Essay about Importance of Theory

For centuries the development of nursing knowledge has been influenced by numerous theorists and their respective theories. These theories have influenced, and continue to influence, nursing education, practice and research. (Johnson & Webber, 2005)

Patricia Benner, a well-known nursing theorist who published From Novice to Expert, theorizes how a nurse should progress through their career. Benner’s theory explains what stage of nursing one is in based on your education and the amount of time one has worked in a specific nursing field. She describes the five stages of the theory: novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert. While this theory has its limitations, it is beneficial to the well-being of both the nurse and patient and that is proven by real world clinical practice.

designed to guide the practice of nursing” (Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing, 2012). Nursing theories can help patients, managers and other healthcare professionals to recognize what and how much that nurses do contribute to the healthcare field. I never did realize how important theories in nursing practice could be until I became a nursing student myself. Nurses use theories in their everyday practice, but never think about them as being

There are different types of knowledge and different ways of knowing. Four fundamental concepts of knowing in nursing highlighted by Caper (1978) are empirical, personal, ethical and aesthetic. He divided knowledge into two forms which are tacit and explicit. Tacit is insights and based on experience and not easily visible and expressible, difficult to share and communicate with others which is highly personal. Empirical sources of knowledge depend upon an individual’s manner of observing and responding to events in the outside world (Higgs et al, 2004). Whereas explicit is formal and based on rationality and easily can be expressed, shared, communicate which are highly universal principles. Rationalism comes from within the individual and

A1. The nursing profession has evolved significantly over the decades. One of the factors that have greatly influenced these changes has been the involvement of nurses in the development of theories and data base needed to support the advancement of our profession. In the last half of the twentieth century, nurse researchers (1950s) and nurse theorists (1960s and 1970s) greatly contributed to the expanding body of nursing knowledge with their studies of nursing practice and the development of nursing models and theories (American Nurses Association, 2010, p. 16). Like in any other research activity, a special set of

Nursing as a profession is an incredibly varied field, with as many opinions on how and why as there are nurses. It is therefore incumbent on each nurse to determine what aspects of nursing research and history will influence her practice. This work is presented as a Professional Nursing Mission Statement for the author. In the following pages, the governing bodies, ethical code, professional traits, nursing theorist and theory, and historical figure that guide personal nursing practice are presented with scenarios demonstrating their effects. Providing the building blocks for an individual approach to nursing will result in a deeper understanding of practice.

Patricia Benner is known as one of the most recognized theorist of our time. Patricia born in 1955 in Hampton, Virginia spent most of her childhood in California. It was there that she received her professional education. This paper will focus on her Novice to Expert theory using the Model of Skill Acquisition through defining concepts within her conceptual framework, identifying assumptions within her theory, discussing the significance of her theory as it relates to advanced practice nursing, and addressing how applicable her theory is to actual nursing practice.

Carper's Way of Knowing- In 1978, Barbara Carper, Professor of Nursing at Texas Woman's University, proposed patterns of healthcare knowing in a journal article in Advances in Nursing Science. Her rationale was that there needed to be a guide that would act as a developmental tool for nurses so that they could share their experience and enhance the goals of patient management, education, and further research (Carper, 1978). Like Jean Watson's Theory of Caring, many experts in the nursing field

Since its establishment as a profession more than a century ago, Nursing has been a source for numerous debates related to its course, methods and development of nursing knowledge. Many nursing definitions and theories have evolved over time. Furthermore it is in a constant process of being redefined.

This paper will discuss the functions of caring within the nursing practice, as well as my own personal views regarding caring. I will review the Benner model of Clinical Nursing and the Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition in relationship to my own personal skills. I will identify my competencies within each domain of the Benner Model. I will reflect upon my own personal nursing practice in terms of my strengths and weaknesses. Also included will be a discussion of my own professional goals, areas of improvement needed within my practice and solutions for how I can improve in order to help me achieve these personal goals.

The credibility of a profession is based upon its ability to create and apply theory. Nursing as a whole has not been at the forefront of theoretical research being much more practical or hands-on in nature. Unless nurses increase the value placed on research and the body of knowledge that establishes the legitimacy of their practice then nursing will remain in a subordinate position in the medical environment. Theorists anticipated that by conceptualizing models of nursing, practitioners would be able to become more autonomous in their clinical settings while increasing the visibility and authority of nursing as a discipline. It

The profession of nursing has matured from the time of Florence Nightingale. Nursing has gone from just treating dying soldiers on the battlefield to helping guide people through their entire lives from birth to death. The maturation of nursing has led to changes in nursing philosophy and allowed for practitioners of Nursing to meld these philosophies together to form their own philosophy. In this paper I will explain my philosophy of nursing and compare it to Virginia Henderson 's definition of nursing along with discussing some of the changes to Nurse philosophy I will also discuss some of the difficulties to being a patient advocate.

Dr. Patricia Benner is responsible for the idea that a nurse begins her career as a novice, having a sound educational base, and eventually develops into an expert nurse after a multitude of experiences in the field (“From Novice to Expert”, 2013). This paper will explore Benner’s five stages to becoming clinically competent. This paper will also discuss the use of information technology in the clinical setting, including potential benefits of electronic health records to nurses and the impact of health information technology on consumer health.

Nursing theory is the backbone of nursing. It is very important in the application of evidence-based practice (EBP). The functions of a theory are to narrow and provide specific information for the analysis of initially confusing behaviors, situations, and events (Fawcett & Madeya 2013). Moreover, nursing theory helps to improve not only the quality of care that we are providing to our patients but, they also help us make better clinical decisions. As a matter of fact, nursing theory gives the nurse a framework for organizing and analyzing information as well as a base for identifying with their patients throughout the nurse-patient relationship (Schick, 2015). I am very much interested in all the theories. The one that I relate to the most is Hildegard Peplau’s theory. It is a middle range theory that focuses on interpersonal relations. This theory teaches us about how to interact with our patients so that they feel more in control of their treatment. In this paper, I will be talking about the importance of nursing, the summary of Peplau's theory, and how as future nurse practitioners, we can apply it.

Like any scientific discipline, the nursing profession has evolved over time. Nurses, once regarded as housemaids and lower class citizens, now hold positions of authority and stature in our modern society. These changes in the profession are attributed to the many nurse theorists who devoted their lives to the improvement of patient care. Through their theoretical advancements, the public perception of nursing has gone from dismissive to reverential. Today, our culture considers the nursing profession to be one of the most rewarding and respected career paths an individual can pursue. Through a review of one such patient theorist, Dorothea Orem, one can witness this change in the perception of the nursing profession. As a first semester student in a professional nursing course of study, Orem has already influenced my personal nursing philosophy.