Values
Values
According to Burkhardt, Nathaniel and Walton (2010), values are, "ideals, customs, modes of conduct, qualities, or goals that are highly prized or preferred by individuals, groups, or society" (p.87). Values are ideals that people hold close to their heart, and that guide them in their daily events. Values are learned both consciously and unconsciously (Burkhardt et al. 2010), and provide guidance for people when they are setting their priorities in life. My four main values are exploration, honesty, respect, and team work. Together these four values guide me throughout my life, and I rely on these values to dictate what is important to me in times of need and distress.
Exploration
I value exploration- of people, places, and ideas. To me, exploration is the examination of new situations, people, and places. Exploration is allowing your mind to wander and be open to these new things. Exploration guides my life and my practice because I always try to try new things daily, and to explore new possibilities.
In the past, exploration has greatly influenced my life. From a young age I have always loved travelling to new places, meeting new people, learning new things, and exploring new possibilities. Exploration of careers led to my career choice to become a nurse, changing schools from the University of Toronto to Trent University.
I will continue to develop my value of exploration by going to different locations for the various practical courses offered through the nursing program at Trent. I will continue to learn new information in the courses that I am taking, and will continue to explore and delve deeper into subjects that are of interest to me, such as working with children with disabilities and sicknesses. I will also hopefully explore the possibility of doing a Master's degree in Nursing after I am finished the Compressed Nursing Program at Trent University, as my end goal at the present moment is to become a Professor at a university or college for Nursing. Through this career, I will help others explore the world of nursing, and will allow myself to meet many new people from different walks of life.
This value will influence the way that I practice nursing because it will challenge me to make connections and to explore different realms of nursing. I hope to be able to work in different areas of the hospital, and to meet many different people along the way. With the value of exploration, I will continue to learn more about the patients that I will be working with, and explore the new ideas and politics of the nursing profession, to allow for continual learning and growth of myself, and others.
Honesty
I value honesty, which is always telling the truth, regardless of the consequences. To me, honesty is one of the most important values that everyone should possess, and it is crucial for creating and maintaining good relationships with others. Honesty guides my life and practice because I always try to tell the truth in every situation, even when it could hurt myself or others around me. I try to surround myself with honest, good hearted people, with whom I can share honest thoughts and feelings freely with.
Honesty has influenced me in the past because at a young age, I learned the importance of honesty. Growing up with close family nearby, I learned the hard way that telling lies is not a way to get ahead in life, and that telling lies can tear families apart. I learned the importance of being honest with your family, and with others, even when you can be seen as a lesser person for doing something that you are not supposed to. For instance, when I was in public school, I sneaked away from school for the day and didn't tell anyone where I was going, It ended up being a massive issue because none of the teachers, including my own mother, knew where I was. I lied at that time, telling them that I was home sick all day. This led to a bigger issue, because my father works from home and never saw me there all day. This led to a family dispute, and finally an upsetting confession that I was indeed not home all day, but rather was playing at the park and skipping school. I remember the guilty gut feeling that I had about lying to my family, and I learned the importance of honesty.
Honesty will influence the way that I practice nursing because it will allow me to be open with my patients about their situation, and to be open with my coworkers about what I believe. Honesty is very important in health care, because being dishonest about things such as treatment given or not given can potentially be a legal issue. As a nurse, I will be honest with my patients in the care that I give them, and will be honest with my staff as well, making the experience better for everyone involved.
Respect
I value respect for others and for yourself. Respect is defined as, "to hold in a position of esteem or honour, or to show regard or consideration for." (Webster's English Dictionary). To me, respect is allowing yourself to appreciate the things that other people have to offer, and accepting people for their achievements. Respect is also understanding the shortcomings of others. Respect to me is treating every person with dignity, and treating people the way that you would want to be treated if you were in their situation. Respecting is knowing about yourself-- both appreciating your good character traits, and also understanding your shortcomings.
Respect guides my life and practice because I try to treat every person that I meet with the utmost respect. I strongly believe in respecting all others, regardless of abilities, especially your elders. I developed this value from my parents, who taught me to "do unto others as I wanted them to do unto me", and to respect my grandparents. I also developed this value through my work with children and adults with disabilities. Through this line of work, I learned how this vulnerable population was often disrespected, and ever since I started working with this population of people, I promised myself that I would treat every person that I met with respect, regardless of the circumstances, something I strongly hold to today.
This value will influence me in my nursing career because I will be dealing with many different populations of people as a nurse. I will need to be able to respect and appreciate the staff that I work with, and also need to be able to treat even the most difficult of patients with absolute respect. As a nurse, I will need to preserve the dignity of patients in difficult situations, and through my deeply rooted value of respect, I believe that this will be possible to do.
Teamwork
I value teamwork, which is working together with others towards a common goal. To me, teamwork is critical in every aspect of society, from people working the "dirty jobs", to white and blue collared workers. One person alone cannot change the world, but a team of people can certainly make significant changes. Teamwork guides my life and practice because I truly value being a member of teams. I enjoy having people rely on me, and I value being a leader on the teams that I am a part of.
From a young age, teamwork was an important aspect of my life. Growing up in a small town, I played on boys hockey and soccer teams, since there were no leagues for girls in my town. In order to make the competition teams, I had to prove that I deserved a spot on the team, and that being a girl would not deter me from performing with the best of the boys. Once I made the teams, it was incredible how accepting the other boys were of a girl playing on their team. They treated me as a friend, and respected me as a valued team member. They stood up for me, and goofed around with me, and it was truly those early memories of my team membership that made me love being a part of teams. I continued being an active athlete all throughout high school, and even throughout my first three years of university at the University of Toronto.
The value of teamwork will influence the way that I practice nursing because I know how important it is to be a member of a cohesive, respectful team. Having been a member of both very cohesive, and also very divided teams, I know the importance of communication, and good team development. Through my career as a nurse, I know that I will be a part of many teams, be it on a hospital floor, in a family medicine team, or hopefully in the college or university education system. Through my experiences being a member of teams, and my value of teamwork, I know that I will do my best to ensure that the team is working together to achieve the highest level of care that we can for the patients, and that everyone feels welcome and appreciated that is a member of the team.
According to Burkhardt, Nathaniel and Walton (2010), values are, "ideals, customs, modes of conduct, qualities, or goals that are highly prized or preferred by individuals, groups, or society" (p.87). Values are ideals that people hold close to their heart, and that guide them in their daily events. Values are learned both consciously and unconsciously (Burkhardt et al. 2010), and provide guidance for people when they are setting their priorities in life. My four main values are exploration, honesty, respect, and team work. Together these four values guide me throughout my life, and I rely on these values to dictate what is important to me in times of need and distress.
Exploration
I value exploration- of people, places, and ideas. To me, exploration is the examination of new situations, people, and places. Exploration is allowing your mind to wander and be open to these new things. Exploration guides my life and my practice because I always try to try new things daily, and to explore new possibilities.
In the past, exploration has greatly influenced my life. From a young age I have always loved travelling to new places, meeting new people, learning new things, and exploring new possibilities. Exploration of careers led to my career choice to become a nurse, changing schools from the University of Toronto to Trent University.
I will continue to develop my value of exploration by going to different locations for the various practical courses offered through the nursing program at Trent. I will continue to learn new information in the courses that I am taking, and will continue to explore and delve deeper into subjects that are of interest to me, such as working with children with disabilities and sicknesses. I will also hopefully explore the possibility of doing a Master's degree in Nursing after I am finished the Compressed Nursing Program at Trent University, as my end goal at the present moment is to become a Professor at a university or college for Nursing. Through this career, I will help others explore the world of nursing, and will allow myself to meet many new people from different walks of life.
This value will influence the way that I practice nursing because it will challenge me to make connections and to explore different realms of nursing. I hope to be able to work in different areas of the hospital, and to meet many different people along the way. With the value of exploration, I will continue to learn more about the patients that I will be working with, and explore the new ideas and politics of the nursing profession, to allow for continual learning and growth of myself, and others.
Honesty
I value honesty, which is always telling the truth, regardless of the consequences. To me, honesty is one of the most important values that everyone should possess, and it is crucial for creating and maintaining good relationships with others. Honesty guides my life and practice because I always try to tell the truth in every situation, even when it could hurt myself or others around me. I try to surround myself with honest, good hearted people, with whom I can share honest thoughts and feelings freely with.
Honesty has influenced me in the past because at a young age, I learned the importance of honesty. Growing up with close family nearby, I learned the hard way that telling lies is not a way to get ahead in life, and that telling lies can tear families apart. I learned the importance of being honest with your family, and with others, even when you can be seen as a lesser person for doing something that you are not supposed to. For instance, when I was in public school, I sneaked away from school for the day and didn't tell anyone where I was going, It ended up being a massive issue because none of the teachers, including my own mother, knew where I was. I lied at that time, telling them that I was home sick all day. This led to a bigger issue, because my father works from home and never saw me there all day. This led to a family dispute, and finally an upsetting confession that I was indeed not home all day, but rather was playing at the park and skipping school. I remember the guilty gut feeling that I had about lying to my family, and I learned the importance of honesty.
Honesty will influence the way that I practice nursing because it will allow me to be open with my patients about their situation, and to be open with my coworkers about what I believe. Honesty is very important in health care, because being dishonest about things such as treatment given or not given can potentially be a legal issue. As a nurse, I will be honest with my patients in the care that I give them, and will be honest with my staff as well, making the experience better for everyone involved.
Respect
I value respect for others and for yourself. Respect is defined as, "to hold in a position of esteem or honour, or to show regard or consideration for." (Webster's English Dictionary). To me, respect is allowing yourself to appreciate the things that other people have to offer, and accepting people for their achievements. Respect is also understanding the shortcomings of others. Respect to me is treating every person with dignity, and treating people the way that you would want to be treated if you were in their situation. Respecting is knowing about yourself-- both appreciating your good character traits, and also understanding your shortcomings.
Respect guides my life and practice because I try to treat every person that I meet with the utmost respect. I strongly believe in respecting all others, regardless of abilities, especially your elders. I developed this value from my parents, who taught me to "do unto others as I wanted them to do unto me", and to respect my grandparents. I also developed this value through my work with children and adults with disabilities. Through this line of work, I learned how this vulnerable population was often disrespected, and ever since I started working with this population of people, I promised myself that I would treat every person that I met with respect, regardless of the circumstances, something I strongly hold to today.
This value will influence me in my nursing career because I will be dealing with many different populations of people as a nurse. I will need to be able to respect and appreciate the staff that I work with, and also need to be able to treat even the most difficult of patients with absolute respect. As a nurse, I will need to preserve the dignity of patients in difficult situations, and through my deeply rooted value of respect, I believe that this will be possible to do.
Teamwork
I value teamwork, which is working together with others towards a common goal. To me, teamwork is critical in every aspect of society, from people working the "dirty jobs", to white and blue collared workers. One person alone cannot change the world, but a team of people can certainly make significant changes. Teamwork guides my life and practice because I truly value being a member of teams. I enjoy having people rely on me, and I value being a leader on the teams that I am a part of.
From a young age, teamwork was an important aspect of my life. Growing up in a small town, I played on boys hockey and soccer teams, since there were no leagues for girls in my town. In order to make the competition teams, I had to prove that I deserved a spot on the team, and that being a girl would not deter me from performing with the best of the boys. Once I made the teams, it was incredible how accepting the other boys were of a girl playing on their team. They treated me as a friend, and respected me as a valued team member. They stood up for me, and goofed around with me, and it was truly those early memories of my team membership that made me love being a part of teams. I continued being an active athlete all throughout high school, and even throughout my first three years of university at the University of Toronto.
The value of teamwork will influence the way that I practice nursing because I know how important it is to be a member of a cohesive, respectful team. Having been a member of both very cohesive, and also very divided teams, I know the importance of communication, and good team development. Through my career as a nurse, I know that I will be a part of many teams, be it on a hospital floor, in a family medicine team, or hopefully in the college or university education system. Through my experiences being a member of teams, and my value of teamwork, I know that I will do my best to ensure that the team is working together to achieve the highest level of care that we can for the patients, and that everyone feels welcome and appreciated that is a member of the team.