Philosophy of Teaching and Practice

Kelly Mansfield Ph.D, BSN, RN

“You’ll never know everything about anything, especially something you love.” Julia Child

            The Great Ormond Street Hospital in London utilizes the motto of The Child First and Always” (Great Ormond Street Hospital, 2015). As a pediatric nurse, I have adapted this philosophy to drive my nursing practice. To place the child first, I strive to provide holistic, evidence-based care in a team centered environment. My goals and philosophy as an educator are similar – to provide holistic, student-centered education with the goal of driving student curiosity and critical thinking that will serve them throughout their nursing career. Throughout my career, I highly value the important role that nurses bring to the healthcare field. My goal is to help develop new nurses that embody the traditional values of nursing, yet bring resiliency and creativity to the role as we move forward as a profession.

            In nursing, we individualize care to meet patient needs. In education, I value the same approach. I employ a student-centered approach to teaching which enables students to build on previous knowledge. As an educator it also allows me to meet students at their current level and foster their growth. It further invites students to become learning partners and to explore their resources to find and develop solutions to complex problems. In my view, this furthers their ability to critically think, developing skills that are integral to the practice of nursing.

            Next, I feel it is essential to the future of nursing to continue to support and actively recruit diverse populations. My goal is to promote inclusive learning environments by continuing to recognize my personal bias, maintaining a safe learning environment, and promoting individualized resources for students. In addition, I focus on the impact of social determinants of health in class discussions and case studies to help students understand their role providing nursing care to diverse groups with a variety of healthcare needs.        

The final component of teaching, which is integral to my philosophy, is the creation of a safe learning environment. In order for nurses to develop necessary skills, they need to be in a place where it is safe to fail and learn from mistakes as well as test new ideas and theories. Establishing an inclusive climate, modeling behaviors, and addressing tensions are a few methods I use to create a safe learning environment, promote learning, and development (Oermann et al., 2018, p. 48).

            I have a passion for teaching and preparing nursing students for both the rewards and challenges that face them in the nursing profession. In my career, I have always enjoyed working with nursing students and new graduates. I believe they bring vitality, enthusiasm, and new knowledge to the bedside. Further, nursing education allows me the opportunity to grow as an individual as I continue to learn from mentors, collogues, and students. In addition, I can engage my own appetite for learning and ignite that same desire in others. I find it to be a challenging, rewarding career and look forward to continuing to meet the needs of nursing students in the future.