The Value of Nurses
My Personal Philosophy of Nursing

Nursing, as we all know, is a combination of science and art. What I believe most of us forget is that compassion, generosity, patience and respect for mankind are also very important to being an effective nurse. While it is vitally important for nurses to have the knowledge of disease process and the art of finessing skills, it is equally important to be able to see your patient as a whole with needs that are not met by the first two competencies. I believe that as we deal with patients we must understand that we are taking a large part of control from their hands and expecting them to put their trust, not to mention their lives, in ours. As we go about practices and procedures that are routine to us we must never forget that the hospital can be a scary place typically associated with illness, injury and death and therefore can have a negative image. Sometimes a kind word, a smile, a few extra moments, a touch or just an ear to listen is all it takes to give a little reassurance to our patient that we are care for them. I guess you could say this is the same as the “Golden Rule” and I would be hard pressed to disagree because more often than not I have been on the receiving end of nursing care and have benefited from nurses who have taken time to offer those reassurances and been made more uneasy by nurses who are just shuffling through their busy day getting their “tasks” done all around me. I believe all nurses no matter how busy with the clinical practice of nursing should never forget the humanitarian aspect of nursing because we will all be touched by a nurse in one way or another in our