The Futrure of Nursing 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)

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 purpose of the nursing theories is to provide an interrelating framework focusing on the nursing practice. The defined nursing theories promote better patient care, improve the status of nursing profession, and improve the communication between the nurses, and provide guidance to the researches and education (Keefe, 2011). Not all nursing theories have the same meanings; however, they play the important role of explaining the key concepts and principles of nursing practice in understanding way.

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 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.

Parker, M. E., & Smith, M. C. (2010). Nursing theories & nursing practice (3rd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis Co.

Alligood, M., & Tomey, A. (2006). Nursing Theory: Utilization & Application (3rd ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby.

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 theory is relatively new and as such, it continues to evolve as new knowledge is gained. There are numerous theories of nursing, each of which took years to develop and most of which continue to evolve and adapt. There are commonalities between and among the existing theories although each may focus more heavily on different aspects of responsibilities. It has to do with the philosophical foundations for each theory.

“Nursing theory aims to describe, predict and explain the phenomenon of nursing” (Colley, 2003, p. 33); therefore, nursing theory is the scaffolding on which nurses stand to build and remodel nursing practice. This is a symbiotic relationship because nursing theory builds the nursing practice and as practice expands the scaffolding must, in turn, grow as well. As such, the investigation into practice and research keep informing the practice and profession of nursing. Ultimately this leads to more effective patient care utilizing evidenced-based

Nursing theories form the supportive framework on which our patient care relies on (Alejandro, 2017). It is not only the foundation of the nursing discipline but, it defines of we practice. If nurses lack that foundation, new knowledge development within nursing will decline. They are very important for Masters and advanced practice nursing students who are preparing to

In today’s world, it is essential to incorporate nursing theory into practice. Patricia Benner, through her work, “has provided essential understanding of how knowledge and skills are acquired and directly applied to nursing practice, education, research and administration” (Altmann, 2007, p. 114). According to Benner’s model of skill acquisition, “the nurse passes through five stages of career development, novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient and expert” (English, 1993, p.387). Specific patterns of behavior, thinking, and performance is present in each stage. The most experience is associated with the expert nurse and the least experience is possessed by the novice nurse (Benjamin, 2007). This model is based on ascending level of proficiency and the key concepts of this model are: competence, skill attainment, experience, clinical knowledge and practical knowledge

While virtually all nurses have some kind of an 'idea' of how their profession should operate, this intuitive, anecdotal understanding is profoundly different from how a theory operates. A theory is "a creative and rigorous structuring of ideas that projects a tentative, purposeful and systematic view of phenomena" and is designed to "organize the relationship among the concepts to describe, explain, predict, and control practice" (Nursing theories: An overview, 2012, Nursing Theories). But while greater predictability is desirable versus, for example, the unpredictability of

Nursing theory is another abundantly feared, apparently forgettable part of the nursing school knowledge. Huge amounts of time and exertion is spent attempting to remember the theorists, attempting to retain what they stand for and wanting to replay it effectively in practice. And at the same time, new graduates wonder, what are they going to do with this now that they graduated? What a large portion of them truly want to know is the way to put in an intravenous catheter. All things considered, a couple of years into practice I began to understand that the work I do– the consideration I give — is all in light of my theory of what is the right fit for my area of nursing — and my theory is a long way from extraordinary.

Nursing in itself is a very complex profession, with many different influences shaping it since its inception. These influences play a major part in defining what exactly nursing is. One of these key factors is nursing theory. Theory has many different definitions, but for the sake of this article, theory will be described as the “rigorous and systematic structuring of ideas that conveys a view of a phenomenon (Power, 2016).” In this case, that phenomenon is nursing. Theory is essential to developing a basic knowledge in nursing, and is what sets nursing apart as a professional occupation (Power, 2016). It can be very difficult to turn the practical aspect of nursing into theoretical terms, but there are many different theories out there that work together to outline the ideas that nursing revolves around (Power, 2016). One of these main theorists was Florence Nightingale, who singlehandedly brought public health to the world’s attention, through her sanitation efforts and work in wartime hospitals (Fee & Garofalo, 2010.). In this article, we will outline the components of Nightingale’s theory as well as identify how it still impacts the nursing world today.