Philosophy of Nursing Practice: DNP Tenets, Goals and Role as a Social Change Agent (Walden)
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Get it written →Assignment: Philosophy of nursing practice
Discuss philosophy of nursing practice. Include your nursing experience and expertise. Kindly explain the underlying tenets that support your philosophy of nursing practice and your goals for expanding your experience and practice as a DNP (e.g., embracing diversity, global health issues, and collaboration). Include how these dynamics are linked to the DNP’s role as a social change agent. Include a recommendation for at least one way to advocate for positive social change as a Walden DNP.
What is a philosophy of nursing practice?
A philosophy of nursing practice is a personal statement of what you believe about nursing, the people you care for, health, and the nurse’s role. It explains why you practice the way you do, and it guides your decisions, priorities and professional growth. For a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) student, the philosophy also connects your clinical background with your future role as a leader who improves systems and outcomes for whole populations.
Most nursing philosophies are organized around the nursing metaparadigm, the four concepts at the core of nursing theory:
Who is the patient? A unique, whole being with dignity, culture and rights
More than absence of disease: physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being
Family, community, social determinants, health systems and the planet
Caring, evidence-based actions that promote health and relieve suffering
How to write your philosophy of nursing practice
- Reflect on your story. Why did you become a nurse? Which patients, mentors or moments shaped how you practice?
- Describe your experience and expertise. Include years of practice, specialties, certifications, leadership roles and areas where colleagues rely on you.
- Define your beliefs about the metaparadigm: person, health, environment and nursing.
- Name the tenets (core principles) that support your practice, and link them to a nursing theory, the ANA Code of Ethics, and the AACN Essentials.
- Set DNP goals for diversity, global health and collaboration.
- Connect everything to social change and Walden’s mission.
- Recommend a specific advocacy action you will take as a Walden DNP.
Underlying tenets of a nursing philosophy
The table shows common tenets, how they appear in practice, and where they are grounded in theory and professional standards. Choose the three to five that best describe you.
| Tenet | What it means in practice | Theoretical and professional grounding |
|---|---|---|
| Caring and human dignity | Being present, listening, treating every person with compassion and respect | Watson’s Theory of Human Caring (Watson, 2008); ANA Code of Ethics, Provision 1 |
| Holistic, person-centered care | Caring for body, mind, spirit and social context; involving patients and families in decisions | AACN Essentials, Domain 2: Person-Centered Care (AACN, 2021) |
| Evidence-based practice | Using the best evidence, clinical expertise and patient preferences to guide care | AACN Essentials, Domain 4: Scholarship for the Nursing Discipline |
| Health equity and social justice | Addressing social determinants of health and removing barriers so everyone can reach their full health potential | ANA (2025) identifies racism as a public health crisis; NASEM (2021) Future of Nursing 2020–2030 |
| Collaboration | Working as an equal partner with interprofessional teams, patients and communities | AACN Essentials, Domain 6: Interprofessional Partnerships |
| Lifelong learning and self-care | Growing professionally and protecting one’s own well-being in order to care for others | ANA (2025): self-care and patient care are inseparable; AACN Domain 10: Personal, Professional and Leadership Development |
Sample philosophy of nursing practice
The sample below is written in the first person to show structure and tone. The experience described is an example; replace it with your own nursing background, specialty and goals.
My experience and expertise
I have practiced as a registered nurse for 12 years, beginning on a medical-surgical unit and spending the last eight years in emergency nursing, where I now serve as a charge nurse and preceptor. I hold certification in emergency nursing, and colleagues often rely on me for triage decisions, rapid response, and mentoring new graduates. The emergency department has shown me the consequences of gaps in our health system. I regularly care for patients who return with uncontrolled hypertension, diabetes or asthma because they cannot afford medications, lack a primary care provider, or face language, transportation or housing barriers. These experiences shaped my belief that excellent bedside care is necessary but not sufficient; nurses must also change the conditions that make people sick.
My philosophy of nursing practice
I believe each person is a unique, whole being who deserves dignity, respect and a voice in their care, regardless of background, income or diagnosis. Health is a dynamic state of physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being, shaped by the environments where people live, work and learn. The environment includes not only the hospital room but also families, communities, social determinants of health and the health of our planet. Nursing is the caring, evidence-based practice of helping people achieve their highest possible level of health, and advocating for the conditions that make health possible.
Underlying tenets
Four tenets support my practice. First, caring and human dignity: guided by Watson’s (2008) Theory of Human Caring, I believe the nurse-patient relationship is itself healing, and I practice authentic presence even in a busy emergency department. Second, evidence-based practice: I base my decisions on current research, clinical expertise and patient values, and I have led a unit project to implement a sepsis screening protocol. Third, health equity and social justice: consistent with the ANA (2025) Code of Ethics, I believe nurses have an ethical duty to address disparities and structural barriers, including racism, that harm health. Fourth, collaboration: no single profession can meet patients’ complex needs, so I value interprofessional teamwork and partnership with patients and communities.
My goals as a DNP
- Embracing diversity: I will strengthen my cultural humility, learn from the communities I serve, and promote culturally and linguistically appropriate care, such as consistent use of professional interpreters and patient education materials at appropriate literacy levels. I also aim to mentor nurses from underrepresented backgrounds to help build a workforce that reflects the population.
- Global health issues: I will broaden my perspective on issues that cross borders, including chronic disease, emerging infections, climate-related health threats and the global nursing shortage, and apply global lessons, such as community health worker models, locally.
- Collaboration: I will build partnerships with physicians, pharmacists, social workers, public health departments, community organizations and policymakers to design sustainable solutions, using the leadership and systems thinking skills I develop as a DNP.
- Scholarship and leadership: I will translate evidence into practice through my DNP project and lead quality improvement that produces measurable outcomes.
How these dynamics connect to the DNP as a social change agent
The DNP is the highest practice degree in nursing. DNP-prepared nurses are expected to lead systems change, translate evidence into practice, use data to improve population health, and influence health policy (AACN, 2021; Zaccagnini & Pechacek, 2021). Diversity, global health and collaboration are not separate goals; they are the tools of a social change agent:
| Dynamic | Link to social change |
|---|---|
| Diversity | Understanding diverse populations allows the DNP to identify inequities, design culturally appropriate interventions and give voice to groups that are often unheard. |
| Global health | A global view helps the DNP recognize shared threats, such as climate change, pandemics and chronic disease, and adapt proven solutions. The 2025 ANA Code of Ethics adds a new provision affirming nursing’s role in advancing human and environmental well-being worldwide (ANA, 2025). |
| Collaboration | Social change requires coalitions. The DNP brings together clinicians, communities, organizations and policymakers to change systems that no one discipline can change alone. |
These dynamics align closely with Walden University’s mission, which provides a diverse community of career professionals the opportunity to transform themselves as scholar-practitioners so that they can effect positive social change. Walden defines positive social change as “a deliberate process of creating and applying ideas, strategies, and actions to promote the worth, dignity, and development of individuals, communities, organizations, institutions, cultures, and societies” (Walden University, n.d.). The Future of Nursing 2020–2030 report similarly calls on nurses to lead efforts to achieve health equity (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine [NASEM], 2021).
Recommendation: one way to advocate for positive social change as a Walden DNP
Recommendation (example): Lead a nurse-led, community-partnered hypertension control program for underserved neighborhoods, and use its outcome data to advocate for sustainable funding.
- Identify the need: use emergency department and community data to show high rates of ED visits for uncontrolled blood pressure in specific zip codes.
- Partner: work with faith-based organizations, barbershops or community centers, community health workers, pharmacists and primary care clinics to provide blood pressure screening, self-measured blood pressure monitoring, medication support and referrals to a medical home.
- Measure outcomes: track blood pressure control rates, primary care follow-up and repeat ED visits, ideally as the DNP project.
- Advocate: share the results with hospital leaders and, through the state nurses association, with legislators to support reimbursement for community health workers and remote blood pressure monitoring.
- Disseminate: present findings at conferences and publish, so other communities can adopt the model.
Other advocacy ideas: serve on a professional organization’s health policy committee; testify or write to legislators on safe staffing, Medicaid access or full practice authority for APRNs; mentor nurses from underrepresented groups; lead a climate-and-health initiative to reduce hospital waste; or volunteer with free clinics or global health organizations.
Related reading: AACN Essentials summary, Walden academic success and professional development plan, contemporary issues in advanced nursing practice and DNP scholarships and admission essays.
Tips for writing your own philosophy
- Write in the first person and be specific about your experience: setting, years, roles, certifications and a defining patient or leadership moment.
- Choose three to five tenets and support each with a theory, standard or scholarly source.
- Make your DNP goals concrete and measurable, not general statements.
- Explicitly connect your philosophy to social change and Walden’s mission.
- Follow APA 7th edition and the rubric’s length requirement.
Conclusion
A philosophy of nursing practice expresses who you are as a nurse and who you intend to become. Grounded in caring, person-centered care, evidence-based practice, health equity and collaboration, and informed by real clinical experience, it guides the DNP’s growth in embracing diversity, understanding global health and building partnerships. These dynamics position the DNP as a social change agent who improves not only individual patient care but the systems and conditions that shape health. By leading community-partnered initiatives and advocating for policy change, a Walden DNP turns the university’s mission of positive social change into measurable improvements in people’s lives.
References
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2021). The essentials: Core competencies for professional nursing education. https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/0/PDFs/Publications/Essentials-2021.pdf
American Nurses Association. (2025). Code of ethics for nurses. American Nurses Association.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2021). The future of nursing 2020–2030: Charting a path to achieve health equity. The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25982
Walden University. (n.d.). Vision, mission, and goals. Walden University Catalog. https://academics.waldenu.edu/catalog/vision-mission-goals
Watson, J. (2008). Nursing: The philosophy and science of caring (Rev. ed.). University Press of Colorado.
Zaccagnini, M. E., & Pechacek, J. M. (Eds.). (2021). The doctor of nursing practice essentials: A new model for advanced practice nursing (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
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