills and abilities are essential. The ability to identify a sick patient can literally make the difference between life and death. ER nurses must be able to make quick and effective decisions that come from training, experience. The first step in defining a personal philosophy would be to define nursing. My nursing philosophy would focus on the nurse’s role as direct care provider. Of the three primary AACN Baccalaureate nursing roles – provider of care, designer/manager/coordinator of care, and member of a profession (AACN, 2008) – the provider of care is where nursing started. It lies at the heart of the nursing. As nurses continue in their education and move away from the bedside it could be argued they lose this foundation, this touchstone, of patient care. All nurses, wherever their careers may they lead them, need to start their practice at the bedside. The other fields that nurses choose to advance to are indeed important and play essential roles in advocating for, advancing, managing and educating nurses. However, how are they to truly understand what it is they are evaluating, teaching, promoting, or managing unless they have developed themselves as bedside practitioners? To focus on nursing at the bedside and to place a high value on nurses as educated professionals, an applicable theory and philosophy of nursing needs to focus on the nurse as provider of care, be patient care centered, value education, experience and training, and emphasize the importance evidence based practices in the nursing process. My theory would be prescriptive in nature, focusing on the nursing process and critical thinking, as well as patient care centered to include evidence based practices. It would include acknowledging the importance of the role of the bedside professional nurse. Two theories that are mostly prescriptive in nature and can be applied to direct patient care are Orlando’s Nursing Process Theory (Parker & Smith, 2010) and Wiedenbach’s conceptual model of nursing “The Helping Art of Clinical Nursing” (Wiedenbach, 1963). Orlando and…
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