Theory-Based Practice Nursing was, for my sixteen year old self, taking care of the sick. Little did I know the complexities of that definition. Still, taking care of the sick was interesting enough to make nursing my major. I started practicing nursing years ago. However, I still struggle defining and explaining my profession to others. I usually start by differentiating nursing from medicine. Nurses see patients as humans rather than a disease that needs treatment (Zaccagnini & White, 2014, p. 15). However, as I advance my career, I must actively incorporate nursing theory into my practice. Nursing theory gives a foundation to understand patients and their health problems better. The use of nursing theory provides a framework to evaluate nurses’ interventions on a higher standard (Zaccagnini & White, 2014). Kenney described five steps to follow once the decision to include nursing theory has being made. This paper will explore the process of applying the Kenney’s five steps into my practice.
Conclusion Having defined nursing theories promotes better patient care, improve the status of nursing profession, and improve the communication between the nurses. In addition to guiding the nurses to provide the best care to the patients, nursing theories are used to promote and guide baccalaureate programs, administration and nursing research.
Nursing theories have been a fundamental tool used to explain, guide and improve the practice of nursing. Theorists have contributed enormously to the growth of nursing as a profession. The four grand theorists I chose are Virginia Henderson, Peplau, Myra Levine and Jean Watson. These theorists have contributed tremendously in the field of nursing through their theories, and research. One thing the theorists have in common is that they are patient centered. They are all concerned on ways we can improve our responsibility to the patients, their families and the environment. They have different ideas but they are all aiming towards achieving the same goal, which is patient satisfaction and safety. Their differences are in their areas of
1. It is argued that nursing theory has little or nothing to do with actual practice in the nursing profession. Personally, I do not agree too much with this argument. I am a firm believer that theory is the essence and basis of the practice to begin with. While it
Hello professor and classmates, I will like to take a moment to thank you professor Traci Moxley for your feedbacks and guidelines this semester. I also want to congratulate my classmates for standing firm to the end of this semester. I enjoyed reading your opinions on the various topics and getting an insight into your nursing practice. I wish you all the best as you progress in your education and careers.
“ It is important for nurses to study the development of nursing theory because without an idea of where you have been, how can you know how, why, when, or where to go “ (Cherry and Jacob, 2014, p.75). Theory leads to research, research leads to science, science leads to practice, and practice then cycles back to theory. New theory emerging from practice will generate new studies that will, in turn, produce new knowledge for practice. All of this contributes to improving nursing practice.
This author also believes that her knowledge and confidence of nursing theories has increased with the completion of this course. This writer believe that the writer now has a better understanding of nursing theories after completing this course. By completing this course the writer believes that we have all increased our knowledge of nursing theories and in turn increase the quality of care that the patients are receiving. This author was thinking the same things when the author first started this course, just get through this course. When the writer completed her baccalaureate degree program nursing theory was something that we spent one class on which, made nursing theory confusing to the author. Now having taken a whole semester of nursing
Theories are establish, delineate, and define the profession of nursing. They are the key to setting policies, laws, and regulatory standards. For this reason, theories are altered, expanded, and improved based on current research. It is necessary to be updated on the most recent, accurate, and informative
A theoretical framework is helpful when conducting a study to increase the theoretical ideas and it demonstrates a part of reality that helps make sense of a difficult phenomena. Theory offers a better understating to nursing care in particular situations and provides a different lens for seeing a problem, permitting
Core Concept across Nursing Theories Nursing is a practice or field that must be based on nursing theories, which contributes to the consideration of nursing discipline as a profession. The significance of nursing theories in the practice is attributed to their provision of direction and guidance for arranging professional nursing education, research, and practice. Nursing theories also distinguishes the focus of this discipline from other professions since they provide directions regarding evaluation, assessment, and intervention of nursing care. Nursing theories also provide the basis for gathering reliable and valid data about clients’ health status that is crucial for effective decision making and implementation. Notably, these theories are based on certain concepts that are essential for guiding nursing practice. While nursing theorists have developed different theories and models, these theories or models are based on some common core concepts.
Prior to this course, this author had only one class during her baccalaureate degree program, which made the author think that nursing theory was confusing and unimportant in nursing practice. With the completion of this course the writer is now more aware that nursing theory is vital to nursing practice.
Nursing theory profoundly affects the practice of nursing in a multitude of ways. It is nursing theory that simultaneously validates nursing as a profession, and differentiates it from other medical professions. Nursing theory facilitates the growth of nursing knowledge by providing a structure for communicating principles and key ideas to support nursing practice. Across all aspects of nursing, theory provides a tool than can be used as a guide for problem solving, to simplify decision making, as well as providing a method for categorizing and comprehending patient data (Matney, Avant, & Staggers, 2015). In addition to direct patient care situations, nursing theory can be applied to resolve nursing challenges in education and research,
Nursing theory is defined as interpreting, explaining and describing an idea and the relationship it has to outcomes (Smith & Parker, 2015). Theories were developed to guide practice, research and education. Why are nursing theories important to nursing practice? Nursing theories help to provide the framework of the nursing practice.
The Future of Nursing Theory Discussion NUR 403 October 26, 2014 Introduction The discussion of the future of nursing theory addresses many different directions of nursing. We as nurses have different views, interests, and concerns about the future of nursing. In this paper, we will discuss the following; what has driven nursing theory development, what will drive future development in nursing theory, and how might nursing practice change as a result of evolving nursing theory?
ANALYSIS OF NURSING THEORY Nursing theories have been a major contributor to nursing education, it has helped create a focus. Nursing theories have also helped healthcare professional, managers and patients make unique contributions to health care. According to Im, E. & Chang, S.J. (2012)” Believing that the trends of focusing on specifics in theoretical works, close linkage to research, and integration to practice are positive in the sense that the close linkage to research could provide solid grounds for theoretical development in nursing and that the specifics could facilitate and strengthen the linkages between