Core Beliefs & Values

Belief Statement

As a nursing student, I strongly believe that nursing practice should be comprehensively aimed at caring for the physical, mental, spiritual and emotional needs of ourselves and our patients. The main values that emphasize this form of care are; empathy, respect, professionalism, and collaboration. These four values are important in nursing practice in ensuring high standards of patient-centered care that is unique to each individuals’ needs.

Empathy

I strongly feel empathy is one of the most important traits in nursing practice. Empathy means putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and trying to understand how you can best support their situation in a positive, caring way. Nurses should practice empathy in all aspects of the therapeutic nurse-client relationship by being supportive to the patient’s emotional and mental well-being in addition to supporting their physical health. This entails showing sensitivity, maintaining boundaries, actively listening, respecting and prioritizing the patient.

Professionalism

Professionalism is a personal value of mine due to the significant influence it has on nursing practice and the relationships nurses build on a regular basis. Professionalism involves acting with high standards of honesty and integrity, and acting in accordance with the law. It can be portrayed through image (uniform), actions and behavior, and effective communication. In order to provide the best possible care, nurses require the patients’ complete trust. If a patient does not view a nurse as a trusted competent professional, it will be difficult to establish a therapeutic relationship and the patients’ health will likely suffer greatly. As nurses are not only responsible for patient’s lives, I feel it is critical for the patient to view them as a trusted professional.

Respect

Respect is fundamental to the establishment of nurse-patient relationships. Respect helps to foster strong relationships by building trust through maintaining privacy and dignity when patients are in potentially vulnerable situations. Nurses should respect patients’ autonomy and support their individual needs and backgrounds. In nursing practice, it is especially important to provide non-judgmental, non-biased, culturally-sensitive care. Acceptance and respect lead to creation of better bonds with patients, resulting in better health outcomes. Respect of our patients’ well-beings as well as their boundaries results in better health care, which is why I value respect in nursing practice.

Collaboration

Collaboration is a vital component of nursing practice in all areas of the field. Nurses are required to collaborate extensively with colleagues, families, and the inter-professional healthcare team. Firstly, teamwork is essential to one’s professional growth as a nurse. When working in a team, nurses can learn from each others’ unique knowledge and skill base to better their practice abilities. In addition, collaboration is required when working with families, power of attorneys, and friends of patients. When nurses collaborate with other health care professionals such as physicians, rehabilitation assistants, physiotherapists, etc., more aspects of patient health are addressed, resulting in better overall well-being outcomes. Collaboration is a key value of my nursing beliefs as it ensuring care is patient-centered and unique to individual needs, which results in the best possible health outcomes for the patient.