Theory of Nursing

Theory of Nursing

Before making the critical decision to enroll in a nursing program it is important to seek out information on nursing as a vocation. The program at this school is rigorous and time consuming and, therefore, should not be ventured into lightly. In this paper I will go through what I have discovered about nursing as a career, what nursing is, my definition of a good nurse, how I plan to provide care and what my strategy is to develop my nursing skills and finally where I want my career to go.

What is nursing? Perhaps one of the most all encompassing, touching and passionate quotes comes from the founder of the modern profession of nursing, Florence Nightingale, “Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God's spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said the finest of Fine Arts.” However, one must question whether this prominent quote would be applicable to today’s technologically and medically advanced world of modern medicine. There are many definitions of nursing, from Merriam-Webster’s Online definition of “person who cares for the sick or infirm” to editorial definitions such as, “restoration of a person to a meaningful life through caring and coaching” (Cooper, 2005). After reading through all the various definitions that experts, teachers and practitioners have come up with I have come to realize that nursing is what you come to define it to yourself. Nursing, to me, is a passion to help people who are sick or injured; it is a promise to learn all that I possibly can in my education at Bryant and Stratton, so that I can serve my patients to the very best of my ability. And while it can be specifically defined through segments such as client centered or as a science, nursing is limitless in its definitions.

When I first started to think about what makes a good nurse I first thought of all the qualities that make up a nurse. In the early 1950’s the following was said to be true of a good nurse, “The ‘essential qualifications’ for a good nurse were ‘a wellbalanced

mind with a fine philosophy…robust health, sound organs, a good constitution and no physical defects.” (Fealey, 2004). Today, while being caring, patient, compassionate, and respectable and all the other qualities are important I feel one of the most important assets a good nurse can have is a strong foundation in their nursing education. I base this on the fact that no matter how good your bedside manner is it will ultimately do no good to the patient if you are lacking in your knowledge of medicine. I think a good nurse takes a certain inexplicable combination of qualities.

Once I have finished school for my AD in nursing I plan on using my Business Administration degree in combination with my Nursing Degree to climb the ranks at a hospital and hopefully