Theory in Nursing Practice “Apprehension, uncertainty, waiting, expectation, fear of surprise, do a patient more harm than any exertion. Remember he is face to face with his enemy all the time, internal wrestling with him” (Nightingale, 1992, p. 22). Fortunately, in the nineteenth century, Florence Nightingale recognized uncertainty could cause harm to her patients (Nightingale, 1992). Equally important to the nursing professional are the nursing theorists, their work, and the evolution of the theories that followed Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing (Alligood, 2014). This paper will apply Florence Nightingale’s grand theory, Merle Mishel’s uncertainty in illness theory, and Madeleine Leininger’s culture care theory to multiple sclerosis (MS) research and practice (Alligood, 2014). Nursing is a complex art and science (Joel, 2006). Consequently, one nursing theory does not fit every patient’s or individual’s need. While nursing theories encompass many different beliefs, policies, and procedures, nurses choose from many theories and can utilize some, all, or none of the concepts of a theory. Furthermore, nursing theory provides nurses with principles and helps generate further nursing knowledge (Alligood, 2014). To gain a better understanding of MS in practice, theory, challenges, and trends, Merle Mishel’s uncertainty in illness theory will be compared and contrasted to Florence Nightingale and Madeleine Leininger’s theories. Part 1: Theory
Nursing should not be looked upon or practiced as a mere physical approach to healing. Nursing should encompass the aspect of restoring each individual patient to his/her maximum physical and emotional state of being. In order to achieve such a goal, a patient must be able to bond with her caregiver on a personal level (Blais & Hayes, 2011). Jean Watson’s caritas factors sets an environment where the patient can obtain optimum health benefits (Blais & Hayes, 2011). The goal of this paper is to state my philosophy of nursing, the important dynamics and values that led me to adopting this philosophy, and the reason why I choose nursing as a profession. I will further explain how Jean Watson’s principles of philosophy is
To refine nursing in the 21st century nurses must shift our focus from grand theorist to theories that are as individual as the people we serve. Grand theories are generalizable and have practical guidelines, but limit the consideration of patient’s cultures. They lack the sociopolitical diversity that is needed with increasingly diverse patient populations (Schmieding, 1990).
This author’s personal philosophy in practice is to provide holistic care to my patients and their families. This author feels that encompassing the whole family or the patients support framework in the plan of care is the best approach to returning the patient to their optimum state of health. It is important to this author to evaluate the all of the aspects of the patient’s lives that they will share. It is important to evaluate the patient’s learning style,
In this essay we are going to explore the connection between professional nursing practice and professional caring. I will outline the terms of professional nursing practice and what makes nursing a profession? I will describe the term of professional caring and the connection to the nursing practice and discuss the dilemma of care and cure. And also determine the importance of both in professional nursing practice.
It is undeniable that Maslow is one of the most famous and influential psychologists, whose theory is a base for various motivation theories. Maslow`s Hierarchy of Needs theory explains the drives and the urges that govern human behavior. However, there were many other famous psychologists influencing Maslow during his lifetime; indeed, this fact greatly shaped his professional stance and theory (citation).
Nursing philosophy is defined as a nurse or students thought of what they believe to be true about the nature of the profession of nursing and to provide a base for nursing practice. (2016, para.1) The nursing field continues to develop into a professional scope of practice and nurses continue to work to develop a high standard for the profession. The values and skills that nurses’ learn as they care for patients continue to develop into rules and regulations for future nurses. As a nurse it is important to create the best environment for patients, family members and co-workers. After graduating from high school I obtained my STNA and then began my college career in the health field as a physical therapy major. This past year I transitioned to nursing after seeing how much more I am able to work directly with patients. The reasoning behind my nursing philosophy is that I have gained knowledge and love for the profession through working as a certified nurses aide for the last four years. The love for helping others and the ability to help individuals during their times of need has grown on me and developed into a passion. Through education and work experiences my philosophy will transform overtime. Currently, I believe in a nursing philosophy that states strong principals that encompass empathy, compassion, and respect towards patients and their families. In addition, nurses must stay abreast of developing health care trends, be critical thinkers and
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).
NOTE: You will create a new Word document for this Assignment instead of typing directly into this document.
The activities include physical and occupational therapy, nutrition counseling, and case management ("Community Health Nursing," 2013).
‘‘Perceived susceptibility” refers to “one’s subjective perception of the risk of contracting a health condition.” (Champion, Stretcher, & Janz, 2002, p.48).
In the profession of Nursing, we are faced with different challenges daily. Some of the most common problem that we faced today are patient workloads, unit dynamics, new interns, difficult family members, and patient safety. I believe the most significant difficulty nurses faces today is the nurse-patient ratio. In New York, we currently do not have a legislation that sets the number of patients assigned to a nurse. The ratio is set by the administrators and nursing managers of different units. In California on the other hand; legislation has been passed in 1999 and revised on 2008 that sets the cap of nurse-patient ratio in a Medical Surgical Floor at 1:5 (Kasprak, 2004). Currently in my unit, the nurse-patient ration ranges between 1:6 to 1:8, ratios that render care that is not safe for the patient and nurses; which can result to negative patient outcomes. Meeting the needs of each patient in a 1:6 ratio is both difficult and unfair for the patient, it makes me feel that I am ignoring patients need. The Transitions Theory by Afaf Meleis which is a middle range theory and Human Needs Theory by Abraham Maslow a which is a Humanistic Theory both supports the need for regulation of Nurse-Patient ratio in New York.
There is an obvious deficiency in the application of theory in nursing practice. This paper will include a discussion of how nursing practice is affected by the use of nursing theory. I will provide evidence in relation to how theory based practice relates to the core competencies of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) project. I will discuss a journal article that reinforces the gap of nursing theory in nursing practice, and interview colleagues regarding the incorporation of theory in their individual practice. In conclusion I will express my own view point of why theory has been neglected.
“Apprehension, uncertainty, waiting, expectation, fear of surprise, do a patient more harm than any exertion. Remember he is face to face with his enemy all the time, internally wrestling with him” (Nightingale, 1992, p. 22). Fortunately, in the nineteenth century, Florence Nightingale recognized uncertainty could cause harm to her patients (Nightingale, 1992). Equally important to the nursing profession are the nursing theorists, their work, and the evolution of the theories that followed Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing (Alligood, 2014). This paper will apply Nightingale’s grand theory, Merle Mishel’s uncertainty in illness theory, and Madeleine Leininger’s culture care theory to multiple sclerosis (MS) research and practice (Alligood, 2014).
Nursing goes beyond caring for a patient during their illness and managing their disease process. Nursing includes adapting to a patient’s and their family’s physical, social, spiritual, environmental and psychological needs. I believe in treating the whole patient and being supportive of the family’s needs as well. Shelly & Miller (2006) asserts “while critical thinking, decision-making, and leadership skills are extremely important, the characteristics nurses need most are compassion, competence, faith, integrity and responsibility” (p. 291).
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