Core Beliefs & Values

As a practicing RPN who is in the process of upgrading to an RN role, I have spent time reflecting on my values and beliefs and how to utilize them to guide my clinical practice.

Belief statement

Patients must feel physically, emotionally, spiritually and culturally safe whilst in the care of a nurse. I believe in providing excellence in nursing care through increasing my competence and knowledge during my education, alongside the commitment of lifelong learning. I am a firm believer in respecting patient values, beliefs, treatment choices and preferences. I believe in being honest, a strong patient advocate, and a voice for social justice within health care. A chief focus is the intention of forming therapeutic relationships to ensure open, non-judgemental communication.

Values

The four leading values that I define as integral in my personal life, which are also fitting to act as guiding principles within my nursing practice are integrity, compassion, social justice and commitment.

Integrity: Integrity is of utmost importance when working with patients. The value of integrity ensures that patients under my care are looked after in an honest and just manner ensuring that information is not inappropriately shared outside of the direct healthcare team. This is essential to maintain trust and be able to form and maintain a therapeutic and professional relationship. I recognize the challenge of a power dynamic whereby the balance is not equal between the patient and the nurse. Therefore, being true to the patient in an intention I strive to abide by. This value was instilled in me from a young child through parental guidance.

Compassion: To me, compassion is a critical value at the heart of nursing. I aim to provide sensitive, empathetic and kind care in a holistic way to all my patients and their families. I feel active listening and acknowledging patient feelings can make a definitive difference to a patients’ hospital stay. I recognise that individuals who are hospitalized are in a vulnerable situation and are often fearful of a new diagnosis or struggling with acute or chronic declining health. Adding to this, they are away from their support systems, families or safety of their own home. Therefore, I strongly believe a nurse’s role is to offer support in a gentle and kind manner. I feel this value has developed internally from being a mother and observing the benefits of compassion.

Social Justice: The promise of striving and advocating for equitable, fair, non-discriminatory care within our hospitals, community and beyond. This value speaks to me after my first year in nursing where I have seen firsthand the health challenges that are related to the social determinants of health and the lack of support systems. Poverty, mental health challenges and lack of safe housing put people at severe risk. I look forward to using my voice and continuing to advocate for my patients in hospital settings to ensure they are set up with supports via the interdisciplinary teams, such as social work. This value is what I hope will also lead to community or global projects down the road in my nursing career. The need for social justice has really developed in my adult life and during my nursing practice when my eyes were opened to the discrepancy in resources and social challenges.

Commitment: The value of commitment involves dedication to being a diligent worker, pursuing lifelong learning and ensuring loyalty and attentiveness to patients. I believe this is a significant value as best practices and research ever evolve. In order to give competent and safe care, I commit to ongoing education to broaden my knowledge and improve my critical thinking, which in turn will enhance assessment skills. I take pride in my work and aim to be give my best to my patients. Hard work, energetic effort and the will to give my best is a value that has existed in me for as long as I remember.