PERSONAL VALUES AND BELIEFS IN NURSING
Values always lie at the core of one’s human behavior and usually expressed by every human in the decisions and action that they take. They represent a person’s basic beliefs of what is known to be right, good or desirable, and that motivates both their social and professional behavior. A person’s personal values are particularly helpful in providing ways to understand how people react to different situations.
A value is a principle or standard of behavior that depicts one’s judgment of what is important in life. They are standards of living that people use to make judgments thereby enabling people to justify their own attitudes and actions which may be deemed socially unacceptable.
Some of the factors which affect values include culture. It contains sets of values and beliefs that are picked up during socialization, perception, decisions and how individuals act. Here are some examples of nursing values
Professional experience is also another factor which affects one’s personal values. Researchers have found that an increase in a person’s experience either among nurses or prospective students shows a decrease in the values of equality.
Nursing is a discipline rich in values and should not be related to only scientific knowledge and technical skills, but as a profession founded on specific human values. It is a field with diverse types of training, prestige and patient characteristics. So, how does one identify their personal values and beliefs?
To do so, one must identify and reflect on their clinical practice carefully reflecting on their patient care experiences which they have gone through. Listing them down will make it easier in the identification of your own personal values. A detailed description of interactions will help between you and the patient or family. Explaining your own beliefs, and values help one identify their self-awareness of what really triggers their professional practice. It also helps a person to have a deeper understanding of how theorists come up with their theories they look at the way nursing practice is or should be, identify their assumptions, explain the concepts of the nursing metaparadigm according to their worldview, and finally propose the relationships between the concepts in their models.
An individual’s values often impact one’s ethics. A person’s culture, education, social group or even past experiences can have a positive or a negative effect on a nurse. One’s personal values can, however, be consistent with their professional values hence impacting them in their choice of profession. Each job group often has their own set of culture which is always articulated in their professional codes of ethics. Many nursing associations have obligations and beliefs that are specific to nursing. Articulating their personal values will help in the promotion of their nursing behavior hence helping them achieve better healthcare outcomes.
Students wanting to do nursing as their career path need to understand that it is one’s duty to offer care, nurturing and helping those who are around them. It is one of the most rewarding career paths which many students can jump on. These days, most nursing schools ensure that they instill these values in students helping them as they continue advancing their career paths.
Many nurses are presented with all sorts of problems that occur in different situations. The way a nurse reacts to those problems have their base on the personal values that they have. Therefore, many nurses should try and straighten some of their personal beliefs and values to the institutions understanding.
Knowing your personal values helps one to understand some of the concepts that value to you. Clarification helps to know why a patient, for instance, or colleague can affect you in a certain way. It is vital to understand that in nursing, our conscience is vital to our values.
