Martha E. Rogers, one of nursing’s foremost scientists, was a staunch advocate for nursing as a basic science from which the art of practice would emerge. A common refrain throughout her career was the need to differentiate skills, techniques, and ways of using knowledge from the body of knowledge that would guide practice to promote well-being for humankind. “The practice of nursing is not nursing. Rather, it is the use of nursing knowledge for human betterment” (Rogers, 1994a, p. 34). Rogers identified the human–environmental mutual process as nursing’s central focus, not health and illness. She repeatedly emphasized the need for nursing science to encompass human beings in space as well as on Earth. Who was this visionary who introduced …show more content…
The major value of Rogers’ work has been extending nursing science by challenging traditional ways of thinking about the world and nursing. She moved beyond a focus on such concepts and principles as adaptation, biopsychosocial beings, causal/probabilistic views, and the human-as-sum-of-parts thinking that had been common in nursing science (Parse, 2003; Phillips, 1990; Rogers, 1990). The contribution to nursing science of the Science of Unitary and Irreducible Human Beings theory is that it carries nursing into areas that are impossible to study using linear, three-dimensional, and reductionistic methods. (McEwen & Wills, 2011) Major relationships within Rogers’ work are contained in the following statements: Humans and environment are interrelated in that neither “has an energy field,” both are integral energy fields (Rogers, 1990, pp. 6–7). Manifestations of pattern emerge out of the human/environmental field mutual process and are continuously innovative (Rogers, 1990, p. …show more content…
Of particular importance was von Bertalanffy’s theory on general systems that contributed the concepts of entropy and negentropy and posited that open systems are characterized by constant interaction with the environment. The work of Rapoport provided a background on open systems, and the work of Herrick contributed to the premise of evolution of human nature (Rogers, 1994). Rogers’ synthesis of the works of these scientists formed the basis of her proposition that human systems are open systems, embedded in larger, open environmental systems. She also brought in other concepts, including the idea that time is unidirectional, that living systems have pattern and organization, and that man is a sentient, thinking being, capable of awareness, feeling, and choosing. From all these theories, and from her personal study of nature, Rogers (1970) developed her original Theory of Unitary Man. She continuously refined and elaborated her theory, which she retitled Science of Unitary Humans (Rogers, 1990) and finally, shortly before her death, the Science of Unitary and Irreducible Human Beings (Rogers, 1994). (McEwen & Wills,
In the todays century, the responsibilities, roles, and opportunities for nursing and nurse education has grown abundantly to that of modern day nurses. Many nurses in the eighteen century were not educated nurses and never attended nursing school; however, they still provided care for the sick, poor, and needy and played a vital role in health maintenance. With the hard work from many notable nurses in history such as Florence Nightingale, Clara Barton, and Isabel Robb and the persistence and dedication for change from influential nurses such as Mary Mahoney and Mabel Staupers; nursing today has transformed in many aspects of practice. Although nursing as a profession is continuously evolving throughout the years, the core foundation of nursing hasn’t changed in that nursing is a profession of caring for others and servicing those in need.
A staunch supporter in the development of nursing as a profession, Palmer helped launch and was the first editor of the Journal of Nursing in 1900 (Black, 2014). She spent 20 years as editor-in-chief of the periodical and wrote many editorials that helped to guide and shape the nursing profession. She viewed herself as a champion of the individual nurse but ultimately assisted in providing the foundation of the profession of nursing (Sophia French Palmer, n.d.). Palmer’s ideas and writings support Kelly’s Criteria of a profession by supporting the thought that a profession is consists of “a special body of knowledge that is continually enlarged through research” (Black,
Watson, J. (2008). Nursing. The Philosophy and Science of Caring. Revised & Updated Edition. Boulder: University Press of Colorado.
This paper is a first attempt at forming and articulating my own philosophy of nursing.
The concept of person needs to be explored to go into further depth with the remaining concepts of the metaparadigm of nursing. Person refers to the person undergoing nursing care which includes individuals, families, groups, and communities (MacIntyre & McDonald, 2014, p.63). It is evident that each person may be unique with different biological, psychological, social, and spiritual depth (Thorne, 2010, p.66). Therefore, it is necessary for nurses to realize that each person at the centre of any nursing care will experience different feelings in regards to their body as a whole. The theorist, Parse, defines the concept of person as being “linked to an unfolding process, the relating of value priorities, meaning, and quality of life” (Wu, 2008, p.6). Also those human beings are free and choose in situations that arise from personal experience and becoming with the universe (Thorne, 2010, p.71). The nurses’ role in regards to this theory is to act encourage individuals in their human becoming process. Wu (2008) looks at the p...
William Wundt conceived psychology as a science that could be experimented. His work majored on the concept of voluntarism as a way of coming into terms with psychological problems. Wundt’s ideas of understanding psychological problems explored mental disorders and abnormal behavior, religious beliefs, and pronouncement of the damaged parts of the brain. Through his experiments, he was able to distinguish psychology as a distinct science from other topics. He believed that analyzing consciousness as an individual’s subjective experience of the mind and the world, should inform scientific psychology (Rieber, 2001).
Throughout this philosophy paper, I have explored what nursing is based on my personal values and beliefs as it relates to the body of work in nursing. I value the importance of holistic nursing and the care of patients being individualized for them and their family. Also, effectively collaborating among health care professionals to ensure quality care for patients. Additionally, the importance of health promotion as one of the main roles of nurses is being a teacher, since promoting health prevents illness and increases the level of health in clients. These principles will serve as a guide for my personal standards of nursing practice.
In order to do that the nurse has to be able to incorporate all aspects of nursing into the care. Whether it is caring for physical, cognitive, mental, social, or cultural problems the nursing science and philosophy should always be implemented in the same manor or basis. It is important to understand that these factors can theoretically continue to impact the development of science, including nursing science (Daiski, 2016). It is essential to incorporate all the central concerns of nursing into the nursing practice to be able to provide the necessary care. Daiski stated that it is demonstrated by the four-metaparadigm concepts, which are human being, health, environment, and nursing. It then contains a philosophy based on social justice, so that we are able to comprehend the complications of the narratives our patients tell us so that we are more prone to holistically understand their journeys (Daiski,
The human becoming theory posits quality of life from each person's own perspective as the goal of nursing practice. It is a human science theory that views individuals as an open, unitary and free-willed beings that co-creates their health and interact with their environments. The human becoming theory views nursing as a basic science with a unique knowledge base. Parse defined unitary as the indivisible, unpredictable and ever-changing part of human that makes choices while living a paradoxical pattern of becoming in mutual process with the universe (Parse, 2004). Health is living one’s own chosen values; it is the quality of life experienced and described by the person and it cannot be given, guarded, manipulated, judged or diagnosed. It is a process of becoming that is unfolding and cannot be prescribed or described by societal norms but by the individual living t...
According to Kristen Swanson’s theory of caring, caring consists of Knowing, Being with, Doing for, Enabling, and maintaining belief. She believes that the environment and what is in the environment can affect people, either positively or negatively. As a nursing student, I possess the qualities of enabling, doing for, and being with. These qualities are implanted in me via my upbringing, culture, religious belief, and life experience/encounters(my environment). “Enabling” is the nurses’ responsibility to help the make a transition into the unknown.
Watson views the concept of a human being as a person that should be valued, cared for, respected, nurtured, understood, and assisted (Nursing Theories, 2012). Every human being should be treated as a person instead of an object and receive the opportunity to have their distinct needs cared for. Health is viewed as a high level of physical, mental, and social functioning, ability to adapt and maintenance with daily living, and the lack of illness or the efforts that lead to the lack of (Nursing Theories, 2012). Watson’s theory believes that the environment determines the values that influence your behaviors and the goals you wish to pursue. It also influences how well a patient copes with the situation and how the nurse should be supportive and considerate towards the patient. Watson defines nursing as “a human science of persons and human health-illness experiences that are mediated by professional, personal, scientific, esthetic and ethical human transactions” (Nursing Theories, 2012, para. 4). Nursing should be more than just providing medical care, it should establish a relationship and build trust. Watson’s other concepts of her theory include the caring occasion, transpersonal caring, phenomenal field, self, and
Watson, J. (1985). Nursing: Human Science and Human. Norwalk; CT: Appleton – Century – Crofts.
Watson, J. (2012). Human caring science: A theory of nursing (2nd ed.). Sudbury: Jones and Bartlett Learning.
This interactive grand theory is grounded in humanist philosophy, which expresses the belief that humans are unitary beings and energy fields in constant interaction with the universal energy field. This model guides the nurse who is interested in “physiologic” and “psychological” adoptions (McEwen & Wills, 2014, p. 177). This model views the nurse as holistic adaptive system constantly interacting with different stimuli. And also explains how different sets of interrelated systems maintain a balance between various stimuli to promote individual and environmental transformation (Alkrisat & Dee, 2014). This model creates a framework to provide care for individuals in health and “in acute, chronic, or terminal illness” (Shah, Abdullah, & Khan, 2015, p. 1834). It focuses on improving basic life processes of individuals, families, groups of people; nurses see communities as holistic adaptive systems. It consists of three basic assumptions: philosophical, scientific, and cultural. And it also contains many defined concepts about the environment, health, person, goal of nursing, adaptation, focal, contextual, and residual stimuli, cognator and regulator subsystem, and stabilizer and innovator control processes (McEwen & Wills, 2014, p.
The purpose of this paper is to define my professional nursing philosophy. I will utilize the nursing metaparadigm as a framework for integrating the concepts of person, environment, health, and nursing into my nursing practice. Secondly, I will discuss Jean Watson’s theory of human care and how this has personally impacted my profession as a nurse and guided my nursing philosophy.