Nursing Theory Of The American Nurses Association

Many things influence one’s personal perceptions of the great profession called nursing. According to the American Nurses Association, nursing is defined as “protection, promotion, and abilities, prevention of illness and injury,

“Nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations” (American Nurses Association, n.d.). The purpose of this paper is to expand my nursing philosophy as I transition into an Advanced Practice Nurse.

“Nursing encompasses autonomous and collaborative care of individuals of all ages, families, groups and communities, sick or well and in all settings. Nursing includes the promotion of health, prevention of illness, and the care of ill, disabled and dying people. Advocacy, promotion of a safe environment, research, participation in shaping health policy and in patient and health systems management, and education are also key nursing roles” (ICN 2010)

In order to decide on an accurate and well-described definition of what nursing is I sought multiple sources and decided upon two that I feel are representative of nursing. The American Nurses Association (ANA, 2015) declares, “Nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations.” As defined by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2015)

According to the American Nursing Association, “ Nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations” (Association, Scope and Standards of Practice, 2010).

The metaparadigm of nursing consists of four parts comprised by Jacqueline Fawcett, in 1984, in her seminal work (Alligood, 2014). The metaparadigm she developed served to provide direction and guidance for the nursing framework already in use and became an organization tool for theories already in use (Alligood, 2014). The four parts being person, health, environment, and nursing. The four components of the metaparadigm concept of nursing is important to nursing theory because they are the key areas of focus of patient care, and the metaparadigm is designed to differentiate nursing from other specialties (Alligood, 2014). It is this use of theories that makes nursing a profession and guides professional nursing practice, research, and education (Alligood, 2014).

The American Nursing Association describes nursing as the profession or practice of providing care for the sick and infirm. They say it is the duty of nurses to protect, promote and optimize the health and abilities of a patient. It is also the duty of those in the profession of nursing to prevent illness and injury, facilitate healing, and alleviate suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response. Nurses also advocate for the care of patients families. Nurses play a very important role in healthcare and they are the primary caregiver for patients.

ANA defines nursing as “The protection promotion and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury alleviation of suffering of human response, and advocacy in the care of individual, families, communities and population” (ANA, 2013).

The activities include physical and occupational therapy, nutrition counseling, and case management ("Community Health Nursing," 2013).

The metaparadigm concepts within the NSM include human beings, environment, health, and nursing. First, is the human being which is looked at as, an open system that relates with both internal and external environment powers and stressors. However, the human is the one in constant alteration, moving in the direction of a vigorous state of system steadiness or toward illness of unpredictable levels. Second, is the environment which consist of all dynamics that affect and are affected by the systems. The internal environment occurs within the client system while the external environment happens outside the client system. Third, is the health which is the level of system stability and vary from wellness if system needs are met, to illness when system needs are not fulfilled. Death occurs if the energy required to support life is no longer

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.

American Nurses Association defines nursing as “the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and population”( Potter,P.,& Perry, A. 2005,1-5). Thus making nursing dynamic and ever changing. However, when nursing

Respectively, the American Nurses Association (2010c) currently defines nursing as “the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations” (p.10).

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

Nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations.