A Personal Philosophy of Gerontological Nursing: An Ethnographic Adventure
Keywords:
Key Words, person-centred nursing, older people, gerontological nursingAbstract
ABSTRACT
Objectives: (1) To articulate my personal philosophy of gerontological nursing. (2) To identify why I professionally do what I do.
Method: Using auto-ethnography, I reflected upon my years of work in Supportive Living settings to identify:
(a) what tasks I enjoyed and why; (b) how I can best use my passion to honour our older adults: and (c) what about my practice was science, nursing, or "anything but" .
Results: This reflective exercise enabled me to articulate my perspective toward gerontological nursing, thereby helping me to discover that I do what I do in order to bring older adults joy and comfort, and to help maintain their integrity and dignity. If gerontological nursing is to be person-centred, then I will happily do whatever I can to achieve my nursing goals, regardless of whether or not the task is considered traditional nursing. In my professional career while caring for older adults, I have acted as an interior designer, an executive assistant, and a detective, among many other functions. My philosophy reflects that if we are to be truly person-centred, then it should not matter who does what.
Implications: To use a truly person-centered Gerontological Nursing model with our older population, the organizational silos must be eliminated. Gerontological nurses will be asked to willingly fill a variety of roles not considered typical nursing roles.
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