NU 500 Discussion post – Personal Knowing

Please read the following introduction and complete the following steps for your initial discussion post:

In the Chinn and Kramer (2018) reading, chapter 5, the authors discuss personal knowing and its impact on nursing theory and nursing practice. Consider professional development of nursing and apply the concepts of personal knowing on the development of nursing practice.

Please respond to all of the following:

What is personal knowing; how does your personal knowing affect your personal professional development?

According to Chinn & Kramer (2018) personal knowing is the ones authentic genuine self. It is the all-around essence of what it means to be human (Chinn & Kramer, 2018). Personal knowing affects your relationships with others, and it requires you to ultimately know who you are. One must understand their attitudes, behaviors, and positive and negative values (Chinn & Kramer, 2018). Personal knowing affects one’s personal development because once someone knows their true worth and value, they will not settle for anything less. Chinn & Kramer (2018) explain that, a person begins to develop their life and “live with deliberate intent” once they develop personal knowing. One’s actions are no longer baseless but instead, begin to harmonize with their deepest intentions (Chinn & Kramer, 2018).

Identify and discuss 2 professional strengths and 2 weaknesses that you have?

One professional strength that I have is that I am very punctual. I believe that if I am on time, I am late. I always make my best attempt to show up to work 15 minutes in advance in order to thoroughly review my patient’s charts and gain some background knowledge on them. My second professional strength is that I am very understanding. I have cared for patients one day post a gender reassignment. Instead of judging these patients, I listen to them and try to show empathy through nursing interventions such as therapeutic touch. One weakness of mine is that I am very compassionate, and I tend to put others before myself. Most of the time I miss my lunch break at work because my patients are my top priority. This is a weakness because if I do not take care of myself, I will be unable to care for others. Lastly, I am a perfectionist. I spend a lot of time with my patients, trying to make sure that everything is just right. But as a human being, I am imperfect. Instead of trying to be perfect, I would like to focus on just being me.

How can you apply nursing theory to address your weaknesses and further develop your strengths?

Orem’s theory of self-care explains that deliberate action is being motivated to reach an outcome pertaining to self-care or dependent care (McEwen & Wills, 2019). This nursing theory pertains to me because I can use it to set goals in order to reach my desired outcomes. My main concern is my ability to put others before myself. In order to combat this weakness, I can start off by giving myself just 10 minutes out of the day to take care of me. Then I can increase these 10 minutes by adding 10 more minutes a day for the next week. By deliberately taking this action, I believe it will allow me to gain insight on my personal knowing and increase my self-care habits. Additionally, Albert Ellis’ Rational Emotive Theory, describes how there is an “interconnectedness between thoughts, feelings, and actions” (McEwen & Wills, 2019). By taking the time to listen, and think before I speak, I believe that this could improve my articulation and relatability to patients.  

References

Chinn, P. & Kramer, M. (2018) Knowledge development in nursing: Theory and process (10th ed.). St. Louis, MO:  Elsevier. ISBN 9780323530613

McEwen, M. & Wills, E. (2019). Theoretical basis for nursing (5th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. ISBN 9781496351203.