Nursing Theories

The nursing profession entails core values and commonalities that link those in the profession. A comprehensive study of the literature identifies key components of the profession as the provision of technical care, defending the vulnerable, taking care of the ill, as well as establishing systems for the delivery of care. Different models have been developed which describes and guides the nursing profession. The two nursing theories: the Theory of Nursing as Caring by Boykin and Schoenhofer and the Transition Theory of Afaf Ibrahim Meleis are constructive theories and serviceable in the nursing field. This paper gives an analysis of two nursing theories, comparing and contrasting their values.

The universal portion of Orem’s theory consists of the self care that a patient needs to meet their physiologic and psychosocial need. The developmental portion of the theory covers the care when coping through developmental stages, and the health deviation, which cover the care a patient need when theory health has

Theorist Hildegard Peplau set the foundational elements for newly graduated students to introduce the importance of patient/nurse relationships into their practice (Peplau 1991). Peplau’s book is mainly directed toward psychiatric patients, but improving interpersonal skills with patients from all disciplines will create a caring, informative environments for individualized care plans (D’Antionio, Beeber, Sills, & Naegle, 2014). Also,

Person can refer to the patient himself or herself. In the metaparadigm of nursing, person refers to more than just the patient, but also the family members, friends, relatives, and caregivers from the home setting. The nurse’s goal when caring for the patient is to nurture and empower the patient to manage their own health. Dorthea Orem’s Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory (SCDNT) supports this idea of empowering the person of the metaparadigm concept. Orem states that if the person is unable to take care of themselves then others must provide the care (Alligood, 2014). Orem states that individuals are subject to the forces of nature and her theory of self-care deficit states that

My passion is in psychiatric nursing. I am very much interested providing psychiatric care to the individuals suffering from chronic and persistent mental illness. Being equipped with over seven years of experience providing intense case management to this population, a non-RN position, I have finally found myself here. I attained my Registered Nursing (RN) license through the Entry Level Masters (ELM) program here at APU. My goal is to add needed competencies and skills to my existing experience as a case manager to be a successful Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP). I find that my newly acquired nursing skills as well as case management proficiencies complement each other very well and are crucial to my future practice as a PMHNP. PMHNP provides care to individuals at risk for and suffering from psychiatric or mental health problems, taking the lifespan approach (from birth to death) (Thomas, 2013).

A rather hotly debated current topic in healthcare is the assertion that mental health suffers more staff and specialist shortages than any other sections of healthcare. Mental care takes up a unique and important place in the healthcare sector, especially in the nursing workforce. In mental health nursing, some workers are engaged in acute care while others are engaged in the larger mental health community. In the latter setting, nurses work and interact in integrated teams with communities and professionals such as social workers, occupational therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists (McAllister et al., p. 575). Clearly, mental healthcare integrates multiple disciplines working to improve patients’ mental wellbeing.

The professional organization I will explore is the American Psychiatric Nurses Association. This vison of the APNA is to instill the core values of “empowerment, inclusivity, integrity, collegiality, innovation, transparency, and stewardship.” It is the mission of the APNA Administrative Council “to facilitate collaboration and communication among psychiatric nurse administrators, to serve as a clinical resource in achieving shared goals, and to assist in the use of evidence-based practices and innovative systems for exceptional patient care.” APNA is the only psychiatric mental health nursing organization whose membership is inclusive of all psychiatric mental health registered nurses. A membership is available to those individuals who are registered nurses and dues are $135.00 per year. APNA has more than 9,500 members and allow them to be attached with a vibrant community of psychiatric mental health nurses. This allows many resources and programs, with the opportunity to advance in the area of psychiatric mental health nursing profession.

The role of theory in clinical nursing practice is to guide assessment, interventions, and evaluation of nursing care. Theory in nursing practice provides a rationale for collecting reliable and valid data about the health status of clients, which are essential for effective decision making and implementation. Nursing theory also serves as a guide assessment, interventions, and evaluation of nursing practice. Theories can address important questions for nursing units. Theories can be grand, middle range and practice. Grand theories provide a complex and broad scope and incorporate numerous ways of viewing concepts in nursing. Middle range nursing theories are narrower in scope and offer an effective bridge between grand nursing theories and nursing practice.

Since the schizophrenic patient is responding to an internal state of mind, continuity of care is a significant factor in psychiatric nursing. Other responsibilities of the mental health nurse may include close monitoring of the physiological status before, during and after medications and since schizophrenia is not curable, the patient nurse relationship is the central concept for psychiatric nursing (Dearing, 2004). The nurse always works as a close team member with other

As a nurse, a good understanding of the principles regulating this profession is vital. In what follows, I will describe the functional differences between the New Jersey State Board of Registered Nurses and the American Psychiatric Nurse Association (APNA), and how they relate to current nursing practice. I will also provide a discussion of two of

If psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner established treatment plans with clear expectation, both party will know the plan and will have a goal to achieve. There will be minimal disagreement since the limits are set and expectations are clearly stated upon admission. The patients also get a treatment that geared toward accomplishing absences. In general, the patients and caregivers relationship will be improved which ultimately increase

During my work placement I noticed that nurses work in a variety of services and are in an ideal position to promote patients’ mental health and wellbeing by helping and empowering them to realise their abilities rather than focusing on their disability or illness (Ruddick,2013).

One of the most common professions where staff are often required to work long hours and deal with stressful demands related to their occupation is in the field of nursing. Many hospitals and agencies require their

Caring science encompasses a humanitarian, human science orientation to human caring processes, phenomena and experiences. Caring science includes arts and humanities as well as science. A caring science perspective is grounded in a relational ontology of being-in-relation, and a world view of unity and connectedness of All. Transpersonal Caring acknowledges unity of life and connections that move in concentric circles of caring – from individual, to others, to community, to world, to Planet Earth, to the universe. Caring science investigations embrace inquiries that are reflective, subjective and interpretative as well as objective-empirical and Caring science inquiry includes ontological, philosophical, ethical, historical inquiry and

Hurley (2009) designed a qualitative study to clarify the identity of the mental health nurse. The author defines the psychiatric nurse’s role as the role as exhibited in several behaviors. The behaviors include, being a generic specialist, adopting the patient’s focus, engaging in talking therapy, interacting with the patients, and engaging in a therapeutic use of self. According to Foster, McAllister and O’Brien (2006) a therapeutic use of self is