Core Beliefs & Values

Belief Statement

As a student nurse, some core values that I hold and believe are important to portray in healthcare settings include compassion, accountability, courage, and respect. By including these values during practice, you can put yourself in the best position to provide ethical, inclusive, personal care, and positive experiences for each patient.

Compassion

Compassion to me, is one’s ability to show concern and sympathy through kindness, caring actions or feelings, with an overall intent to help an individual during their time of need. Showing compassion in everyday life is how you show thoughtfulness to the people around you, considering that everyone is going through their own hardships, which is important in maintaining relationships. Compassion is key in a healthcare setting, especially in nursing. Each patient is going to be going through their own unique story and will need support. By showing that you are there to help, support, and be their shoulder during this time, you are providing that individual with compassionate care.

Accountability

I believe that accountability means being responsible for your own actions and the outcomes that they produce. Taking accountability for your actions shows self-awareness and responsibility when there may be either good or bad outcomes, which is valuable for yourself and recognizing mistakes, but also for those around you or affected. Accountability is important in the nursing practice, as you must always be responsible for the choices you make throughout the care you are providing the patient with. Accountability promotes recognizing one’s own actions and thinking critically to develop and implement possible innovative solutions; which in turn aids in providing high-quality care for the patients. This can also especially be important in situations where a mistake has been made. It can be difficult to come forward and admit to a wrong action, but by doing so, you could save, better, or solve the particular outcome.

Respect

In my eyes, showing respect means showing consideration for one’s feelings or wishes. Respect is key when building relationships and is also very important in the nursing profession. It is the foundation on which excellent quality of care is built. As nurses, we must respect every patient, by showing our consideration for their well-being. This is done through respecting the patient’s medical wishes, visitation preferences, or cultural/spiritual beliefs and needs. By showing respect for the patient, you show that you value their opinions or beliefs and that you are there to support them.

Honesty:

In my opinion, honesty represents when an individual chooses to be truthful shown through their words, actions, opinions, and feelings. Honesty also means that you remain responsible for those actions and any potential effects that may come alongside. When working towards building meaningful, trusting relationships, both inside and outside of the healthcare profession, honesty is the foundation. In the nursing profession, honesty is important in providing trusting care to your patients. If you choose to be, or in some cases are unintentionally dishonest, patients may not feel they can trust you, limiting their ability to form a relationship with you as a nurse. When a patient feels as if they are in the care of a trusted healthcare professional, they can put certain concerns aside and fully focus their energy in on improving their health. When completing patient-care plans, it is also important to be honest regarding your opinions about implementing specific interventions. This means being really considering what will and won’t work for a specific patient. This in turn helps to implement relative practice, reinforce the trusting relationship with the patient and colleagues, while enhancing care provided to the patient.