Historical Development of Nursing Timeline

Nursing is as much science as it is a study in the human condition. Combining caring and the notion of human flourishing allows the nurse sharpen her understanding of patients’ needs by observing and understanding herself (Husted & Husted, 2008). A nurse is able to better anticipate the needs of her patients by noting similarities and differences between the two of them. With caring in the nursing corner, even under less-than-ideal conditions, one can still create havens of hope, nourishment, and the possibility for flourishing (MacCulloh, 2011).

Metaparadigm identifies the phenomena of central interest to a nursing discipline. It is made up of concepts and propositions that define discipline that are extremely abstract. It fails to provide a definite direction for activities like nursing practice and research. Its main function is to identify the basic subject matter of the discipline which are defined by Fawcett (2005) as human beings, environment,

The nursing metaparadigm concepts described by Fawcett (as cited in McEwen & Willis, 2011), are a primary phenomena of interest to a discipline, which identifies globally by ways in which, nursing can deal with those phenomena in a distinctive and applicable manner. The functional aspects of the meta-paradigm according to Kim (as cited in McEwen & Willis, 2011), involve a combination of intellectual and

Since 1970s, person, nursing, health, and environment are considered as the core concepts of nursing theories by many nursing theorists.

The caring theory was grounded on a humanitarian perspective and is found on a humanistic approach toward human caring programs and experiences. It acknowledges that life with individuals and their community to the surrounding environment are somehow connect and affects wellbeing of everything involved. The nature of the theory caring implies that it embraces reflective investigations as well subjective and interpretative inquiries. The nursing profession uses nursing theories as the framework and foundation for practice.   Many people find nursing theories to be meaningless and of no use to the

The purpose of this paper is to discuss my personal beliefs pertaining to the profession of nursing. As well I will discuss the (4) metaparadigms in nursing which are known as; human beings, environment, health, and nursing, and my personal beliefs on these concepts and how they have similarities to the nursing philosophy of a nursing theorist.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze and summarize the philosophy of nursing and how nursing theory guides this nurse’s practice. Information used to do this paper was retrieved from the online database, Nursing and Allied Health Source and CINAHL through the SJR State Library. Our textbook, The Conceptual Foundations and the Merriam- Webster Dictionary website was also used. Some of the search phrases used were Jean Watson theory of human caring, philosophy of nursing, and Watson’s philosophy and theory of human caring in nursing on the online database. The word philosophy was also searched on the Merriam- Webster Dictionary website. There was an abundance information throughout my research on

Developing my personal metaparadigm began with me asking myself questions, such as, “what does nursing mean to me?” In researching theory more and more, I have found my personal philosophy has many similarities to Kolcaba’s metapardigm. Person, to me, would be defined as the patient and family I am caring for. The person requires unique assistance in their illness, while keeping in mind their different needs based upon their own culture, religion, and goals. Each person is distinct in that one person’s level of comfort is different from the next family I will be taking care of.

The purpose of this paper is an overview of Jean Watson’s Theory of Caring. This theory can be taken into account as one of the most philosophicaly complicated of existent nursing theories. The Theory of Human Caring, which also has been reffered to as the Theory of Transpersonal Caring, is middle – range explanatory theory. (Fawccett, 2000) The central point of which is on the human component of caring

Throughout the history of nursing, there have been many nursing theorists who have each made significant contributions towards the shaping of nursing knowledge. Each of these theorists have differing perspectives and interpretations of how each domain of the nursing metaparadigm fit into their respective theories. The four domains of the nursing metaparadigm are: person, environment, health and illness, and nursing. The purpose of this reflection is to provide an overview of the domains related to the metaparadigm of nursing as well as to introduce this author’s perspective on their developing personal philosophy of nursing. In this paper, the author will take a closer look at each of these areas, how they are individually defined, and how they each fit into the nursing metaparadigm as a whole. At the conclusion of this overview, readers will be introduced to how these theorists and their perspectives have enabled this author to begin to create their own philosophy of nursing.

The metaparadigm has four central concepts to the discipline of nursing and they are interrelated although they have different meanings. They are:

It is important to critically appraise the theory. I have used Chinn and Kramer’s approach to evaluate Jean Watson’s Theory of human caring. This evaluation criteria reflects on the clarity, the simplicity of the theory, asks how general, how accessible, and how important this theory to the nursing profession is.

The discipline of nursing is characterized into four metaparadigm concepts. The first concept is person. I believe that nursing requires me to think of each person as an individual and take time to be with that person using human-to-human interaction. Working in the emergency room I try my best to listen to each patient with proper eye contact to provide the visual cues of compassion. The second is environment. My nursing philosophy also incorporates all of the patient’s surroundings and their situation that may be causing an illness or a nursing need. It could be the people

In 1972,.Betty Neuman introduced her systems model that tackles holistic view of patients. One of its main ideas is stress reduction in improving the wellness of the individual. As a nurse, we recognize and consider the role of stress in the recovery of our clients. Neuman also introduced the levels of preventions that we use today. They are the integral parts of contemporary nursing process.

Masters (2015) defines a metaparadigm as a universal discipline consisting of multiple concepts that relate to one another. Each of the concepts intertwine creating a strong connection between person, environment, health and nursing. When all four metaparadigms connect it represents a person as a whole entity, thus addressing the person as a whole to promote well-being. Each of these concepts are represented in Betty Neuman’s Systems Model and show a strong correlation between the person also referred to as client system, environment, health and nursing. “The Neuman Systems Model is a unique systems-based perspective that provides a unifying focus for approaching a wide range of nursing concerns” (Masters, 2015, p. 128). A portion of the uniqueness stems from the model’s focus on the client system’s reaction to environmental stressors (Masters, 2015). The NSM consists of the four concepts and further breaks down into smaller domains.