Nursing Theories And Theories Of Nursing

The caring, supportive, sympathetic features of nursing, is immeasurable. Theories are essential to have. They provide a description of what nurses do and give meaning and purpose. When nursing theories are developed this new knowledge can greatly impact the future of nursing practice (McCrae, 2012).

The profession of nursing has, in recent years, been trying to further develop, test and use proposed nursing theory. To utilize theory appropriately, in all domains of practice, education and research, it is important to know how to describe, analyze and evaluate

Comparison of Nursing Theorists Patricia Benner and Myra Levine Many professions have theorists associated with it that can help guide the people that work within that profession. The nursing profession has a wide range of theorists associated with it and each theorist brings a unique perspective to the nursing practice. Although Patricia Benner and Myra Levine are respected nursing theorists, their theories on nursing differ greatly. While Benner maintains her focus of nursing on the nurse’s individual development, Levine focuses her attention on specific nursing interactions.

The theorist that I have chosen is Dorothea Orem. This theory describes the role of nursing in helping a patient’s who can no longer care for themselves (Mosby, 2009). The theory is divided into three parts; universal, developmental, and health deviation.

Since I have been a nurse I never really gave much thought about any of the theories I learned in nursing school, I guess I was just so happy to finish. However, as years have expired and find myself back in school furthering my education, now I recall the importance of nursing theories. As many people or should I say nurses frequently tend to define various words through their experiences. So for the lack of cohesiveness, according to Parker & Smith (2010), a ‘theory is a frame of reference on how individuals view reality.’ A more formal definition states that a ‘theory is a group of interrelated concepts, assumptions, and propositions that explains or guides the actions of nurses in their profession (CNN, week2). The theorist I chose to discuss is Betty Neuman’s Systems Model and how her model relates to nursing.

Theory is an attempt to explain the world around us. It is defined as a set of concepts, definitions, and propositions that projects a view of phenomena by designating specific interrelationships among concepts for purposes of describing, explaining and predicting phenomena. In the world of healthcare the nurse through the understanding of theories attempt to explain why nurses do what they do. Nursing theories are the creative products of nurses who seek to thoughtfully describe relationships and interactions that exist within nursing practice (Ingram, 2009).

Nursing has made a tremendous push towards being a profession during the past century. Many in the health care academia not only see nursing as an academic discipline, but also an equal colleague. This transformation is due to nursing progressing towards theory-based practice. "A nursing theory is a set of concepts, definitions, relationships, and assumptions or propositions derived from nursing models or from other disciplines and project a purposive, systematic view of phenomena by designing specific inter-relationships among concepts for the purposes of describing, explaining, predicting, and /or prescribing" (Ameen & Mutha). Theory based-practice has made nursing meaningful. Experts in the field developed, tried, and tested nursing

Nursing theories are important for nurses for our daily work as it provides us with an all-inclusive foundation to clarify and foresee issues that impact nursing care. In nursing, caring should be placed high on our priority list for our nursing practice. As nurses we must develop knowledge on research outcomes for the foundation of nursing practice. Consequently the grown and the certification of nursing theory will aid in the establishment of nursing practice. It is a source of specific individuality as it guides nursing education, research, practice, and distinguishes nursing practice from other disciplines.

Nursing theories are organized concepts that guide nursing practice. They are a set of concepts, definitions, relationships, and assumptions with standards borrowed from other related disciplines for the purpose of explaining, and predicting outcomes (Allgood, 2010). In the late 1800s, the nursing profession placed a major emphasis on education. This inspired the development of some of our earliest nursing theorists (CCN, 2015). Many theorists felt it prudent to describe nursing practice by creating nursing guidelines as a foundation for best practice clinical decision making. In the past, the majority of nursing curriculum was medically based and taught by physicians. Nurses were introduced to physiology, anatomy and pathophysiology that allowed accreditation with academic standing (Alligood, 2010). Nursing theory came into being out of the necessity to define what should form the bases of practice by explicitly describing nursing. Nursing theory created a foundation for better patient care, gave accreditation to schools of nursing through research, and established professional nursing boundaries, by highlighting nursing as an evolving profession. These theorists continue to be used today to help guide nursing practice, which has grown into a dynamic modern day system.

Theory has so far remained a strategic tool in advanced nursing practice. Firstly, nursing utilizes every feature of management science. Fortunately, the knowledge base of each and every management science takes theory into account. Theory includes methods, principles, and concepts. The principles are usually related, and can be observed and validated or verified when translated into the practice of management. Likewise, concepts are general notions, thoughts, and ideas that tend to form a basis of discussion or action. Therefore, theoretical principles guide clinical nurses to various

There are several definitions of nursing theory today. Meleis (2012) defines nursing theory as a conceptualization of some aspect of nursing reality communicated for the purpose of describing phenomena, explaining relationships between phenomena, predicting consequences or prescribing nursing care. Nursing theories have been used and still used today as theoretical framework to guide in nursing clinical decision making and better practice. There are three categories of nursing theories, which include grand theories, middle-range theories and situation-specific theories. Grand theories are broader in scope and more abstract. It includes the mission

The term theory indicates a semantic reach from an idea, to a statement of idea in a detailed relationships, to connect theory backed up by evidence (Dunlap, 2013). Nursing theories have developed from the choices and assumptions about the nature of what a

Nursing theory is defined as “a system of concepts and relationships that allows nurses to describe, understand, predict, and prescribe in their practice” (Joel, 2006, p. 180). According to Joel (2006), an understanding of each of these nursing theories and the theorist that formulated the concept is vital to developing further knowledge in nursing practice, research, and education. As the nursing profession continues to expand the use of evidence-based practice, more theories and theorists will be born. Upon further reflection, maybe our next major theorist has already been born, is it

Nursing theories are the support of nursing practice today. They are significant to nursing practice, education and scientific research because they help to determine, what is already known, and what additional knowledge and skills are needed. Nurses are usually first exposed to nursing theories during nursing education and further exposure comes from hands on training. The gained knowledge, about nursing theories, through education and training enhances better outcomes for patients and caregivers, allows application of professional boundaries, and assists in decision making. In this paper I will attempt to analyze, in general, the importance of nursing theory to the nursing profession; discuss middle-range theory, furthermore Benner’s

PART 1 What is nursing theory? How does nursing theory differ from theories of other disciplines? How does nursing theory relate to nursing practice?